July 24, 2024 Leave a Comment

Ask the Employment Specialist: How do I Look for a Job While Working?

Dear Joanna,

I am currently working full-time as a social worker at a local community agency. Often, I work overtime hours and am on-call 24/7. I love my work and the clients, but there is no room for any promotion, professional or career growth at this agency. I have been a dedicated and successful employee for over eight years. During these years, I have acquired several certifications, degrees, have learned countless skills and gained relevant experience on my resume.

I am ready for a new job, and the next step in my career path. How do I look for work when I am working full-time?

Job Searching and Working (JSW)

Dear JSW,

I congratulate you on your desire to continually learn and grow in your career. You sound like a talented and competent professional who deserves to be promoted, recognized and presented with better opportunities in the labour market.

There is a consensus amongst the experts in the field that it’s better to look for work while you are working , as candidates currently employed tend to be more attractive to hiring manager. Andrew Klappholz adds that “being gainfully employed automatically takes a lot of the pressure off and frees you from the desperation that makes many unemployed people take jobs they don’t want.”

It is definitely difficult to balance your current job responsibilities and tasks with the time commitment of looking for another job, so it might take you longer to find the dream job. So, while you are working, I recommend the following tips, as presented by writers quoted above:

1. Think through whether you want to be transparent with your own boss.
Usually, it is a good idea to keep your job search quiet and do not share this with anyone at work. Some firms have a policy to fire people who are actively searching for work. You’re your job hunt on a need-to-know basis, warns Hein. However if you trust your manager and he/she is supportive of your learning and growth, you might want to share your frustration at work and see if there are growth opportunities within your organization. Can you transfer to another department? Can you apply for a senior position. If the answer is not, then it is time to start looking in the labour market for your dream job. I will leave it up to your discretion if it is best for you to be straightforward with your boss.

2. Access more information for your job search.
As an engaged member of the workforce, you’re likely to have access to lot more information in your field that could benefit you than if you were unemployed. “Keep your eyes and ears open for things and make mental notes,” one expert, Tammy Gooler Loeb, suggests, “You may have the opportunity to get more information about what’s going on that may feed your job search.”

3. Creative Networking.
Use your time off, lunch hours, after work hours, weekends and during personal and vacation days if need be, continues Loeb, to meet people in your network. Invite professionals in your field for a drink or a cup of coffee, after work. Request information interviews and connect with as many people as possible ,who you think could help you with your job search without betraying your current employer. Make sure that you explain to individuals who receive your resume that you are currently employed and that your search is confidential.

4. Don’t job search on company time.
When you are at your current job, you should stay focused and productive. In fact, I recommend you over perform, exceed the manager’s expectations, never say no, and accept new projects and responsibilities. Don’t hurt your productivity. In your cover letter or resume applications, you can list specific times to reach you, especially for the recruiters. Do not use company email address or phone numbers when on the job hunt. Use your personal email and telephone contact details on LinkedIn, Twitter and throughout the entire process.

5. Never say anything negative about your current employer.
It is definitely tempting to spill your guts, but hold on to yourself for now. Bad-mouthing your company or boss is not going to get you a job. Remain positive and focus on your skills, experience and expertise relevant to the position. Market yourself as someone who has gone as far as you can go in the company, and that you are looking for a more senior position that is not available in your place of employment.

6. References.
Don’t use your current boss as a reference. Receiving a reference check call could put your supervisor in a compromising position. You should only use someone from your current workplace if you trust that they will keep your job search confidential.

7. Don’t rush!
Take your time to explore all your options and opportunities in the labour market. Make sure that you have done all your homework, and put yourself in the best position to secure the job that you want before leaving. If you have a an opportunity to job shadow or try out a new possible job, then consider taking a couple of vacation days to do this. You want to ensure that if you do decide to leave your current employment that you are making an informed decision.

I wish you lots of success and courage to move to the next step in your career.

Joanna

July 24, 2024 1 Comment

A Senior Executive Looking for Work

We are excited to welcome a guest blogger, Sharon Barney, to share with us her unique perspective on job search. Sharon is a senior executive with more than 20 years of experience leading organizations through transformation. She is contributing to the JVS blog from both the perspective of a job seeker as she is currently searching for a new career and from the perspective of a senior leader who has hired senior staff. Her dream job is a leadership position developing diversity in thought and action throughout an organization. She believes that human resources are strategic assets. She is particularly interested in how we create personal value through online networks.

This blog is about my experiences as a senior executive doing an online career search. I want job candidates to appreciate the many opportunities for personal growth through the process; and especially to maximize the opportunities of online communities and networking. I understand that most people view job search as a bad thing, and it certainly has its downside; however one of the key rules of job search is to stay positive!

