October 5, 2015 Leave a Comment

Do You Have the Skills that Canadian Employers are Demanding?

Whether you are rethinking your career, writing your resume, or preparing for an interview, the importance of knowing the skills that employers are demanding cannot be underestimated. Skills are the lens through which employers focus on candidates. Ultimately, if the employer doesn’t think you have the skills that they require, you will not get hired.

What does this mean for you, the job seeker? It means that you will benefit from investing time in learning about what specific skills that employers need — read job postings, speak to employers and employees in you target companies. Don’t assume that you know what they want. It also means that you need to be clear to employers about the skills that you have — in resumes, LinkedIn profiles, cover letters and when you network.

Earlier in 2015, Workopolis surveyed 256 Canadian employers about their hiring plans, and gathered some useful information for job seekers. Most interestingly, the 2 in 3 employers surveyed admitted to struggling to find candidates with the backgrounds they require.

What do Canadian employers say candidates are lacking?
Experience – 38%
Soft skills – 29%
Technical skills – 23%
Education – 4%

Interestingly, education wasn’t as important as experience. Another interesting finding is that soft (personal) skills valued even more by employers as hard (technical) skills. The Workopolis report is well worth reading — it also outlines the 10 most sought after skills in job postings specific to these 10 popular sectors:

Accounting / Finance
Admin/Clerical
Arts / Media
Engineering
Hospitality and food service
Human resources
Manufacturing
Marketing
Skilled trades
Technology and Digital Media

March 9, 2015 Leave a Comment

Precarious Work in Ontario: trends and resources

Maybe it’s just me, but since 2015 swung around, I have noticed a surge of reports on the poor quality of jobs that are being created in our economy. It’s no surprise to my colleagues and me, who, almost daily, meet people who are struggling to make ends meet, while often working in multiple low pay, unstable jobs. The Workers’ Action Centre tell us that this phenomenon, often called “precarious work”, is more common than we think:

Today, one in three jobs in Ontario is temporary, contract, part time or self employed. Working in these jobs, we are often denied basic protections and rights – for example, public holiday pay, access to employment insurance, much less pay than permanent workers doing the same jobs, adequate health & safety coverage.”

These low paid, insecure jobs are found in all sectors, from general labour, to banking, retail, journalism, administration and anywhere else where people are hired as temps, relief, contract workers or freelancers. The worst pay and most precarious jobs often go to women, youth and immigrants, working long unpredictable poorly paid hours, often with families support.

Toronto’s United Way reported in February this year that income inequality in the city is growing faster than in other major Canadian cities, with a 31 percent growth in the last 25 years. The report found that Torontonians express pessimism about the benefits of hard work, with almost three-quarters reporting that hard work doesn’t necessary lead to success, and that many residents experience unequal opportunities, believing that their background and circumstances (including race, gender, and household income growing up), impact on their chances for a good financial future.

Recently, the CIBC released their Canadian Employment Quality Index, which showed a decline in the quality of jobs on all their measures, including full vs part-time and pay. In terms of the distribution of part- vs full-time jobs, the report showed that since the late 1980s there has been a steady rise in part-time positions, although this did improve a little in the last year. The report also noted a drop in pay levels , with “The number of low-paying full-time jobs has risen faster than the number of mid-paying jobs, which in turn, has risen faster than the number of high-paying jobs” and a widening in that gap, over the past year.

In response to these trends, Ontario’s Premier Kathleen Wynne recently announced a formal review of the province’s labour and employment standards, to consider changes to the Employment Standards and Ontario Labour Relations Acts, so to better protect people in precarious work.

This may include addressing issues such as:

minimum wage
overtime
public holiday pay
scheduling
pay levels for temporary and part-time workers
paid sick days
union rights
temp agency workers’ rights
wage theft

Rights and Resources

Probably my favourite source of information about the rights of workers in precarious jobs is the Worker’s Action Centre, who describe themselves as a “worker-based organization committed to improving the lives and working conditions of people in low-wage and unstable employment”. In addition to their advocacy work, they also offer a very useful annual publication called Your Rights at Work. Workers who are seeking advice can also call them at (416) 531-0778 for support with workplace issues.

