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Written by Kieran Delamont, Associate Editor, London Inc. | |
WORKFORCE
Say hello to the Trumpugees
Amid the turbulent Trump presidency, experts say Canada has a golden opportunity to attract top medical, scientific and academic talent. But not everyone is thrilled
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A BRAIN GAIN? A Trump bump? Whatever you want to call it, the political and employment climate in the United States is creating opportunities for Canadian employers to reverse the usual state of affairs (Canadians heading south for opportunities) and attract talent north, say labour market experts.
The effect is particularly strong in research-dominant fields like health and biomedicine, with steep cuts in federal research funding in America. “Canada stands out as a prime destination, offering stable funding, a thriving research ecosystem and an inclusive work environment,” said immigration consulting firm ImmigCanada, calling the current moment a golden opportunity for Canadian organizations.
“With shifting priorities in the U.S., Canada has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to welcome top-tier American talent. By investing in research, simplifying immigration and strengthening industry-academic ties, Canada can solidify its reputation as a global leader in innovation.”
So far, universities have been among the first to cash in. The most prominent example is the University of Toronto, which recently lured three Ivy League professors from Yale ― Jason Stanley, Marci Shore and Timothy Snyder ― who wanted out.
But other firms are jumping on board as well. Since Trump took office, executive search firm KBRS in Moncton, NB, said that U.S. residents now make up 30 per cent of applicants, many of them in research fields.
“That is a significant increase in a relatively short period of time, and I only expect that to grow,” partner Jennie Massey told CBC. Health institutions are interested in using the moment to help fix some of their staffing issues.
“We really have a window to be able to find a silver lining in all of the things that are happening in the U.S., to bring a wealth of expertise and physicians to Canada,” said Dr. Joss Reimer, president of the Canadian Medical Association. Several provinces are already establishing fast-track pathways for U.S. physicians.
But not everyone is thrilled, especially in universities where faculty already feel like they are being shortchanged and underfunded ― and now may start to see aggressive U.S. talent recruitment efforts. Public policy professor Alasdair Roberts suggested that Canadian firms might be “overestimating the possibility of a brain gain.” And some Canadian employees wonder why we should be pursuing American talent before nurturing our own.
“We’re talking so much about putting Canada first and thinking about how we need Canada, in this moment, to be strong and separate from the U.S.,” said York University academic Dean Ray. “So why should we be empowering Americans to come to Canada?”
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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
AI-generated fake receipts: The latest fraud challenge
The possibilities for dodgy expense claims are getting much more sophisticated, with businesses warned to take note
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AI IMAGE GENERATORS have become rather good at a new trick lately: spoofing images of receipts. And that’s led to a new anxiety for accountants and payroll managers, who now must wonder whether a receipt is real ― or if an employee is looking to get comped for a steak dinner when they really went out for a McRib.
It still takes a bit of work: TechCrunch generated some of their own, and they have the usual small errors that AI images tend to have, but they’re awfully close ― so close in fact that accounting software providers are beginning to roll out stronger verification tools.
“So, while it's always been possible to create fake receipts, AI has made it super-duper easy, especially OpenAI with their latest model,” said Dave Wieseneck, an expert with the accounting software Ramp, which is now rolling out some of these new metadata verification tools. (For its part, OpenAI said the metadata for an image remains a dead giveaway, although there are ways around this, too.)
All of it has businesses starting to stress a bit about fraud. “Five years ago, creating a convincing fake receipt would have required specialized skills and software,” reads Medium’s AI Tech Toolbox blog, calling it the day receipt verification died. “Today, it takes 30 seconds and a free AI tool. What does this mean for businesses that rely on receipt verification for expense reports, returns or reimbursements? Put simply: your existing systems just became vulnerable.”
AI Tech Toolbox suggested getting a dinner fraudulently comped is probably the least of a business’ worries ― they should instead be worried about deceit at a much larger scale, while retail businesses will face potential return scam issues and insurance companies will need to do more work to verify claims documents.
“The financial impact of these vulnerabilities isn’t theoretical,” said AI Tech Tools. “According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, businesses already lose roughly five per cent of revenue to fraud annually ― and these new tools remove many of the technical barriers that previously limited fraud attempts.”
Indeed, this just adds to a host of digital vulnerabilities being highlighted by new AI tools. Business leaders are right to be concerned. There are no quick answers, either ― you can rely on paper receipts, but that can be cumbersome, slow and people lose receipts all the time.
“This vulnerability for both businesses and consumers is amplified by our increasing reliance on digital documentation,” wrote University of Technology Sydney lecturer Matthew Grosse. “The gap between what AI can create and what our systems can reliably verify continues to widen. So how do we maintain trust in financial transactions in a world where seeing is no longer believing?”
