September Job Seeker E-News: The Secret 'Sauce' To Any Job Search

	SEPTEMBER 2013 EDITION
	Article: Don't Go to School? Article Written By: Jowita Bydlowska I have one useless undergraduate degree. Useless but it was very expensive. When I finished school I realized I couldn’t afford to do my master’s and without it, my degree was worth little more than the paper (diploma) that announced it. Scholarships were not an option (long story) and another loan would probably have rendered me homeless. In retrospect, I’m glad I didn’t try to pursue that master’s degree — I know people who have done exactly that and never worked a day in their field because: no jobs. As for me and my undergrad, I finished school and embarked on a desperate search for work that would demand a degree in psychology. The only thing I was able to find was a volunteer position at a distress centre — very rewarding, but it didn’t pay the bills.   READ MORE TORONTOJOBS.CA • My Account • Employment Agencies • Newsletter Archives • Search Jobs • Career Resource Centre • Job Seeker FAQ • Salary Wizard CONNECT WITH US

 

Featured Resource: Tales from the Recruiter

 

Article: The Secret 'Sauce' To Any Job Search   Article Written By: Dawn Rasmussen Go out and do a Google search on how to conduct job searches, and you’ll come up with literally a billion different articles and pieces of advice… with a lot of the ideas out there contradicting each other. One person says, “Do it this way,” and then the next person has a different take on what you need to do. Is it any wonder job seekers are so darned frustrated? It’s sort of like the dog running around in circles chasing its tail, isn’t it? Round and round and round, and it seems like no matter what, there you are back at square one again after yet another application-interview-rejection cycle. But the truth is the real secret “sauce” to a successful job search usually is so close to us it is like we literally can’t see our hand in front of our face. It boils down to some simple, solid strategies: READ MORE.

 

employment industry updates   Construction is providing the foundation for Canadian job growth What’s been driving Canada’s job growth this year, and where will hiring happen in the coming months? The answer to both lies in one industry: construction. Employment in the sector rose by 17,700 last month, Statistics Canada figures showed Friday. More than 110,000 jobs have been added over the past year, a gain of 9.1 per cent – by far the largest of any industry. READ MORE Ontario Economy's Challenges Are Just Beginning Two years after graduating from college with an accounting degree, Amanda Coombes expected to be working full-time in her field. Instead, she's living with her mom and working at McDonald's. These days, in hard-hit Ontario, a job is a job. "It's hard for us," Coombes, 23, said of the challenges she and her fellow graduates face in their search for work in their chosen field. Older applicants, some laid off after 25 years in the business, offer life and work experience that make them formidable rivals. READ MORE

 

Upcoming Event: Save the Date for the 2013 Toronto Career Fair!

 

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TorontoJobs.ca HR E-News September 2013

	HR E-NEWS: SEPTEMBER 2013
	Article: Tapping the Hidden Job Market to Find Candidates for Your Open Positions Article Written By: Marc Belaiche, CPA, CA & Joseph Thomas Whether driven by the need to explore and diversify a company’s approach to recruitment or find ways to cut costs, employers may consider a variety of staffing techniques to find good candidates. This article offers suggestions on how companies may tap into the hidden job market. Social Media In today’s job market, an increasingly popular way for companies to connect with potential candidates is to make themselves visible on social media. Engaging people in discussions, groups and polls are excellent vehicles for connecting with both passive and active job seekers. Websites such as LinkedIn provide a massive pool of talent that employers can easily tap into. READ MORE TORONTOJOBS.CA • About Us • Employer FAQ • Services & Pricing • Contact Us • Articles • Salary Wizard CONNECT WITH US

 

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HR Industry Updates   Women face internal identity conflicts in the workplace: Study Are you an ambitious professional or a nurturing caregiver? For women in the workplace, there can be a significant identity conflict between the two roles, according to a new study. The study, entitled How Competitive are Female Professionals? A Tale of Identity Conflict, was done in partnership with two Canadian universities. The joint study out of Toronto’s Ryerson University, the University of Guelph in Ontario and the University of Canterbury in New Zealand found women can experience tension between their professional and “family” identities and, as a result, may compete less with their coworkers. READ MORE HR certification leads to higher income, more promotions Canadian HR managers holding a Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) designation typically have higher income and receive more promotions than their peers who don’t have the certification, a new report reveals. The annual salaries of HR managers who are CHRPs are 13% higher than those of their non-certified colleagues, according to a report called Fuel for HR Careers, conducted by the Human Resources Professionals Association. In industries such as utilities, finance, mining, quarrying and extraction of oil and gas, the annual pay was more than 50% higher with a CHRP. READ MORE

 

