Who Benefits From IPG’s Employee Recruitment?
I am always troubled when I read about a recruitment program taking place in some city in Canada or for example Ireland. There are several reasons why I am concerned.
First and foremost is the matter of who is paying for what?
Take for example IPG who have just paid $2,000 for two days, for a booth in Toronto to try and lure people from eastern Canada to Prince George.
IPG says the three companies that accompanied them last year were able to bring three new workers to Prince George. I suspect the total bill for that group to go to Toronto was not less than $15,000 dollars . What troubles me more is the fact that City Taxpayers are on the hook for a portion of that trip .
Now how does IPG decide who they are recruiting for? How about those companies who pay taxes but who don't enjoy the benefit of having someone pick up the tab for seeking a worker with their tax dollars?.
It is evident that most companies that operate in this region (and let's hope that IPG thinks outside of the box) are spending their own dime trying to hire employees on their own. They pay for the search on their own dime, and in my mind so they should.
While the figures are not yet in, IPG will find, just as they didn't last year, that people who live in major cities tend to want to stay in those cities , regardless of the employment situation . Case in point was IPG comparing the unemployment rate in Toronto to what we have here. It is further hard to understand why we wouldn't be out on the prairies in small communities, trying to snare some of those young people who are seeking work and aren't interested in living in a big city. You just might find you achieve the same results in a smaller prairie community as you would have at a job fair in Toronto or any other city with a population of a million or more.
If you want new employees, one would think that it is your responsibility as a company to go out and find them, of course on the other hand if the taxpayer helps to pay for that order, then it's a way to get a leg up on the competition, .
It's a bit like the junket's to China in which the City says it is looking for new students to attend our schools, why not send the people from those institutions? Afterall, they are the ones who call the shots at their schools and should have direct contact instead of relying on second hand information.
I'm Meisner and that's one man's opinion.
Comments
They have to have SOME reason to exist, don’t they?
They sure have got a swell website with a built in 2.0 rose coloured glasses add on when it comes to extolling the virtues of this ‘burg.
I would say that one of the reasons for irrational spending is to make sure the annual budget is completely used up. If they don’t spend all of it, then the “hand that feeds” might not come back next year with the same generous amount.
“They sure have got a swell website”
I had to see what Harbinger’s sarcasm was all about. Yeesh, I had to look. Really? A pic of a bartender is their first point of visual contact on the IPG site? And an out-of-focus pic no less?
Plus they used TD green on a ScotiaBank pic.
I hope they didn’t pay too much for that web site development.
Oy vay.
IPG has lost their way and have no idea what their mandated to do with 1 plus million time to bring out the chopping block
I agree Ben that it is a company’s responsibility to find it own workers.
I heard on CBC Radio One yesterday that the refugees from Syria to Lebanon have reached the 1,000,000 mark. These people have lost everything e.g. homes, family, jobs, savings, etc. Children will grow up without an education because of this war. Why couldn’t Canada approach some of these people to help fill in the gaps in workers in trades?
All I can say is IPG is a joke and a waste of taxpayers money. It is time for people to take a stand and remove that organization from the books. If employers need employees, employers can find employees in the province without looking elsewhere. The question is this – what do employers need or want in PG area? eg. welders / mechanics/ doctors/ teachers / nannys, etc.
On IPG’s swell website, is there anywhere one can find IPG’s performance metrics (are we getting good bang for our buck), and who are they accountable to?
For a $1 Million / year budget, I have a hard time figuring out what they do, other than advertising, website and pamphlet development, with the odd junket sprinkled in.
IPG seems to be a place where taxpayer money goes to die.
That’s why IPG should die and those funds used to repair or upgrade the city’s infrastructure or pay down the city’s debt. Flip a coin.
I am all for closing down IPG and folding their operations into city hall, or having the province fund an office of that sort if they feel the region needs it. The money would be better spent bringing business to PG by reducing the debt risk the city carries.
Comments for this article are closed.