Don't take the summer off your job search!

An interesting story was printed in the Calgary Herald today regarding Alberta's every tightening labour market. With unemployment dipping below 5% for the first time since 2008, employers are starting to feel the pinch in finding quality employees who have the right set of skills alongside reliability and professionalism.

In fact, Alberta has the lowest unemployment-to-job-vacancy ratio in the country - in March there were roughly 1.8 unemployed people for every job vacancy in the province. This number is particularly incredible when you consider how Alberta has gained over 13,000 new residents in the first quarter of this year, a number not seen since the booming days of 2006. The spectacle of job seekers jumping at the opportunities available in Alberta was on full display at the Global Petroleum Show in Calgary last month where over 7,200 people registered for the career show in advance, and several thousand more waited in line for their chance to meet with recruiters and HR professionals from Alberta businesses.

There is always a tendency among job seekers to relax their job hunt during the summer months. Holidays, nice weather, and what appears to be a general slowdown of business during July and August may make it appear that it is a poor time to apply or look for positions. However, for those intrepid job seekers who are patient enough to deal with longer application and interviewing processes there are plenty of opportunities available - especially in Alberta right now.

There is still plenty of time to enjoy iced teas and sunshine, but may we suggest conducting your job search at the same time? And if you need further motivation or tips on looking for work during the summer then we definitely suggest you check out Mashable's 8 reasons why summer is a great time for job hunting.

*Image made available by Ruud Hein under Flickr's Creative Commons license.