Ontario labour lawyer David E. Greenwood of the law firm Blaney McMurtry LLP recently published the following article online on www.lexology.com .  This is a great website to monitor interesting changes in law, including reminders and summaries of law; and recent cases that help form the law.

Our responsibilities and conduct as employers are constantly changing and improving.   Our  rights as employees are sometimes difficult to understand.  Lexology.com is a great source for employers and employees to stay informed.  The website allows you to set up an account and create alerts for  new articles in your areas of interest. Check it out

While on the topic of over-time.  Here is a friendly reminder for the thousands of valued employees on assignments through The People Bank, Aimco Industrial Staffing and Allen Professional Search.

a) Unless expressly requested to do so, always get specific approval from your assignment supervisor before you work in excess of 44 hour in a week.

b) NEVER work more than 60 hours in a week unless you have signed the excess hours agreement with your staffing consultant back at our office and you have been given permission to work excess hours.

c) Employees of The People Bank, Aimco Staffing and Allen Professional search are entitled to a rate of pay equal to time and one half for hours worked in excess of 44 per week.

April 16 2012

David E. Greenwood, Blaney McMurtry LLP

Dispelling some popular myths about overtime

April 2012 – It’s Job Hunt Time

It’s the time of year when graduates and summer students are typically filled with fear, excitement and anxiety. Its job hunt time!   Graduates wonder whether past educational choices and academic performance will lead to a fulfilling career and life.  Summer students flood the market is search of high paying jobs that will define future resumes and pay off student loans.   Career fairs are calling!

The following article is a reprint of Bruce Sandy’s article published in the Globe and Mail on Wednesday, Apr. 11, 2012 on how students (or any job seeker) can make the most of a job fair.  The bullets are highlights from the Globe article with a few extra hints from this employment guy.

• Select career fairs that focus on your interests and expertise
• Get the schedule in advance so you can see guest speakers and meet the right people
• Get a list of exhibitors in advance and research the companies
• Before you attend, follow the exhibitor companies on Linkedin and facebook
• Before you attend review the companies’ job boards and websites
• Update your resume and make a few versions with varying emphasis
• Make as many copies as exhibitors and put them on a memory stick
• Put a copy of your resume on your smartphone so that you can upload it through an App
• Clean up your personal websites and social media pages (delete the frat party pics)
• Practice your elevator pitch
• Dress for the job.  Career fairs are mini interviews (Think of it as employer speed dating)
• Don’t be shy. Introduce yourself to everyone
• Follow up with email and a connection on LinkedIn
• Always send your resume in a MSword format so that corporate applicant tracking systems can read it
• PDF or Photoshop resume formats are not compatible with the employer’s Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
• Do not use Skydrive or any other file sharing system to send your resume

Career  fairs are a great place to make connections and learn about opportunities.  With just a little preparation, you can stand out from the crowd.

From the Globe & Mail

The question

I’m attending a job fair and I want to know how I can best prepare myself, what I need to bring (résumés, business cards, etc.) and what I can expect. How do job fairs work and what are my chances of gaining employment from one of them?

The answer

Job fairs are hiring events organized by business, trade or human resource associations, specific businesses, business schools, or public-sector organizations, where a number of prospective employers purchase booths and send representatives and sometimes guest speakers to promote their organizations or companies to prospective employees and managers. The whole point of job fairs is for employers to attract the best and brightest candidates to fill current and future positions.

In order to prepare for the job fair you will want to be clear on what type of positions you are looking for, in what sectors, and in which companies or organizations. You will also want to find a job fair or fairs where these companies or organizations will have a presence.

Once you have selected the job fair to attend, then go online or get a copy of the schedule, which outlines which companies will be there and what events are planned, such as guest speakers. Develop a strategic action plan that includes which companies and individuals you are most interested in speaking to , how much time you will spend with each representative, and what you will want to leave with them.Be prepared so you do not get overwhelmed and distracted by the number of employers and events: You want to make the best use of your time at the fair. Networking, making a positive first impression on prospective employers, and developing key contacts for follow-up after the event will be your key priorities.

