CIHR – Canadian Institutes of Health Research Recruitment Event
Never in North American living memory has Health Research dominated public affairs and people’s thoughts as it has these past two years. And never have there been more jobs in this sector.
Health Research in Canada is carried out by 13 Institutes across the country located in hospitals and universities for example. Their work is coordinated in Ottawa by the federal government funding agency, CIHR – Canadian Institutes of Health Research. (Note the unusual plural; “institutes” with an “s”.) Each Institute includes fundamental bio-medical research, clinical research, and research respecting health systems, health services, the health of populations, societal and cultural dimensions of health and environmental influences on health.
On September 24th, Justin Rutanga, CIHR’s HR Programs Advisor, described the Health Research landscape to about 30 World Skills clients with previous careers in health, medicine and/or related research – and the labour market in this sector.
While the institutes employ thousands of people, CIHR itself has only 160 people. However, he pointed out, the sector includes many more organizations than CIHR’s 13 institutes, and that several of them are also federal government agencies of varying sizes and mandates.
Jason, who’s HR career includes service in a wide variety of departments, including the Senate, went on to focus on how to prepare a winning public service job application, and shared his most valuable tips – he even shared a model covering letter he had written for this occasion!
His knowledge and candor struck a great rapport with our clients, and he was gracious enough to stay well past the hour originally scheduled to answer every one of their questions.
Thanks to Justin, CIHR is registered with the World Skills Job Board and has already started posting jobs there.
