Minto Roy - Career - Recruitment Blog

1. Corporate Downsizing by large multi-national companies. If you are a small company, this is the best time to pursue talent within your industry who have great contacts, experience, and competitive intelligence. Many well networked professionals who may have been unaffordable in the past are now looking beyond the corporate giants to entrepreneurial small businesses. Those with decent severance packages in hand can justify taking a salary cut and investing in your company’s growth plan and potential.

2. Large companies reducing staff run the risk of diminishing service quality to their clients. Reduced staff and fewer resources could mean that existing clients accustomed to premium service might be disappointed to learn that the representatives whom they always dealt with are gone. It’s a great time to pursue these clients who might now consider moving their business to your small business and deal directly with the owner.

3. Public support. In this era of corporate bailouts, outlandish corporate salaries and rollercoaster stock dips, the strength of small business and a customer’s access to the actual business owner is comforting to the public and consumer market. The public has far more trust in the mom and pop shop businesses than the corporate giants responsible for the plummeting stock market.

4. Small business is nimble and reactive. Corporate giants have thrown down their anchors in their attempts to ride the economic storm. Millions of “No More Spending Memos” have been sent across North America, corporate layoffs, salary rollback, no more travel, no more client lunches, dinners etc… Large corporations are making it harder for their sales staff to close new business. Small business can strategically target key clients traditionally held by the corporate giants. Small business can react and create innovative approaches, incentivise their sales reps to travel the red-eye and take advantage of every opportunity available to close new deals.

5. Global Thinking. Small business can initiate and launch into new markets, globally, where consumer markets want or need their products. Large corporations require significant re-structuring, re-tooling and significant capital to pursue new markets. Small business can decide tomorrow if they want to expand globally. No red tape required, small business comes with the freedom to hire an agent or a representative in China or India to sell their products via agent agreement and become international overnight.

So let the newspapers continue to grow their businesses and sell newspapers with negative stories of rampant layoffs, restructurings, large business contract cancellations and the decline of the corporate giants. It is all good news for small business.

Minto Roy
President
Careers Today Canada
Mroy@careerstodaycanada.com
www.careerstodaycanada.com
www.mintoroy.net

Posted by minto at 04:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

1. Make a commitment to really go after that great career!

Don’t grab the first low hanging offer that waves a few dollars at you. A committed job search requires focus, strategy and unrelenting dedication until the objective is achieved.

2. Drastically increase your career options by targeting opportunities in the SME Market.

Small to Medium Size Enterprises represent approx. 95% of companies in the economy, therefore, they do 95% of the hiring, but these companies are often ignored or unknown to most job seekers.

3. Create powerful skills and achievement narratives.

Narratives are exciting short-burst descriptions of your skills and achievements used in your resume and overall marketing campaign. Narratives must be compelling and unique to showcase your value to employers. Stay away from cliché’s and vague statements like, “I’m a people person, team player, honest and hardworking, loyal and looking for a challenge.”

4. Showcase your future not your past

Send hiring managers future-focused resumes not past-focused documents. Hiring managers are far more interested in what you can do for them in the future than what you have done in the past. But the only thing typical resumes talk about is…hmm, your past.

5. Work your job search strategy from the top down, not bottom up

Try networking or securing interviews two levels up from your income level. If you’re looking for a job at 50K, you better interview with people who make 80-100K. They are the ones who make the final decision to hire you. If you are looking for a job at 100K, it’s hard to believe the person in HR earning 50 K can make the decision to hire you.

6. Prepare for your interviews with the same intensity as you did for your University finals.

On average, most jobseekers spend 1-2 hours preparing for an interview that may change their lives, yet most spent days studying for their University final exams.

7. Network consistently and with sincere engagement

Never ask a company if they are hiring! Only by taking a sincere interest in a company’s goals and challenges will they then take a sincere interest in your career objectives.

8. Negotiate the entire package when you get an offer.

Salary, benefits, performance bonuses, stock options, paid vacations, review assessments, training allowances, flex hours, ++ Most jobseekers are either too scared to counter offer or don’t know all the perks available in this red-hot job market by employers hungry for talent.

9. Your career is where you spend the majority of your day! Hire a professional to help you land that great career.

Your friends and family may have the very best intentions but do they really have the time, market insight and resources to ensure that you get that great career? The right career expert will provide years of expertise, market insight and resources AND hold you accountable to help you land that great career. So, have a beer with your buddies, but do not rely on them to be your primary source of job search advice.

10. Finally, Just do it! What have you got to lose?

If you’re not happy with your current job, then take the chance to go after something better. If it doesn’t work out, you won’t have any problem finding a job that you don’t want, the market is full of them. In-fact, you don’t even need any of the last nine tips to get a job you don’t like!

Minto Roy
President
Careers Today Canada
Mroy@careerstodaycanada.com
www.careerstodaycanada.com
www.mintoroy.net

Posted by minto at 06:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Employment World doesn’t need another boring resume.

Here are Top 5 Things Not to Do when creating a competitive resume to set yourself apart from your competition. But first a quick ‘Marketing 101 lesson for jobseekers,

“If you are trying to set yourself apart from other jobseekers in the marketplace, don’t market yourself with the exact same methodology as the rest of your competition and hope to stand out.”