Do your research on the companies/organizations that will be at the job fair. Concentrate on the companies that you are most interested in working for. Check out the company website, annual reports, the organizational chart(s), position descriptions, special planning documents, and any relevant newspaper or online news articles.

Update your résumé so that it reflects your current experience, objectives and interests. Make sure that you customize your résumés and your cover letters to match the needs and the positions advertised by the companies that you are interested in.

Update your personal website. Clean up your social media sites such as Facebook, Myspace, etc., ensuring that you remove any inappropriate photos and comments. Update business websites such as LinkedIn to ensure your profile is current and reflective of your education, job experience, skills, and talents, as well as what you are looking for in a position.

Practice your presentation and interview skills with a career coach, counsellor, friend or family member. Videotape them and get candid, constructive feedback on your appearance, your body language, your tone, your voice, and your presentation style. Take notes and ask for clarification on suggested changes.

At the job fair, introduce yourself to the company representatives and tell them you are interested in working with them. You can also indicate that you have done your research on the company. Ask them what positions they are recruiting for and what their ideal candidates are for the positions.

Follow up with all the company representatives you meet with an e-mail and a response letter (and a résumé if you did not give them one at the fair), indicating what a pleasure it was to meet them and that you are looking forward to a formal interview and the opportunity of working with the company. You will want to also include a brief summary of your conversation and what you can do for the company. Make sure that you let them know why you are the best candidate for the position(s) they are looking to fill.

Bruce Sandy is principal of www.brucesandy.com and Pathfinder Coaching & Consulting in Vancouver.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/career-advice/ask-a-career-expert/ask-a-career-coach/whats-the-best-way-to-make-use-of-a-job-fair/article2396090

Steve Jones

President

The People Bank  http://ca.linkedin.com/in/stevejonesdg

Proudly Canadian, we thank our employees for their dedication, hard work and professionalism.  This year marks our 13th year of recognition as a Canadian business leader in Canada’s Best Managed Companies program.

Design Group Staffing Inc. - Platinum Member 50 Best Managed Companies

Building on three decades of success, Design Group Staffing Inc. is Canada’s leading supplier of search, recruitment and staffing services.  Founded in Alberta in 1976 as a provider of engineering and technical resources, we have grown to seven specialty divisions, serving every major industry across Canada.  Our focus is finding the right fit for our clients and candidates.

workforce4canada.com  Design Group Staffing, Inteqna, Placement Group, Aimco Industrial Staffing, Allen Professional Search, Project Search Group and La Banque de Personnel are all divisions of  Design Group Staffing Inc, Canada’s Premier Staffing Company, specializing in the recruitment, supply and workforce management of temporary, contract and permanent human resources.

Each division is comprised of highly professional recruitment teams specializing within their fields of engineering, information technology, accounting, administration, sales & marketing, management, trades and industrial disciplines.

About Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies

Established in 1993, Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies is the country’s leading business awards program, recognizing excellence in Canadian owned and managed companies with revenues over $10 million.

Every year, the program sponsors Deloitte, CIBC, National Post and Queens School of Business review hundreds of entrepreneurial companies competing for this designation in a rigorous and independent process that evaluates the calibre of their management abilities and practices.

As a Platinum Club member, this year marks Design Groups 13th year of recognition as a Canadian business leader in Canada’s Best Managed Companies program. The Platinum Club award salutes companies who have won the Best Managed award for at least six consecutive years.

You can read more about the 2011 award recipients of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies in a special section of the the print version of today’ s National Post newspaper.

http://resume.linkedinlabs.com

Is your LinkedIn profile resume ready?

Social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter have become main stream for job seekers and recruiters.  So much so, it raises the question of “what might happen to traditional job boards?”.  We’ll address that controversial topic in a future discussion but for the time being, just accept the fact that you are at a serious disadvantage if your job search (active or passive) does not include a social media strategy.  This blog post focuses specifically on LinkedIn for job seekers and how to build a profile that works better than a resume.