Article: How to Become a 'Best Place to Work'   Article Written By: Jessica Miller-Merrell If you're looking to become a ‘Best Place to Work,’ you've got some tough competition. Most companies will find it difficult to compete with Google's seven-acre sports complex, complete with horseshoe pits and roller hockey rink or The Boston Consulting Group's optional six-month delayed start for new consultants who would like to have $10,000 and time to do some non-profit work. Even still, your business can achieve the prestigious status by making a splash with some changes that are proportional to your business. We can't all be Google, but we can all be great. Involve Management and Executives One of the trickiest things in any workplace is making sure your management and executive team is approachable. There is often a great divide between management and staff, but the best companies are finding ways to bridge this gap. Great managers know it's all about being real, transparent and having a genuine interest in your greatest asset: employees. NetApp, a data storage company, gets it. Their Vice Chairman asks that managers let him know when they have an employee who is caught doing "something right." He calls 10 to 20 employees every day to thank them. Similarly, Burns and McDonald, an engineering consulting firm, celebrates the company's anniversary each year by having management and executives serve chili to every employee. READ MORE

 

Featured Resource: Tales from the Recruiter

 

5 Ways to Achieve Balance as an Entrepreneur

As a profession, entrepreneurship breeds anything but balance. The highs can be stratospheric and the lows can be crushing. Trying to find your rhythm in a highly competitive market can take its toll and sometimes entrepreneurs burn out far too soon. But there are ways to maintain balance despite the roller coaster ride.

This is something Mike Del Ponte, co-founder and chief executive of Soma, knows a lot about. Soma is the maker of smart, biodegradable and beautiful water filters, and delivers them to customers every other month.

Soma is launching this week. Despite the stress and frenzy that come with bringing a product to market, Mike is one of the most balanced people I know. Here, in his words, he shares the top ways he achieves balance as an entrepreneur:

1. Replace your to-do's with routines.
We all use tools like Asana and Evernote to manage our to-do lists. But for busy entrepreneurs, getting everything done is rare.

Maybe you're most creative in the early mornings. Don't spend that time checking email. Keep your morning open for major projects when your mind is fresh. Spend your afternoon doing administrative tasks.Try replacing your to-do's with routines. The key to forming good habits is to make them part of your "rituals." I have a morning ritual, afternoon ritual and Sunday ritual. It's one way to bundle good habits into regular times that you set aside to prepare yourself for the life you want. Rituals help you form habits.

2. Take a break with meditation.
Entrepreneurs spend an inordinate amount of time inside of our own heads -- thinking, analyzing, agonizing and obsessing over every little detail of our business. Sometimes, we need a break from ourselves. Meditation is a chance to let the thinking mind rest.

Meditating is easier than most people think. Start by focusing and following your breath. The goal is not to eliminate thoughts entirely, but to continually return to your breath. Taking this time relax your mind can help sharpen your focus in other aspects of your work and allow you to work for longer periods of time.

In entrepreneurship, nothing ever goes as planned. By taking time to slow down and gather your thoughts, you'll realize what tasks are most important to accomplish each day.

3. Exercise and eat right.
As an entrepreneur, it's easy to rationalize exercise avoidance with the excuse "I don't have the time." The opposite is true. By neglecting to exercise, your productivity can be diminished and, in the long run, you can lose time.

Whatever your flavor of exercise -- maybe you're a yogi, a gym rat, or a running fanatic -- make it a part of your daily routine to keep your body and mind in check. Personally, I do the conditioning program CrossFit three times a week.

Exercise is a stress reliever, with increased serotonin and endorphin levels helping to calm your mind. You'll charge through work much more efficiently after a quick energy boost as well. Looking better, beating that mile time or topping your max bench press can be amazing boosts to one's confidence -- a valuable trait as you pitch investors, close partnerships and recruit team members.

Nutrition is another big factor. Your productivity is directly tied to the food you eat. Processed foods, fast food and sugary drinks can decrease your energy and throw your work-life balance out of whack. You should eliminate them entirely. Also, drink lots of water. It flushes out toxins and makes your body run like a well-oiled machine.

4. Stay in contact with friends and family.
People who own and run their own business like to think of themselves as a remote island. With late nights, early mornings and weekends spent answering "one last email," the entrepreneurial lifestyle can seem diametrically opposed to maintaining a normal social life.

But let's face it: humans need social interaction to function. Whenever I have a minute of idle time -- maybe I'm waiting for a ride, or whatever -- I call a friend. I spend Sundays with my mom and my sister.

By using the support of those who care about you most, you can put all the little entrepreneurial hiccups in perspective and more easily stay grounded.

5. Disconnect from technology when you can.
It might seem tempting to work all the time. Sometimes it feels like any minute not spent working is wasted.

But as much as we like to think otherwise, entrepreneurs are not machines. We need time off. That doesn't mean watching TV on the couch while checking email. It means totally unplugging. No laptop, no phone, no tablets and as little technology as possible.

I used to work three jobs, seven days a week. I thought I could never take a day off. What I found was that I became much more productive -- and healthy and happy -- when I committed to resting each Sunday.

When you designate time to unplug from devices and from work you have more time to relax, read, cook, go to church, workout, meditate, get outdoors, enjoy the people you love, take a nap and everything else you say you "don't have enough time to do."

