LOOKING FOR WORK?

Over the next several months, over 500 jobs will need to be filled in Cornwall. When those jobs are filled, new opportunities will be created as people change careers.

Is there a job waiting for you?

AS THE WORLD slowly climbsout of the recession, and economiststake sides on the macro arguments ofwhere the recovery will be brightest, orwhat low-cost country manufacturers willflee to next, the remarkable performanceof the Cornwall economy will likely onceagain be overlooked.

One can’t really blame economists.They’re paid to look at the big picture –but sometimes if all you ever do is lookat the horizon, you miss the scenerythat’s passing by at your feet.

From the perspective of the personscanning the career section of the localnewspapers, it real time job opportunities that take precedence overcrystal balling – and Cornwall’s papershave been full of help wanted adsrecently.

Over the past few years, Cornwall hasemerged as a leading centre in EasternOntario. In 2009, the City issued arecord $190 million worth of buildingpermits, and hundreds of constructionworkers and trades people were busy on

over a dozen major work sites. At the same time, several companiesannounced plans to expand or establishnew operations in Cornwall – resulting inthe creation of over 500 new jobs.

This economic activity is even moreremarkable as it came at a time whenCanada was struggling with rising unemployment and a recessionary economy.

“In comparison to other areas within theprovince, the Drake Cornwall office isseeing far greater growth as the areaappears to be recovering from the downturn at a greater pace,” says Sian Hughes, area manager forDrake International. “Companies as a whole are far more optimistic of theupcoming months and are speaking positively about their continued business growth and the economy in the area as a whole.”

“The future looks very bright forCornwall right now,” says Mayor BobKilger. “We have jobs to fill and buildings to build. People are settling

SCM is Cornwall’slargest private sectoremployer and occupies one of thelargest buildings inOntario.

Alan La BargeSCM

here and there is a strong desire in thecommunity to continue to pursue newgrowth.”

One reason people move to a new community is because of a new job. And at the current time, Cornwall hasavailable jobs. Two new facilities areexpected to open in the summer of2010, and between them, create over300 new jobs.

Shoppers Drug Mart is putting the finishing touches on its new distributioncentre in the Cornwall Business Park.The building is massive (over 550,000sq.ft.) and 130 people will be needed tostaff it. The operation will be run byMatrix Logistics for Shoppers Drug Mart.The jobs are expected to offer a startingsalary of $14 an hour, ranging uptowards $18 an hour.

Matrix is part of the Exel LogisticsGroup, as is SCM, which operates themassive Walmart distribution next doorto the Shoppers site. SCM is also actively hiring as business is extremelybusy due to Walmart’s continuing growthin Canada.

“It is not unusual for us to move500,000 boxes through this facility inone day,” says Alan La Barge, GeneralManager for SCM’s Cornwall distributioncentre. “There is only so much technology can do to improve productivity before it comes right backdown to people. Good workers get thejob done. We are actively recruiting forgood people to add to our team.”

By all accounts working in the logisticsindustry offers great opportunities foradvancement. Mr. La Barge points to aninternal job board with positions inthroughout Canada.

“Logistics is a growing business andExel is a leading company in the sector,” he notes. “We are constantlygrowing and we support our employeeswho may want to build expertise in thesector. The ability to transfer andadvance is always there if you want it.”

Of course, these days, Mr. La Barge ishoping the trend will be for Exel workersto transfer to Cornwall rather than theother way. Especially with the competitive job market in Cornwall.

One of the most anticipated developments will be the opening of thenew Service Canada contact centre inthe Cornwall Business Park. The 33,000sq. ft. single storey office building willhouse 177 bureaucrats who will beanswering close to 1.2 million callsevery year on a wide range of government programs, such as theEmployment Insurance (EI), CanadaPension Plan (CPP), Old Age Security(OAS) and passports.

The Service Canada jobs are well-payingjobs that are expected to attract peoplefrom across the country. The jobs havebeen posted on the Government ofCanada job board site, garnering thousands of responses.

The Service Canada call centre is anindication that Canadians are changinghow they deal with governments andbusinesses. More and more often, people are using the telephone andinternet to research information, solveproblems and carry out transactions.

StarTek has emerged as one ofCornwall’s major employers, and in thefirst quarter of 2010, they announcedthat they would be hiring 200 new callagents by the end of the year. StarTek isan inbound call centre providing technical support to consumers onbehalf of a variety of companies.

“The growth of customer service and

logistics companies diversifiedCornwall’s economy and has helped usweather the storm of the recent recession,” says Mark Boileau, managerof Economic Development for the city ofCornwall. “However we have also seengrowth in our manufacturing sector, at atime when simply maintaining employment levels would have been ahuge accomplishment.”

Local high-tech company SigmaPointhas been able to manage growth byinvesting in new technology and carefully choosing its customers. Thecompany is also expected to earn worldclass certification in Lean manufacturing, a methodology designedto eliminate waste. The company has

The most popular page on the

ChooseCornwall.ca website is a page that links to local

employment opportunities.

Heather JiuJiassays that Olymel will add more positions in 2010.

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__________________________________________________________________________________________ 2010 ♦ Cornwall LIVING 41

survived at a time when Canadian competitors have closed shop.

Canlyte is another good example of a traditional manufacturer thathas used strategic decision-making to pursue new growth. Themaker of fluorescent lighting systems has focused its efforts onenergy efficiency and has consolidated distribution operations inCornwall. As a result, the company has expanded its workforce by10% in the last several months.

Caroline Dexter, Canlyte’s manager of human resources, is a goodfriend of Heather JiuJias, who holds the same position for Olymel,Canada’s leading processor of pork and poultry products.

Olymel has steadily expanded operations at its Cornwall plant, andare currently looking to fill another 30 positions. At a recent jobfair, Olymel was encouraged by receiving 317 résumés.

