18 minute read
Making it in Manufacturing & Ottawa Employment Hub
Times May be Tough, but Many Eastern Ontario Manufacturers are Hiring
BY FRANK ARMSTRONG
When the pandemic hit Ontario hard in March, it hit Ross Video’s manufacturing division, too.
Founded in 1974, the Iroquois, Ontario, live production solutions company had experienced growth for 28 consecutive years, but that continuous growth was suddenly threatened when its core sports broadcast services division was faced with an all-out ban on fan attendance at sporting events.
What did Ross Video do?
“We evolved our technology and services to adjust to broadcast live sporting events in the absence of fans being present,” says Cathy McCallion, Ross Video’s recruitment and community relations manager.
In other words, Ross Video created a solution that includes a combination of physical devices in its control room that can be controlled remotely while minimizing the number of people required to be on-site and keeping all operators safely physically distanced.
The move paid off. Ross Video is now planning to hire another 20 people in the manufacturing department over the next year and is planning to build a 55,000 square foot addition to its already 70,000 square foot. manufacturing facility. Overall, Ross Video is planning to hire close to 200 people throughout the different departments over the next year.
Ross Video is just one of many Eastern Ontario manufacturers that are thriving, growing, and planning to hire more people in the midst of one of the most challenging economic times in recent history. It seems no matter whom you talk to, there are plenty of well-paying, exciting career opportunities to be had in this region’s manufacturing sector.
It’s an employee-driven market
Steve Holmgren, Eastern Ontario field services advisor for the Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium, says many Canadian companies have adapted and evolved their businesses, like Ross Video, to continue to successfully compete in the global economy.
“It’s an employee-driven labour
PHOTO COURTESY OF ROSS VIDEO
STEVE HOLMGREN, EASTERN ONTARIO FIELD SERVICES ADVISOR, EXCELLENCE IN MANUFACTURING CONSORTIUM
market right now, especially in manufacturing,” says Holmgren. “The potential for employment and for professional development is alive and well in the industry.”
Indeed, according to the September 2020 Ottawa Employment Hub Labour Market Navigator report, the number of manufacturing job ads grew between July and August—despite the pandemic.
Nonetheless, Holmgren says, many job seekers aren’t aware that there are excellent opportunities in manufacturing because the manufacturing sector, in the Ottawa area at least, tends to be overshadowed by tech and federal government employers.
People also don’t realize that manufacturing jobs aren’t just on assembly lines and can be in accounting, computer engineering, software engineering and design and human resources.
“It’s not only the grease and grime of what you might think it to be, although there is some of that,” Holmgren says.
Essential services manufacturing strong
In general, essential services manufacturers—such as medical and electronic components makers—are seeing the strongest growth in Eastern Ontario, where more than 2,100 manufacturers of all sizes reside.
Holmgren says he is seeing the biggest demand for people in the skilled trades, particularly for electricians, who can
Making it in Manufacturing Resource Network
The Making it in Manufacturing (MIIM) Resource Network helps manufacturers to market their business, connect with potential hires, and tap into other supports for free. In the fall 2020, these include the following services: • Hosting a booth at a virtual career fair in early October • Showcasing companies in a manufacturing magazine (you are reading it!) • Accessing hiring support through employment service providers to fill open positions • Using MIIM’s expertise to analyze labour market information
The MIIM project is funded by the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development, and delivered by the Ottawa Employment Hub at the Algonquin College.
History:
The Ottawa Chamber of Commerce and the West Ottawa Board of Trade established a Manufacturing Subcommittee in 2017. A manufacturing summit was held, and it confirmed that there is a need to increase awareness of the opportunities within the local manufacturing sector. The committee focused on topics such as how to increase awareness, how to attract and retain talent, and how manufacturers could better connect with each other. The chambers amalgamated to become the Ottawa Board of Trade in 2018, and the Ottawa Employment Hub became a key member of the committee. Another summit was organized in 2018, and there was a strong recommendation to do more. The first STUFF magazine was launched in 2019, and in 2020 MIIM project received operational funding from the provincial government.
Connect with Us
www.miimottawa.ca info@miimottawa.ca linkedin.com/company/making-it-inmanufacturing-miim twitter.com/MiimOttawa
Manufacturing sector is bouncing back from COVID-19
(x 1,000 Persons) 35
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Ottawa, Ontario 2020 Kingston-Pembroke 2020 May Jun Jul Aug
Ottawa, Ontario 2019 Kingston-Pembroke 2019 Sep Oct Nov Dec COVID-19 hit the manufacturing sector too in early 2020, but by September, the number of people working in the sector in the Kingston-Pembroke area exceeded the 2019 numbers, and in the Ottawa area the gap is almost closed. (Data source: Statistics Canada.)
