Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife ( Jun 09/00) - Students returning to Yellowknife have had help finding that ideal, yet elusive, summer job.

Hire-a-Student is a nationally-funded program that has been geared towards finding summer employment opportunities for students across the country for 20 years.

According to senior summer employment officer Nabil Nadji, last year Hire-a-Student was able to find jobs for over 200 students in the Yellowknife area alone.

"So far, we've had a 100 students sign up," says Nadji.

"Last year, we had over 200 students overall. We're still waiting for the high school students."

Of the 100 students who have signed up for the program, 35 have found work through Hire-a-Student, and several others have found jobs on their own.

While the program cannot guarantee it wil be able to find jobs for students, Nadji does say that it can help better prepare them for their search.

"We help them with resume- and cover-letter writing," says Nadji.

"If they're nervous about an interview, we can give them some tips."

"We also have a job order request form, so when an employer wants to hire a student, we send him this form. They fill it out and give it back to us and then we post it on our electronic job bank in front of the office."

The program also helps students find jobs through local radio announcements and the Internet. Overall, the program provides an interactive information source, where students can look up jobs and employers can look up the students.

"I think it's really important because the employer can go to Hire-a-Student and advertise a job, and the student can make it known that they are looking for a job," says Nadji.

Mike Argue is one returning student -- back from second-year studies at the University of Calgary -- who vouches for the value of the program.

"I was kind of restricted in the kind of job I could get -- I'm only here until July," says Argue, who is planning to leave for Canmore, Alta., mid-way through summer to continue training for cross-country ski competition.

"Normally, I'm very motivated but, just coming back I wasn't too excited about searching very hard for employment. So I came here, gave them my resume and got two or three calls before I found what was right for me."

Argue, incidently, found summer employment with the Yellowknife Gymnastics Association.