The harsh reality of COVID-19 is that many companies have had to lay off employees. At the same time, there may be a small silver lining as some Winnipeg companies are still looking to fill jobs.
Economic Development Winnipeg's YES! Winnipeg (YW) Talent team is now looking to help companies who want to network with others to fill their talent needs.
24-7 Intouch, a customer service and tech company, is looking to hire 400 employees in multiple positions including work-at-home in-bound customer service representatives, senior software developer and analyst in Winnipeg.
The North West Company, which is based in Winnipeg, is looking to hire 50 employees in various positions including at its warehouse in Winnipeg or posted for a period of time its northern stores.
At the same time, Save on Foods, Walmart, Dollar Tree, Pizza Hut, 7-eleven and Instacart are also looking to fill more than 120 part-time and full-time positions.
Companies looking to fill 10 or more positions due to COVID-19 can reach out to Corinne Gusnoski now to be featured in a network and job connections page for businesses once it is launched in the coming weeks.
"We know this is a very difficult time for Winnipeg businesses that are struggling, so we are helping them navigate the existing support programs through our COVID-19 toolkit," says Ryan Kuffner, Economic Development Winnipeg's Vice President of Sales & Business Development.
"We also recognize that there is a demand for talent in other sectors. Our focus is to help where we can to make sure companies are supported during this time and after the current situation subsides."
Legacy Bowes, a local human resources, recruitment and leadership development company says it is still available to clients and is operating in all capacities. The company says it is seeing some trends in hiring across some industries right now.
"In certain industries we are seeing business as usual, whereby they are business to consumer businesses – or that are seen as essential. Construction is strong, insurance is strong and executive leadership is moving along as it applies to addressing upcoming retirements or sales of businesses -– those leaders will still be needed," says Lisa Cefali, Partner, Executive Search & Strategic Development.
"We are finding that the candidates we would want to speak to are accessible. The everyday demands of the way they used to work are gone – work life is different; they are now working remotely or they have been laid off, so those conversations are happening."
Companies that are trying to retain staff and avoid layoffs can also get help from our business development team, which will help companies navigate the recently announced federal programs. You can reach them and valuable resources through our COVID-19 Toolkit.
You can also read more about how we're helping companies and our tourism partners, here.