Hiring in the manufacturing sector continues to increase
Compared to 2019, there has been less job openings in the manufacturing sector in 2020 due to COVID-19. However, the trend is looking positive, as manufacturing is one of the essential sectors for Eastern Ontario. (Data source: Statistics Canada.)
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earn as much as $80,000 annually.
As an aside, the average manufacturing salary pays about $66,000 per year in Ottawa and $57,493 in Eastern Ontario with more than 4,300 new jobs opening annually, according to figures compiled by Ottawa’s Making it in Manufacturing Resource Network.
To be sure, overall job market growth has slowed as a result of the pandemic, but Holmgren says the Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium is expecting huge long-term growth in manufacturing employment.
“Folks around my age—the Baby Boomers—will be retiring in large numbers and that’s opening what I would call the old adage of ‘waiting for dead men’s shoes,'" he says.
COVID is a “short-term problem”
Sophie Chen, Market Director for Asia at Invest Ottawa, says the negative employment impact caused by the pandemic will not last and overall employment will bounce back.
“We all know that COVID is just going to be a short-term problem,” Chen says. “Eventually, it will go away.”
Chen recommends that students who are considering career paths in the Ottawa area monitor the Ottawa Employment Hub’s sector spotlight publications published on its website, which show where the jobs are in the area. Indeed, the 2020 Sector Spotlight on Manufacturing reveals that almost one quarter of local manufacturing jobs are in computer and electronic product manufacturing.
These same reports are used by employment service providers to guide job seekers. They are also used by industry to make critical investment decisions. This can include decisions to locate a new factory in Ottawa or to expand, says Chen, who uses the reports when working with Invest Ottawa clients.
Lorraine Gignac, branch manager of Adecco Employment Services and cochair of Ottawa’s Making it in Manufacturing Resource Network, says there are many in-demand manufacturing jobs. Opportunities vary from the entry level assembly roles to production technicians.
Plenty of jobs available
The highest demand is for people who have some experience in production assembly, says Gignac. “But there are
LORRAINE GIGNAC, ADECCO EMPLOYMENT SERVICES BRANCH MANAGER, MIIM CO-CHAIR
also jobs for candidates with no assembly experience with a good work ethic—many manufacturers are open to training,” she says.
Adecco is also fielding plenty of requests to find workers for manufacturers from many industries. Moreover, warehousing requirements grow hand-in-hand with manufacturing because manufacturers need places to store their products.
Gignac agrees with Holmgren that many job seekers are not aware that manufacturing jobs can lead to challenging, upwardly mobile careers.
Gignac has first-hand experience with those career growth opportunities. Her first job was an entry-level one in a production environment. She was promoted to supervisor then to production manager. She then went back to school to study management and continued to rise in her career, says Gignac, who has seen many Adecco clients do the same.
Says Gignac: “I always say, take a chance and even take a temporary job in manufacturing to see if it is an environment you would like, because once you get experience in manufacturing, you could open up a whole new world.”
Lorraine Gignac, Steve Holmgren and Cathy McCallion are all part of the Making it in Manufacturing (MIIM) Resource Network working group. The MIIM project is funded by the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development, and delivered by the Ottawa Employment Hub.
The service is funded in part by the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario.
Ottawa Employment Hub
The Ottawa Employment Hub (OEH) is one of the 26 Workforce Planning Boards across the Province, with a mandate to gather and share intelligence on the local labour market and bring the community together for the purpose of collaborating on workforce development. OEH is funded by the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development.
Ottawa Employment Hub activities in 2020 – 2021 include the following: • Engage employers by organizing sector-specific roundtables, helping them to navigate existing services and surveying them on their hiring needs and challenges. • Offer workforce development tools for the community partners and educators who work with youth, students and job seekers. • Provide local labour market information, such as sector spotlights and occupational outlooks: ottawaemploymenthub.ca/lmi-library/. • Deliver the Making it in Manufacturing (MIIM) Resource Network project.
History:
Ottawa Employment Hub has held different names and delivered several projects in the community since its inception in 2011. Some of the OEH partners are the Ottawa Board of Trade, Invest Ottawa, industry associations, Employment Ontario Ottawa Network, Rideau Ottawa Valley Learning Network, Hire Immigrants Ottawa, LASI Coalition, Employment Accessibility Resource Network, Ottawa Aboriginal Coalition, colleges, universities and school boards in Ottawa and Ottawa Network for Education.
Connect with Us
ottawaemploymenthub.ca info@ottawaemploymenthub.ca linkedin.com/company/ ottawa-employment-hub twitter.com/OttEmpHub
Give Your Family and Career Room to Breathe
From manufacturing to logistics and food processing, Cornwall's employers are hungry for talent.
Cornwall is a thriving Eastern Ontario city that has evolved from its United Empire Loyalist roots into a modern economy anchored by forward-thinking companies.