Most jobseekers traditionally use a resume to showcase their value. The resume showcases their past accomplishments, past experiences and past education. However, after speaking with hundreds of hiring managers, I am reminded that these managers are far more interested in what a candidate can do for them in the future, not what they have done in the past.

However, only a fraction of the resume focuses on the jobseeker’s future. The “objective section”, usually the lead paragraph, is the only part of the resume that contains any information about the jobseeker’s future objective. But most objective statements are vague and contain never ending clichés.

Objective: “seasoned professional looking for a dynamic and challenging position with a growth oriented company. A great team player, willing to work hard, flexible, loyal, etc…”

In hopes of being unique most job seekers provide employers with identically formatted marketing documents and statements hoping to set themselves apart as being unique. So here are 5 Things Not to Do when trying to create a unique resume

Number One

Don’t be too general and say the same things as every other job seeker.
Employers assume that you are honest, loyal and a team player. No employer disqualifies you right away and says, “Hey, this guy didn’t say he was honest, hardworking and loyal in his resume, he’s out!”

Number Two

Don’t assume that your resume has to showcase every one of your experiences and accomplishments.

Including everything you’ve done in your career doesn’t increase your odds of getting the job or another job at the company. Don’t hope that employers might look deeper at your qualification and figure out that you are qualified for another opportunity within the company.

Number Three

Don’t use words that are long term or process oriented words when describing your achievements. Use a short term, action oriented bursts. Write dialogue to attract the reader’s interest and emotions.

Number Four

Don’t go back more than a decade with your experiences and achievements. Even that’s a long time. Respectfully, not many people care about what you did ten years ago…It’s over. Remember, keep the focus of your resume on what you can do in the future.

Number Five

Make the end of the resume count. Remember, most people remember what they read at the beginning and at the end. End uniquely, by creating an exciting explanation of your passions and interests outside of work.

The end of your resume should provide employers insight into your competitive drive, your creativity, your commitment to charity, volunteer work, how you might save the world!

Be bold, be creative, use the final part of your resume to compel the hiring manager to want to meet the professional and the personality behind the document.

Minto Roy
President
CareersToday Canada
www.careerstodaycanada.com
www.mintoroy.net

Listen to Minto on Careers Today Radio. Every week on The Buzz 1410 am Saturdays from 3-4 pm. Past shows available can be downloaded on the Careers Today website.

Posted by minto at 06:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I assume, by your visit to this site and this article that you have a commitment or at least curiosity about positions over 100K. One thing you should know that’s an irrefutable fact.

Very few people make six figures and very few people will ever make six figures consistently.
It’s not because very few people have a talent to earn six figures. In fact, I have met thousands of professionals with the talent, education, experience that exceed those that earn six figures consistently. Most talented professionals simply don’t know how to enter this income bracket and remain consistently there year after year.

One hundred thousand dollars a year seems to represent the holy grail of income levels for most professionals. A validation to themselves, their peers and their families. A badge of recognition in the competitive workforce that you are successful and at the top of your game.
However, this income bracket symbolizes more just money. Personally it represents a level of lifestyle coveted by most people. A chance to live beyond the monthly bills and live a life full of options for you and your family.

Professionally it is viewed as validation by an employer that you are crucial to their organization. Within the company there is enhanced recognition your peers, exciting and important responsibilities are a daily part of your role, there is management opportunities and decision making capacity.

These perks remain elusive to the majority of professionals unless more people learn how to market themselves effectively. Having the right talent, experience and education alone is only part of the battle. An effective and competitive marketing campaign is crucial.
Competing for six figure position comes with an initial realization that this compensation represents the top 2 % of the paying jobs within an employment market. Therefore, looking to get into this market requires a different job search strategy as those being utilized by others making less than six figures. The other 98% of people conducting a job search.
Think about it. Would you market a Lada with the same methodology as Mercedes? Does Starbucks market its five dollar coffee with the same methodology as cafe that sells coffee for a dollar? How a product is marketed is immensely important to the perceived value by the consumer.

So if you are professional looking to secure at six figure position, then remember your the product in a very competitive and complex market. Appreciate that you are competing against other talented products for those 2% of higher bracket jobs. So what’s your marketing strategy? How are you going to differentiate yourself from the other quality products competing against you for the employer?

Most professionals market themselves with a document called a resume, typically a few pieces of paper that outline a jobseekers skills, experiences, achievements and education. A resume is most common form of marketing communications used by job seekers. A document filled with history about a candidates past. However, in speaking with thousands of hiring managers, I’ve come to realize that most are interested in what an employee can do for them in the future, not in the past.

A past history and accomplishments are of course important, but in reality candidates competing at this level are all very good and most great past work histories. A past focused resumes is a very ineffective way to set anyone apart and we know why people use resumes.
Everyone does it and no-one knows what else to do when job hunting.

Mercedes does not rely on marketing their automobile as only fast and with a good warranty. Simply because almost every car over 100K is fast and has a good warranty. Mercedes like all premium products recognizes that marketing given variables and common product features rarely help the consumer select their product.