“It is a competitive job market in Cornwall right now as the unemployment rate is below the provincial and national levels,” saysMs. JiuJias. “Many of the local HR professionals know each other,and it seems that many of our companies are doing well at the sametime so that puts a little bit more pressure on recruitment efforts.”

There are more than just manufacturing, logistics and call centrejobs available in Cornwall. The aforementioned job fair was attendedby over 25 local companies offering jobs across a wide variety ofsectors, including film/tv production, engineering and health care.

“Cornwall is a great place to live and right now there are some greatjob opportunities in the City,” confirms Mr. La Barge. “At SCM wework together with our employees to make the facility a positiveplace to be. We involve them in decision making and I think that ifa worker feels valued, then they are more likely to be happy. And ahappy employee is a productive employee.”

SigmaPointTechnologies

SigmaPoint continues to grow and hire new

employees, increasing itsworkforce to 285 from 210

just four years ago.

Caroline DexterCanlyte is expanding its

Cornwall operations.

CL

After 6 years with theBenson Organization, wherehe was the HumanResources Manager, Denis Lapierre is helpinglocal companies and job-seekers connect.TheTalentScout.ca waslaunched in early 2010, andis already proving to be a popular online destination.

How long have you beeninvolved in the humanresources field?

I started working as a placementofficer in Cornwall with the FuturesProgram and the Youth EmploymentCounselling Centre in 1991. I’vebeen involved in employment services and human resources ever since.

Do you think the City haschanged in the last 10 years?

The city has changed a lot overthe last 10 years. We’ve made manypositive changes and I think thatwe’re no longer just a mill town.While it’s true that we suffered manyjob losses in the early 1990s, wehave managed to replace those jobswith opportunities in new industriessuch as technology, food processing, customer service and logistics.

I think that the city, in partnership with groups like theChamber of Commerce and TeamCornwall, have done an excellent jobat promoting “the new Cornwall.”

I honestly believe that we’vebecome a city of opportunity.

How would you describeCornwall's current employment situation?

Cornwall’s job market is very competitive at the moment and Idon’t see that changing any timesoon. The unemployment rate is low,which means that local employershave to work harder to attract talent-ed employees. Once an employeradds a new member to their team,they also need to work harder tokeep them.

Those looking for work in theCornwall area also have to realizehow competitive the local job

An interview with Denis Lapierre ofTheTalentScout.camarket is. They need to become goodsalespeople and learn how to markettheir skills and experience effectively,in order to land that next great job.

What are the three most common mistakes peoplemake when applying for ajob?

The most common mistake that job-seekers make is having spellingerrors on their résumé. There really isno excuse for that… ask a friend toproofread it for you.

Worse yet, is getting a résumé thathas hand-written information on it.These résumés usually make their waydirectly to my shredder.

Job-seekers often don’t do enoughresearch on the companies they applyto. With the amount of informationavailable on the internet, particularlyon company websites, there is no reason for someone to show up to an interview unprepared; with no knowledge about the prospectiveemployer’s business.

Has the internet affected the way companies advertisejobs and how people search for jobs?

The internet has opened up a wholenew world of opportunities for companiesto advertise their job opportunities – andfor people to find them. ▼

44 Cornwall LIVING ♦ 2010 __________________________________________________________________________________________

CL

Websites that collect job listings(often referred to as online job boards)allow for postings to be publishedalmost instantaneously and postingsremain visible for longer periods oftime. Postings are available to anybodywith a connection, 24/7.

In contrast, print ads usually onlyappear once to limited audiences andtherefore are effective for a muchshorter window of time.

Online job postings are not usually restricted to the number oflines of print, so companies can takeadvantage of more detailed or moredescriptive job postings. Technologyalso allows employers the opportunityto create their own job board on theircorporate website.

The internet can also help people discover employment opportunities and make their résuméwork harder for them. Job-seekers canpost their résumé online with many ofthe larger internet job boards orrésumé hosting web sites. The internetalso offers a lot of excellent tips on how to organize your job-huntingstrategies, and how to write and format a good quality résumé.

Why did you decide to startTheTalentScout.ca?

Today, more than half of the job-seekers in Canada believe thatsearching online is the best way tofind a new job. Yet there was no online tool that catered specifically to the job market in Cornwall and the surrounding area, and the only budget-friendly job board that localemployers could use offered limitedfunctionality.

I made it my mission to create anaffordable, easy-to-use job board thatwould connect Cornwall and areaemployers with local job-seekers, andadvertise job opportunities that wereexclusive to the Cornwall area.

TheTalentScout.ca offers localemployers the opportunity to promote their “brand” to prospective employees. They have the opportunity to include their companylogo in their ads and to sell their company as an employer of choice.They are encouraged to use attractivegraphics, use colour and to use asmany words as necessary to describetheir opportunity.

I believe that these features will allow local employers to properly promote their job opportunities to talented employees in Cornwall and S.D. & G. – and beyond.

What does the future hold for local recruitment efforts?

Attracting talented employees isbecoming more and more difficult forlocal employers, and I believe thatthey need to do a better job with theirrecruitment advertising. I think that they need to apply thesame principles and the sameapproach in their recruitment ads, asthey would use to entice their customers to purchase their products or services.

Cornwall is growing and we havesome really good companies here, run by some excellent people. Yet we need to work together to attractnew people to live in the City and work for our companies.

You can learn more about Denis’efforts at TheTalentScout.ca.

 

 

Thisarticlehasbeenreprintedfromthe2010editionoftheCornwallLivingmagazine.ThemagazineispublishedannuallybytheSeawayNews.

YoucanorderyourfreecopyofthecurrentversionofthemagazineviatheChooseCornwall.cawebsite.