Employers heading to France, Morocco on recruitment mission

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This article was published 17/11/2023 (710 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A handful of Manitoba employers are heading to France and Morocco on an international recruitment mission to find candidates for hard-to-fill positions.

It’s no longer particularly surprising that employers would have to go so far afield considering the chronic labour shortages especially since the pandemic but also as the digital era has changed the way we work.

The Manitoba mission — led by Economic Development Winnipeg — to Paris and Rabat, the capital city of Morocco, is part of a federal government program called Destination Canada Mobility Forum, that specifically focuses on building francophone communities across the country. (Every province is represented except for Quebec.)

Companies including NFI, SkipTheDishes, Big Freight and Assiniboine Park Conservancy will be there in person. French and Moroccan job candidates who are qualified — more than 6,000 of them after more than 100,000 expressed interest in Paris alone — can have their resumés posted on the province’s international job posting portal, Work in Manitoba, which is administered by EDW, and then be available for consideration at any time before or after this weekend’s live sessions in Paris and next week in Rabat.

There are more than 200 Manitoba companies with job openings posted on the portal along with more than 36,000 international candidates’ resumés.

Yvonne Kinley, EDW’s director of talent and workforce development, has led successful Manitoba recruiting missions in the last few years to Argentina and Germany and Austria.

In this case, the specific intent is the attraction of bilingual candidates interested in living and working in Canada. The intense interest is likely at least partially because of the expedited work permit that can be the result of a successful connection.

Ryan Alby, the head of human resources for SkipTheDishes Canada, said participation in such a mission is helpful both in finding candidates for hard-to-fill positions as well as to network with the efforts of EDW and others.

He said the food delivery company, which was founded in Winnipeg and currently has a Manitoba workforce of 1,600, is looking to fill a mix of positions.

“Our focus in on a couple of areas,” he said. “We’re always looking for software developers and tech professionals and then there’s the evergreen positions like sales customer support and logistics. We are trying to capture a bit of everything.”

Ryan Kuffner, the CEO of EDW, said regardless of the number of specific positions that end up getting filled because of these two recruitment events, Kuffner said there are very strategic dynamics at play.

“From a high level this is about not being just reactive recipients of immigration to our jurisdiction but rather being proactive and deliberate about understanding the skills gaps that our businesses have and helping them fill the gap through such proactive mission,” he said.

Kuffner believes if Manitoba has any edge at such a “competitive” it comes from the fact that it has a slightly different model representing both the economic development side of things and tourism promotion as well. As such it can work with potential job candidates to fill positions and at the same time give people an idea of the quality of life and the kind of attractions they can enjoy in Manitoba.

Kinley said, “What we know from studies that people will chose to live in a city based on quality of life and career opportunities so in addition to the great work tourism does to enable us to sell the city… we are able to speak directly to the job seeker about the key sectors and career opportunities in those sectors.”

Manitoba might have another advantage because of the number of bilingual communities there are in the province in addition to the francophone enclave in St. Boniface.

EDW has a solid partner at Destination Canada Mobility Forum with its emphasis on bilingualism, in the presence of CDEM, the economic development council for Manitoba bilingual municipalities.

Madeleine Arbez, CDEM’s executive director, said it’s so important to attend such an event because of its sheer size.

“We have been attending Destination Canada events for 10 years,” she said. “It is important to be there. You can end up with lots of opportunities.”

And Kinley is glad that she’s there.

“We really believe going to market in partnership,” she said.

After Rabat, Arbez and her staff will travel to the west African country of Cameroon, where CDEM will hold its own recruitment event. It’s part of a pilot project that included a trip to Ivory Coast in August.

Provincial government immigration officials are also a key presence ensuring that successful candidates can feel that the jurisdiction will be supportive.

The province has done well with its international recruiting. Kuffner pointed out that in addition to the skilled workers specifically recruited, their family members also often have something to offer to the workforce.

For instance, the spouse of a software developer recruited from Argentina is now EDW’s director of market intelligence.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca