Dear Working Wise:
I run a fabrication shop and I constantly struggle to find and keep good people. Are there any programs available to help small business owners? Singed, Frustrated Fabricator
Dear Frustrated:
Alberta’s labour market has improved significantly over the past year.
We had the strongest employment growth in the country at 4.2 per cent—more than triple the national average—and gained 86,000 jobs.
Alberta now has the third-lowest unemployment rate in the country and we have regained all of the jobs we lost in 2009, plus more.
While this is all good news for job seekers, the ongoing challenge of attracting, training and retaining staff in a competitive labour market can be exhausting for weary managers.
And the staffing challenge is only expected to get tougher as waves of our most experienced workers begin to retire.
Fortunately, there are a number of free and low-cost services available to help Alberta employers.
Try posting a free job ad on the Canada-Alberta Job Bank web site www.jobbank.gc.ca.
Take advantage of free local job fairs or Employer Connections events. Employer Connections events are mini job fairs that allow you to profile your business and job opportunities to local career counsellors and job seekers http://employment.alberta.ca/jobfairs.
Check out the staff attraction and retention tips in the Employer Tool Kit http://employment.alberta.ca/etoolkit.
Post a free job ad or find out about upcoming job fairs and staff-recruitment workshops for employers on local social media channels, including:
Calgary: http://twitter.com/@CalgaryJobFeed
Red Deer: www.facebook.com/CentralAlbertaJobs
Fort McMurray: www.facebook.com/fortmcmurrayjobs
Lethbridge: www.facebook.com/Lethbridgejobs
Or get in touch with your local Business and Industry Liaison. Alberta Employment and Immigration has Business and Industry Liaison staff who specialize in helping employers tackle staffing challenges and navigate all of the available employer services.
A Business and Industry Liaison can help by:
· Providing information on how you can tap into hidden labour pools;
· Offering helpful publications full of staff attraction and retention tips;
· Informing you of upcoming low-cost staff recruitment best practice workshops;
· Guiding you toward useful statistics like wage surveys and labour market forecasts;
· Explaining how the Disability Related Employment Supports program helps employers hire and retain employees with disabilities; and
· Introducing you to programs that allow you to hire foreign workers if you can not find any staff locally.
Get in touch with your local Business and Industry Liaison today and put their expertise to work for you.
Call your nearest Alberta Works Office and ask to speak to a Business and Industry Liaison. You can find the Alberta Works Office nearest you by clicking on http://employment.alberta.ca/offices or by calling 310-0000.
You can also learn more about all of the available free and low-cost employer services by visiting http://employment.alberta.ca, clicking on the Business & Industry tab, and checking out the Building Alberta’s Workforce video.
Good luck!
Do you have a work-related question? Send your questions to Working Wise, at charles.strachey@gov.ab.ca. Charles Strachey is a regional manager with Alberta Employment and Immigration. This column is provided for general information.
