Ashlie Collins
Hello and welcome to Hire We Go!, where we’re chatting all things talent acquisition transformation. Whether you’re an HR vet or someone who is simply fascinated by how to find, attract, and engage talent, you are in the right place! I’m your host and Director of Solutions here at Joveo, Ashlie Collins, and joining me today is Julie Labrie from BlueSky Personnel Solutions.

Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to join us. Why don’t you tell us a little bit more about yourself and BlueSky?

Julie Labrie
Yes, thank you. Thank you for having me. So I am the President-Owner of BlueSky Personnel Solutions. We are a bilingual recruitment firm located in Toronto, Canada, and we specialize in bilingual French and English recruitment in Canada. We do temporary, permanent and contract placements for our clients all across the country.

Ashlie Collins
Amazing! And as you said, your staffing firm specializes in bilingual French and English recruitment… Why do you believe that other staffing firms should consider specializing in a niche as well?

Julie Labrie
Well, I feel that this is going to be their best competitive advantage and they are going to attract and generate more clients as a result and make more placements. When we opened up back in 2001, we were not focusing on bilingual recruitment. Over the years, we realized that the book of business that we had was really highly focused on bilingual and we decided to make the shift. And when that happened, we saw that the growth of the business exploded. And people have a fear of focusing on a particular area because they’re thinking, well, what about if a client needs me for another position? They’re not going to call me for that. Well, I have to tell you, they will call you because you will be so good at what you do on the specialized position that they need you for that they will give you other business as well.

So yes, you’ll be the go-to person when it comes to, in my case, bilingual, whatever it is that you’re focusing on, but they will give you other opportunities. And then, because they’ll know you, and then you’ll know them, and then they’ll refer you other positions. So the fear for people is that you’re limiting yourself, but you’re actually not limiting yourself. You’re expanding your growth. And it’s very… and you’re expanding with limited funding because really, you’re already doing it! You’ll make more placement faster when you focus on what you do best. And your team is going to be probably most likely to be happier because they’ll do the same positions over and over again. And that’s going to be easy for them!

Ashlie Collins
Yeah, absolutely. And like you said, I think there’s that trust established that makes that relationship growth almost organic. And it sounds like what I’m hearing you say is that it’s okay to not know what that niche is straight out of the gates. And in your case, that happened pretty organically. So you can give yourself time to really understand where you shine and then build your niche around that.

Julie Labrie
Exactly. And it’s important that… you know, some of the tips and tricks that I tell people is that just look at your book of business. Where do you place the most and what keeps coming back on a regular basis? And that’s when you should know this is the area I should focus on. And then if you find that this is the area that you’re having success with and it’s easy, well, then you have your answer!

Ashlie Collins
That’s perfect! And my last question for you today, Julie, if you had a magic wand, what would you change about talent sourcing as we head into 2026?

Julie Labrie
Well, you know, a lot of sourcing is becoming more automated. Candidates are being contacted by machines and AI. And you know, one thing that… if you want to stand out from the crowd, really, continue to be that person out there that offers that personalized service. I’ll give you an example. Just a few weeks ago, we had a candidate that was surprised that we answered the phone. He says, “Wow, someone is answering the phone!”
A couple of months ago, we had a candidate that talked to us and said, “Wow, I’m surprised you’re assessing my French with a real person”.
Another agency used an AI tool out there. And I think that’s how you’re going to stand out as a business if you continue to offer that personalized service, because everyone wants to use AI right now because… let’s face it, it’s faster, but you still need that human touch, that human connection. So that’s really important for companies to understand that… that we still need to go in that direction to maintain that personal touch with candidates and also clients.

Ashlie Collins
Yeah, absolutely. And I know it’s ironic coming from an AI provider, but I do actually really agree with this because it is striking that balance of where can efficiencies be driven through augmentation so that the humanity can come back to the forefront of what we’re doing. So thank you for articulating that so well and for sharing your experience with all of us today and thanks all of you for tuning in. Until next time!