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Terry Talks: Why questions can make all the difference
| In his groundbreaking book A More Beautiful Question (now updated throughout), innovation expert Warren Berger proves that one of the most powerful tools for spurring change is also the most under-appreciated. Questioning ― deeply and imaginatively ― can help us identify and solve problems, come up with ideas and pursue fresh opportunities. But in a business culture devised to reward rote answers, questioning isn't encouraged ― and, in fact, is sometimes barely tolerated. | | | |
CAREERS
The hidden job market: Strategies for access and success
Those who tap into the hidden job market have a higher chance of success than those solely relying on public job postings. Here’s what you need to know
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WE’VE WRITTEN MORE than once in the past about the deleterious effects that AI tools have been having on the job market, whether that’s applicants using AI to push out hundreds of résumés in a day, or companies using AI to screen out candidates before even looking at résumés. So, it was probably inevitable that these trends are pushing more jobs away from the usual posting places and into the “hidden job market.”
Today’s hidden job market is really just another term for positions hired through word of mouth ― they’re jobs employers aren’t advertising to the public. The hidden job market isn’t necessarily new, it’s just that it is being leveraged increasingly as companies eschew the pains associated with online hiring.
StatsCan’s job vacancy data shows that employers are leaning on personal contacts, referrals and informal networks when filling around 72 per cent of their positions (though not necessarily exclusively), up from a decade ago when they were only doing so around 65 per cent of the time. “It’s clear that companies are trying lots of different methods,” said Indeed Canada economist Brendon Bernard.
You can’t ignore the role of AI in all of this ― it’s made both finding a job, as well as hiring for one, harder in some respects.
“I saw some data pulled from Greenhouse showing that the number of applications has basically doubled per job opening in the past year,” wrote HR expert Tim Sackett. “If AI writes résumés for our jobs and matches jobs to our candidates, we are going to end up with way more candidates who look amazing but are most likely not that amazing.” As a result, hiring managers are finding themselves overburdened and turning instead to a hidden job market ― even if it’s slower ― to reduce the overall volume now associated with trying to fill a position.
For jobseekers (who have had a lot of things to complain about as it pertains to hiring practices), it might mean making a strategic pivot away from LinkedIn and Indeed and dedicating more time pounding the pavement and setting up coffee chats.
“One of the tips we always recommend is for every one job application you submit online,” advised Calgary-based career coach April Dryda, “to try to make two genuine curious connections outside of that.”
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CULTURE
Is ‘quiet cracking’ a hidden workplace crisis?
More than half of employees experience a persistent feeling of workplace unhappiness that leads to disengagement, poor performance and an increased desire to quit, finds a new survey
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FIRST, FOLKS WERE ‘quiet quitting’ (perhaps in protest about being ‘quiet fired’ or ‘quiet promoted’), but instead of quietly thriving, more employees are ‘quiet cracking’ ― that is, quietly reaching the end of their rope.
“Quiet cracking, or a persistent and invisible form of workplace unhappiness that slowly leads to disengagement, poor performance and a desire to quit, is the latest term [executives] should take note of,” said CFO.com’s Adam Zaki.
One survey found that 54 per cent of employees surveyed said they report feeling this way. “A new form of disengagement is taking root in the workforce ― less visible than mass resignations,” wrote TalentLMS, which produced that survey. “While headlines fixate on burnout and turnover, something quieter ― and deeper ― is unraveling behind office doors and computer screens: employees are silently cracking under persistent pressure.”
Quiet cracking differs from quiet quitting in the sense that its source isn’t just disgruntled employees, but employees who effectively feel like their relationship with their employer and their job itself is falling apart.
“Quiet cracking may not be obvious at first, but over time it can wear down team energy, connection and trust," said Nikhil Arora, CEO of Epignosis. “It’s different from typical burnout and quiet quitting because it’s not always rooted in exhaustion or visible in performance metrics,” added Zaki.
Employees in this category no longer trust that their job will take care of them, and don’t see their employer investing in them any longer; indeed, one of the key differentiators that TalentLMS found between employees who are quiet cracking and those who aren’t is that the latter is receiving both training and recognition in the workplace.
“The solution isn’t complicated. When people feel stuck, unheard or unsure about their future, that's when disengagement creeps in,” observed Arora.
“Giving employees space to grow ― through learning, skilling and real conversations ― is one of the most powerful ways to turn things around. It not only shows people they matter, but helps them rediscover a sense of purpose and forward momentum, something we all seek at work and in life.”
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