YELLOWKNIFE - Summer jobs can be a lifesaver for poor students. Coming from a year of facing bill after bill with little income, the chance to devote some time to making cold hard cash can be a beautiful thing.

Laura MacKinnon posts a job advertisement on the board at the Hire A Student office at the Service Canada Centre for Youth in Yellowknife. - Erika Sherk/NNSL photo

If one can find a job, that is.

The Hire A Student office in Yellowknife exists for the sole reason of connecting students to summer jobs.

"We're like a bridge between employers and students," said Laura MacKinnon, lead youth services officer.

Funded by the federal government through the Service Canada Centre for Youth, the program posts job listings for students - on-line and on a board in the office. The office is located in the Greenstone Building on Franklin Ave.

Elijah Forget-Manson, a 19-year-old political science student at the University of Alberta, has used the postings board for two years.

"Basically I needed a job and I heard it was the place to go," he said. "It's a pretty nice resource. I kept going until I found a job."

The office has only been open for two weeks and has already seen 30 students through its doors, said MacKinnon.

They don't track successful matches, she said, because they simply bring the postings and the students together - the student must take it from there.

The office has been open each summer in Yellowknife for more than six years, and it's expanding this summer to offer services to Hay River and Fort Smith as well, said MacKinnon.

The service is important because it can sometimes be hard to find summer jobs in Yellowknife, said Forget-Manson.

"I find it difficult because of the whole hidden job market thing," he said. "Seems like you really have to pound the pavement, but the people who do that get rewarded.

The office also has computers, phones, and a fax machine to aid students in making resumes and getting them out to employers, said MacKinnon.