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Hiring and Personnel News

Interviewed by Rob Sutherland from 'The Sixty' | March 24th, 2014 |

5 Tips on How to Get the Most Out of Your Recruiter
Gerald Buck | March 5, 2014 | Recruiter.com

When looking for a new job or a change in your career, you have the choice to use a professional recruiter or not. There are a number of career advice websites that have in some ways taken the place of the recruiters these days. So what can a recruiter do for you?

I am not talking about a personnel agency but rather professional executive recruiters. What is the difference you ask?

Most personnel agencies work for the potential employers and you; the employers pay them at least part of their fee. Their emphasis is on placing you in a job. These jobs are usually at the administrative assistant, data entry clerk or secretarial clerk levels.

The Executive Recruiter works for the company and the company pays their fees, which are usually considerably higher than personnel agencies. Their emphasis is on filling the job with the best person NOT on placing you in a job.

These jobs are usually professional, such as engineers, IT.. Systems professionals, VPs and presidents/CEOs. Read More...


January 10, 2014

Canada loses nearly 46,000 jobs in December

Source: cbc.ca Click here for full article

Canada lost 45,900 jobs in December, pushing the unemployment rate up 0.3 percentage points to 7.2 per cent as more people looked for work.

The monthly loss means Canada's economy only added 102,000 jobs for all of 2013, Statistics Canada said Friday.

The poor showing surprised economists, a consensus of whom polled by Bloomberg were expecting a small gain of about 14,000 jobs during the month.

"Not only was the headline contraction in December sizable, but the losses were broad-based across industries and exclusively seen in full-time positions," TD Bank economist Sonja Gulati wrote in a report following the news.

Ontario lost 39,000 jobs during the month and even Alberta, a source of recent strength, shed 12,000 jobs.

British Columbia added 13,000 jobs, and by sector, health care and social assistance was a strength, adding 22,000 jobs during the month.

All in all, 60,000 full-time jobs were lost, a decline only partially offset by 14,000 new part-time jobs.

The monthly drop in full-time work is the largest seen since late 2011. It's the worst showing for jobs overall since March 2013 when Canada lost 54,500 jobs.


January 2, 2014

Only 2% of applicants actually get interviews: Here’s how to be one of them

Source: Workopolis

Experts say that only an even smaller fraction than that are selected for an interview. “98% of job seekers are eliminated at the initial resume screening and only the “Top 2%” of candidates make it to the interview”, says Robert Meier, President of Job Market Experts. “Fixing the employment market requires helping job seekers become “Top 2% Candidates” who can meet employer’s rigorous requirements and easily hit the “bulls-eye” of employer needs to ensure they don’t make bad hires” continued Meier.

Applying for jobs you’re unqualified for can hurt your chances at future positions with the company too. The online recruitment software company Bullhorn surveyed 1,500 recruiters and hiring managers and found that such irrelevant applications was the biggest turnoff for 30 percent of them. (And of that group, 43 percent said they would ‘blacklist’ those candidates from any other jobs as well – by suppressing their names from even coming up in future resume searches.)

With that in mind, here are three ways that you can elevate your job applications to the top of the list:

  1. Only apply for jobs that you actually qualify for. Now, this doesn’t mean that you have to have every single bullet point listed in the job posting. There is such a thing as ‘credential creep’ where employers flood a job ad with a wish list of qualifications that any one candidate is unlikely to possess. Read the job posting carefully. Make sure that you understand the actual duties and challenges of the job, and if you can make a significant contribution in the role, then go ahead and apply.
  2. Explain how you can stand out on the job. Employers want to hire someone who will make their lives easier. So your resume should demonstrate what your past successes can accomplish for them. Avoid listing just your work duties and tasks, but instead focus on your achievements. Make sure the employer knows the added value that you specifically brought to your role. Bear in mind that these should be described in such a way as to highlight their relevance to the challenges of the job you’re applying to.
  3. Apply to the job that you’re applying to. That’s a grammatically-interesting sentence, but it’s nonetheless true. It goes back to what I mentioned earlier about people using a one generic resume to apply for numerous jobs. If the job title on your resume doesn’t match the job that you’re applying to, there’s little chance that you’ll make it into the top 2%. Similarly, even if you have the qualifications for the job, if your career objective doesn’t match with the role, you’re unlikely to be hired for it. It gives the impression that you would be a bad fit for the job, and that you wouldn’t stay very long in the position.

27% of companies hire when no vacancy exists

Many companies hire even when not hiring

Job hunters and entrepreneurs alike should take note – a new study reveals that employers hire frequently, even when no position is available. A full 27 percent of all establishments tracked by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) hire having never recorded a vacancy.

Entrepreneurs and other business decision makers should take note that competitors are snapping up talent even when no vacancy exists, are you?

Job hunters, just because there’s a “no vacancy” sign on the door, if there is a brand you truly want to be a part of, get your foot in the door. Network, mingle, connect online, do what it takes to get in front of the decision makers, not by ramming your resume down their throat, but by being top of mind and making it clear that you’re on the hunt.

The faster the hire, the faster the turnover rate

The study also reveals that companies that are constantly hiring and doing so at a rapid pace coincides with a higher turnover rate. Companies that respond to an application immediately are more likely to be the same companies bleeding employees.

Regarding speed, the researchers found that the construction industry fills openings the fastest, followed by retailers, leisure and hospitality, and transportation companies. On the opposite end of the spectrum, health and education, government, and finance took the longest to hire, often taking over a month to fill the open positions.

The report notes that “some industries are subject to laws and regulations requiring formal search processes, while others survive on constantly filling short-term positions.”

So keep your eyes open

Employers, it’s okay to bring on new talent even when you weren’t planning on doing so – others are doing it, and when you come across unbelievable talent, you’d better snap them up now before it’s too late, because your competitor might, even if they have no vacancies either.

Job hunters, get out to networking or social events and put yourself out there, but also take it an extra step and connect with decision makers on Twitter and get to know the brand through their company account.

Apply to the job that you’re applying to. That’s a grammatically-interesting sentence, but it’s nonetheless true. It goes back to what I mentioned earlier about people using a one generic resume to apply for numerous jobs. If the job title on your resume doesn’t match the job that you’re applying to, there’s little chance that you’ll make it into the top 2%. Similarly, even if you have the qualifications for the job, if your career objective doesn’t match with the role, you’re unlikely to be hired for it. It gives the impression that you would be a bad fit for the job, and that you wouldn’t stay very long in the position.


December 18, 2013
From the website AGBeat Click here to view the article