Canada Immigration Visas

THERECORD.COM | INSIDER | Employers hard-pressed to fill tech jobs

More than 90,000 technology jobs will be created in Canada in the next five years, but the pipeline of IT grads from colleges is not keeping up, a new series of reports suggests.

In Waterloo Region, there are 2,000 technology job vacancies at any given time, according to Communitech, the region’s technology industry group.

The Tech Labour Market reports, released yesterday by the Information and Communications Technology Council, suggest that industry executives and government leaders need to find ways to fill the growing needs of Canada’s technology industry.

The issue here is how and where are the twin cities going to locate their new recruits? Torontonians and Ottawa residents will generally not move once they have put down roots. The other possibility of going to California and Boston is not likely going to be of any help at least in the long term as Americans in general do not move to Canada in big numbers. How many Canadians would actually leave California’s climate and job possibilities to come back to Canada?

The real solution in finding people for this quaint tandem city just 45 minutes west of Toronto is to go overseas to Europe and Asia on a recruiting mission. More specifically the number of UK grads and experienced skilled workers in England, Scotland and Wales would more than likely fill the gap since their educational system is similar to ours at the university level, business conducted in a similar manner and of course they speak English.

For an industry that continually thinks outside the box in terms of technology, it is time they start thinking outside of the box in terms of their markets for recruitment. They may just be pleasantly surprised.

Oil industry plays catchup during lull

Filling backlog of skilled workers long-term project

CALGARY
- After a record year of growth and energy prices, oil and gas companies say the expected slowdown in the pace of activity in 2007 will only give them an opportunity to focus on hiring more workers to catch up with pent-up demand.

“We have a structural problem,” says David Fulton, vice president of human resources at Shell Canada Ltd. “I do not think the shortage is going to go away any time soon,
and that was one of the big debates 18 months ago.”

The industry has been so overwhelmed by the incredible need for everything from oilfield service technicians to geophysicists and engineers that any slight moderation in activity will simply allow the industry to catch its collective breath and continue the hiring frenzy.

“It’s hot all over,” Mr. Fulton says. “There are very few cold skills, or even lukewarm ones anymore.”

According to the article above there is a continual demand for skilled trades in the oil and gas sector. However, according to the memo on Occupations Under Pressure in Alberta and a similar release for similar ones in British Columbia, there are many related occupations to the natural resources industry that still require to be filled. Even general construction labour has to be filled and that can sometimes mean earning around 80-100 thousand dollars (Canadian) per year simply by being young and strong and willing to work hard in adverse climatic conditions from time to time.