Toronto Labour Market News Update -- May 2012

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Welcome to a NEW Career Voice blog feature!

At the end of every month, I will provide an update of labour market activity in the previous month in the Toronto region, drawn from government, news reports and other resources.

Working from the federal government’s Skills Development, Training and Employment Supports Department‘s monthly Toronto Labour Market Monitor (LMM) report, I will share information about new projects and initiatives which may be sources of jobs in the city and its surrounding areas. In addition, I will add tips for job seekers, to guide the process of finding the jobs and applying to them.

The purpose of this update is to give job seekers, as well as employment professionals, an easy to read update on important labour events in the region, with a specific focus on employment. Job searchers might find this useful to help them target potential employers, as well as decide on a career goal, based on trends identified in the report.

The recent edition of the Toronto Labour Market Monitor (LMM) included the following labour market news for May 2012:

UTILITIES

Reflecting growth in the local energy generation sector, The York Energy Centre (YEC) began operating a new large electrical generation facility in May 2012, based in King Township in York Region.

Tips for job seekers:

This government-private sector partnership between Veresen Inc and the Ontario Power Authority has the potential to generate jobs in the energy sector in a range of fields such as Project Managers, Engineers and a range of associated occupations such as Accounting and IT.

• Veresen Inc, an Alberta-based company, hires directly from their website — you can check out their jobs here (there are a number in Ontario as well).

• The Ontario Power Authority hire via Workopolis’ Niche site, though much of their recruiting seems to be directly from Colleges and Universities, targeting new graduates (as this article in their February 2012 newsletter describes, Hydro One trains and recruits students from Community College Electrical Engineering courses).

CONSTRUCTION

Construction continues to create employment, with jobs coming from road and bridge-building, as well as retail projects. New home sales, though still strong, are reported by LMM as decreasing by 8.5% compared to the same period in 2011.

A $1B project to extend Highway 407, starting Fall 2012 and continuing to late 2015, which is expected to generate 900 jobs.

Tips for job seekers:

This project is a partnership between the Canadian SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. and Spanish Cintra Infraestructuras S.A.

• SNC-Lavalin Group Inc hire from their online recruiting site. They hire for a range of fields, including administration, procurement,finance, management, engineering, human resources, and information technology

• 407 ETR hire via Workpolis and their site

The Province of Ontario funded $2.4B roads and bridges projects, which may create as much as 7,500 jobs in Central Ontario.

Tips for job seekers:

Check the Ontario government’s Ministry of Transportation’s Engineering Development Program for recent Engineering University graduates, as well as the recruiting site for the Ontario government’s jobs.

In Richmond Hill, construction continues on the Oak Ridges Community Centre and Waterpark (expected completion date is 2014) by the Town of Richmond Hill. The Community Centre opened in May.

Tips for job seekers:

The Town of Richmond Hill recruits online here. Note that you can login to their site via LinkedIn or Facebook.

Retail companies are building, including Bulk Barn Foods Limited, who is relocating its headquarters and warehouse to Aurora, to be opened in 2013. Vaughan Mills Shopping Centre is adding a LEGOLAND Discovery Centre, to open in 2013.

Tips for job seekers:

Bulk Barn is a Richmond Hill based company, whose jobs can be found on their website. For construction positions, make sure to search through the Corporate Office rather Retail positions

Merlin Entertainments Group Limited is a multinational company which is building the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre in Vaughan Mills. They are presently not hiring for related positions on their website, but it may be worth watching the Vaughan Mills Shopping Centre site for positions (though those are mostly retail) and the site of the owner of Vaughan Mills, Montreal-based Ivanhoe Cambridge

RETAIL

Retail jobs continue to produce mixed results, with some areas doing better than others.  Price Chopper, a discount grocery chain owned by Sobeys Inc., has closed a store in Newmarket, relocating some of the affected 50 employees to other stores in the Sobeys network.

Rogers Communications Inc. opened a new concept retail store, in down town Toronto (Yonge and Bloor)

Tips for job seekers:

Rogers hires via their website. It is well worth targeting individual stores, as well — you should consider walking in with a resume (dressed appropriately) — you might be sent to the website to apply, but you’ll gain some tips about jobs and possibly more.  (A note of caution: this market is also affecting the large employers — in June, Rogers announced 375 job cuts.)

Linen Chest Inc., a Montreal-based home décor company, will open a new store in east Toronto (Leaside Village, on 93 Laird, near Eglinton) in the summer of 2012.

Tips for job seekers:

Linen Chest also hires via their website. It will also be worth visiting the new store with your resume in hand. Sometimes, if you visit the site where the store is being built, you might find job details posted on the entrance to the store.

Ann Taylor, a US-based clothing retailer, will open two stores in Toronto in the fall of 2012, one at the Eaton Centre and the other has been speculated as being Yorkdale mall.

Tips for job seekers:

Job postings for the new stores have been spotted the on LinkedIn.  My suggestion: get on LinkedIn (if you haven’t already), and follow ANN INC.

REAL ESTATE, RENTAL and LEASING

Sales of existing homes in Toronto continues to be very strong, with LMM describing an almost 18% increase over the year since April 2011.

Tips for job seekers:

These strong numbers presents continuing opportunities for employment in this field, such as Real Estate Sales and Rental / Leasing Agent work. Administrative jobs in these sectors with titles such as Lease Administrative Assistant, Property Manager and Bookkeepers are also advertised in various sites (for example, if you enter “leasing” and “Toronto” into Simplyhired.ca you will find a good listing of such jobs.)

HEALTH CARE and SOCIAL ASSISTANCE

LMM report that in 2012 the Government of Ontario plans to create over 900 new nursing jobs in province-wide, in a range of settings such as “home and community care, primary health care, hospitals, long-term care homes and mental health care programs in schools”.

Tips for job seekers:

Runnymede Healthcare Centre posts jobs on its website. Presently, besides the usual Nursing positions, the hospital is also hiring Physiotherapists, a Patient Care Manager, a Financial Analyst, and a Building Operator.

In May, the IMPACT 2012 Annual Conference was held by American Academy of Physician Assistants at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. LMM notes that “The event attracted nearly 4,000 physician assistants and is expected to have contributed $10M to the local economy”.

Tips for job seekers:

The hospitality and conference sector is a strong aspect of our city economy, and it does attract employment. Try searching for keywords such as “convention” and “conference” in a vertical job board such as SimplyHired.ca. You can set up a Job Alert that will notify you by email, whenever a suitable job is posted. Also, HCareers.ca is a good website for jobs in the hospitality sector.

A NOTE of CAUTION:

Readers should keep in mind that this information captures a moment in time and does not necessarily reflect ongoing trends. Sudden events or changes can impact on this data quickly.  At the end of the Labour Market Monitor report, the following caution is offered:

“Note: In preparing this document, the authors have taken care to provide clients with labour market information that is timely and accurate at the time of publication. Since labour market conditions are dynamic, some of the information presented here may have changed since this document was published. Users are encouraged to also refer to other sources for additional information on the local economy and labour market.”

‘For information on the Labour Force Survey, please visit the Statistics Canada Web site at:

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/lfss05d-eng.htm“

I hope you find this new initiative useful for your job search. Any feedback regarding whether (or how) the tips and information might have been useful in your job search would be appreciated.