PRESS RELEASE
ECO Canada Hosts Third Annual Environmental Virtual Career Fair
Calgary, Alta., Sept. 25, 2023 –
On September 21st, ECO Canada hosted its third national virtual career event, bringing together today’s leading innovative organizations, thought leaders, and professionals in the environmental sector. In addition to the English event, ECO Canada hosted its first French Virtual Career Fair tailored to the Quebec environmental workforce on September 6th.
The interactive career fair platform recreates the look and feel of a face-to-face career fair. Employers had fully customizable branded booths with multiple chat and video options to connect with professionals in the exhibition hall. Attendees were able to browse the booths in the tradeshow and attend 20 different options of live webinars in the auditorium. A few webinar topics delivered by industry thought leaders included writing resumes and cover letters, insights for newcomers, green careers for people with disabilities, job interview tips, and where and how to find work in the environmental sector. Job seekers and employers were able to interact at networking tables about different environmental industries, as well as a resource library for more information on special opportunities.
This event provided employers with the opportunity to connect with professionals who will contribute to business growth and environmental initiative advancements. The English Virtual Career Fair on September 21st featured 21 sponsors, over 2,500 attendees, 5,000 unique booth visits and over 780 job applications submitted. The first French event was a resounding success with 16 sponsors, 585 registrants, more than 1,000 unique booth visits and 168 job applications submitted. This year’s Virtual Career Fairs had the largest participation ECO Canada has ever seen.
ECO Canada’s French and English sponsors included Matrix Solutions, Bishop Water, Energy Safety Canada, ZENO, AGAT Labs, Primary, Efficiency, Royal Roads University, NorthWind Land Resources Inc., Flint, Acuspire, GEO Morphix, Silvacom, University of Toronto, AET Group Inc., World Education Services, GLC Environmental Ltd., Hatfield, Summit, Envision Consultants, Action Environnement, EEM EHS Management, JMP Consultants, CREDDO, Atour Recrutement, Envirocompetences, Coesio, Sanexen, Groupe DGE International, Coop Ecologie, Logiag, Groupe Pureshera, Enviro-Access, Arrimagecom, and Solmatech.
In recent years, virtual career fairs have surfaced as a dynamic solution to help employers in breaking free from all the limitations of traditional hiring events. By providing a 3D online platform, employers and job seekers can now connect in a virtual setting mimicking the feel of a physical event, but without the restricting attributes known to be a source of frustration for recruiters. This event also provided the opportunity for job seekers to connect with employers all across Canada, no matter where they themselves are located.
“Our virtual career fairs align with our mission to support the growth of a diverse and skilled environmental workforce,” says ECO Canada President and CEO Kevin Nilsen. “They offer a unique opportunity for individuals and organizations to connect, learn, and collaborate in a sustainable and accessible way.”
With nearly 30 per cent of the current workforce expected to retire in the next decade, there is a growing need to attract new talent, including young professionals. By 2025, there are over 170,0000 environmental job openings expected to be filled, and labour shortages are predicted across a wide range of different occupations.
These virtual career fairs also allowed job seekers and employers to learn more about ECO Canada’s wage funding programs. ECO Canada’s commitment to the environmental workforce has created more than 17,000 job placements, and the federal subsidies released through their program oversight have amounted to over $176 million to date. Click here to view ECO Canada’s employment programs.
To learn more about ECO Canada and future events, visit www.staging.eco.ca.
About ECO Canada:
ECO Canada is the steward of the Canadian environmental industry. From job creation and wage funding to training and labour market research – we champion the end-to-end career of an environmental professional. We aim to promote and drive responsible, sustainable economic growth within the industry while ensuring that environmental care and best practices are priorities. Over the past 30 years, we have forged academic partnerships, tools, and research to train and certify environmental job seekers and help fill the labour market.
We work alongside government, policymakers, academia, students, employers, professionals, industry, and international audiences to ensure we support Canada as a global leader in innovative workforce solutions and job creation. We remain the go-to source in the environmental labour market; our research provides unmatched statistics and analysis on the industry’s economic and labour trends that identify workforce gaps.