But it has one pressing challenge—a lack of people. “There are simply more jobs than people –we’ve never seen anything like it,” said Bob Peters, division manager at Cornwall Economic Development. “Job opportunities are coming fast and furious and span a variety of occupations, skillsets and experience levels.”
Cornwall’s challenges are a result of successful efforts over the past 15 years to attract new investment. The city’s strategic location — in addition to low electricity rates, affordable commercial land and low housing costs–has created one of the strongest economies in Ontario. A growing hub for multinational companies Today, Cornwall is a growing hub for warehousing, transportation and logistics as well as the light industrial and manufacturing activities that have always been its mainstay. Walmart, Shoppers Drug Mart and the Benson Group operate large distribution centres, while Olymel and Leclerc have established state-of-the-art food processing facilities.
These and a host of other employers in the area now find themselves in dire need of talent to fill vacancies that
Cornwall offers young people a chance to enjoy life while they are building a career. It is a great city to call home, with an amazing river lifestyle and progressive employment opportunities.” GUY ROBICHAUD, PRESIDENT, LAMINACORR
• Laminacorr started in Cornwall in 1998 with just a few employees. Today, it has over 80 employees and has grown to become the largest independent corrugated plastic products manufacturer in North America. It is recognized as one of Canada’s fastestgrowing companies. For Guy Robichaud, choosing Cornwall is all about lifestyle.
include skilled tradespeople, health-care professionals, truckers, managers, supervisors and technicians.
For Peters and his team, it’s vital to reach recent graduates, newcomers to Canada and anyone else looking for a change from big city living.
“Cornwall offers the chance to raise a family without having to worry about a crippling mortgage or deal with a long commute every day,” Peters said. “Our employers are creating opportunities to build careers and advance in growing sectors of our economy.”
A list of current employment opportunities can be found on ChooseCornwall.ca.
10 REASONS TO WORK, LIVE AND PLAY IN CORNWALL
1 Housing prices are among the most affordable in Ontario 2 Wide variety of employment opportunities 3 The amenities of a big city, without the headaches 4 A bilingual and multicultural community 5 Hundreds of acres of scenic waterfront parks with dedicated recreational trails 6 A vibrant arts scene along with top-notch shopping and dining 7 Excellent schools, including St.
Lawrence College and skills training programs 8 A full-service community hospital and modern health care services 9 Public transit, 400-series highway, daily inter city bus and rail service 10 Modern fitness facilities, organized sports, world-class golf
A Smart, Liveable 21st Century City
Kingston combines a vibrant social scene with entrepreneurship and innovation.
Ian Murdoch’s previous career as a consulting engineer took him across the country, giving him plenty of insight into what it would be like to live and work in any of Canada’s major cities.
At the end of each trip, he always found himself glad to come home to Kingston.
So, it may come as little surprise that he ended up with the Kingston Economic Development Corporation as a business development officer — an ambassador for the Limestone City, charged with growing and retaining its employment base and labour pool.
“Kingston is the fresh-water sailing capital of the world, we have more pubs and restaurants per capita than just about anywhere, a vibrant waterfront and nightlife,” he said. “I have acres of land just minutes from downtown. Just about every activity on water imaginable is outside your front door. Kingston’s earned kudos as most walkable city in Ontario, one of the top places to live in Canada, and that’s just a start.” That quality of life is only part of the story. A well-educated labour force is another of Kingston’s distinctions. The area has a strong post-secondary tradition between Queen’s University, St. Lawrence College and the Royal Military College of Canada, and has ranked first in Canada for PhD grads. Each year, these three institutions have about 45,000 students enrolled.
For Murdoch and the team, the challenge is to impress upon these students that Kingston is a great community in which to remain.
Top in Canada for R&D
What may surprise many people is Kingston’s spot on an international ranking of Canada’s cities — No. 1 for industrial
If you are thinking of starting a family or a business, there is no better place than Kingston. The barrier to entry and the cost of doing business is lower than the GTA or Ottawa. We have the Highway 401 access, the US access, the water access for recreation. We love it here and we love promoting Kingston.”
and academic research and development. Businesses such as DuPont, INVITSA, Bombardier, GreenCentre Canada and Grafoid maintain significant global R&D facilities in Kingston to take advantage of the research partnerships available with the colleges and the university.
“Our post-secondary institutions are developing world-class talent, we have specialized research institutions and dedicated startup incubators and accelerators,” Murdoch said. All of which positions the city as an innovative, leading economy. Residents of Kingston benefit from high-speed connectivity delivered by 1,000 km of fibre-optic cables as well as proximity to major markets in Canada and the US. Over the past three years, more than $2 billion of new infrastructure investments have been completed or announced that will further boost the city’s appeal for both jobseekers and employers.
