In just twelve days, Prince Rupert will go on a charm offensive, taking our stories, our natural beauty and our opportunities to a wide audience, that as a group of local stakeholders launch an Internet recruitment program called Make Prince Rupert Home.
The Labour Recruitment Program to be unveiled February 16th features the participation of the City of Prince Rupert, Community Futures of the Pacific Northwest and the Port of Prince Rupert along with its parters at DP World, Ridley Terminals and RayMont Logistics.
The new web based initiative will showcase an online portal that features short videos of what Prince Rupert has to offer in the way of social amenities and other information on living on the North Coast.
As well it will feature a dedicated section towards job opportunities that are available and will be available as port expansion continues forward expanding the economy of the region.
The program comes out of a foundation put in place during the Redesign Rupert initiative, when the concerns over labour recruitment and retention first become a prevalent theme for the community.
In late 2019 Redesign Rupert released a study that identified some of the key findings into the need to expand on the city's labour pool as major development moved forward.
Building on that report and other work done previous, the new stakeholders created this new online engagement project.
The Make Prince Rupert Home program has four key elements:
It is designed to combat perceptions of Prince Rupert Being too remote and having limited services.
Promote Key Jobs Highlighted by Employers
Target Potential Employees in Communities across Northern and Interior BC and Western Canada
Communicate with potential employees regarding Questions and Concerns
Monika Côté, Manager of Corporate Communications for the Prime Rupert Port Authority outlined some of the focus for the new program and what the community partners and stakeholders are looking to see achieved from the efforts.
In an update for the NCR, Ms. Côté noted that PRPA had partnered with the City of Prince Rupert, Community Futures of the Pacific Northwest, and other port partners including DP World, Ridley Terminals Inc., and Ray-Mont Logistics to support various Redesign Rupert initiatives, such as a labour market study, recruitment campaign, and the Prince Rupert 2030 Vision.
Throughout the Redesign community engagement process, there were consistent concerns raised by employers of the need to recruit and retain labour. This labour shortage issue continues to be a shared concern by Port and local employers, which is why attracting and retaining human capital became a pillar of Redesign.
The Make Prince Rupert Home Labour Recruitment Program was developed to support all local employers who were looking for a collaborated community-based labour recruitment program that is designed too:
1. Combat perceptions of Prince Rupert being too remote and having limited services, and
2. Promote key jobs highlighted by employers to targeted communities across Western Canada.
As she observes a lot of the preliminary work towards the soon to be launched program came from the work of the Redesign Rupert initiative of a few years back and how the arrival of COVID delayed the original start date, with the port not taking on the challenge of moving the program forward.
Redesign Rupert did most of the legwork to develop the program, brand and related website and marketing assets in 2019. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted launch plans even though the apparent need for labour continues.
PRPA has volunteered to pick up the initiative and run it on behalf of the community. The initiative will stand alone as a community-based program – it will not be identified as a PRPA or port initiative – and any employer in the Prince Rupert/Port Edward area can participate without charge.
As to how the program will look, Ms. Côté offers up a glimpse towards what the stakeholders are looking to provide in the way of information, as well as their plans for updating data regularly to ensure that employers and potential employees can connect.
The promotional plan is focused on digital marketing to help drive potential employees to the program website, where employers interested in participating will connect with potential employees interested in their job postings.
Digital focus will also allow PRPA to amend digital tactics throughout marketing campaigns based on consistent analytical updates that PRPA will share with employers. PRPA is currently engaging with local employers to initiate participation, provide feedback on the website content, and communicate what we are going to need from them.
Success will be based on a collaborative approach of all employers participating and promoting their jobs on the website. PRPA is looking to launch the marketing campaign by mid-February for three months and again after some adaptions based on campaign analytics and employer feedback. This labour recruitment program is designed to promote Prince Rupert and Port Edward and connect job opportunities with potential employees.
The program is not one designed to replace any local organization's own labour recruitment work and as the Port official notes it will also make for a valuable resource for local residents to explore the job market.
As well it is not intended to be a substitute for an employer’s ongoing human resource efforts but rather enhance efforts to reach and attract potential employees.
One important side note that Ms. Côté observe on is that while the site is targeted at outside recruitment, it will also be a resource for local residents as an aggregator of local job opportunities and should be a complement to other digital employment services, local newspaper, and traditional job posting locations.
Local industrial groups and business owners had a chance to preview what Make Prince Rupert Home could offer them with an online webinar in January, Chamber of Commerce Janet Song provided a thumbnail sketch towards how that session went.
Noting that 60 attendees participated in the January event.
Among some of the questions and observations that they had were:
Reason of launch despite housing issues: we need skilled labour now, and there are city incentives in the works to ensure development process is done
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