{"id":192281,"date":"2025-10-06T01:43:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T01:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/192281\/"},"modified":"2025-10-06T01:43:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T01:43:08","slug":"why-job-fairs-are-attracting-massive-crowds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/192281\/","title":{"rendered":"Why job fairs are attracting massive crowds"},"content":{"rendered":"

They lineup by the hundreds, shoulder-to-shoulder, roped off around the centre court of Markham\u2019s Markville Mall. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s 2:30 p.m. on a weekday afternoon. You might suspect the crowd is queued up for the newest iPhone or perhaps a video game console release, instead they\u2019re looking for a way to put food on the table, a roof over their heads. <\/p>\n

This is a job fair, an increasingly popular way for employers to screen large crowds of prospective employees. <\/p>\n

With unemployment hitting highs not seen in a decade<\/a>, the crowds at these recruitment events outnumber openings. <\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last year, I\u2019ve submitted over 50 applications,\u201d said 25-year-old Shawn Raj, who has been unemployed for nearly a year. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been really difficult, but looking around, I\u2019m not alone in this situation. The job market\u2019s really crazy right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raj came prepared, dressed to impress in business casual, hoping to stand out from the competition and make an impression on recruiters from prospective employers like Chatime, Best Buy, and Harvey\u2019s. <\/p>\n

Nine months ago, he graduated with a university degree in criminology. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so many people here with degrees,\u201d says Raj, a Canadian-born citizen. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to even get a minimum wage job. People say we are overqualified.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Shawn Raj Shawn Raj, 25, has been unemployed for nearly a year. Companies \u2018really put the brake on hiring,\u2019 says retail analyst<\/p>\n

Retail analyst Bruce Winder told CTV News Toronto that companies have \u201creally put the brake on hiring.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPost-pandemic, a lot of people were hired in the tech space. And now those companies have laid them off so you\u2019re seeing mid-level workers taking entry level jobs away from people just starting their careers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Telha Yousaf landed a prime spot near the front of the job fair line. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have 15 years experience in Human Resources, a masters in project management and my PHD is near completion in business administration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very frustrated but I\u2019m hopeful to get something.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few spots behind him, another man chimes in, remarking how he\u2019d attended a separate job fair in Toronto earlier in the day. <\/p>\n

An employment event in Hamilton went viral earlier this year with lineups circling an entire city block. Much like the annual CNE job fair, which attracted thousands in July, for temporary part-time gigs. <\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a bleak year for retail. <\/p>\n

Hudson\u2019s Bay<\/a>, Starbucks,<\/a>Decathlon,<\/a> and Frank and Oak <\/a>are among the many retailers that closed stores, contributing to the glut of job-seekers. <\/p>\n

With the continued uncertainty surrounding tariffs along with AI changing the nature of labour itself, Winder says it\u2019s imperative for governments to be proactive, before the economy reaches a tipping point. <\/p>\n

\u201cCanada has a chance to recover. We\u2019ve slowed our immigration numbers. That can help us recover, to some degree, over the next several years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if there isn\u2019t a plan, you\u2019re going to have massive unemployment. You\u2019re going to have social unrest. You\u2019re going to have soft consumer spending markets. You\u2019re going to have real estate collapse. It\u2019s not going to be a be a very happy country to live in, or work in.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They lineup by the hundreds, shoulder-to-shoulder, roped off around the centre court of Markham\u2019s Markville Mall. It\u2019s 2:30…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[712,45,49,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-192281","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}