Their loss, our gain: Canada positioned to lure top talent from U.S., recruiters say
East Coast recruiters seeing spike in interest from U.S. residents
Jennie Massey is always on the lookout for talent.
She is a partner with executive search firm KBRS, which has an office in Moncton, and considers herself a matchmaker, actively recruiting senior level executives from around the world.
Right now, her eyes are on the United States.
Residents of the U.S. would typically make up between five and 10 per cent of applicants, but that number has ballooned since the inauguration of Donald Trump as president. It's now about 30 per cent.
"That is a significant increase in a relatively short period of time, and I only expect that to grow," she said.
Massey said she received 14 applications the morning after Trump's inauguration, mostly academic talent looking to join Canada's universities and colleges.
"We would usually get much, much fewer than that."
The number of job seekers is rising fast. Already, tech billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has eliminated an estimated 100,000 federal jobs through buyouts and mass layoffs.
Those cuts have been in several federal departments, including Defence, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Education, Health and Human Services, and Justice. Other agencies, including USAID, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, have also been affected.
Trump has called it an effort to root out government waste and fraud and shrink a bloated federal workforce. But the so-called bloat next door could mean a boon for employers in Canada, including in fields such as health care, where there is great demand.
"I have been really encouraged by the number of medical professionals reaching out to us, looking for opportunities to move north of the border," Massey said.
She called this the moment "for us to inspire some … practising medical professionals in the U.S. that are thinking about Canada as a safe haven during what is a particularly challenging time."
Massey said Canada should be thinking about how to "identify and attract some of the best and the brightest … that might be keen to join our research institutes, our academic institutions, our government, our health-care organizations, our businesses and industries."
MacDonald Search Group recruiter Paul Cannon has also seen growth in interest from the south. He manages the company's offices in Eastern Canada, including one in Moncton, specializing in private industry.
Cannon said most of MacDonald's international applicants have come from overseas, including eastern Europe, India and China, and there's been little appetite from the United States.
But this is changing now, he said, especially among expats.
"Obviously, people that are Canadian, they're living in the U.S., have expressed interest to come home," Cannon said.
"There's just a different climate landscape politically, socially and people have looked to come back a little bit more than they would have a few years ago, specifically with the new people in power in the U.S."
Cannon hasn't tallied up the number of recent U.S. applicants yet but said he only sees it growing, "especially if things continue to go politically the way they're going … more people are going to come up here."
But he said that desire to come to Canada might not materialize.
"We always want more talent, but it's going to be a question of can they get through the political red tape to be able to be employed here."
N.B. immigration numbers cut by half
And getting through the red tape is getting harder. In October, Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced a reduction in immigration levels in an effort to stabilize population growth and relieve pressure on the housing market.
For New Brunswick, Ottawa allocated 2,750 economic immigration spaces under two programs: the Atlantic Immigration Program and the Provincial Nominee Program. That is half the number of spaces available last year.
Ted McDonald, a political science professor at the University of New Brunswick, said he believes the reduction was appropriate, given the aggressive immigration strategy in recent years and the country's inability to absorb everyone in a way that was mutually beneficial.
He said those adjustments "need time to work themselves out."
But the higher demand for jobs in Canada, he said, is still good news for recruiting people to areas where there are skill shortages, such as in health care, education and trades.
"When there are fewer spots available and there's an increase in supply, increase in the number of people who want to come, then the competition's going to get fiercer," he said. And applicants from the U.S. have some natural advantages.
"People moving from America will have language skills they'll have been educated probably in the United States, they'll have American experience. Those are all attractive characteristics … for entry into Canada because you're more likely to be able to move into employment."
Push-and-pull factors
McDonald isn't surprised by the recent uptick in interest south of the border. He said the same thing happened during Trump's first term in office.
"But this seems different," Massey said. "This feels different."
"I think the actual job losses, the budget cuts across government, but also … we're hearing from academics where funding has been cut and just the chilling effect in the American universities on the freedom of speech and the ability to undertake research."
Massey said there is usually a push-and-pull factor in recruitment, and right now, "Canada has an enormous pull factor, and for many individuals, the U.S. has significant push factors."
"I'm hearing from parents who have children that identify as queer and are worried for their well-being and their safety in the school system. I'm hearing from health-care professionals who are struggling with the ethics of the abortion ban.
"So those push factors create an enormous opportunity for Canada … to capitalize on some of that intellectual talent."
"Given that the U.S. has made some questionable decisions, I think there is an opportunity for us to think about how we position ourselves in a way in which we can be welcoming and encouraging and inviting to those that perhaps no longer feel welcome and included in the United States."
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