Find your place
“Kingston offers fantastic career opportunities and an even better quality of life without having to absorb the high costs of
KUDOS FOR KINGSTON
Best Canadian Hotspot for Young, Talented Workers (Next Cities) Top City to Raise a Family (Today’s Parent) World Top 7 Intelligent Community 2014 (Intelligent Community Forum) The Best Place to be a Woman in Canada 2019 (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives) Most Sustainable City (Corporate Knights) Top Place to Live in Canada (MoneySense Magazine) Most Vibrant Downtown (Journal of American Planning)
living in a larger city,” Murdoch said. “We are a city of diversity and big ideas—come be a part of it.”
To learn more about putting down roots, building a career or starting a business in Kingston, please visit www.kingstonecdev. com.
More for You in Renfrew County
Just west of the nation’s capital, in the Ottawa Valley, lies the biggest county in Ontario.
It ranges from Arnprior on the edge of Ottawa, west to Deep River and Laurentian Hills, and southwest to the Madawaska Valley, Barry’s Bay and Algonquin Park.
There, many surprises await you. It starts with a sense of community, a special quality of life, and space to wander and explore.
“We have a style of living here that’s allowed Renfrew County to grow a diverse economy around our heritage industries of agriculture and forestry, to include manufacturing, scientific research and development, aerospace, defence and security, tourism and media,” said Alastair Baird, head of Renfrew County’s economic development department. “Our employers draw partners, suppliers and customers from just down the road in Ottawa, across North America and around the world.”
The region features an interesting mix of industry and employment opportunities. With more people working remotely than ever, even your commute won’t hold you back anymore. “We can get to work via fibre on the internet, a car, on foot or by bike,” quips one local.
One example of a local company looking to expand its workforce is Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL), Canada’s largest nuclear science and technology centre.
“Over the past two years we have looked very carefully at our capabilities, our skill sets and people, and identified those areas in which we are uniquely equipped to respond to global challenges in health, in energy, and in climate change,” commented Dr. Kathy McCarthy, vice president of research and development with CNL. to augment our high-calibre research and development team, build strength in new capability areas, and effectively replace those who are planning to retire.”
In addition to your dream job, your dream home can be more than just a fantasy, with lower housing and rental costs than major urban areas. A low crime rate, excellent health care services and multiple school boards make the county of Renfrew an ideal place to raise a family. New apartment buildings, urban housing developments, and rural resort and waterfront housing are springing up across Renfrew County.
Plus, with the region’s lakes, rivers and forests, there’s something for everyone in all seasons.
From canoeing, stand-up paddling, whitewater rafting, mountain biking and hiking, to fishing, skiing, snowboarding and snowmobiling, your opportunities to be active and in nature are endless.
Get the best of small town and rural living, all within reach of major cities. Start living your best life — here in Renfrew County.
Recruiting businesses
Entrepreneurs and established businesses alike can all find their place in Renfrew County.
Take the opportunity to rethink your business and reduce your costs. Well-priced land and buildings, plus development costs lower than the provincial average, mean your investment goes a lot farther here.
With a municipal economic development team waiting to welcome you that’s dedicated to helping your business relocate, launch and succeed, consider the possibilities.
“A qualified, available and dedicated workforce is essential for business success, and we find that here in Renfrew County,” notes Alexandre Ouellette, Plant Manager at Roseburg Forest Products/Pembroke MDF. The company makes medium density fibreboard (MDF) from wood fibre sourced from across the County, with sales across Canada and the eastern US.
Industry and manufacturing, science and technology, agriculture and forestry, food and beverage processing — the diverse business environment in the region will surprise you.
Both large and small companies can find commercial space on a main street or in a shopping centre. The county’s highways and nearby airports create easy access to larger cities and proximity to major markets, so your customers and suppliers are never far away.
Here, your employees and partners are your neighbours, with a skilled labour force at your doorstep.
Innovation and great business can happen anywhere — why not here in Renfrew County?
Curious? Find out more at www.investrenfrewcounty.ca.
A SAMPLING OF LOCAL COMPANIES
Manufacturing
• Arnprior Aerospace • Bishop Water Technologies • Bonnechere Valley Windows • Bubble Technology Industries • Deslaurier Custom Cabinets • E.T.M. Industries Inc. • Kerry (Canada) Inc. • Magellan Aerospace • Nylene Canada • Plaintree Systems • St. Francis Herb Farm • Scapa Tape • Tru-Way Machinery
Manufacturers
Forestry
• Ben Hokum & Son Limited • Hec Clouthier & Sons • Herb Shaw & Sons Limited • Laverne Heideman & Sons
Limited • Murray Brothers Lumber
Company • McRae Lumber Company • Pastway Planing
Construction
• Bonnechere Excavating Inc. • Greenwood Paving • H&H Construction Inc. • M. Sullivan & Son Limited • Miller Group • RGT Clouthier Construction Ltd. • The Eastway Group • Zuracon Inc. General
Contracting
