Still looking for a job in Kelowna?
It may not be time to move to another city just yet, especially if you’re looking to work in some of Kelowna’s booming industries.
Hiring is up as the City of Kelowna makes up for its losses over the past couple of years.
“Within the span of a year, Kelowna has gone from one of the worst places to find work, to the best place to find employment in Canada,” says Scott Sherwood from Maximus Canada Employment Services.
It's been awhile since Kelowna has been known to have a strong job market, and some may think that Kelowna is, for the most part, a city of part-timers.
Just last year, Kelowna had the unwelcome honour of being named one of the worst job markets in Canada. But, this time around, Kelowna’s growth in the marketplace has earned it the title of the number one ranked job market in the country by a labour market report.
Sherwood confirms that, within the span of this year, they have seen a definite increase in hiring. Local businesses have seen the effects of the trend, saying that they are challenged to find enough people to fill new positions as they expand their operations to meet client needs.
“The unemployment rate in Kelowna has dropped from over 8% to 3.7%, and is currently hovering around 5%," says Sherwood.
Although many employers in the Okanagan offer seasonal, part-time positions, there has been significant growth in certain industries.
Sherwood notes that some local industries that continue to demonstrate growth in the job market are health, construction, and hospitality. If you work in tech or tourism, jobs should be aplenty as well.
“In my opinion, if you work in tech, you pretty much have a job,” says Ashley Ramsay of Yeti Farm Creative, a privately held animation studio in Kelowna.
Ramsey says that the company is looking to increase its workforce, but are finding it challenging to fill vacancies.
Yeti Farm Golden Ticket from Yeti Farm Animation on Vimeo.
Local businesses have reported the same increase across the board, saying that Kelowna is in for further growth going forward.
Tourism Kelowna reports continued growth in the tourism sector as well, saying that from what they are hearing from local businesses, there has been an increase in hiring, but a challenge filling the new vacancies at the same time.
The tourism industry is a major job generator for the area, with a total economic output of $1.25 billion, and a contribution of almost 12,000 jobs in Kelowna and the Central Okanagan. Chris Shauf, Director of Marketing and Communications for Tourism Kelowna, attributes this growth to Kelowna being such a desirable destination.
Trina Notman, VP of Sales and Marketing for Hotel Zed and Accent Inns confirms a significant increase in hiring compared to last year.
"We're definitely on the hunt in Kelowna," she says. "We are definitely actively hiring people more than we did last year."
Notman adds that they are looking to fill positions in everything from maintenance to desk work, as either part-time or full-time positions.
She says that as they increase their hiring, they are trying to attract the right people and keep their staff happy by providing full benefits, even for staff that only work 20 hours a week, as well as scholarship and bursary programs.
Another factor in Kelowna's strengthened job market is an economy that is on the rise from where it was around 2010.
“The economy I think is getting very strong," says Grant Stevens, Director of Human Resources at KF Aerospace, formally Kelowna Flightcraft, in Kelowna. "So, as a result, there are a lot more jobs available these days, giving employees a little more choice, and giving employers a little more challenge finding staff."
Stevens adds that there are a lot of employers in the Okanagan that offer part-time or seasonal work, which can be a difficult position to be in while trying to raise a family. However, he also says that the job market today is the strongest that it has been in awhile.
“Kelowna probably hasn't seen a job market like this in 10 years. It would have been about 2007 to 2008 the last time the job market was this good for people looking for work,” Stevens says.
Both Yeti Farm Creative and KF Aerospace say they have ramped up their hiring this year as a result of the strengthening market.
KF Aerospace is currently looking to fill 40 full-time, permanent positions at its Kelowna base, after already having hired approximately 180 employees in 2017, which Stevens says is quite an increase for them. Ramsay also says they have vacancies to fill before the year is over, and expects to have hired for about 50 full-time positions in Kelowna by the end of the calendar year.
“One of the reasons I think we’ve been successful is that our jobs are permanent full-time positions," says Stevens. "They come with a decent wage - our lowest starting wage is $14 an hour. We have benefit programs for our staff, we have bonus plans for our staff, and we have some great career opportunities for people to grow with the business.”
According to these local industries, even more growth is expected in the years to come as demand for services go up and businesses expand to meet those needs.
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