How Local Employers can help Grow the Workforce

Much of my time and attention in the weeks following the National Job Fair in Toronto has been spent communicating with some of the more eager job seekers we met at the Fair. These are the folks who either a) grabbed my card and actually bothered to follow-up or b) stayed in touch after receiving their chosen job postings via email. There’s a quality that all of these people share – they are all keenly interested in pursuing relocation to Saint John.

Another commonality is that they all seem to be very aware of the possibility of being disadvantaged in a job competition due to the fact that they aren’t living in Saint John. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been asked, “Will I even get an interview if I’m not there?”

So here’s where Saint John Community employers can help grow our workforce (and help me to answer “yes” to that question in the future):

• If you aren’t already, open up to the idea of virtual hiring – get professional advice regarding screening techniques if necessary (there’s tonnes of free info on the internet of course);
• Be comfortable with the idea of telephone interviews. You may have to work a bit harder in order to qualify people because you lose some non-verbal communication, but the long-term results could be worth it;
• Investigate web conferencing and other technologies that incorporate video into your communication. Heck anyone with a $15 webcam and a free MSN Messenger account can do it!
• Think about allowing candidates to share documentation with you via email, FTP, etc. that will support their applications. For example, if you’re hiring a finish carpenter and generally prefer to see the persons work in person (but in this case can’t), allow that person to take photos of a previous project or submit letters of reference from past clients;
• If you still feel uncomfortable screening long-distance candidates yourself engage a hiring agency.