COLD LAKE — When businesses talk about workforce shortages, the conversation often turns to attracting new workers to the community. Cold Lake’s Economic Development Advisory Committee says there may be another important place to look — at the young people already here.

During an Aug. 25 presentation to Cold Lake City Council, Economic Development Advisory Committee (EDAC) Chair Lacey Chyz highlighted ongoing discussions about youth employment, training, and how to better connect local young people with employers.

The issue isn’t entirely new. Youth employment has appeared as a recurring item on EDAC agendas, including discussions dating back to 2025. Cold Lake Escribe Meetings

But the committee has been working more directly with the Cold Lake Youth Council to better understand what young people want and whether they see opportunities to build their careers close to home.

The discussion has also turned toward how employers can attract, train and retain entry-level employees — and whether part of Cold Lake’s workforce solution could be developing the people who already live in the community.

One idea gaining traction is a reverse job fair.

Instead of employers setting up booths while young job seekers make the rounds with résumés, the concept would flip the traditional job fair: youth would have an opportunity to showcase themselves, their skills, and what they’re interested in, while employers would come to meet them.

The Youth Council raised the idea, and EDAC discussed it as one possible way to build stronger connections between young workers and the local business community.

From discussion to action

The conversation didn’t end with the Aug. 25 presentation.

At its Sept. 8 meeting, Cold Lake City Council considered a formal EDAC recommendation to work with CAREERS: The Next Generation and other community partners to host an information session focused on training and employment opportunities for youth. The item appeared on council’s agenda as a request to host a Youth Employment Opportunities Awareness Session.

During that discussion, council heard that the information session and reverse job fair are related ideas, but not necessarily the same event.

Coun. Chris Vining explained that CAREERS: The Next Generation could bring experience working with youth into the process.

“The youth council did want to eventually try and run a reverse job fair,” Vining said.

Council ultimately supported having administration work with CAREERS: The Next Generation and other community partners to organize the youth-focused employment and training information session.

The motion carried.

Keeping young workers in Cold Lake

The initiative comes as Cold Lake continues to put significant attention on economic development and workforce growth.

The City describes Cold Lake as having a young population and identifies education and workforce development as investment drivers.

For EDAC, the youth initiative adds another piece to that economic development puzzle: making sure young people know what opportunities exist before they decide they have to leave the region to find them.

Rather than focusing solely on recruiting workers from elsewhere, the discussions point toward building clearer pathways between local youth, training organizations and employers.

The first step will be bringing those groups together.

And down the road, Cold Lake’s next job fair might look a little different — with employers doing some of the looking.