LinkedIn offers a simple standard that bypasses the complicated Microsoft resume templates with restrictive frames and hidden formatting.  LinkedIn Resume Builder offers a quick and easy tool that helps you build a resume in less than 5 minutes in a format that is likely compatible with most corporations’ applicant tracking systems.

If the content on your LinkedIn profile is good enough for public viewing then it should be good enough for a resume.  What is good enough?

• Complete every section of your LinkedIn profile.

• Ensure your contact information is thorough and accurate.

• Write your complete employment history as if it were a resume boasting your accomplishments, responsibilities, skills and talents.

• Don’t be shy!  Fill in the sections that describe your previous awards, education, publications, interests and skills.

• Include a photo.  A head-shot photo with professional attire works.  Stay away from avatars, cartoons, group photos or personal family photos.  A photo will drive up your connections, interactions and responses.

• Ask colleagues for recommendations and then reciprocate by posting a recommendation on their profile too.

• Join groups.  The groups you join portray your interests, skills and demonstrate a commitment to your professional and personal development.

• Insert site addresses of your blogs, twitter account or website. LinkedIn profiles are indexed and searched by Google and other search engines. Think SEO and use key words that are unique to your skills, expertise, employment, education and interests.

Most employers use the free version of LinkedIn.com as a bare minimum and many use the Corporate Recruiter version that permits direct importing of profiles into their tracking systems and allows them to categorize, sort, list and save your profile for current or future jobs or networking.

The LinkedIn Resume Builder feature is free to all LinkedIn users.  It helps you create a professional CV directly from your LinkedIn profile.  There are eleven great formats to choose from. Resumes can be exported and printed in PDF format. Also, each resume gets a custom link so you can share your resume directly from Linkedin with others via email, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

You can test drive this free Linkedin feature at http://resume.linkedinlabs.com/
Whether you are using Linkedin to network, develop business, learn or as a job search tool, rest assured more opportunities will come your way if you present yourself in a thorough, positive and professional manner on LinkedIn  There are well over 100 million Linkedin users and over 54,000 have already tried Linkedin Resume Builder.

Also, LinkedIn becomes a far ,more effective tool as you develop a larger network of connections.  Stay tuned to The People Bank Blog for a future post on the benefits of and how to develop your LinkedIn professional network.

Steve Jones is President of The People Bank, Allen Professional Search, Aimco Staffing Solutions, GoTemp, Medical Recruitment Network and La Banque de Personnel which are all registered brands and divisions of Design Group Staffing Inc.

Wiki - “Curriculum vitae is a Latin expression which can be loosely translated as [the] course of [my] life.”

ACSESS recently released the Staffing Index for September 2011 which rose to 98, the closest to the “100″ index  standard established in July of 2008.   The Staffing Index peaked in October 2008 at 107 then recessionary job losses knocked the industry down and the Index retreated to a low of 65 in May of 2009.  The slow but steady climb since the summer of 2009 is an indicator that the economy is reluctantly finding its way.

In a previous blog, I threw cold water on Statistics Canada’s roller coaster reporting of monthly job gains and losses.  In the ACSESS press release, ACSESS President Bryan Toffee seemed to concur with my theory that we need to look at the trend of quarterly job creation rather than month to month numbers which are rife with anomalies.

Canadian Staffing Index

“The flat or subtle net rise in index readings of 90, 85 and 92 for June, July and August, respectively, foretold the flat or subtle net increase of 7,000 jobs reported by StatsCan in September and October,” explained ACSESS President, Bryan Toffey, adding that “the Index is supporting the traditional seasonal trends which suggests that employment will peak in October and November then retract through the holiday season and first month of the new year before it starts to climb again.”

