By Nelson Bennett, BIV

If you work at QLT Inc. and can point the company to a new hire, you may be $5,000 richer.
The Vancouver biotech, which shed 200 local jobs between 2002 and 2008, was as recently as last month scrambling to find new employees, offering a $5,000 bonus to existing employees who could help recruit new ones as part of an aggressive headhunting effort.

“We are now on a very, very strong growth path,” said Linda Lupini, OLT’s senior vice-president of human resources and organizational development.

QLT is among the many Vancouver high-tech, clean-tech and life sciences companies that are in hiring mode. A survey released February 22 by the BC Technology Industry Association (BCTIA) calculates 3,000 new jobs will be created in Vancouver’s high-tech sector this year.

QLT plans to hire 55 technicians, scientists and managers this year, 80% of whom are needed in its Vancouver labs, which now stands at about 190 people.

Aldergrove company’s growth and multibillion-dollar Boeing contract bode well for a robust sector rebound

BY NELSON BENNETT, BIV

An Aldergrove manufacturer that makes equipment used in airplane assembly expects big benefits from Boeing’s recent announcement of a $22 billion contract with Indonesia’s PT Lion Mentari Airlines.

Members of senior management with Advanced Integration Technologies Canada (AIT) were at the February 14 to 19 Singapore Airshow when Boeing finalized an order with PT Lion for 230 aircraft.

Other announcements at the airshow included:
-Victoria-based Viking Air’s new order for 15 of the Twin Otter airplanes it builds; and
-Canadian airplane manufacturer Bombardier Inc.’s plans to open a commercial aircraft sales and marketing office in Singapore to serve the Asia-Pacific region.

Boeing and Bombardier are already among AIT’s customers, as are Airbus and Lockheed Martin.
Headquartered in Plano, Texas, AIT runs its Canadian division in Aldergrove and Langley. The company makes the “tooling” – large positioning systems – used in airplane assembly.

Follow up emails with personal touch

BY DEREK SANKEY, POSTMEDIA NEWS

Joanne Dial receives hundreds of unsolicited resumés by email each month as director of human resources for Calgary-based Alter NRG Corp. Yet few of them grab her attention.

“They have no value because I need the person,” Dial said. “The purpose of the resumé is to open the door to screening calls, which is to open the door to have a face-to-face meeting with the hiring manager.”

She’s impressed with people who take the initiative to follow up, research the company and its key people, make a phone call or drop by in person to try to get a foot in the door – provided it’s done in a professional manner.

“It’s very important that people take the time for the human connection,” she said. “The hiring decision will be based on the human connection.”

BC Wood Specialties Group helps local studios connect with potential customers

BY LORNE MALLIN, BIV

BC wood designers know it takes years to break into the Asian market; now, they’re starting to see their patience rewarded.

“I’m really starting to get rolling over there,” said Brent Comber, owner of Brent Comber Originals, a North Vancouver studio with 12 staff. “You have to be patient in that market.”

To date, his Asia focus has been art-based millwork and freestanding furniture in Japan and art in South Korea. “They love anything in wood that relates to nature.”

Comber and other local designers credit the BC Wood Specialties Group with putting them in direct contact with potential customers at trade shows and providing marketing services through staff reps in Japan, South Korea and China.

“BC Wood has been critical to my success,” said Comber, who’s soon going to his sixth trade show in Tokyo and his third in Seoul.