Another excellent source of information is CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario), who provide detailed and informative information to people in a range of languages. Their Employment and Work section includes a number of publications that would be useful for precarious workers.

It also is worth reading the actual legislation. The Labour Relations Act can be found here and the Employment Standards Act here.

December 29, 2014 Leave a Comment

Find a Job in 2015: New Year’s Resolutions for Job Seekers

As we face the new year, it’s always useful to take some time to look back and evaluate, so that you can look forward and plan. The ever-changing nature of the labour market means that job seekers have to constantly ensure that they are tackling the job search process in the most up-to-date and effective way.

So, how has job search changed in recent years, and where is it headed in 2015?

The labour market is changing.

Job growth has been reported and is expected to continue in Canada in 2015, with 11 percent of companies reporting plans to hire in the new year, according to a Manpower Group Canada report.

The Manpower report found anticipated job growth in all 10 sectors of the economy, in the following order of strength:

Finance, Insurance and Real Estate
Manufacturing − Durables (defined by StatsCan as products made of Wood and Metal, as well as Machinery, Computers and Electronics, Electrical Equipment, Appliances and Components, Transportation Equipment and related)
Public Administration
Construction
Transportation and Public Utilities

Weaker hiring projections were reported by employers in the following sectors:

Services
Wholesale and Retail
Education
Manufacturing − Non-durables (products such as Food, Textiles and Clothing, Paper and Printing, Petroleum and Coal, Chemicals and Plastics and Rubber)
Mining

So, if you are thinking of a career change or considering new targets for your job search, consider focusing on the areas where growth is anticipated. Remember that these sectors hire a range of professionals, including Customer Service, Administrators, Project Managers, Finance and Sales, as well as experts in each of those sectors.

Job search is more competitive.

As optimism about the job market grows, more job seekers will return to looking for work. This means greater competition. In order to be noticed and have an opportunity to be considered for employment, job seekers need to be conducting the most effective job search possible.

Be prepared for digitization of hiring. One trend in hiring is employers’ increased reliance on Electronic Tracking Systems (ATS), which processes all applications through a computerized, standardized process, favouring certain keywords.

Mobile recruiting is becoming more popular — recruiters, employers and job boards are increasingly using mobile apps. Indeed Canada is a good example; even the Government of Canada’s Job Bank has developed a mobile app for job seekers.

But, as recruiting becomes less personal, concerns have been expressed that good candidates (up to 75 percent, reportedly) are being missed by employers. Ironically, to overcome this, it may be worth resorting to old-fashioned job search methods, such as setting out to meet employers in person, rather than relying on the passive online job search used by most other job seekers. Furthermore, you would do better targeting your job search — identify your top ten list of employers and go after them directly.

Social media continues to grow.

Employers are continually working on improving their social media strategies both for marketing and recruiting, using tools such as LinkedIn and other social media presence (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, YouTube). With the increased hiring anticipated in the market, we can assume that this trend will continue, as it has consistently in previous years. Jobvite, in its annual Social Recruiting Survey, found that 73 percent of recruiters intend to engage in social recruiting. Interestingly, they found that despite the fact that most (83%) job seekers turn to Facebook , LinkedIn remains recruiters’ top tool, with 94% using it for recruiting.

Employers also reported to Jobvite that they are scouring through candidates social media profiles, looking for information about candidates’ professional experience, length of professional tenure, industry-related posts, mutual connections, specific hard skills, cultural fit, as well as examples of written/design work.

What does this mean for job seekers?

Review your social media presence — look at all your online profiles as they would be perceived through the eyes of an employer
Make sure that your LinkedIn profile includes all the relevant experience you need, as well as showcasing your connections in the field, your hard skills and samples of your work
Review other profiles such as Facebook (66% of employers will check your profile). Make sure that it presents you well — as a thoughtful and interesting potential employee. Consider sharing posts publicly that showcase your professional and community interests and involvement.

2015 is promising to be an exciting year for job seekers. Make sure to face it with a clear plan, confidence and renewed energy.

We wish all our readers a happy and successful new year, and thank you for your support.