JVS Toronto is an agency which runs five employment centres and welcomes job seekers from all backgrounds. The counsellors are excellent, sympathetic and totally honest about how to conduct a career search. I was asked to contribute because of my perspective from both sides of the career search process.

The first workshop that I attended at JVS was about Social Media Networking. I arrived at the Social Media Networking seminar hoping that the process would not be too difficult. The first thing that Karin Lewis told us is that we MUST develop our LinkedIn profile. She went on to tell us that 89% of companies use LinkedIn to recruit and so we don’t really have a choice. Whoa! It was overwhelming!

But, I’m happy to report that developing my LinkedIn presence has been a totally rewarding experience. I recommend that you get your basic information onto your LinkedIn page ASAP.

Once you sign in, LinkedIn will prompt you; so it’s a simple case of answering the questions. Once you get this done, then you can refine your profile, get your picture loaded up, and start networking. The most rewarding aspect is “seeing who you are.” I know this may sound strange, but you have a chance to see everything that you have done professionally and what motivates YOU.

You have to list your work history chronologically. However, if your most recent position is not relevant to your current job search, then highlight your successes in jobs and volunteer positions that are more relevant by developing those descriptions in more detail.

LinkedIn also gives you the opportunity to join groups of like-minded professionals that show the world what is important to you. Joining groups is easy to do. You want to demonstrate to future employers that you are a dedicated professional. Your groups will be shown on your profile as well as any other groups you have volunteered for.

But the most rewarding aspect really has to be the networking.

By having a LinkedIn profile, you create an online professional network that allows you to meet new colleagues and to reconnect with old ones. You will feel enriched when you see what your professional colleagues are doing; and the career possibilities that are out there.

You can start your network by connecting with your email contacts. But this quickly expands through 2nd level contacts. I found colleagues that I had lost contact with. And even more rewarding was that colleagues I had “forgotten” found me. It is so great to get a LinkedIn notice that a friend and colleague wants to connect. It has truly been amazing.

July 24, 2024 Leave a Comment

Ask the Employment Specialist: How do I deal with dates on my resume?

Dear Joanna,

I am applying for a Project Coordinator position at a real estate office that requires a minimum of five years experience in this type of work. I have over 20 years experience. How far back in my work history should I go on the resume? How do I present the dates of my experience on this document?

I’m afraid of being overqualified and age discrimination.

Signed: Overqualified and Too Old (OTO)

Dear OTO,

According to Susan Ireland on About Job Search.com, employers can usually tell your approximate age from the dates on a resume. Age discrimination is generally seen as unethical, and is illegal in many countries. Despite this, many employers tend to have an age range they think is ideal for a particular job, based on the skill level required, the ability to supervise or be supervised, salary expectations, amount of life experience needed, company culture, and other things, posits Ireland.

Both Ireland and Got Resume Builder provide some great tips for listing dates on your resume to avoid age discrimination:

1. Go back approximately 10 years.

As a general rule, you don’t need to go back more than 10 years; however, if it’s to your benefit, you may go back further. To help you decide how far back to go, ask yourself the following:

How old do you want to appear on your resume?
How relevant are your earlier positions to your job objective?
How much experience is the employer asking for?

2. Present the dates simply (years only).

Using exact dates can clutter up a resume. Unless you are asked to provide exact dates (usually a feature only seen on online fill-in forms), use months and years. Employment dates expressed in years only is also acceptable and beneficial if you have short gaps in employment.

3. Don’t include the date in which you prepared the resume.

Not only is this unnecessary information, it dates your resume. You want a potential employer to feel like you have focused your resume on them specifically. If you date your resume, it could give away the fact that you’re really using a resume you’ve sent to hundreds of other employers.

4. You don’t necessarily have to include all your education dates.

You do not have to include your high school in your resume, if you graduated from any other post-secondary program. Unless you have recently graduated from high school, or if you have a college degree or advanced certificate, drop this education information from the resume. It’s assumed that you must have obtained a GED or high school diploma in order to progress on to this level.

Also, you are not necessarily expected to include any dates on your education. An exception for this might be that you did a course recently and are trying to either fill a gap on the resume, or show the employer that you have updated skills.

5. Consider Susan Ireland’s “Experience Plus Twenty” (EPT) formula for age discrimination.

Here’s a great way to understand how the dates on your resume create an impression of your age. Subtract the earliest work history date on your resume from today’s date (years only), add that to 20 (used as a ballpark figure for how old you might have been when you started working) to get a total of x, meaning that you are now at least x years old. For example, a resume written in 2013 with a work history that starts in 2000 tells the reader that the job seeker is at least 33 years old (13 years of experience + 20 = 33). Using the Experience Plus Twenty formula, Ireland suggests that you could craft your resume carefully, so that it only reveals dates that would lead the employer to deduce that you are within a specific age range for the job you want.

