'Hopefully they pick me': Job seekers attend HGS job fair

A chance at one of 170 jobs at the HGS call centre in Charlottetown brought people out to a job fair on Friday.

HGS announced this week they would be reopening their call centre in Charlottetown. In 2014, staff was reduced at the Charlottetown location, and there have been 25 corporate employees there since.

Last year, the Montague call centre was closed and 65 people were out of a job.

Now, the company said they have a new client, and are "coming back home."

The job fair was held from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday at the Red Shores Racetrack & Casino in Charlottetown.

Back with the company

Anuschka Jam is the site director for HGS Charlottetown. She has worked for the company for nine years, leading both the Montague and Charlottetown locations.

She was one of the 65 people affected by job losses last year, but was rehired with the company about two weeks ago.

"[I'm] super excited, just really super excited about restarting," Jam said. "We're very excited about hiring 170 customer service agents, hiring a support team and really working together as a team, that's the best part."

New prospects

Harsh Shah moved to Charlottetown about a month and a half ago. Originally from India, he lived in Ontario for the past few years. He came to the job fair with a group of friends.

He said he's excited for the chance to work within his area of experience.

"I have a background in that position so I wanted to apply and I wanted to stay within the same field."

Natasha Jarvis said she's worked at call centres before and has always been interested in HGS because she's heard good things.

"I wanted to kind of get back into it again because I know it's a good company. I can't wait to start. Hopefully they pick me," Jarvis said laughing.

Mickey Lee said the job would be a chance to better himself.

"It's a good opportunity, good starting wage, I could really use the money with four kids, [employment insurance] is not very great," Lee said. "Full-time hours, plus the wage, plus the benefits I've heard about, it's unbelievable."

Shawna Smith, the director of HR Services, said they saw a lot of previous employees come in excited to join again and a lot of new faces.

Smith said there will be interviews conducted, and the company plans to hire people within the next few weeks.

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