“It was a particularly exciting year,”
Gabriel Bouchard, President of Workopolis
Despite the consequences of the economic crisis, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia succeeded in creating jobs over the past year. What does 2010 hold in store in this regard? Which sectors will be in demand? Workopolis President Gabriel Bouchard takes stock of the situation.
How do you account for recruiting via Workopolis not going down despite the crisis?
It’s an economic slowdown different that what we have experienced in the past. Yes, there have been a lot of job losses in forestry and manufacturing, but the recession also hid a shortage in other sectors. Some people have said that it was the worst crisis since the 1930s, but at that time, the unemployment rate was 12%, while last year, it never went above 8%. It may have looked like it was the end of the world for workers, but this definitely wasn’t the case across the board.
Now that the economic recovery is under way, which fields are in the highest demand?
There are big shortages in skilled trades. It is often thought that the most in-demand jobs require a university degree. In fact, there will be many administrative support positions to be filled. Worker retirements will hit this sector hard, along with accounting. With the economy picking up, we will also see a lot of postings for truckers and all kinds of transportation jobs. All the new infrastructure investments are also creating a high demand for civil engineers. Finally, many senior managers will be retiring, which will lead to good opportunities for younger people.
According to the Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey, Alberta has lost its title as the top-recruiting province. Why is that?
The recruiting activity we recorded for this province was down 5% last year. Their economy is not very diversified and natural resources have taken a beating recently. In comparison, Quebec was the most spared by the crisis since its economy is more varied. But as soon as gas prices start to go up, investment will come back to Alberta. In addition, many people have retired since the beginning of the slowdown, so the shortage in the natural resources sector will soon be significant.
How did Canadians react during the crisis?
The big difference between 2009 and previous years is that many Canadians preferred to wait for the end of the recession before changing jobs. They were passive job hunters who studied all the available ads while enjoying a secure income. Companies who worked on their brand image during the slowdown are more likely to attract these candidates, who are now ready to switch employers. In fact, we noticed a lot of traffic on our site in January
You took the helm of Workopolis at the peak of the crisis, in fall 2008. How would you describe this first year?
It was a particularly exciting year. We beat the market by gaining additional market share. Our owners made the decision to invest despite the recession, and we now have 40 more employees, proving that our objectives are long term. The market will soon start to see the results of our investments.
What are Workopolis’s future projects?
We will be making the official announcement in May, but I can tell you that we will be offering employers and candidates a service proposition that does not yet exist in our field. We will be helping them promote themselves to an even greater extent. We’re a bit like a dating site; we want to make bringing together companies and job hunters even easier. The needs to be met in this sector continue to be enormous.
Will online recruiting play a greater role in finding the perfect job in the next decade?
Absolutely. We are heading towards a market increasingly slanted towards qualified candidates. As I was saying, many people are shopping for a job while continuing to work. They are increasingly selective because they know the needs in their sector. They have access to a ton of information with the Internet. Few employers are successful at crafting a message for these candidates. Everyone would like to hire them, but companies have a hard time reaching them. Our job is to help employers promote themselves and improve their image.
How do you compete against social networks like Facebook and Twitter, which are featuring more and more job ads?
We have chosen to include these sites in our solutions rather than fight them. We show employers how to use these networks effectively. Because you can find someone on Twitter, but finding 100 or 200 people in a short period of time is much harder! Finding a large number of qualified people in a short timeframe is a gruelling task that companies don’t have time for. That’s where Workopolis comes in—it’s our added value.
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Gabriel Bouchard’s career path
– Bachelor’s degree in business administration from UQAM
– Vice-President of Marketing at TMP Worldwide
– Division head for advertising and promotion at Radio-Québec
– Founder of Monster.ca, where he worked for 14 years
– President of Workopolis since April 2009