SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - With spring in full swing and summer just around the corner, students returning from college and university are looking for ways to earn a little money and experience.

There are a number of resources available to returning students looking for a summer job.

Checking in with the Services Canada Centre for Youth is one avenue returning students may want to consider. Located in the Greenstone Building, the office helps connect students with potential employers by offering job postings, information on wage subsidies and health and safety in the workplace - all free of charge.

Some of the most popular jobs for returning students are found with the City of Yellowknife, jobs that often allow the student to spend their days doing landscaping, yard work, working with children and other outdoor activities.

"There are 44 positions available for summer students with the city, the same number as last year," said Mayor Van Tighem. "The city gives preference to students returning to Yellowknife because they are residents of Yellowknife, and also to those who have worked for the city before and did a good job. It works for us because we don't have to pay them as much."

He said students should start preparing and submitting their resumes to the city in January or February to help ensure they have something lined up for the summer. "Once they submit their resume and cover letter there's no need to call us again, as we'll call them."

"There are hundreds of resumes that come every year, so basically the ones that are being considered for an interview or are being re-hired are being called back," said Van Tighem. "People who are able to commit to the full four months from May to August are the ones who are more likely to get hired."

Another popular option for returning students is filling in temporarily for government employees who spend their summers on extended vacations.

Tom Williams, deputy minister with the Department of Human Resources, said making sure summer students can find meaningful work is near the top of his list of priorities. "Our students are our future," said Williams.

"We try to endeavour to hire as many students as possible, but it all depends on what budget allocation each department has. So far to date we've hired 161 students, with 117 headquartered in the North Slave region, and 44 were hired in the other regions across the North outside of Yellowknife," said Williams.

"Last year we hired 263 summer students. We are going to make every effort to hire the same number this year," said Williams. "Each year we try to at least, at a minimum, match the number we did the previous year, but it will be up to the departments to look in their budgets to see if they can achieve those results."

Williams was responding to comments made by Nahendeh MLA Kevin Menicoche in the legislative assembly Tuesday, in which Menicoche expressed concern that most GNWT summer student positions are in Yellowknife.

"What we have is a greater challenge recruiting summer students in some of the smaller communities like Fort Liard. There's less government jobs in those communities. We always make attempts to hire more summer students in the regions, but sometimes there's less opportunity there."

Williams said the first thing students should do is to make sure they are registered with the Department of Human Resources.

"We have a summer student database, and they would have to be registered with that database because that's how it's shared with the departments and is used for the hiring process."

He also said students looking for work should be patient, because even if the student has been waiting for a while, they may still get a call back.

Williams said because the GNWT has an aging workforce, it is important to get more young people involved in the public service.

However, that doesn't mean students should only be trying to find jobs with the government.

"I also like to remind people that we are one employer. We're a big employer, but we are only one and there are lots of jobs with other levels of government and in the private sector," said Williams.

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