Work in Sudbury, get more time with family: Vale

Vale is trying to sell the Sudbury lifestyle to potential employees in Alberta.

The company has an ad campaign specifically targetting workers in the oil patch and mines in western Canada. The marketing message promises less time commuting to workand more time with family.

Vale spokesperson Angie Robson said there is fierce competition among companies for skilled workers.

"You have to get creative, and when you have a community like Sudbury that is a great place to live and work you have to leverage that to try and attract people," she said.

The Vale ads put out messages like, "Less time in the Calgary airport and more time barbecuing," or "Less highway and more 'Hi Dad.'"

The ads speak directly to workers who spend a lot of time commuting, and are often on two-weeks-in, two-weeks-out schedules.

Robson said Vale has seen a surge in applications since the national recruiting campaign began earlier this year.

Ehren Baldauf, a human resources consultant with the DiBrina Sure Group in Sudbury, said more and more companies are basing their pitches to potential employees around lifestyle promises.

"Miners are aware of what the job entails, regardless of where they're working," he said. "I think where the difference lies is what happens outside of those working hours."

Baldauf said Sudbury's advantage is that it's one of the only mining camps in the midst of a city, instead of in the middle of nowhere.

Robson said Vale plans to hire about 200 workers in 2012 for its operations across Canada.

She noted that the company's announcement of 60 miner jobs in Sudbury earlier this year drew 800 resumes.