Canadian Staffing Index Chart

The Canadian Staffing Index measures the hours of labour performed by a sampling of temporary and contract staffing in the staffing industry. The data collected is the largest sample size done in Canada provided by a number of Canadian staffing companies and accounts for approximately one third of total staffing industry sales. To preserve confidentiality the data is collected by Staffing Industry Analysts www.staffingindustry.com; an independent company specialized in staffing industry statistics. Data is available for the months starting July 2008 (the benchmark month) to the current month.

In review of similar Index research from the USA, many experts agree staffing industry employment data serves as an economic indicator. Historically, temporary employment improves as overtime hours increase and as unemployment claims decrease.  This means the Index can provide a “near real time” indication of how the Canadian economy is performing.

“The Canadian Staffing Index demonstrates both the changes in the Canadian economy and the volatile nature of the staffing business. It is that ability to provide a flexible workforce that brings tremendous value to our clients.”

Source: www.acsess.org (Association of Canadian Search, Employment & Staffing Services)

Just two weeks ago I gave recognition to some of  The People Bank’s  staffing professionals for their great commitment and their successful completion of the Certified Personnel Consultant designation.   Again,  I am equally proud to announce that Pat Sykes, John Cappelli,  Lorri Sumner, Helen El Kady & Rickardo Earle have also been notified of their successful completion of the CPC exams.  This group of the People Bank/Aimco employees is in addition to the recent announcement of  Aaron Campeau, Alfredo DeLeon, Tracey Arsenault, & Kathy March.

Certification through ACSESS helps recruitment professionals increase their performance.  It signifies for clients and candidates that a recruiter has made a serious commitment to professionalism, high performance and ethics in a highly competitive industry.   The CPC designation is administered by the Association of Canadian Search, Employment & Staffing Services in Canada and other staffing industry associations in countries around the world.  The CPC designation gives credibility that is recognized by clients, candidates and peers.

Along with a minimum amount of required industry experience, the CPC is comprised of five core modules including:

Legal Aspects Staffing Services including Government Regulations, Employment Standards

•  Co-Employment issues in the staffing industry, employment standards, employment contracts and employment legislation.

Legal Aspects Recruitment Practices including Human Rights, PIPEDA, Employment Equity

• Human Rights legislation including employment applications, hiring practices, discrimination, duty to accommodate, harassment, principles of diversity and equality in the workplace including PIPEDA and Employment Equity.

Health and Safety

• Relevant regulations of the Occupational Health & Safety Act, including WHMIS, critical injury, designated substances and first aid plus regulations under applicable provincial Compensation Acts and basic injury/illness reporting requirements.

Recruitment and Selection

• Key steps and processes that contribute to effective sourcing of candidates and choosing the candidate most likely to fit client requirements, the required steps in the recruitment and selection process, behavioural and situational interviews, screening, testing and reference checking.

Business Practices and Ethics

• Acceptable industry business practices and recognizing ethical and unethical staffing practices, recruiter, client and candidate behaviours and strategies of handling situations.

Whether you are a job seeker who wants to receive professional treatment or an employer who wants to hire with confidence,  always look for the ACSESS logo and the initials “CPC” following your recruiters name.

Pat Sykes, CPC                        John Cappelli,  CPC

Lorri Sumner, CPC                Helen El Kady, CPC

Rickardo Earle, CPC

Kathy March, CPC                 Tracey Arseneau, CPC

Alfredo de Leon, CPC            Aaron Campau, CPC

Thank you for your commitment and congratulations!

Steve Jones

President

The People Bank, Aimco, Allen Professional Search, La Banque de Personnel

Statistics Canada released it’s typically unbelievable and unreliable monthly jobs  data on Friday November 5th.  In this bizarre report the bumbling bureaucracy told us in their standard tone of brash certainty that 61,000 jobs were created in September and then in an about face 54,000 jobs were immediately stripped away in October.

