Re: Jobs in Kelowna

I'm writing this letter in response to the woman from Calgary who said people from Kelowna only hire friends and people from here. 

Absolutely contacts help in this town, as it does anywhere. To say these practices make us a small town mentality is completely naïve. The practice of using "contacts" or "networking" has been around long before social media sites like Linkeden existed. 

However, I must also state, accusing Kelowna of having a small town mentality is hardly an insult. At heart we are still a small community. 

As someone who was raised here I am tired of people coming here on holidays, falling in love with the area and deciding to move here but not doing any research. It's not summer here 12 months out of the year. We don't hang out at the beach, and laze around eating fruit all year round. The pay is lower because of a thing locals call sunshine tax. There are not enough jobs to go around. The city was looking at another construction boom when West Jet was putting in a flight to Fort Mac, but with the oil and gas crisis I'm sure that is on hold now. 

So please, unless you are planning on creating jobs in our community, please come to visit only. We would love to show you our beautiful beaches, wineries and restaurants, but at this time we are not hiring.

Celena Simms