‘Help Wanted’ a common refrain for B.C. businesses in recovery mode

August 16, 2021

Jak Wong at Mustang Survival is in the all-too-common position in this pandemic recovery period of trying to fill 15 jobs.

The Burnaby manufacturer of ocean survival suits, life jackets and other professional safety gear has offered higher wages for production jobs and a $1,000 signing bonus for a position in its warehouse, but has still had difficulties attracting applicants.

“I can say that in the last, call it, 10 years, that I’ve been doing recruiting, I’ve never seen it to be this competitive,” said Wong, manager for people and culture at Mustang.

“When we post the job, we’re getting very low response rates,” Wong said. “You know, where pre-COVID, we might see 50 to 60 applicants for one job, (now) we’ll be lucky to see 10.”

It seems like an anomaly considering B.C.’s unemployment rate, at 6.6 per cent in July, remains 1.6 percentage points above pre-pandemic levels, and parts of the economy are still struggling. Yet Wong is far from alone.

Source: Vancouver Sun