After cutting nearly 1,500 jobs in 2020, computer consulting firm CGI is now posting job vacancies at a record pace, according to a review by RBC Capital Markets.
The Quebec multinational would have published 5,470 job offers around the world during the last three months of the year. This is a new high, underlines Paul Treiber, of RBC Capital Markets, who reiterates his recommendation “outperformance” on the title. The number of offers thus increased by 120% compared to the same period last year, and by 17% compared to the three-month period from July to September.
In Canada, the company posted 948 listings during this period, up 83% from last year and 9% from the previous quarter. “This is much more than the average of 448 positions for fiscal years 2018 and 2019.”
The financial analyst interprets this data as a sign that the long-term growth plan of the Montreal company is on the right track. “CGI is normally cautious when it comes to making new investments, especially for fixed costs like the number of employees,” he explained in a note Tuesday. We therefore believe that the job postings suggest that CGI is experiencing strong organic growth and that its backlog is on a good footing. “
CGI aims to double in size within five to seven years. Half of this growth is expected to come from acquisitions and the other half from existing businesses.
The variation in the number of job postings is a good indicator of a company’s organic growth in the information technology sector, believes Mr. Treiber. He explains that revenues from system integration and consulting activities are highly dependent on the professionals who perform these tasks.
He points out that the increase in the number of job offers is greater than that of the industry. For the ten largest companies in the sector, this figure is down 9% compared to the previous quarter. He notes that CGI leads the industry in all regions: Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
A lift
This is a change of course for the Quebec multinational since it announced in July 2020 the abolition of 1,500 positions, or 2% of its workforce. After slowing down their technology spending at the start of the pandemic, companies have relaunched their projects. Job vacancies have been rising steadily since the low of 1,357 ads recorded in the second quarter of 2020 (April to June).
It was not possible to obtain an immediate reaction from CGI. Last November, President and CEO George Schindler mentioned that the number of employees had returned to a higher threshold than before the pandemic.
Even though competition in the job market is intensifying, the leader specified that the turnover rate has been on the rise lately, but that it is still below its pre-pandemic threshold. He added that the company would increase its training budget by 33% in 2022 to encourage internal professional development.
“We are recruiting more, but our acceptance rate remains above 80%, which is very positive. This means that we are not only able to attract professionals, but also to hire those to whom we make offers. “