The Grande Prairie and District Chamber of Commerce has partnered with app developer Talinity to launch a first-of-its-kind hire-by-referral network in the municipality meant to help fill vacant job positions in the region. Chamber CEO Tanya Oliver says the local network will be for both job seekers and what they call champions for businesses.
She says when a new job posting pops up and a referral is accepted, the champion will list the reasons behind their referral.
“It will help weed through the potential influx of resumes, or maybe there is an employer who is not getting an influx and just needs that one good referral to come their way to help them through,” she says. “The AI built into this system is really exciting… one of the co-founders was involved with the IBM Watson project, so it’s a pretty high level of background helping this system work and do the job.”
Oliver says with businesses across the region continuing to look to fill vacancies and the region’s history as an entrepreneurial hotspot, the network could make a big impact.
“Our community is so connected here, and people here care so much about the community, their employer, the store down the street… I really do see a lot of power in creating this referral network. Lots of our new members come on referral from our happy members, so to be able to put this tool into employers’ hands and to fill their spots with referrals, it’s a powerful solution to this incredible problem we have.”
More information about the app and job network can be found on the Grande Prairie and District Chamber of Commerce website.