The results are already showing themselves after Initiative Prince George's trips to major job fairs.
The city's independent economic development agency went on an employment tour in Ireland and another in Ontario this fall. Several private sector companies took part in these trips but IPG was also there attract employees.
"It is the companies' job to recruit prospective workers; we are there to provide that supplemental information about what our city is all about, what it offers, and how the whole family can benefit from a move here," said IPG economic development officer Melissa Mills, who represented the city on the Ireland mission.
"It was a great opportunity to promote our city as a good place to live and work," she said.
"We told people about the things we have available for education, for lifestyle, and for families."
While controversy surrounds importing foreign workers at one job site in northern B.C., this is not the same type of recruitment effort. IPG's mandate is not to fill up vacant employment rosters, it is to add community value.
"We want to attract permanent residents," said Mills. "We don't want to see transient workers come in to fill the labour demand temporarily; we want to bring whole families over, bring new kids to the school system, spouses to the workforce, entire families. We are going to bump up the population and expand the tax base."
According to their data, it is already happening. Some companies on these recent junkets have already confirmed the hiring of workers from those trips, they are on their way to Prince George now to take up residence, and many others are pending.
Independent of that, people in those jurisdictions are also seeking Prince George out as a result of the introduction to P.G. they received at these job fairs.
IPG's new website section that explains Prince George to prospective new residents is showing them some of these results.
"Since Sept. 27, the first day of the fair in Ireland, we've had 187 visits from Ireland to that section of our website, and the engagement rate has been high. They have spent a lot of time looking at the information," said Mills.
"Further to that, [IPG's manager of economic development] Tara Bogh went to the National Job Expo in Ontario in mid-October and since she was there we have had 386 website visits from Ontario to that same section of the website."
The IPG representatives were also able to "use these trips as a reconnaissance mission," said Mills so they capitalize better on return trips already being planned.
Employers are encouraged to use IPG's resources, Mills said, which are available at www.liveprincegeorge.ca.
The IPG website also features a section with direct-links to the career pages of local employers. Employers wanting to link their career pages on the IPG website can email [email protected].
