With Windsor's unemployment rate being one of the highest in all of Canada, some local employers are scratching their heads as to why it's sometimes difficult to fill positions in the technical and skilled trades.
This prompted the WindsorEssex Economic Development Corporation to hold a career fair over the weekend to fill 300 local full-time jobs.
Shelley Fellows, vice president of operations at Radix Inc., says it's challenging to fill the jobs because often times the qualified people are working in jobs below their skill level. "I just had a mechanical engineer at my table who is working at a manufacturing plant, but as a machine operator -- so underemployed," says Fellows. "Those people haven't been willing to take that risk of getting out there and trying to seek employment in their field."
Radix is currently trying to fill eight full-time positions. "Very specifically we hire technology people, whether it's graduates of engineer programs, software developers or community engineers," says Fellows. "And then graduates of college programs in technology, electrical technicians or electricians, millwrights, machine buildings. Those are the kinds of people that we're looking for."
Fellows estimates about 25% of applicants are coming from out west, while half are from right here in Windsor-Essex. A total of 29 employers attended this weekend's job fair.