Source: BC Labour Market Report.

New poll suggests employers are looking at 'attitude' now more than ever
Editorial by Christian Saint Cyr

The common complaint among job seekers is often that employers will not give them a fair chance and that they are entirely fixated on specific experience and education. An astonishing new poll by Accounttemps suggests that this is not the case and that the current labour market is bringing employers around on transferable skills.

The poll profiles the opinions of 270 chief financial officers (CFOs) in 2004 against their responses in 2009. Astonishingly, in 2004 just 1% of employers ranked personality and people skills as their primary consideration when hiring new employees. According to this year’s survey, 34% of employers consider this a predominant factor.

Competition is beginning to take its toll on employers and this shift is reflective of the fact that disgruntled employees are typically unproductive, can lose customers and will poorly impact staff morale. In many communities, I’ve noted that employers will simply not hire rather than hire someone who is a bad fit for their organization.

This new focus on personality is further illustrated when we look at expectations around technical skills. In 2004, 55% of employers were looking for industry-specific experience. In 2009, only 28% of employers rated this is a primary consideration.

This is not to say that employers can overlook the necessity of specific skills and experience, but it clearly illustrates that employers are becoming more flexible. In 2004, 24% of employers were concerned about software and/or technical knowledge and this year it is only a concern among 19% of employers; and yet our workplaces are so much more technologically oriented today.

While I recognize that many employers will not adopt this new attitude, these are the opinions of 270 of Canada’s leading recruiters. Suddenly, if you have a positive attitude and a sincere desire to work positively with others, it can mean a great deal more than the accolades detailed in your resume. Good labour market news, in my opinion.
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BC leads the country in construction job growth

For the second consecutive month, employment in Canada’s construction sector has increased. During the month of September, employment in this sector grew by 31,000 people and the largest portion of this growth was in full-time positions. This 2.2% growth was in addition to the 1.1% growth which occurred in August, bringing to 1.166 million the number of construction workers in the country.

When specific provinces are examined, the greatest growth occurred in British Columbia, where 14,000 new construction jobs were created. This represents nearly half of the total job creation which occurred in construction across the country.

Interestingly, while construction employment in the Lower Mainland itself increased throughout the summer, in September employment in the region actually fell, meaning that the majority of the new construction employment occurred on Vancouver Island and in the Interior. During the month construction employment in the Lower Mainland fell by 3,600, leaving 116,200 workers in construction.

Construction also appears to be leading the country in new job growth. The only industry to come close to positing similar numbers is manufacturing which created 26,000 new jobs during the month of September. This job growth offset the massive job loss that has occurred in manufacturing since October 2008.

While both construction and manufacturing have lost significant numbers of jobs since October of last year, construction only fell by 8.4%, while manufacturing declined by 10.6%.

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