With the leadership of Envision Saint John, Opportunities New Brunswick (ONB), WorkingNB, and the Saint John Region Chamber, over 165 attendees and 50 organizations participated in Powered by People, a day-long symposium centered on collective learning of our most valuable resources – talent.
Talent is a regular topic of discussion, and we have been vocal about how the HR field has been disrupted since Covid and continues to evolve it its wake. The Powered by People symposium brought together speakers and panelists who shed light on the evolving workplace, while providing actionable solutions to the most pressing talent problems that employers face. The day, which was aimed at CEOs, COOs, Business Owners, Human Resource leaders, and People Managers, was spent discussing today’s changing workplace, the always evolving employer value proposition, the challenges of finding and retaining talent, building and nurturing talent pipelines. The room was filled with people from many different industries, professions, and careers. It was a day to learn with keynote speaker, Tanya Chapman of the Chapman Group, and panelists, and culminated with a career fair that saw 29 employers, 6 workforce support organizations, and almost 1,000 jobseekers.
TechImpact was invited to participate as a panel moderator for a panel titled Building Talent Pipeline: From Student to Staff. The panelists included Sandy MacKay of UNB, Clarissa Harris from NBCC, and Shirley Mitchell of Coast Tire.
The focus of our discussion was on how employers can involve students in their talent pipeline. Students are a critical component of workforce planning, and Sandy and Clarissa shared the ways to engage with these students in experiential learning opportunities. Shirley told of Coast Tire’s years of experience working with students and the benefits it’s brought to their organization. They bring students in across the organization and help them better understand all areas of their business, not just about tires!
As an employer, you have a responsibility to coach, train, and create an environment for the student to learn. At the same time, you have the opportunity to learn more about this student and be part of their career progression. It’s key to make this a meaningful and engaging learning opportunity. It’s like a long job interview while you are formalizing the reflecting and learning! This incredible panel reminded us about how important the role of the employer is to build the skills of the students as they are learning and become a foundational part of their resume of experience.
We closed out the day at the TechImpact booth on the career fair floor. While TechImpact isn’t hiring at the moment, we promoted job opportunities in the tech sector and workforce. We represented over 50 positions currently open in companies throughout the province including Bulletproof, IGT, McCain, Mariner, Brunnet, and JD Irving. Job seekers arrived before 2 pm and we didn’t stop for the entire afternoon. At times we were 3 and 4 people deep in line waiting wanting to learn more about how to get engaged in our tech workforce.
It was a terrific day and we have no doubt that new relationships were made, talent found for permanent or student opportunities.
If you are interested in engaging with students as part of your recruitment strategy, contact TechImpact’s Program Manager, Sophie Leonard at sophie.leonard@techimpact.it to learn how TechImpact can help connect you with the right skills that will work best for your organization. To stay connected with TechImpact, sign up to receive the Impact newsletter, follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook and visit CollabHub for the latest news and events happening in here in the tech ecosystem.