What do Canadians earn by industry?

This very cool interactive infographic from Maclean’s magazine demonstrates how different industries, jobs, and even time periods stack up against each other. The authors note several trends over an approximate 15 year period, with one of the most significant being a widening wage-gap between the highest and lowest earners. The lowest earning jobs are still the ones that don’t require any post-secondary education. This is the type of infographic every high school student should check out.

What Canadians earn today (and yesterday).

Resume Language: are you fluent?

I just read an excellent article at Workopolis.com on phrases to avoid when writing your resume. The author, Jenna Charlton, takes aim at the popular but flimsy “Highly Qualified”, and “Team Player” which both seem to pop up at least once in most resumes and cover letters. Perhaps the most important point Charlton makes is that these types of phrases “say it [but don’t] show it”.

Don’t settle for a passive resume! Say what you really need to say by analysing the job posting, and get out that thesaurus once in a while.

Charlton, J. “The most useless phrases in a resume.” Jan 31st, 2013. http://www.workopolis.com/content/advice/article/3232-the-most-useless-phrases-in-your-resume

What are employers looking for?

Great article written by Peter Harris at workoplis.com on what employers are looking for. Workopolis conducted a survey of Senior Executives around the country, and they found that most mentioned they were having trouble finding candidates with appropriate soft skills (communication skills, team work skills, etc.) Are you displaying your soft skills to the best of your ability? The old adage goes: Show, don’t tell. On your LinkedIn profile, mention successful presentations you’ve given, team projects you’ve worked on, etc. If you feel like you need some work on your soft skills, volunteering can be one of the most effective ways to practice things like small talk and team work. December is a particularly busy month for charitable organizations. Check out the Volunteer Toronto website to search for volunteer positions by activity, organization, or area.

The Experience Cycle: “How can I get experience if I can’t get a job?”

The Globe and Mail features a really great advice column called ‘Ask a Recruiter’.  Julie Labrie is an experienced recruiter and the president of BlueSky Personnel Solutions here in Toronto. Readers can submit questions about the job hunt and the job market and receive her professional advice. Recently, someone submitted a question asking “how can I get experience if I can’t get a job?”. This is something we’ve all experienced at one time or another, when even entry-level job ads contain the text “must have 1-2 years experience in the industry”. Check out Labrie’s response here for some great tips.
Source: Labrie, J. “Ask a Recruiter”. The Globe and Mail. May 10, 2012

Would you give a potential employer your Facebook password?

A potentially scary question, to be sure. It’s also a really popular question lately, as news stories have been reporting a recent surge in just this type of employer behaviour in job interviews. This is obviously a controversial tactic, and the stories have spawned a lot of public conversation about what constitutes an “invasion of privacy” in this internet age.

As Canadians, it appears that we can take a breath, as a recent article by Michelle McQuigge from The Toronto Star states, “Labour laws in Canada offer strong protection from employers who ask jobseekers for personal information such as social media passwords…rules in the US are much more lax.” (McQuigge, 2011)

However, we’re not totally out of the woods here. McQuigge notes that Canadian employers still have the option of searching potential employees out online, and of course viewing anything that’s available. The best advice is to go through your Privacy Settings every few months and maintain a personal filter over what you put on the web.

Source: McQuigge, M. “Canadian job applicants shouldn’t worry about Facebook snooping bosses, experts say”. The Toronto Star. March 22, 2012.  http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1151849–canadian-job-applicants-shouldn-t-worry-about-facebook-snooping-bosses-experts-say

Tough Job Interview Questions

Monster.co.uk and Skillstudio.co.uk have joined forces in this video to discuss some of the most difficult job interview questions. One of the most popular has to be “What are your weaknesses?”, and this video goes over 2 or 3 directly applicable tips for the aspiring job interviewee.

The Benefits of Being a College Graduate

The Toronto Star published an excellent article here about job growth in Ontario. The author states that college graduates are really pulling ahead of University graduates and high school graduates in terms of their expected employment rates; new jobs that are being created are being created specifically for the college grad. The author quotes a recent study that states 35% of new jobs are being filled by college grads, while only 26% are being filled by university grads, and 8% by high school only grads.

One of the most interesting ideas in this article is that college grads are being hired over university grads because of their “job-readiness“. This is something that I believe speaks directly to the Success Stream of courses (including BUSN210) here at Centennial’s School of Business.