Nobody really knows the exact numbers.  Jobs data is developed through a series of survey samples across the country and then the small sampling of data is extrapolated to produce this national data which is presented as if it were a hard fact.  Of course they offer the standard disclaimer that “estimates are based on a sample, and are therefore subject to sampling variability” however the media, markets and public policy makers tend to ignore the disclaimer to such extent that world markets and governments can rise and fall before 9 am on the news release date.

As an employment guy, I can tell you that job creation in October was not as robust as we expected but a one-month loss of 54,000 is not a credible number.   More realistically, job gains have moderately out-paced job losses over the past 6 months with subtle shifts in job types and locations.  These wildly fluctuating numbers that are reported by Statistics Canada are more likely a flaw in the data collection methods than a reflection of employment reality.

The Conference Board of Canada produces a summary table of Canadian economic data (show below).   When all the data is reviewed on balance, it helps us believe that the job market is probably not a roller coaster ride of neurotic employer hiring and firing.

In this self described experts opinion, temporary and contract jobs are on the rise.  The unstable Euro-zone, rising government debt and the stagnant US economy cast a shadow of uncertainty that causes most employers to hedge against their lack of visibility into the medium term future.  Businesses need to get the work done, orders and cash are flowing but given the constant stream of conflicting news, employers are reluctant to make job offers in the form of traditional “permanent” employment.  There is an increasing number of professionals working as contractors in the fields of engineering, oil & gas, mining, transportation, manufacturing, financial services and property. There is also an increasing number of plant and factory workers who are employed week to week and month to month.

On the workforce supply side, there is also a rise in contract and term employment due to the tenacity of older workers.  Freedom 55 is a dream that has not been realized by many boomers whose investment savings are less than they had hoped for due to poor performances of their investments in the equity markets.   A few extra years of contract work may not be absolutely necessary before retirement but they are necessary before a “comfortable” retirement.   Boomer tenacity also puts extra pressure on young workers who find themselves competing with more experienced workers who also have a more flexible employment outlook.

Smart employers will continue to use contract, term and temporary workers.  As time passes and as they become more certain of the long-term nature of their needs, employers will gradually convert these workers to more traditional employment relationships .  Job seekers are wise to embrace these contingent employment opportunities as their path to experience and future career employment.

Contrary to the opinions of some, the employment market is not all doom and gloom.  Its just different than we expected in would be in an economic recovery.  Those who adapt to change, show flexibility and embrace the reality will likely end up with a better life-style and greater prosperity than prior generations, just like every generation before them.

Commentary by: Steve Jones, President – The People Bank, Aimco Staffing and Allen Professional Search (Divisions of Design Group Staffing Inc.)

Source Conference Board of Canada Canadian Data Released to November 4, 2011

Sources: The Conference Board of Canada; Statistics Canada; CMHC Housing Time Series Database.

LinkedIn users have signed up in droves for the new “Resume Builder” application since it was introduced in December 2010. Resume Builder is a new feature created by LinkedIn employee Yevgeniy Brikmanthat through a monthly employee competition called Hackadays. In my test of the application, I was able to develop a professional looking resume in less than 5 minutes by allowing it to use my existing LinkedIn profile. I admit that my existing Linkedin profile is designed to attract attention through key word searches rather than with a resume in mind. I’ve been in the same job with the same company for 28 years and don’t really expect to need a resume any day soon but with another 4 minutes of work on my profile content, I would have a resume that rocks!

If you are a job seeker and need professional looking CV, never mind those complicated Microsoft templates with restrictive frames and hidden formatting; check out LinkedIn Resume Builder. If the content on your profile is good enough for public viewing on the social network then it should be good enough for a resume. There are several formats to choose from. Resumes can be exported and printed in PDF format. Also, each resume gets a custom link that you can share with others via email, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Another great innovation for job seekers and recruiters from our friends at Linkedin.

Check it out http://resume.linkedinlabs.com/ or FAQ

Wiki – “Curriculum vitae is a latin expression which can be loosely translated as [the] course of [my] life.”

A popular reprint from The People Bank, Steve Jones Blog