LAC Group Aims To Double Size Of Moncton Office To 70 People
MONCTON – Since acquiring ShiftCentral in July, Los Angeles-headquartered LAC Group has added three people to its Moncton office and it’s looking to hire more.
The aim is to double the headcount in the city to 70 in the next five years, says ShiftCentral founder Mario Theriault, now LAC’s Chief Business Development Officer. Ideally, Theriault wants to see that number grow to 100.
“What LAC Group brings to this facility is that they have different jobs in the information services. They were born out of corporate library services, so library science jobs. They did a lot of outsourced research…so clients of theirs can hire LAC Group researchers for let’s say 10, 20 or 100 hours a month. We’re trying to bring those jobs from the U.S. here,” he said.
LAC Group provides knowledge and information management solutions, such as competitive intelligence, research services, preservation and archival services, and spend and cost management. It provides knowledge management services for Fortune 500 companies, law firms, Hollywood studios, academic institutions and government agencies.
The Moncton office currently has 35 content creators and researchers. A legacy of ShiftCentral, the team offers ongoing briefings, daily and monthly newsletters and other publications that informs the strategy and thought leadership efforts of companies and law firms in North America. But the acquisition means more types of information work can be done from Moncton.
In addition to library science skills, LAC Group is also looking for writers with a journalism background who can report and synthesize information within set deadlines, and those with market research background who can read financial data and forecasts, and sit in on analyst calls.
These are “good jobs,” Theriault said. The wages vary depending on skill and experience, but an entry level hire would be offered somewhere around the $40,000 – $50,000 range.
Hiring for some specialized roles has been difficult but LAC Group is casting a wide net, hoping to recruit in the U.S. and bring the workers to Moncton. It also makes business sense to pay workers in Canadian dollars instead of U.S. dollars, Theriault said.
“ShiftCentral was a smaller boutique and when we hired, we’d win one and we’d lose one. So now, hopefully, this is a more sustainable way for us to grow in good clips here in terms of employment.”
Theriault says it’s been a learning process and the growth won’t happen overnight.
“But we’re still very much committed to making Moncton a centre of excellence for content generation. And in my view, it can’t go fast enough.”