On September 28, 2012, Nearly 400 business leaders, IT professionals and students gathering as a community to discuss IT staffing issues resulting from Western Canada’s economic boom.

Although the rapid growth has created an exciting opportunity for companies to expand, a steady increase in the demand for labour has resulted in a shortage of qualified IT professionals.

In response, WBM has begun placing IT professionals into the offices of their clients to help fill positions in IT departments. These positions have dramatically accelerated efforts to attract and retain qualified IT professionals in the province, bringing in dozens of new hires who will work within many of the province’s largest organizations.

The ability to provide these organizations with the people they need to operate and grow is becoming a critical condition of success for IT to keep up with the aggressive business strategies the province is now seeing.

“In this type of market, we see the power shifting from the employer to the employees.  It is exciting, as the opportunities emerging for IT professionals right now seem endless.”

Paul Cluett, Director of IT Staffing at WBM

Conversely, companies are having difficulty filling IT positions because of a lack of candidates who meet the necessary job requirements. “The challenges are in finding, training and retaining qualified people. Certainly, that is nothing new, but now the scale of this problem has changed. With new companies coming into the Western Canadian market and establishing offices, further strain is being added to an already strained market.”

At the event, WBM announced a new life mentorship program with students from Vincent Massey School in Saskatoon to develop awareness of career opportunities in the field. This event was conceived by WBM and their partners to help local youth learn what it takes to be an IT service professional in Canada.

Over the years, the conference has become a leading event within the Canadian IT sector, receiving coverage in a number of IT publications and drawing a growing number of people from across Canada and the US.

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