City looking ahead to warmer weather’s need for seasonal workers

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on February 15, 2025.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

The City of Lethbridge is hiring seasonal workers for multiple positions during the spring and summer months to join their public operations team.
Shannon Brezina, Talent Development Partner with the city, told reporters Friday that they are looking to hire approximately 60 new positions including labourers in parks and cemeteries, transportation operations and water and wastewater teams.
“We have positions available at the Galt Museum as well as the Nature Centre,” said Brezina.
 She said they are announcing the available positions now, even though it is the middle of winter, because some of the positions start as early as the beginning of April.
 “So, we want to ensure that our recruitment and our departments are prepared for the summer season and to support the public,” said Brezina.  
She added that there are some requirements those wishing to apply for season work with the city must meet.
 “We want to ensure that our employees have a GD or high school education. We’re also looking for candidates that have a driver’s license, but that they’re not GDL licenses,” said Brezina. “We do have some specialty positions where we do require 3Q license. So, if you have one of those, we’re actively looking for people like you to join our team.”
Brezina is encouraging those who enjoy working outside when the weather is warm and who enjoy interacting with people, to apply for the seasonal positions within the city.
“Not only do you get your foot in the door with the city of Lethbridge, but you also get the opportunity to work across a lot of departments in a lot of areas,” said Brezina.
 Erin McIlwraith, parks operations coordinator who have worked for the city for the last 20 years, told reporters she began as a seasonal worker herself.
 “In my first season, I started late in the season to cover when students had gone back to school and I did not know at that point in time that I would be having a full career at the city of Lethbridge,” said McIlwraith.
 She said she went from working as a labourer in the parks to weed whipping and on the mow crew, she then went into forestry and after that pest management.
 “Being in pest management is where I got started in my role as a foreperson and that’s kind of what led to the opportunity to become the parks coordinator,” said McIlwraith.
She said it is very important to bring your best to work everyday, because even if it is a seasonal job, they might lead to bigger opportunities, just like it happened to her.
When asked about what her favourite job has been so far in the various positions she has held within the city, she said that was a hard question to answer as she has loved every position.
“I can’t answer with one job because I’ve honestly loved every job that I’ve had,” said McIlwraith.
 She said she worked with amazing people when she was doing the weed whipping, and that is what made her love the job.
 “Also with the pest management, I went to school for environmental science and working in pest management supported that education and I was really passionate about the environment and positive impacts that we could have through pest management,” said McIlwraith.
The city will be hosting a job fair on Mar. 11 at the Cavendish Centre in West Lethbridge and on Mar 12 will provide an opportunity for members of the community who are currently living somewhere else and wish to work when they come home for the summer to attend an online job fair.  
Anyone wanting to apply must have a valid unrestricted class five operator’s license with no more than five demerit points, a current driver’s abstract, a high school diploma or equivalent and be able to work shifts and weekends as assigned.
A full list of available positions with the City is available at Lethbridge.ca/careers with more being added as they are available.

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