Latest News - August

Canadian participation in overseas job fairs on the rise

Monday, 4 August 2008

Canadian participation in overseas job fairs is on the rise as companies and governments alike attempt to offset skilled-labour shortages.

 

Canadian participation in overseas job fairs is on the rise as companies and governments alike attempt to offset skilled-labour shortages. In June, about 9,000 British subjects seeking employment in Canada attended job fairs in London and Leeds. This was the first-ever Opportunities Canada Expo held in the U.K. targeting skilled workers in that country.

The U.K. recruitment drive was organized by the City of Calgary, Calgary Economic Development and the Alberta government's Employment and Immigration officers.

Statistics Canada figures show professional, scientific and technical services hired 37,000 people in June. The sector's job growth has ranked among the highest in the country over the past year and was the only sector that saw a notable employment increase last month.

Kerry Jothen, former head of the B.C. government's Industry Training and Apprenticeship Commission, says the events are making a difference when it comes to recruiting skilled personnel. But they do not result in a huge influx of new employees. "Obviously, (employers) don't go overseas to recruit somebody for low-skilled jobs," he says. "These tend to be professional and trade-type of jobs.

"The numbers aren't large in the overall scheme of things, but they're important positions that (employers) can't seem to fill by going to other provinces." Participants in last month's job fairs in Britain included Wardrop Engineering Inc., a national firm; Calgary-based bus company Southland Transportation; the Alberta government; and MDA Space Missions Engineering.

"We hadn't really done a whole lot of international recruitment before," says David Rempel, Wardrop's manager of talent acquisitions, from his Toronto office. "So this is not only an opportunity for us to recruit good people, but to go on a fact-finding mission and see what we want to do and how exactly we want to do it."

Wardrop, which specializes in mining, infrastructure and energy, exhibited at the fairs as part of its bid to recruit engineers, designers, managers and product-controls. The firm needs to hire upward of 100 people across all of its divisions, but expects to get 10-15 from its foray into Britain.

Canadian employers that exhibited in England are looking to hire permanent skilled immigrants, as opposed to temporary foreign workers, whom labour unions claim are often mistreated.

Wardrop chose to go to England because the firm felt the culture gap would be narrower, it would be easier to have British credentials recognized in Canada, and many Brits are keen to relocate here.

While Jothen favours expansion of temporary foreign worker programs, he says Canada may have to look for permanent skilled immigrants from countries, such as Mexico, that now provide many temps for lesser-skilled positions.

"I believe with the shortage of labour in Canada, more and more companies will be going abroad not only to India, China and the Philippines, but also Eastern Europe," says Kirk White, recruitment co-ordinator in Fort McMurray with OPTI Canada Inc.

"India is probably one of the best-educated (workforces) on the continent in terms of engineers and operators for our plants," says White.

"We're short-staffed in every possible trade and degree," says White. "Those countries beyond Canada certainly provide a good labour pool."

Sadhna Gupta, an economic immigration specialist with Alberta Employment and Immigration, took part on the most recent trip to India and says organizers are planning to return this fall.

"We were overwhelmed with the response," says Gupta. "It is a global workforce and quite honestly, (Canada) is the last to leave the gate. Australia and New Zealand have been in India recruiting very strongly."

Gupta is continually hunting for opportunities to assist employers reach out to places such as India because it is "a potential source to help alleviate our labour crunch here."

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