Recruiting Employees for Food Companies

"Wanted: willing worker for food company - apply within".
Food companies have commented that it used to be easy to attract well-qualified help with a quick ad in the newspaper or a sign in the window. Now, however, recruiting the right candidate for the job is often a more complex task. There are some great resources for employers looking to improve their ability to get and grow a workforce that excels.

Getting Help with Employee Recruitment:

Service Canada, formerly Human Resources Development Canada, is an excellent place to begin. They offer various helpful services and can also link you with other service providers and programs. To find the office in your area phone 1-800-622-6232, or click on: local/regional office or paste the following link in your internet browser: http://www1.servicecanada.gc.ca/en/gateways/where_you_live/regions/offices/on.shtml.

There's a great section on the steps in employee recruitment and management posted on the "HR for Employers" section of the Service Canada website.

Hiring Apprentices:

Regional offices of the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities (MTCU) can advise you on getting food preparation apprentices. For example, cooks, bakers and meat cutters are apprenticeship trades. To hire an apprentice, contact the MTCU training office in your region. A training consultant can meet with you to assess your company's capacity to provide on-the-job training and will help identify a trainee in the trade you require. If everything seems satisfactory, an employer-trainee agreement is signed, the apprenticeship is registered with MTCU and you begin. Typically, an apprenticeship is three years, with 8 weeks per year of in-class training at a college. Tax credits of up to $15,000 over three years for each apprentice ($5,000 maximum per year) are available to help cover the costs of apprenticeship training for certain trades of a manufacturing/ processing nature. However, currently the tax credits don't apply to food service or distribution trades.

Hiring the Unemployed:

A great way to reduce tax spending and contribute to the community is to hire people who are currently out of work and collecting Employment Insurance. The federal government offers a Targeted Wage Subsidy Program that links candidates with employers and provides financial assistance through an agreement with Service Canada. Contact your local Service Canada office for assistance.

The Ontario Works program can also help you find individuals to fill available positions. Ontario Works staff will meet with you to identify specific job requirements and training needs and then assess, pre-screen and refer candidates that meet your requirements. Funding is available for up to 6 months to help offset training costs or extra supervision. Ontario Works also pays the costs of Workplace Safety and Insurance Board coverage during the training period. Call the Ministry of Community and Social Services toll-free at 1-888-789-4199 to start the process. The program is delivered through Ontario Works regional offices.

Online Job Banks: http://jobbank.gc.ca. You can post an available job for free on the website and use Job Match to find a candidate whose skills match your requirements. The Job Bank site also has links to other recruitment websites, including Workopolis www.workopolis.com and Monster http://www.monster.ca, both of which charge fees for posting positions and scanning potential employee qualifications. You can also post your job on a website that specializes in restaurant and food service jobs: "Hcareers.ca" for $395/per job (and search the resume database at $750/month). Other sites to check include:

1. Hospitality 123
2. NEWH - The Hospitality Industry Network

Associations: some industry associations offer web site job postings. Check with your food sector or other associations.

Co-op Students and Job Fairs:

You can also hire co-op students who are enrolled in co-operative education programs at Ontario colleges, high schools or universities. These are generally short-term placements of approximately 4 months. Many colleges and some universities also organize Job Fairs, where employers can promote the opportunities that they have for students and new graduates. Information about hiring co-op students and job fairs/graduates can be found on individual school websites such as Belleville's Loyalist College at www.loyalistc.on.ca. Your local city hall can likely give you a sense of which schools are in your area. Specifically, you may want to contact Ontario schools that offer cooperative education programs in business or engineering, etc. Some examples of colleges offering co-op education in food preparation/service, include:

Co-op Programs

Conestoga (chefs)
Niagara (chefs)
Loyalist (cooks)
Humber (cooks)
University of Guelph (hotel, food, tourism)

Job Fairs

Conestoga
Niagara
Loyalist
Humber

Specialist Recruitment Services:

Also known as "headhunters", there are private-sector search firms that specialize in matching employers with trained (and often employed at other locations) employees. Firms such as Irvine Search and others can provide a fee-based search for candidates and often operate on a commission basis.

Source: Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (March. 2007) - Jacquelynn Ellis - 519-826-4470