“Heard two interesting Vancouver anecdotes recently. Two top tech companies (one bio, one IT) were recruiting for certain specialist legal skill sets. Given that very few people meet the criteria the jobs were advertised across North America. Both companies were offering very attractive salaries and both were prepared to pay for relocation etc.
In both cases, despite interviewing numerous Canadian & US-based candidates, the companies could not find anyone to fill the position. The number one reason given by candidates for withdrawing…the cost of living in Vancouver was just too high.”
- Bally at VREAA 26 Jan 2012 6:16pm
Anybody not troubled by stories such as this really doesn’t care about the future of this city. – vreaa
Nobody here will care about how bad this is until there are no jobs and ordinary people are literally starving in the streets. Vancouver is locked into a “provincial” bush town mentality with smug satisfaction in nothing more than a spectacular natural setting and – until now – a rapidly appreciating property market. Why would any business invest here?
Expansion seems to be self-limiting, that is there are only so many “good” people around and few will move to Vancouver because of the high cost of living, relatively low salary structure, and limited professional network. In many respects Vancouver has been good at playing its book.
If the pay was substantial enough, the cost of housing ownership wouldn’t be an issue; however, I doubt that any company could survive compensating people based on the cost of a Vancouver house.
Lots of companies thrieves in NY, CA, Tokyo, etc with also very high housing prices and paying salaries that would support even a good portion of Vancouver housing prices.
I think the problem with Vancouver is that one it pays so little relative to elsewhere that you don’t really get a lot of ambitious talented people who are in the 1% or 5% of whatever they do, Those who are tend to end up leaving after few years after seeing absolutely no upward career path. Case in point, a friend of mine transferred from Van to Tor and now she’s jump a few grade up into a manager position along with a huge pay increase, something that she would never have a chance here because the lack of companies here and lack of available positions to promote her.
Second problem is the lack of ambition on the company’s part to expand and excel and be you know actually World Class companies. Combine this with almost an absolutel aversion to hiring people with talents but lack of experience means if you want to do anything, you are literally forced to go elsewhere. Case in point, me. I have CFA, FRM and PRM designations, I have specialized skills in KDB/Q, .Net, etc, etc which would/should make me quite a catch for a lot of the financial engineering jobs that requires both finance and IT knowledge. However in Vancouver I have pretty much 0 chances of getting that kind of job because I don’t have the 5 years work experiences in financial industry, or a MBA/PhD/whatnot. So my choice is pretty much leave.
For most companies, they are competing for employees in an international marketplace. If Silicon Valley can afford to pay its engineers 30% more than those in Vancouver — not to mention the benefits — that means Vancouver is at least 30% cheaper. My first guess is that Vancouver/BC/Canada is inherently less competitive.
Oops didn’t mean “most companies”, I meant many local tech companies, and likely not the majority.
Cue Fred/Rusty/etc to tell us why this is good and how those candidate just don’t get what a great opportunity this is for them!
They should push the outdoor/resort aspect of Vancouver, call it a “working holiday”, a weekday of choice off every or every other week, etc.
I am moving out of a Vancouver in a few weeks for many of the reasons discussed on this thread. Local tech companies have used the execuse of lifestyle as to why they pay low salaries that are really not enough to live on given the cost of Living in Vancouver. Vancouver is not a good place to build a software company in for many reasons including the problems that the housing bubble has on putting together the right team that can make a company a success.
Now some ignorant should tell you that all you need is a better business case.
The company I work for is HQ’d in Calgary, they want to move HQ to Vancouver but can’t just yet, here is why:
We just hired a guy in Calgary for a base of $105K, the same skillset in Vancouver would have a base of $65K hence the desire to move to Vancouver. The problem is that we can’t just up an move with all new hires but will have to re-locate a good portion of staff and guess what…very few of them are willing to move! The primary reason for not moving is the high cost of housing in Vancouver (some mentioned relocating kids, spouse as primary breadwinner etc. but housing was the biggest reason).
So what are we doing? We recruit in Vancouver and offer relocation to Calgary with a longer term plan to relocate back to Vancouver if the market ever corrects (not my term, I say bubble pops).
Hmm. Today I got the call I thought would come one day. It took almost 5 years of being in Vancouver – however – My old company/client in Switzerland called and wanted to know if I would move back there to work for them. Immediate 100% increase in salary, 6 weeks holiday again, living in truly the best place on earth, no street people begging from me on my walk in every day, 50 world class cities within 2 hours flying, 30 ski resorts within 3 hour drive, perfectly on-time and clean and spacious public transit, unbelievable career potential, international Global 100 company. Um – - – - let me think about it . . Absolutely no weekend working. Or – - – slaving it out here waiting for the market to crash while working 70 hours a week trying to get ahead…
I would take it.
don’t be a moron – gtfo while you can
From a Vancouver company’s perspective, why should it pay higher salaries? Salary structure for a particular job in a tech company is governed by what the local market structure/demand is. Since Vancouver is somewhat bush-league from a tech/IT perspective, relatively speaking, then don’t be surprised by what’s going on. Everyone is replaceable, as the colleges/universities are churning out truckloads of eager/beaver new grads willing to work for peanuts …. unless you have a deemed critical skill set and your employer has a sufficient revenue base to pay higher wages.
Successful companies need investors/cash-flow, markets, both experienced employees and new grads, etc. Vancouver is what it is and likely won’t change.
The only seemingly vibrant industries in Vancouver are real estate, retail, and cannibas cultivation.
Alternatively, try to find a secure pensionable government job where you are exempt from supply/demand forces