Springdale attends job fair to engage community
Students, teachers express interest in opportunities at OMNI
Thursday May 15, 2008 -- Deron Hamel
Springdale Country Manor administrator Maureen Imamovic along with a co-op student doing her placement at the Peterborough long-term care home recently teamed up to attend a job fair at a local high school.

Imamovic and Leanne Casey participated in the information session at Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School, where Casey is a Grade 12 student. The pair, who set up an OMNI display at the fair, was greeted with enthusiasm from students and teachers.

“Lots of the school came through, lots of the students came through, and all of the students and the teachers were responsive to the fact that I went with her, as opposed to just sending the display and not coming,” says Imamovic. “The students were really responsive to it. The other participants in the job fair did not have professional displays, so it was pretty wowing.”

Imamovic says students queued up to ask Casey, who has been a co-op student full-time at the home since Feb. 19, about how she is enjoying her placement.

Casey, who says she enjoys the work she does with the residents, says she likes the one-to-one programming best.

“The residents like having someone to talk to,” she tells the OMNIway.

Students also wanted to know if Casey will be getting a job when her placement ends in June. Casey explained that she plans to attend Trillium College to get certified as a PSW in September.

“At the end of that, she can get a job anywhere,” says Imamovic, adding the PSW certification program is only four months long. “PSWs are a good commodity right now.”

Imamovic and Casey did such a good job of representing OMNI at the job fair that Imamovic has been asked by the co-op teachers to speak to students about career opportunities in long-term care when school resumes in the autumn.

“What a win for us,” says Imamovic.

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