The war continues

Despite the IT meltdown, the battle for talent rages on

Organizations hardest hit by the recent information technology meltdown include the telecommunications, IT manufacturing and e-business solutions sectors. However, there are still numerous opportunities for candidates with in-demand skill sets in finance, banking, biotechnology, biomedicine and manufacturing operations in business hubs, particularly Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa.

Across the country, staffing specialists at the more than 800 member offices of the Association of Canadian Search, Employment and Staffing Services (ACSESS) continue working at a steady pace, with no significant slowdown in sight in spite of this high-tech upset which sent tremors through various parts of the country.

In June 2001, Canada’s unemployment rate was 6.7 per cent — only a slight increase from 6.3 per cent a year ago. Statistics indicate the market for talent is tight and the war for top-performers is likely to get worse. Currently, “in-demand” skill-sets are held by accounting, engineering, sales, call centre and e-commerce specialists, as well as some clerical staff.

In-demand skill-sets
Employers are looking for “enhanced” personnel within these in-demand fields. For example, sought-after accountants are not merely number crunchers but experts who can interpret and analyze financial data; salespeople must be extremely driven, accountable, task-oriented and adept self-managers.

There is also a need for full-time and temporary clerical staff in various regions, and in the past few years there has been a resurgence of the receptionist role. Companies are looking for poised “executive receptionists” who are preferably bilingual to fulfil duties that voice mail and automation cannot handle.

Many ACSESS members also agree that Canada is facing an acute shortage of skilled tradespeople. “We have noticed a particular scarcity of skilled millwrights and control technicians to maintain and run key processes in the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries,” says Chris Roach, vice-president, The Employment Solution (TES) in Mississauga, Ont.

British Columbia booming
The forecast for British Columbia is promising as the province is enjoying a renewed sense of optimism since the Liberal government took over in May.

“Since the NDP’s recession-ridden reign ended, there has been a significant and steady increase in business across all sectors,” says Karen Watts, president of Excel Personnel Inc. in Kamloops, B.C.

Watts cites a demand for programmer-analysts, counselors/facilitators, lawyers and legal administrative staff and public accountants throughout the West Coast province.

Alberta thriving
Geographically, Alberta is thriving and currently one of Canada’s hottest job markets.

“With about $49 billion in projects underway or slated to start during the next five years, business and economic development is so strong, it’s almost unfair to the rest of Canada,” says Rich Stoppler, president, Executrade Consultants Ltd. in Edmonton. “These projects are concentrated in the oil, gas and tar sand industries but will trigger spin-offs in manufacturing and increase the demand for trades people, as well as accounting and engineering personnel.”

Ontario hardest hit
The high-tech sector’s problems have hit Ontario the hardest but not to a crippling degree. “Biotechnology, biomedical, pharmaceutical and financial services companies in Toronto are in a hiring mode and increasingly working with recruiters to ensure effective deployment and retention strategies are in place,” says Paul Dodd, president, Head2Head.com Inc., a Toronto-based firm that recruits recruiters.

Kimberly Chesney, president, Prime Management Group in London, Ont., finds that “In spite of media reports on declining car sales, automotive firms are filling a range of permanent positions, from engineering to operations, possibly to ramp up for new processes being implemented.”

Although the recent slowdown has affected Ottawa, the job market is still good.
“Aside from Kanata, home-base of Nortel and other IT casualties, Ottawa is busy and the federal government is in a spending mode,” says Kevin Dee, CEO, Eagle Professional Resources Inc., an Ottawa-based recruiting firm that specializes in placing IT experts from coast to coast. He singles out system integrators as key beneficiaries of the capital city’s renewed prosperity.

“In the IT sector, established ‘brick and mortar’ firms are exploiting the power of the Internet and hiring e-commerce talent to fulfil their Net mandate,” Dee points out. He also cites customer relationship management (CRM) and network specialists as in-demand commodities.

Quebec needs truckers
Paul Christie, president, Services de Personnel Unique Inc. in Dorval, Que, says pharmaceuticals are the strongest growth area right now in his province, followed by the transportation/distribution and retail sectors. “In Montreal, there is a high demand for accounting clerks, fluently bilingual receptionists, call centre personnel, inside sales, customer service representatives and executive assistants.

Throughout Quebec, we are scrambling for truck drivers to fill the province’s short-fall of 5,000 drivers,” Christie explains.

Maritimes unscathed
The Maritimes is unscathed by the current economic downturn. “Business is steady and we have escaped the IT meltdown because we did not have fiber optic giants or surging dot-coms to bring us up or down,” explains Jill Peapell, president and owner, Peapell and Associates, a Halifax-based agency that serves Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. She says opportunities exist in banking, education, health care, engineering, construction and of course, oil rig projects.

New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have a growing quantity of call centres, which continue to hire. In some cases, workers from closed fish plants and mines, or their spouses, have been recruited to staff these thriving centres.

Humbled IT personnel
On the plus side, Dee believes the current IT dip has humbled some of these professionals and made them more receptive to reasonable offers.

“A year ago, e-business and Internet experts were picky and even arrogant about job offers. Today, there is a new found flexibility,” he says.

This is particularly true for ousted dot-com executives, who have a five-or six-year legacy of inflated titles and are now struggling for a meaningful return to the marketplace.

In some cases, the tight market is causing a short-term movement away from contractors in favour of full-time personnel, according to Dee and Roach, whose firm, TES, also has expertise in finding IT talent. But, Dee believes the “free agent” economy is a growing phenomena and this movement is only the short-term effect of a depressed market.

Whether companies need to add key full-time resources or leverage the contractor market they might be well advised to consider the services of staffing specialists. These specialists have the expertise to efficiently access the broadest talent pool and identify, screen and recruit the best-fit candidate for maximum value. This enables over-taxed internal resources to focus on human resources responsibilities that are crucial to the success of their organizations, including interviewing pre-selected candidates who have been carefully screened and tested.

Bruce McAlpine, is vice-president of the Toronto-based Keith Bagg Group and president of the Association of Canadian Search, Employment and Staffing Services (ACSESS), Canada’s national advocate for the staffing services industry (www.acsess.org). He can be reached at (416) 863-1800 or [email protected].

To read the full story, login below.

Not a subscriber?

Start your subscription today!