Global Solutions to Skilled Trade Shortages

Problem solving is a key skill for experienced welders and machinists. They do a wide variety of work, ranging from specialty one-off products and prototypes, to making ladders for grain elevators, and equipment for the oil industry or hospitals. Emergency repairs to equipment such as motors and elevator shafts keep buildings and industries working, allowing clients to avoid long waits for new parts.

However, in recent years, one of the biggest problems to solve in this field has been finding enough skilled workers to fill jobs. Darlene Layland has been with Velocity Machining and Welding Inc. from its early days, and recruitment and retention is a significant struggle for the Nova Scotia-based company.

The owners started the company in 2000 with fewer than 10 employees; they now employ 70-75 people between Velocity and their second operation purchased in 2015, Techtronics Machine Works.

Darlene, who leads HR for the company, says that there are fewer graduates from both welding and machining programs at the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC), but machinist roles have been more difficult to fill since that training program is limited to two campuses in Nova Scotia. Along with having fewer graduates from the programs, the pool of available candidates shrinks as some new trainees leave Nova Scotia for more attractive career opportunities. 

With issues finding local talent—especially finding candidates who have the skills to perform the range of techniques required to fabricate and weld on a variety of metals—Darlene is happy to have her companies enrolled in the Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP) with support from Halifax Partnership. The Partnership helps local businesses become AIP designated so they can more easily and efficiently recruit and hire skilled foreign talent and international graduates to meet their labour needs.  

“I'm glad AIP is helping us hire the people we need to run our business." -Darlene Layland, Velocity Machining and Welding

So far, the company has hired one employee, a former student in Canada who is on an open work permit. Another attended school in Cape Breton and has been working for the company for about a year; he is hoping to receive his paperwork for permanent residency through AIP soon. 

Through AIP, companies can connect with the resources they need to support prospective and new employees, such as English language training. Darlene says that once on the job, the company’s machinists successfully work from diagrams that are created in AutoCAD. They have clear symbols on them, and they continually convert measurements for customers’ projects between metric and imperial measurements or vice versa. 

Making sure future employees’ skills are up to Canadian standards is an important part of international hiring, and a test is a key part of the hiring process. Welders must be able to pass the Canadian CWB test, which students in Canada must also pass before they graduate. 

“The owners of Velocity are machinists themselves; they know the questions to ask to determine if potential employees have the skills to run our machines and to make adjustments on the machines.” Darlene adds that successful candidates often send photos of the work they have done to show their skill level. 

“There are skilled people who apply with our company, but we can’t hire them because they’re on a closed work permit [elsewhere in Canada],” explains Darlene. 

AIP helps streamline the process that gives companies the ability to hire qualified international talent or immigrants, benefitting both employers and employees. Machinists can go through AIP to immigrate to Canada, while qualified welders can also access the critical construction worker pilot program, explains Darlene. 

“As part of a company that initially didn't know the ins and outs of international hiring, I have definitely learned a lot through AIP, which is making it easier for my employees,” says Darlene. “We do the program together. Celia Deer from Halifax Partnership has been a wealth of information. Without her, even this first process, the first employee that we put through, would've been a lot more difficult.” 

With AIP, the process is much faster, and it has made it a lot easier to find and hire new talent explains Darlene.

“I'm glad AIP is helping us hire the people we need to run our business. We would be happy to hire more machinists if we could get them,” she says.