Episode 64 - Looking Past Risk and Encouraging Talent to Remain in Canada with Michael King

In today's episode of Talent Titans, I'd like to introduce my guest, Michael King, from Spruce Infotech. Michael made quite the career shift from being a South African diplomat to a pivotal figure in Canada's recruitment industry. His journey, marked by a transition from international finance to the dynamic technology and recruitment sectors, is driven by a passion for influencing careers and changing lives. Our conversation focuses on the challenges of retaining talent in Canada amidst the allure of the U.S. market. We get into factors like the necessity for greater R&D investment by Canadian firms, highlighting Canada's robust skilled workforce and we discuss how these factors position Canada as a prime location for talent to remain.

Approaching the subject of today's new generations, we hit a button on the pitfalls of prolonged recruitment processes and the importance of maintaining transparency. Finally, emphasizing commitment to nurturing credibility through client referrals and building strong, trust-based relationships, this episode encourages those in the recruitment industry to get creative about how we can encourage our incredibly qualified, fresh talent.

Key Moments:

There are risks involved with making such a career shift, but looking past them is understanding how you'll be able to thrive.
So, what can we do to help encourage talent to remain in Canada?
The recruitment industry needs to get creative and look beyond money to encourage people to stay in Canada for their careers.
Complacency, stability, differences in decision-making - all play roles in deciding to stay. Hear how.

Favorite Quote:

"We're in danger of becoming too transactional as an industry. We need to focus on specialization rather than generalization and foster quality, trust-based relationships with our clients."

Michael

Connect with Michael:

Upon immigrating to Canada, Michael was responsible for advancing institutional sales for RBC Global Asset Management in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Scandinavia. His technical experience includes building and managing new Data Analytics business in North America and providing data analytics solutions for companies globally. More recently Michael has over seven years of experience in the recruitment industry, having advanced enterprise sales for global recruitment companies. More recently Michael was appointed as the Vice President of Sales for Spruce Infotech in Canada, a dynamic privately owned company headquartered in the United States providing technical recruitment and managed services. Michael holds a B.A Hons. degree in International Relations and has also completed various courses including Managing Cross Cultural organizations at the University of Berkley, California.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miking2/

Connect with Suky:

I’m Suky an adrenaline junkie who celebrates every single win. I believe we must celebrate and collect all our wins along the way as it fuels forward momentum to ensure we exceed our goals. When we fuel forward momentum, complacency simply can not settle in.

With over 25 years of experience working in the staffing industry, 16 of those working with global recruitment companies, I bring the knowledge and experience of working in 18 countries and successfully navigating through numerous “recession” cycles.

Companies often get so focused on the bottom line that they forget that we are in the “people business”. For me, the magic happens when my clients recognize the best way to create a truly sustainable high-performance sales culture is to align both.

Canadian Staffing Industry Summit