Skilled Labour Jobs available

Orillia Packet and Times

There’s been a spike in demand for skilled labourers in the Orillia area in recent months, says Dan Landry, the city’s manger of economic development.

“Skilled labour and labour in general, is an ongoing issue,” said Landry, who has seen an increase in the number of calls the department has been receiving since late 2012 from companies looking to fill industry-type jobs from machinists to engineers, draftspeople to technicians.

Employees who have worked in the roles locally for the past 25 to 30 years are getting ready to retire and coupled with the expansion of businesses like Kubota Metal Corporation and CCI Thermal Technologies Inc., the need for labourers with specialized training is as high as ever, he said.

Its expected that 40 to 100 jobs will be created by Kubota and CCI alone.

“I’ve been in Orillia for 30-plus years and that’s always been a large part of the knock that people have on the community, that there aren’t the good paying, skilled jobs,” Landry said.

Since 2010, there have been at least 1,000 to 1,200 jobs either created or regained through business expansions or startups.

While the economic development department’s focus is fostering the climate for growth in the city, it includes ensuring “employers have people with the right skills so that they aren’t short staffed,” Landry said.

Orillia participates in a regional economic development table throughout Simcoe County every month.

“What we’re finding at those get-togethers is it’s a common issue,” he said of the demand for skilled labourers. “We’ve been working together on some strategies that we’re hoping to be able to push through on getting the word out to people who are living in the region ... that some of these skilled positions are available right in their own backyard.”

Northern Lights, an Orillia-based employment centre, and the Georgian College’s Centre of Employment and Career Services work to connect job-seekers with employers on a regular basis.

“There’s certainly more of an emphasis, from their standpoint, on the matchmaking,” Landry said.

“Any time you have an opportunity to make it more relationship-based as opposed to just a number or a pure application process, it’s probably going to be more refined and more successful.”

Northern Lights, the Georgian College Centre for Employment and Career Services and the City of Orillia, in partnership with a number of community organizations and businesses, will be hosting a job fair March 5 at the Orillia Square mall from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

“We have an opportunity to step up and help bring more partners to the table,” Landry said of the city’s involvement.

“It makes sense for people in the employment industry to be doing an outreach with businesses and getting to know what their needs are so when potential candidates come along, you have a better idea of whether there’s a match there instead of sending them unqualified candidates.”