One caution, from JVS Employment Counsellors, though: Don’t leave useful experience off, as some employers (many of them, in fact) might value experience over youth.
6. Follow job posting requirements.

When the years of experience are specified in the job description as you mentioned in your question above, then I would write in the first bullet of the “Profile” or “Highlights of Qualifications” section: “Over five years of experience in program coordination in the non-profit sector”, for example. Remember that if you are applying online, many of the employers use the Applicant Tracking System (ATS). Make sure that your resume includes those “keywords” in the resume. I am sure that “five years experience” will be picked up by the ATS. You could also write “Experienced program coordinator in the non-profit sector” without indicating any timelines.

I would encourage you to book an appointment with one of our Employment Counsellors to make sure that you have a targeted and customized resume with the ATS keywords as well as a suitable cover letter.

Best wishes,

Joanna

July 24, 2024 Leave a Comment

Ask the Employment Specialist: Building your Career as a New Graduate

Dear Joanna,

It’s that time of the year. I am about to graduated with a Bachelors’ degree in economics. I’ve been working for a law firm as a filing clerk on weekends, holidays and the occasional evening during my schooling to make extra money to pay off my debts incurred from the tuition. I am now ready to start building my career in economics. I have started applying for jobs, but cannot seem to get an interview. The university’s career centre as well as the program offers the occasional job posting, but it’s so competitive out there. Please could you help me figure out how I can fit into this competitive labour market.

Signed: Career Hunter

Dear Career Hunter,

You are not alone. I worked on behalf of JVS Toronto at this year’s National Job Fair and met countless new graduates from Masters and Bachelors programs from local universities and colleges who were struggling to figure out how to fit into this competitive labour market with their education. The reality of the working world is quite daunting.

As Blaze Carlson illustrates about a chemical engineering graduate in her poignant article in The National Post on this topic, “The chemical engineering graduate, who has a second degree in bio-chemistry, was supposed to graduate from the University of Ottawa and begin a fulfilling career straight out of the academic gate — or so she hoped, expected, even. But her first professional job search has instead marked the first major false start of her adult life, ushering a painful reality check and a severe blow to her self-esteem.”

Further, the journalist points out a cultural shift and advises new graduates and their parents that “they should no longer expect a seamless school-to-work transition because a university degree is no longer the promised one-way ticket to a career. The on-ramp to adulthood is longer and twistier. Thirty is the new 25.”

But, don’t despair. There are several strategies to consider applying in order to start the process to building your career in your field. (Note the term “process” because this search requires the same amount, if not more, time, effort, dedication, and commitment which you engaged in your education, writing papers, preparing for exams and studying):

1. Start by conducting a targeted research for the job opportunities in your field of economics. Use social media, such as LinkedIn, to identify professionals who have an economics background and review their backgrounds, to get an idea of job openings as well as companies in your field. Identify current job descriptions which look interesting to you, to which you would love to apply one day when you have more experience. Also, identify the companies and departments where you would like to work one day.

2. Next, gather information about the skills, experience, qualifications and education required in these jobs.What kinds of departments in companies are involved in your sector? Notice the language used in the job postings, as well as in the content of the company websites. Notice the hard skills and experience required. Highlight all these information.

3. Develop a plan for targeting the companies and jobs you are interested in, using the following strategies:

Conduct Information Interviews – identify managers or executives in the companies which would likely hire you if you had the experience required, and set out to meet with them and get advice and referrals

Make a plan to volunteer – Unfortunately, it sounds like your course didn’t have an unpaid coop placement internship. So, now you might want to go and get this hard experience on your own. All those job postings and companies and departments which you identified in your research stages, are potential volunteer placements for you, especially in the non-profit sector (You will find a good list of recommended job boards for non-profit jobs on this blog here). If you’re feeling brave, cold-call the company’s president, and ask to see if you can volunteer. In a non-profit organization, call the volunteer department, and ask to volunteer in the department related to your field. Tell the volunteer coordinator that you will do the jobs which no one likes to do, such as cold-calling/fundraising (this will win every time – because nobody likes cold calling!), filing, photocopying, making coffee, whatever they need help with. This is no time to be proud; do whatever it takes to get your foot in the door and to start building a reputation that you are a “go-to” person. You will be surprised how word spreads quickly. Once you prove yourself to your supervisor and team where you volunteer, you can start asking for more related work in your field. This is a great strategy to network, secure some concrete and relevant experience on your resume, learn about your field, gain some references and be engaged in your field of choice and start building your career!

Join and contribute to associations, clubs, sector-specific groups, which can be very effective places to network in your field. Many of the associations charge fees to join, so research the ones which are appropriate for your sector and industry, call the Executive Director or the volunteer coordinator and ask to volunteer. Again, as with volunteering, once you prove yourself, learn more about your field of choice, you can gain references, solid and relevant experience for your resume, expand your network in your sector and perhaps volunteer at the industry conferences and trade shows with professionals and experts in your field. LinkedIn’s groups provide a similar forum to engage in all of the above. If you don’t see a suitable LinkedIn group, start your own.

