Erin Campbell becomes CEO at Altis during a time of civil service layoffs, AI disruption

Over the course of 17 years with Altis Recruitment, Erin Campbell has learned a thing or two about navigating unexpected challenges. Now, during a complicated period for recruiters, she is putting that experience to use as the company’s new CEO.

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Over the course of 17 years with Altis Recruitment, Erin Campbell has learned a thing or two about navigating unexpected challenges. Now, during a complicated period for recruiters, she is putting that experience to use as the company’s new CEO. 

“There is a lot going on right now, and there is so much to keep your eye on,” Campbell told OBJ on Monday. 

The Ottawa-based staffing firm works with employers and job-seekers across the country in both the private and public sectors. The company is also one of the top suppliers of staffing services to the federal government. 

Campbell is stepping into the CEO role at a time of tumult for the industry, especially in Ottawa. 

The federal government is aiming to cut 10 per cent of its workforce by 2029, which would mean fewer jobs and a lot more job-seekers in the local market. For Campbell, that means preparing her firm to help laid-off public servants pivot. 

“We’re looking at how we’re helping candidates who do experience those layoffs and how we can help them find employment,” she said. “How can we teach them about contracting, whether that’s with the federal government or the private sector? What skills do they need for that? What’s the process? The beauty is, you have skills that can be transferable to other spaces. So how can (we help them) find opportunities outside of the federal government?”

Meanwhile, technological advances such as artificial intelligence are complicating the recruitment process from top to bottom. 

While Campbell said Altis is exploring ways to become more efficient by using AI internally, she said employers and job-seekers are increasingly frustrated with AI use across the hiring process. For Altis, Campbell said, that presents an opportunity. 

“AI is changing the experience for candidates and some are being screened out by tools before they even have a conversation with someone. It’s potentially creating a bias in hiring and you could be missing out on somebody whose resume doesn’t match the algorithm,” she said. 

“That’s where staffing firms really come into play. We have the ability to speak to organizations and clients and say, look, this is what you might see on paper, but this is what I can tell you from meeting that person face-to-face. With everything being navigated through AI, using a bit of that human touch is so important to us.”

While it’s increasingly uncommon, as Campbell herself has witnessed, for young professionals to stay with one company for decades and climb the career ladder internally, that’s exactly what Campbell said she did. 

Campbell initially approached Altis — then called ExcelHR — as a job-seeker when she relocated to Ottawa from Montreal. On a whim, she asked if she could apply to work with the company instead. 

“I walked into the Ottawa office and, right away, I felt the energy,” she said. “Everyone had their doors open, so you could really feel the buzz. I met with the recruiter and within five minutes I asked if they were hiring internally. That wasn’t the plan, but I just had this feeling.”

In 2009, she joined the company as a recruiting and placement consultant, a job that she said entailed finding large volumes of temporary staff for clients in a short period of time. 

“We would get calls on Fridays saying, ‘I need 40 people on Monday,’” she said. “What I loved is that it really taught me the pace of the industry. And starting in what we call temporary staffing right out of the gate really showed me that. I really fell in love with the industry and the people I worked with and the company.”

From there, Campbell started to climb. She moved to the company’s Toronto office and, from 2012 to 2016, managed its permanent staffing division, then spent a year as manager of learning and development. From there, she pivoted to more internal roles with an HR focus, spending time as director of people and culture and vice-president of HR and people strategy. 

In 2024, she stepped into the C-suite as chief revenue and people officer. And eight months later, she became the company’s chief operating officer. 

At the beginning of March, Campbell officially stepped into the CEO role, replacing Andie Andreou, who departed the company in September. 

“(Co-founder and owner Kathryn Tremblay) had brought it up years ago and we have had a lot of meaningful conversations,” said Campbell. “We both felt that there were still skills that I wanted to develop and a confidence I really wanted to have in myself. I think timing is everything and, with the timing, it just felt right in many ways.”

In an emailed statement to OBJ, Tremblay said Campbell was the natural choice for the role. 

“Erin has built a strong foundation at Altis over the years, and this next step feels like a natural one,” she said. “What stands out isn’t just what she’s accomplished, but how she leads. She brings together process, data, and strategy, while always keeping people at the centre. This role is a continuation of the path she’s been building toward for a long time.”