It was 34C in Kochi on the southwest coast of India Wednesday.
Neenu Paily, who moved from Kochi to Moose Jaw six months ago, was braving the -38 C windchill as she attended the Saskatchewan Polytechnic career fair.
The Business Management student is due to graduate in April and was looking to put her best foot forward to impress prospective employers and find a job that will help her continue to pursue her dreams in Canada.
"I wanted to experience a new culture. I wanted to meet new people and I want to experience all of these things, that's why I am here," Paily said as she talked to recruiters manning the booths at the career fair. "I am meeting people who deliver jobs in my field and I am going to apply for them and hope for the best."
More international students like Paily are being drawn to Sask Polytech's Moose Jaw campus every year. Naomi Seaborg, a learning specialist at Conexus Credit Union, graduated from the Moose Jaw campus. She said walking into the school and the gym is like stepping into a time capsule because everything is the same as it was when she was a student, but she enjoyed meeting Paily and seeing the changing dynamic of the student body.
"She has no family here. She just decided to move to Moose Jaw and go to school. It's such an amazing story and it's happening so often," Seaborg said of Paily. "What makes you decide to move across the world to go to school in a place that gets to -30? The way people move for opportunities around the world is mind-blowing."
Even on one of the coldest days of the year, Paily smiles and says she is happy she decided to come to Saskatchewan to continue her education.
"School is very good and our instructors are very helpful," Paily said. "The climate is a bit hard. Even the cold is OK, but the wind... I will be flying if I go out in the wind. If it is 50 kilometre-per-hours or 60 kilometres, I cannot even go out of the room."
As students shuttled between the 60 booths looking to impress, Seaborg said she can remember what it is like to be a student trying to navigate the job market for the first time.
"It's tons of fun to be on the other side of the table and being able to challenge students and answer questions and find out what the student's passions are," Seaborg said. "We have tons of opportunities for students at Conexus. We're looking for those who are intensely curious and passionate about finance."
S3 Enterprises in Swift Current is a group of companies focusing on manufacturing for the agricultural industry and their booth was a busy hub of activity.
"We do everything in house, so we have everything from accounting, HR, marketing, engineering right to welding, painting, machining, we span the whole range of career opportunities. We apply to a lot of programs here," said Jenna Parenteau, the office manager for S3 Enterprises, who is a Sask Poly alumnus before completing a university degree.
"We've had a lot of success in the past hiring students from Sask Poly — specifically a welding program that is located in Swift Current," she added. "We've hired multiple students and it's always worked out really well for us."
