City launches campaign to hire 640

[K9kazoo]

City launches campaign to hire 640

Colette Derworiz

Calgary Herald

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

The City of Calgary is launching an aggressive recruitment campaign - at a cost of $1.5 milion over two years - to hire at least 640 employees, including transit drivers, trades workers and emergency staff.

The campaign, titled Working for the City works' for Me, will first focus on Calgary's highly competitive labour market.

"We need people, we are a very labour intensive organization," said George McLauchlan, the city's director of human resources. "We're growing, we're losing people at rates higher than before, primarily driven by the competitive labour market and the demographics."

Up to 40 per cent of the 13,000 city employees will be eligible for retirement in the next five years, McLauchlan said.

In addition, the city is looking to hire up to 640 positions in 2007-08.

The campaign will include ads on city buses and in transit stations, as well as in newspapers and magazines. It will also include public events and job fairs both in Calgary and in other cities.

mailto:cderworiz@theherald.canwest.com

[K9kazoo]

City spending $1.5M to lure staff

Ad campaign under fire from unions

Colette Derworiz

Calgary Herald

Thursday, June 21, 2007

The City of Calgary is betting on a $1.5-million advertising campaign to help recruit 640 new municipal workers.

The city is seeking transit drivers, trades and emergency services personnel.

But the campaign, launched Wednesday, is coming under fire from some of the unions representing city employees, who say the endeavour is a waste of money.

"They should put it toward increasing wages," said Kevin Galley, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 37, which represents outside workers such as trash collectors, road crews and maintenance staff.

Civic officials said the ad campaign -- which works out to $2,343 for each of the 640 positions -- is necessary due to a highly competitive labour market and a growing number of retirements.

The city lost more than 1,000 employees last year -- an attrition rate of about eight per cent, up from six per cent in 2005 and five per cent in 2004.

"We're losing people at rates higher than before," said George McLauchlan, the city's director of human resources. "We need to get noticed in the marketplace."

But he said working for the city is "not about money and it's not about prestige."

So the campaign, titled Working for the City 'works' for Me, will focus on why current employees chose to work for the City of Calgary.

There are about 13,000 municipal employees.

Lubna Saleem, who works in the city's finance department, said the city offers both opportunity and variety. Another employee featured in the ad campaign, Ryan Murray, said the regular hours offer a good work-life balance. Both suggested they liked the public-service aspect of working for the city.

Galley said the lack of affordable housing or available rental units in Calgary is going to make it difficult to recruit workers from other provinces.

His counterpart at CUPE Local 38, which represents 3,000 professional, clerical and technical staff at City Hall, agreed.

"Most people are aware of the housing prices in Calgary and aren't apt to move here unless they have someone to live with," said Peter Marsden.

"So maybe the issue is: If I live with mommy and daddy, the city works for me, and if I own a house here, the city works for me. But if I am coming here, it doesn't."

The campaign, which will include ads on city buses and in newspapers, will first focus on recruiting Calgarians who are looking to change careers.

It will also include job fairs in Calgary and other cities across the country.

mailto:cderworiz@theherald.canwest.com

Some of the Jobs the City Is Filling

IT senior programmer/analyst $34.51-41.98/hr

Journeyman 1

heavy duty mechanic

$28.49-31.89/hr

Planning technician

$26.51-35.44/hr

Web editor $22.05-29.49/hr

Skating/hockey instructor

$17-22/hr

Playschool Instructor

Level 1 $10-$12/hr

Level 2 $12-14/hr

[akroeze]

Let me know when it becomes cost effective to go work EMS in Calgary and I'll seriously consider doing it.