Lewis Howes

A former professional athlete, New York City-based Lewis Howes is co-author of LinkedWorking (418 Press, 2009) and creator of the LinkedInfluence training program. 

Article Originally Posted: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/228412

The 21 Unwritten Rules Of Meetings

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the unwritten rules of email, and I was blown away at how many people found it helpful. Turns out, there are a lot of rules out there that we could all benefit from getting on paper!

With that in mind, I’ll be doing a few more of those lists, starting with the second biggest office pain point: meetings. Read on for the must-know rules of how to run a successful meeting, and colleagues everywhere will thank you.

1. Make sure you really need a meeting before scheduling it. Could this be resolved by 10 minutes on the phone or via email instead?
2. Every meeting should have a purpose: You either need to make a decision or complete an action together. Giving an update can almost always happen by email.
3. Do not schedule more time than you need. Most meetings are scheduled for a full hour, when they should be 20 minutes, 30 minutes, or 45 minutes—max.
4. Start on time. Don’t wait for stragglers—it only encourages them.
5. End on time. Saying, “I know we’ve all got a lot to do, so let’s try and keep this under 30 minutes,” will remind people that you want an efficient meeting just as much as they do.
6. Only invite the people who absolutely need to be there. The more people in a meeting, the less that gets done.
7. Every meeting should have someone clearly assigned ahead of time to running it. If it’s not you, name someone else (and make sure that person knows he or she’s in charge).
8. Bake in a few minutes for chit-chat at the beginning of the meeting. We are people, not robots, and building rapport with colleagues helps business run more smoothly.
9. If you want people to read something ahead of time, sending it at least three hours ahead of time is good, and the day before is better. Sending it 20 minutes before is useless.
10. Book your meeting space ahead of time, or give yourself 10 minutes before the meeting to figure it out. Wandering the halls with everyone in tow is wasting everyone’s time.
11. Set an agenda, and share it at the beginning of the meeting to keep everyone on track.
12. If you want people to pay attention, don’t give them several handouts at the beginning of the meeting. They’ll start flipping through them, and they’ll be distracted.
13. Do not check your phone or email during the meeting. Everyone can tell what you’re doing, and they’ll start doing the same.
14. Keep track of next steps as the meeting goes on. Any action items should be sent around as a reminder after the meeting.
15. An action item without someone assigned to it is worthless. In most cases, a deadline is needed as well.
16. If someone is speaking too much, cut him or her off (nicely). Likewise, if someone is speaking too little, try to engage him or her.
17. If the conversation goes off topic, it is both acceptable and necessary for you to rein it in. A simple, “Let’s schedule time to discuss that later if it’s helpful, since we only have 10 minutes left,” works perfectly.
18. If the meeting is over an hour long, schedule time for breaks, and let attendees know about them ahead of time. Knowing they can check their email in 45 minutes will help keep them focused now.
19. Watch body language. You can easily tell if people are bored, disengaged, or feel like their time is being wasted, so long as you look for it.
20. If needed, assign a note-taker, so that you can focus on running the meeting.
21. Regularly assess if recurring meetings in your calendar are needed at all, and if so, if the format, length, and attendees are contributing to their effectiveness. If not? Change ’em up!

This article was originally published on The Daily Muse. 

Alex Cavoulacos is a Founder of The Muse, where she crafts plans to conquer the world one feature at a time. She also loves productivity hacks more than candy. Follow her on twitter @acavoulacos.

TorontoJobs.ca Recruitment Division Openings

TorontoJobs.ca Recruitment Division Openings

 

Here is a list of open Recruitment Division openings:

 

•         Account Executive Freight and Customs (Mississauga)

•         Bilingual Receptionist/Admin Position - 13 Months (Mississauga)

•         Any CA firms looking to buy or sell a book of business (GTA)

•         RIBO/OTL Licensed Sales or Service (GTA)

•         Commercial Insurance Sales Rep (GTA)

•         Fraud/Forensics Accountant (Downtown Toronto)

•         Tax Manager (GTA)

•         Senior SharePoint Consultant (GTA) – Steve

•         Senior Staff Accountant – CA Firm (Mississauga)

•         Industrial Supplies Sales (Edmonton, Calgary, London)

•         AS/400 Developer (Toronto)

•         Trucking Sales (Brampton)

•         Property Management Administrator (Markham) 

•         Junior Mortgage Administrator (Toronto)

•         SR & ED Sales Consultant (Richmond Hill)

•         Bookkeeper (Toronto)

•         Enterprise Account Executive (Calgary)

•         Technical Support (Toronto)

•         SharePoint Technical Solutions Specialists (Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary)

•         Cold Fusion PHP Web Developer (Toronto)

•         Accounting Technician (Mississauga)

•         Warehouse Worker (Mississauga)

•         Financial Planning & Analysis Manager (Toronto)

•         Cantonese speaking Manager of Accounting (Markham)

 

If you or someone you know is interested in any of these positions please apply online at www.TorontoJobs.ca or email your resume to resumes@torontojobs.ca.