Find programs that support new graduates, such as Career Edge, in which new graduates can apply for a paid internships. Keep in mind, however, that it is highly competitive and only if the job developers at this organization have secured a placement available in your field, you will have an opportunity.

Search for government-funded student placement programs, such as the government of Ontario’s Internship Program . This too is a very popular program, with more applicants than opportunities, though it is still worth applying.

Keep busy. Keep a structure in your daily life while you look for work.

I hope this is helpful. I really feel for you and your situation. You are bright, accomplished and lucky to have had the opportunity to have a fantastic education. However, education no longer gets people work. It’s icing on the cake. This misunderstanding of the labour market gets many job seekers in trouble. Notice that “Education” is on the last page of the resume. Relevant Professional Experience comes first – this is the priority in today’s labour market.

Joanna

July 24, 2024 Leave a Comment

Ask the Employment Specialist: Career Advice for Your Kids

Dear Joanna

I am a working parent of a 16-year-old high school student who is in Grade 11 and is struggling to figure out a meaningful career path. He has pressure to start choosing his courses for next year, which is his last year of high school. He wants to go to university as well. I know that a suitable and sustainable career and future employment opportunities are critical for his personal growth, confidence and self-esteem. He has turned to me for career direction and to help him decide what he wants to be when he grows up.

I have no clue how to help him. Do you have any career advice for him?

Signed: My Kid’s Future (MKF)

Dear MKF,

According to our Career Counsellor and facilitator of JVS Toronto’s Career Exploration Opportunities Workshop, Dorota Hejnrych, often high school and university students turn to their parents for career advice. In her work with high school youth, Hejnrych often helps the students with making a suitable career choice and direction.

For many parents this is an overwhelming task, because they do not know the current labour market as well as future predictions and what is required for their child to make informed decisions. Choosing a suitable career path involves understanding one’s strengths, interests (job related and hobbies), motivating factors, labour market trends, lots of encouragement and a simple action plan, advises Hejnrych. As a frontline practitioner with over 10 years of experience, she offers parents the following strategies to help with their children’s career development, especially if these types of workshops are not offered in the school:

Career exposure.
Help your son learn about as many careers as possible. Bring him to your workplace for a day. Encourage him to talk to as many people as possible in your network, as well as in their network such as the teachers and school staff; don’t forget his friends’ parents and their network.

Help him find out what different people in your family or different professionals in your life do for a living. For example, have him arrange an information interview with your family doctor, dentist, banker, and your lawyer, as well as local politicians, police officers, to name a few. He could experience the real working world through a volunteer experience, especially if he needs community hours to graduate from school. Part-time work is also important, regardless of where he works.

Identify talents.
Again, experience gained through part-time work while in school, extra-curricular activities, clubs, school teams or volunteering, are important opportunities for youth, to start to understand and learn about who they are and discover their talents, suggests Career Consultant, Robert Shewchuk.

Furthermore, this upcoming young worker can start to figure out his strengths, skills and values as well as passions that can translate into a career path, with your guidance.

Course and program selection.
High school is a great place for your child to explore, learn and investigate different career paths. By encouraging him to take different courses during or after school, you can keep his options open, as much as possible. Encourage him to engage in broadening experiences by engaging in new hobbies and learning new soft skills (for example, problem-solving) and technical skills in addition to gaining as much knowledge and information as possible.

Hejnrych warns against selecting less applicable university degrees and majors that will not translate into a job or career. One of the main reasons for obtaining a post-secondary education is to secure a meaningful career in the end, stresses the career counsellor. In today’s reality, it is not simply enough to study what one finds interesting. Hejnrych recommends to students to choose a diploma/degree in the area that best fits their interests, strengths that can be eventually be turned into a paycheck!

Support self-sufficiency.
Be supportive, not directive, suggests Shewchuk. Hejnrych recommends assisting young adults in facilitating information interviews but refraining from doing them for them. Letting your son do as much as possible on his own will facilitate another important transferable and soft skill in the working world! Once kids learn the art of researching and asking key questions, they will be far more equipped in their careers and job search.

Be flexible.
It’s not always about finding that perfect career path or a job, concludes Hejnrych. It’s about looking for the optimal fit for the current labour market. For some, it might be a full-time job, Monday to Friday; for others, it might be two part-time positions in order to make a full-time living.

Unfortunately, we don’t have a crystal ball to predict future labour market trends. Look for career paths that are suitable now and support your son to become a lifelong learner. What works now, will not necessarily work later! Prepare him for a career plan and job skills that are transferable, adaptable, flexible and able to work in the labour market that he will be facing one day, when he is an adult job seeker.