Thousands respond to false message promoting 1,400 jobs with Department of National Defence
Inaccurate messages about a mass hiring initiative were circulated among Department of National Defence employees in mid-June, promoting hundreds of job openings that do not exist, in what appears to be a game of digital telephone gone wrong.
Department spokesperson Alex Tétreault confirmed that in mid-June, a note from an “unknown and unapproved source was sent to staff about a potential hiring initiative” related to some 1,400 jobs.
“This message, while directing recipients to an authorized departmental account, contained inaccurate information,” Tétreault told The Hill Times via email on July 30. “Recipients of this message then relayed this message with increasingly inaccurate information.”
The department is currently investigating the message’s origins, and reviewing internal procedures to prevent a repeat of the issue. The promise of new jobs at DND appeared to be sent via email, and posted internally within the department.
Tétreault said there is no indication it was part of a “phishing” scheme—where sensitive information is requested, often via email, from an authentic-looking but fraudulent source—or another cyber-security threat.
Since the mid-June appeal, Tétreault said there have been roughly 3,500 responses, both from job-seekers within the public service and external applicants.
The bogus message comes at a time of widespread anxiety throughout the federal public service, as Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne (Saint-Maurice—Champlain, Que.) has asked ministers to find budget savings that will amount to 15 per cent by 2028-29, billed as a “comprehensive spending review.” The federal public service was first put on notice to find savings in Budget 2023, which outlined $15-billion in cuts to programs and services over the next four years.
DND is thought to be largely exempt from these forecasted cuts, though. The RCMP and Canadian Border Services Agency are also expected to be spared from the same steep cuts amid the spending review.
Given the confusion, the department has set up an automatic response that attempts to explain the situation.
“If you are contacting us based on messaging that has been circulating amongst Federal Public Servants, particularly within the Economics and Social Science Services community, announcing that the Department of National Defence (DND) is hiring over 1,400 employees within the realm of Economics and Social Science Services (EC), kindly note that this message is unfortunately inaccurate and was not distributed by us,” the automatic reply reads.
“For that we apologize. Still, we thank you for your interest in DND. DND remains committed to creating a diverse and inclusive team that reflects Canada’s population and encourages all those interested, to apply to our employment opportunities posted on GC Jobs.”
Vito Pilieci, a spokesperson for Canada’s privacy commissioner, said the office has not been consulted on the matter, nor has it received any related complaints.
In a follow-up response on Aug. 7, DND spokesperson Kened Sadiku said there was no single email or official message sent by the department about a mass hiring initiative. An internal review found some members of the department’s digital services group were informally gauging interest in potential job opportunities by reaching out to their network of colleagues and contacts.
“This outreach is regularly conducted as part of routine workforce planning and talent mapping efforts, which help the department anticipate future staffing needs, maintain a pipeline of qualified candidates, and identify interest or availability among internal and external networks,” Sadiku said.
But, in this case, some people who were contacted may have “created their own unofficial, poster-style communications that resembled official job advertisements which contained inaccurate information,” he said.
“These were not reviewed, authorized, or endorsed by the department,” he said.
One such poster was uploaded to a Reddit community popular with public servants. The blue background includes a picture of a young family and promotes job openings in economics and social sciences, IT, and engineering.
“Looking to fill 1,400 job positions to support digital community and security efforts,” the poster reads, with the jobs at various pay levels and “with varying language and security requirements, including Top Secret.” These jobs allegedly focused on business relationship management, cybersecurity, business line management, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and digital strategy.
The poster said applications are being accepted from across the government, “especially” from people who are already in a hiring pool or who have been subjected to a “workforce adjustment.”
Several Redditors commented that the poster “didn’t look right” and didn’t match the tone of typical job postings. Some expressed concerns that the post was a scam.
In a subsequent email, Sadiku clarified the inaccurate message came from a third party “following regular communications within our network.”
Of the 3,500 respondents, approximately 2,000 originated from within the public service, and 1,500 were external applicants.
While some departments in the government are bracing for steep cuts, earlier this month, Prime Minister Mark Carney (Nepean, Ont.) detailed how his government would boost defence spending by over $9-billion in defence spending this year alone, with that money going to DND, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and the Communications Security Establishment.
That includes $2.6-billion for military recruitment, $1-billion to grow the military, and $844-million for repairing and maintaining CAF equipment and infrastructure, and salary increases for military members.
Carney announced a salary increase of up to 20 per cent for Armed Forces members on Aug. 8 in an effort to retain personnel and attract new recruits. The pay raises are on top of base pay and are retroactive to April 1 of this year, and amount to an eight-per-cent raise for colonels and above, a 13-per-cent raise for lieutenant-colonels and below, and a 20-per-cent increase in starting pay for privates in the Regular Force.
It’s a move that is part of Carney’s pledge to meet NATO’s defence spending target of two per cent of GDP this year. That target is expected to increase to five per cent over the next decade. Canada, along with other member states, have agreed to significantly hike the alliance’s defence spending target to five per cent of each nation’s annual GDP by 2035. Carney said at the time that the new NATO agreement would see Canada’s annual defence budget increase to roughly $150-billion.
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