The perception that people in the Jewish community don’t struggle with unemployment is simply untrue.
“We see it every day. We have been working on employment in the Jewish community since 1947. Poverty and unemployment in the Jewish community is still going on,” said Irene Vaksman, program manager at the non-profit employment organization Jewish Vocational Service of Metropolitan Toronto (JVS Toronto).
Events such as the Bathurst-Finch Community Job Fair, which JVS hosted Nov. 1 in partnership with KCWA Family and Social Services, an organization that largely serves the city’s Korean community, are, therefore, so important to those looking for work.
The fair was held in the new Bathurst-Finch Community Hub, a building that houses a number of community service agencies, including one of JVS Toronto’s offices. It drew more than 100 job seekers, Jewish and non-Jewish.
Fifteen different employers were present, representing companies from a range of fields, including customer service, general labour, IT, office administration and personal support work.
Vaksman said JVS advertised the event both through Jewish and non-Jewish networks, and attendees came from “all walks of life.”
“Many in the Bathurst and Finch community are experiencing a need for employment, including those in the Jewish community,” she said, noting that unemployment can be especially prevalent among young people and newcomers.
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“We’re trying to engage employers in the community to ensure that people can build their dignity, make a decent living and support their families… and we’re trying to help people build skills and confidence or reinvent their careers… for example, mothers who’ve been raising family for years and suddenly need to find a job,” Vaksman said.
The fair targeted people in the neighbourhood, but was open to everyone. The purpose was to connect job seekers with potential employers, but also to help build the confidence of those looking for work.
Prior to the fair, KCWA ran several workshops in Korean to prepare attendees for meeting employers.
Subsequently, JVS ran a session in English delivered by the organization’s employment specialist to convey to job seekers what to expect from a job fair and how best to approach employers. JVS employment counsellors were also set up in a room adjacent to the fair for people who wanted to have their resume reviewed on the spot.
Vaksman stressed that the objective was “to help job seekers feel more equipped, empowered and confident.”
While hiring wasn’t happening on the spot, she said the fair was “a great opportunity to come shake an employer’s hand. And that might result in a job.”
Justin Das, a recruiter with Optima Communications, a company that recruits employees to work at call centres for financial and insurance companies, was one of the employers at the fair.
“We came today to get our name out in the community,” he said. “We met a couple of promising candidates and will be doing some interviews down the road with people we met today.”
Joanna Samuels, a workforce specialist and job coach at JVS, said some of the challenges she sees, which aren’t specific to the Jewish community, pertain both to people looking for a professional career – which takes significant time, research and preparation – and those looking for a “survival job.”
“Each [circumstance] has different types of challenges,” Samuels said.
Other challenges include those faced by newcomers dealing with a lack of language skills and a local network and, for others, typical jobseeker challenges like, Samuels said, “how do employers like resumes to be? How do I understand the labour market? How do I network?”
JVS runs various employment support programs for people in both the Jewish and wider communities. Two of its programs target the Jewish community: EMETemployment, a Web-based program that’s open to anyone in the Jewish community, and a joint employment program that assists Jews in high-risk situations and is run in partnership with Jewish Family & Child