Banff businesses looking to hire 400 seasonal workers
Thursday marks Banff’s annual spring hiring fair, with close to 400 jobs up for grabs including cooks, restaurant servers and retail sales associates in the region.
Hosted by the Job Resource Centre, the fair will take place from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Cascade Shops, with opportunities for prospective employees to apply for spring and summer jobs at 27 regional hotels, restaurants, retail operations and attractions.
“Some of these people, if they ’re suitable, they could be applying for a job (Thursday) and start next week,” said Michel Dufresne, director of the Job Resource Centre.
Dufresne said area employers are looking to fill about 15 per cent more jobs than usual this year, with Banff hotels expected to be at near capacity throughout July and August.
“Tourism is booming. We expect it to be busy all summer long,” said Jennifer Rohloff, human resources manager for the Banff Lodging Company, which has job openings at its 10 hotels, nine restaurants, two spas, movie theatre, sports store and head office in Banff.
She said the company hires about 300 seasonal employees for spring and summer each year, about 50 of which come from the job fair.
“At the job fair itself there’s obviously local people, but there’s people who’ve come from all over the world,” said Rohloff. “They come to Banff before they’ve secured employment because they know that there’s lots of hospitality jobs on offer and they’re really coming for that life experience. At least half the people that are there will actually be from another country on a work permit. And then there’s people who are from mostly Eastern Canada who have moved out here and are looking for work for the summer before they go back to school.”
Other employers that will be at the hiring fair include Parks Canada, the Fairmont Banff Springs and Sunshine Village. A second hiring fair will take place May 15 in Canmore from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Elevation Place.
Dufresne said tourism to Banff is expected to increase this year in part due to momentum from the free national parks pass offered in 2017 for Canada’s 150th anniversary celebrations.
“It got the parks to be really popular with a lot of people who never thought of coming,” he said. “The U.S. dollar is strong again, so that’s another thing. The third main factor ... is the ‘staycation,’ because the economy is not so hot in Alberta and Calgary and Edmonton. Instead of people going south or other countries, they’re staying home.”
About 80 per cent occupancy is expected at most hotels and accommodations in Banff in May, and 92 per cent is expected throughout June and July, according to Angela Anderson, a spokeswoman for Banff and Lake Louise Tourism.
She said those numbers are comparable to 2017, which also saw an increase in visitors over the previous year.
“Summer is always a very popular time in Banff National Park,” said Anderson. “We see kind of an incremental increase in visitors every year. We’re looking at and we’re anticipating an incremental increase as well this year.”