Why Barrie Talent Brochure

Talent Brochure – Online URL:
https://investbarrie.ca/why-barrie/skilled-talent

The number one challenge facing almost every business owner across all sectors is talent attraction. Second to this is the challenge of attracting talent to a community they have never experienced. In response to the voices of our local business community, our economic development team created a 32-page digital and print talent attraction brochure titled Why Barrie which showcases the many reasons why Barrie is the place to work, live and play.

The challenge of talent attraction existed among Barrie businesses prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the pandemic’s onset, this challenge has spread and deepened across all business sectors. The Why Barrie brochure provides something tangible for local employers and the Invest Barrie team that not only sells the advantages of Barrie, but also fills open positions and increases the local labour pool.

Support for our local business community was the primary purpose of this project, but the brochure has also contributed to new business attraction, further strengthening our local economy.

The Why Barrie brochure opens with an exciting close-up image of two mountain bikers making their way through a naturally forested area. The heading reads, “The daily grind looks different here.” A common misconception of Barrie is that there is little to do here. This brochure combats this misconception with stunning visuals of residents and local business leaders enjoying the recreational, arts and culture, and health and wellness activities, professional development opportunities, innovation, housing, transportation, and education that are found all over the city.

The brochure also features testimonials of local business leaders on why they chose Barrie. This personal, visual, and informative approach has proven to resonate with our local business community as well as with newcomers and new businesses to Barrie.

Living permanently and available for download on the Invest Barrie website, the Why Barrie brochure was promoted through Invest Barrie’s regular business retention and expansion outreach, in our Quarterly Economic E-Newsletter, and on social media. It will continue to be promoted in current and future business attraction campaigns as its effectiveness remains prevalent.

The timing of the campaign for the Why Barrie brochure was impacted by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As so many of our local businesses were forced to close their doors and lay off their employees, the Invest Barrie team decided to delay the start of the campaign. Upon our province’s re-opening, talent attraction became even more challenging than pre-pandemic and our Why Barrie campaign proved to be critical to our local business community. The Invest Barrie team will continue to support businesses by promoting the campaign with the brochure being the leading element.

There are two target audiences for the Why Barrie brochure. First are local businesses who can use the brochure for their own talent recruitment needs. Specifically, Invest Barrie targeted Human Resources departments with our outreach, offering them both printed and digital copies. While initial conversations began with local large manufacturers, the brochure was designed to benefit businesses in any sector and of any size. Second are non-local job seekers that local businesses are targeting to fill open positions. These individuals are unfamiliar with Barrie and would be surprised and impressed by all the images and testimonials provided in the Why Barrie brochure. These individuals would also find useful information with the content provided on housing, transportation, education, health, and wellbeing.

With a few minor updates as needed the Why Barrie talent brochure will be a staple piece in the Invest Barrie toolkit for a long time to come.