Struggling with staff shortages, a Montreal health network organization has just awarded a contract worth almost a million dollars to the networking company LinkedIn to help it recruit employees.
Clinical staff, managers, support staff: the Center-Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal Integrated Health and Social Services Center (CISSS) has vacancies in several departments.
On May 12, a $964,488 contract was awarded by mutual agreement to the social network LinkedIn. According to a document from the Quebec government’s electronic tendering system (SEAO), the agreement would be for three years, but the CISSS did not confirm to the Journal.
“This is a recruitment or headhunting approach that allows us to seek active and passive candidates. Due to the shortage of personnel, we are doing everything we can to attract employees to our organization, ”wrote CISSS spokesperson Barry Morgan by email.
Hard to get numbers
However, the latter could not say how many positions are to be filled and did not respond to our interview request. Created 20 years ago, LinkedIn allows workers to access job offers and facilitates recruitment for employers.
According to the SEAO, the CISSS contract allows access “to the exclusive active recruitment platforms” of LinkedIn, which has 2.5 million members in Quebec and 14 million in Canada.
One of the objectives of the CISSS is to create a personalized platform to reach candidates who are not looking for a job.
We also want to have “metadata analysis tools and algorithms” to highlight the employer, says the contract. This is the second contract that this CISSS has awarded to LinkedIn, after an agreement for $310,152 last year. The Journal could not find out how many employees were recruited.
a “Talent War”
Over the past year, several public bodies have used LinkedIn (see box). According to specialists, recruitment through social networks is in vogue, especially because of the shortage.
“We are in the context of a talent war, explains Noémie Ferland-Dorval, spokesperson for the Order of Human Resources Advisors. We have no choice but to be attractive to recruit labour. »
Thus, LinkedIn provides access to candidates who would not have been reached on traditional sites.
“What we are looking for with social networks is to attract the attention of people who are already working, says Sandrine Théard, a recruitment trainer. You have to seduce them somewhere. »
CIUSSS du Centre-Ouest-de-l’Île–de-Montréal
1. Contract of $964,488 (3 years)
2. Contract of $310,152 (3 years)
CIUSSS du Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal
1. $78,977 contract (for 3 years)
2. Contract of $28,615 (1 year)
Came back to Quebec
$328,937 contract (for 3 years)
Quebec Ministry of Justice
Contract of $132,225 (1 year)
City of Levis
$140,109 contract
Source: SEAO, all contracts were awarded by mutual agreement
