Recruitment has long been a challenge for the Yukon’s tourism industry, particularly for seasonal businesses that need to secure their workforce within a limited hiring window.
With changes in immigration policies, post-secondary education, and other factors affecting labour supply, relying solely on traditional recruitment approaches may become increasingly difficult.
These challenges highlight the need to look beyond immediate staffing requirements and consider how the industry can attract and connect with its future workforce.
From Filling Vacancies to Building Connections
For many people, tourism is viewed as an opportunity to earn seasonal income or as an entry point into the workforce. While these opportunities remain important, promoting tourism as a viable long-term career option is increasingly essential to workforce development.
Traditional recruitment often focuses on matching candidates’ experience and skills with available positions. However, promoting tourism as an industry offering meaningful career opportunities also requires a better understanding of candidates’ interests, motivations, and future career aspirations — insights that résumés alone may not fully capture.
Understanding these factors can support better employment matches and stronger connections between employers and candidates, potentially contributing to improved retention and workplace performance.
Rather than focusing solely on filling immediate vacancies, recruitment can also be an opportunity to build relationships with future talent and support a more sustainable tourism workforce in the Yukon.
Why Yukon Tourism Jobs Portal Was Designed Differently
With this approach in mind, TIA Yukon and Bizont jointly developed the Yukon Tourism Jobs Portal as an alternative to traditional job boards.
Instead of requiring job seekers to search and apply for posted vacancies, the Portal allows employers to proactively search registered Tourism Profiles and connect directly with potential candidates.
These profiles provide insights beyond traditional résumés, including candidates’ interests, motivations, experiences, and career goals.
Building the Future Tourism Workforce Together
The Yukon Tourism Jobs Portal is not intended to solve every recruitment challenge facing the industry. However, it offers employers a different way to discover potential candidates, better understand their motivations and aspirations, and build connections that extend beyond immediate hiring needs.
TIA Yukon encourages tourism businesses across the Yukon to explore the Portal as an additional resource for recruitment and long-term talent pipeline development.
