The City's economic development officer made good on a promise to provide local businesses with data collected at Toronto's National Job Fair and Training Expo a couple of weeks ago.
At a Chamber of Commerce luncheon April 23, Faisal Anwar, along with City communications director Roy Lanaway, outlined the efforts and results in a presentation to business leaders.
They also distributed USB cards to those present containing all the promotional materials they used in trying to attract people from Canada's biggest city to Yorkton, as well as, the names and contact information of 156 people who said they would be willing to relocate to Yorkton to find employment and agreed to shave their information shared with local employers.
Of these, Anwar told the Chamber members, 77 per cent are already qualified to work in Canada (citizens and permanent residents), eliminating illegal barriers to hiring.
The online survey the City used to collect the data, also included factors the prospective employees would consider in making a decision whether to take a job in Yorkton. These included salary (24 per cent), community size and amenities (10 per cent), spousal job prospects (9 per cent), recreational opportunities (9 per cent), schooling for children (8 per cent), health services (13 per cent) and quality of life (23 per cent).
The biggest barrier respondents identified was a lack of knowledge about Yorkton. The City countered this with a slick full-colour package of information, which Lanaway encouraged all local businesses to use in their own recruiting efforts.
Anwar said the next step is getting local employers to contact the people on the list. He encouraged those present to do that and share the information with their colleagues.
Juanita Polegi, executive director of the Chamber, said the same package attendees of the lunch received will be posted on the Chamber's website for members who were not there.
