Boom, Bust & Echo author calls for creative hiring spree

The mining industry has a five-year window to do some “creative” hiring in order to ensure a strong workforce for the future, according to renowned demographer and University of Toronto economics professor David Foot.

The demographics expert, who has gained recent celebrity status from the best-selling book he co-authored, Boom, Bust & Echo, presented to mining industry representatives at a recent Ontario Mining Association (OMA) conference in Windsor, called “Demographics, Global Markets and the Future Workforce”.

He offered ideas to attendees to help fill the estimated 92,000 new jobs that will become available in the mining industry over the next 10 years.

“The young are the champions of technology and they always have been,” said the economist during the presentation. “You need to communicate with young people the way they want to be communicated with, not the way you want to communicate with them — flexibility and openness are essential.”

Foot suggested educating young people about the potential career paths the mining industry can lead to and the variety of jobs available. He also noted the tech-savvy nature of the field and rewarding pay scales could appeal to the next generation.

In addition to young people, the economist noted a lack of women in the industry. The latest census data shows females make up 46.9% of the Canadian workforce but only 13.1% of the mining workforce.

“There is a paucity of women in mining and it is in your best interest to get more women in the industry,” he said.

To prove his point, he pointed out that one company working in the Alberta oilsands hires onlywomen drivers, as it has found that equipment lasts 35% longer. “I think in some cases women will treat the trucks and equipment better than their kids,” he said.

Foot also called on the mining industry to turn its focus to prospective First Nations employees, as the aboriginal population is younger and growing faster than the general population.

“You should be in there actively making sure they are educated, but you need a whole different approach to recruiting First Nations,” Foot said. “While North American society puts the individual before society, First Nations tend to think of the collective before the individual. You have to get to the teenagers.”

In addition to Foot’s presentation, the conference also included a workshop on making the workplacemorefemale friendly, an OMA board of directors meeting, a tour of an underground salt mine, an awards ceremony for the inaugural Tom Peters Memorial Mine Reclamation Award and speeches by provincial politicians Michael Gravelle, minister of northern development and mines, and Sandra Pupatello, minister of economic development and trade.