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In a hot job market, where B.C. has Canada’s lowest unemployment rate, opening a branch office in Nelson is a key experiment in Vancouver-headquartered Traction on Demand’s recruiting strategy.

The fast-growing tech firm of some 600 employees has sent in a vanguard of about eight or nine employees so far, said company CEO Greg Malpass, a number he anticipates will increase, as his company scrambles to recruit dozens of new employees.

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“We’re happy for it to grow as big as it can get,” said Malpass, “(but) a lot of it depends on what people we can get there. My gut tells me that’s 25-40.”

The Nelson experiment is part of Traction on Demand’s “small-town” campaign as a prong in its strategy to attract, and retain, employees in a job market where the provincial unemployment rate has ratcheted down to 4.3 per cent, and technology is driving a lot of the demand for new workers.

“It’s almost overwhelming, how much energy we’re putting into making sure people have a good work experience,” Malpass said. “That’s a big part of it (because) it’s one thing to hire, it is also hard to keep people when there’s so much opportunity around them.”