Recruitment and retention challenges of a regional centre of a resource-based region: The case study of Prince George, BC.

This thesis challenges the idea that only small resource-based communities have recruitment and retention issues by examining a regional centre of a resource-based region, Prince George, British Columbia. To test whether the pull and push factors were consistent between these two types of communities, this thesis surveyed new residents to Prince George and human resource professionals. The results confirmed that Prince George shares many of the same pull factors (e.g., employment, natural setting, and friendliness) and push factors (e.g., loss of employment, climate, and isolation) of smaller resource-based communities. The number of services did not appear to be as large an issue for Prince George as it was for the smaller communities. For example, the presence of post-secondary institutions was viewed very positively. Prince George's most important push factor, poor air quality, appears to be unique to this case study as the literature does not identify environmental problems as a general push factor of resource-based communities. It is important to note that Prince George's recruitment and retention issues were not perceived to be as severe as those facing many of its smaller neighbours. Recruitment and retention are important governance issues as the inability to attract professionals can severely hamper overall community development and many of the push and pull factors represent broader quality of life issues. As such, recruitment and retention issues are not just a business issue. Therefore, addressing the push and pull factors will require the collective action of multiple actors.