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CANADIAN INDUSTRY ONLINE - FEB/MAR 2013
LV:
The key thing to understand
is that in the north, customers want the
same things, the same services that are
available to people in southern Can-
ada. The creative part is how we can
deliver those same things, at the same
costs—because it’s just not as simple in
the north. For instance, a good portion
of our communities are not accessible
by road so in many places we have to
deliver cellular and internet services
over satellite.
Our employees pride themselves
on their ability to design, deliver and
maintain service in remote and often
very cold areas of the north. But our
infrastructure has been a huge success
and has played a significant part in the
economic development and growth
in Northern Canada. The difference
is that here, if your services are out,
you’re disabling enterprise. If our ser-
vices are ever interrupted—it means
that Tim Horton’s or Starbucks or Ca-
nadian Tire can’t operate their Point
of Sale machines and can only accept
cash. So it is crucial that our services
are always running at full capacity.
CIO:
Is it difficult to hire and re-
tain good workers?
LV
:
Employment is definitely a
challenge in the north. The first reason
is because we’re in a specialized field.
We don’t have other similar employ-
ers that we can “beg, borrow or steal”
from. Employees in southern Canada
move through Telus, Rogers and Bell
for diversity and change in their ca-
reers and growth—but we don’t have
that—we are in a vertical niche in a
market without other organizations.
From a recruitment perspective
we’re looking for a needle in a hay-
stack. We are looking for people who
want to live in a northern setting and
have the talent and skill to do the job.
In order to attract the right people,
we have to challenge ourselves to be
open minded and creative. If someone
doesn’t have industry background, but
has great skills, that is appealing to us.
We are looking for great talent.
Ultimately, our goal is to hire
northerners. They are more likely to
stay and grow with the company, and
they tend to understand our custom-
ers better. Northwestel has established
a scholarship program in order to
develop a future talent pool for the
company. We offer funding to north-
ern students, and 50% of these scholar-
ships go to Aboriginal students. In the
longer term we are looking to grow
our own talent.
Training is a really critical compo-
nent for us. We have an active devel-
opment program and lots of soft skill
learning opportunities within the com-
pany.
CIO:
what types of community
involvement activities is Northwestel
involved in?
LV:
As one of the largest employ-
ers in the north, we feel very strongly
about giving back to the communities
where we live and work. Northwestel
supports a wide range of causes aimed
at improving the quality of life in the
NORTHWESTEL