Consider a simple marketing concept to your job search. If you are trying to divide yourself out from the rest of the market why use the exact same marketing strategy as the rest of the market and hope to be seen as unique? How can the end consumer (the employer), set you apart?

Hiring at six figures has also become extremely difficult for both sides of the hiring desk. Executive Managers have limited time to review resumes and don’t have months to screen candidates, they have hours. Managers are at the mercy of screening candidates through past focused resumes speaking very little about what they bring to their companies future.
It’s crucial that higher bracket professionals initially engage employers with future focused documents and dialogue. Marketing focused on the future. Do not rely on a resume of what has been done in the past. Market the vision of your future and you gain a definitive edge against their competition below and above six figures.

I will follow up with upcoming articles that will hopefully provide insights into getting in and staying in the higher bracket income. Articles related to constructing a value proposition, negotiating six figure salary packages, interviewing questions and answers and the mindset of what executive managers look for when they are hiring their next six figure employee.

The six figure world is truly a world of abundance, not merely about money, but about am abundant belief. A belief to share ideas and information to help others reach their professional and personal goals. I hope this insight propels your career and motivates you to achieve your next level.

There is plenty of room at the top.

Minto Roy
President
Careers Today Canada
Mroy@careerstodaycanada.com
www.careerstodaycanada.com
www.mintoroy.net

Posted by minto at 06:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you are fortunate enough to get in-the-door of the right company looking to hire someone with your professional skills and qualifications then you will have to deal with some difficult interview questions.

The typical job interview takes about one hour; Sixty minutes of time that determines where you will spend at least 8 hours of a day, a crucial meeting that solidifies your professional identity and future lifestyle for you and your family in Canada.

With my experience of assisting thousands of professional immigrants with their job search, the questions that cause most anxiety relate to the lack of Canadian work experience. It’s extremely important that new professionals handle this question with a solid response.
Most professional immigrants arrive in Canada with a great education, years of work experience, lots of talent and a commitment to hard work. Yet lack the understanding of how to effectively communicate their value during a job interview. It’s vital that newcomers showcase that they DO HAVE the drive, skills and experience to take on a professional job similar to that of their home country.

Forget Interview strategies for this column. Here are some real interview answers to get you through the number one toughest question your will face. Practice these answers, memorize them and use them. This type of professional language will help you understand and respond effectively to the dreaded Canadian experience question:

Employer Question:

Why should we hire you, over other candidates with greater Canadian experience?
To answer this question you will need a plan or a rehearsed script. Think about famous actors when they perform in a play or a movie. They do so only after massive preparation. Every word, every pause, every facial gesture has been practiced. In fact, professionals in every field recognize when called to perform at a competitive level they must be ready. They practice until their responses to an important situation becomes second nature.

Treat your response to questions or concerns related to your lack of Canadian experience with the same degree of practice and performance. Rather than taking a defensive position with your answer, go on the offense. Turn the question into an opportunity that mirrors commonly held business concepts.

Here’s a script to rehearse.

Answer:

“We’re in a dynamic global economy, I understand you are (or want to be) a global company. A company that thinks and acts beyond Canada’s borders. My work experience has many common traits that you are looking for.” (Give a clear example at this point that matches their requirements.) Write down your own experience example and rehearse it before the interview. Practice over and over again, memorize and make sure you provide examples of experiences that match the criteria for their job description.

Here’s more dialogue for you to memorize.

“I also hope to assist with your companies initiatives locally and globally. Many Canadian businesses are realizing that more than half of their products and services are being bought by new immigrants. I hope with my multi-language skills and cultural understanding that I can help service and grow your customer base in new markets that are growing each year with the increase in Canadian immigration.

These responses will be extremely attractive to companies that are targeting their products into immigrant market segments. Your competition will not be able to compete with your language and cultural insights that match social demographic changes to Canada’s population. If you’re interviewing with a progressive company, there may already be plans underway to move their products and services global or at least local plans to reach growing immigrant communities in Canada.

I know most of your realize that you must commit to improving your English skills and practice every day. But go beyond practice and pretend you are an actor in a movie learning a foreign accent. You’re not trying to be fake when job interviewing, your simply trying to present full value of your potential.

You shouldn’t be relegated to low level entry jobs in Canada. If you’re a professional take responsibility for preparing and presenting yourself until you can answer well enough to present your skills and experience. Practice interview answers until you can quote them perfectly. Memorize, practice and face questions about your lack of Canadian experience with confidence. Become dedicated to your interview performance, like actors in-front of paying audiences. Because when your interviewing for a job, you are performing in-front of a paying audience, your future employer.

Minto Roy
President
Careers Today Canada
Mroy@careerstodaycanada.com
www.careerstodaycanada.com
www.mintoroy.net

Posted by minto at 06:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Good reference checks are crucial to landing the job you want. As a long term career strategy, never miss an opportunity to get someone to say something nice about you in print. Ask in the moment of them giving you the compliment or acknowledging your work – they may not remember a year later when you need it; indeed, neither may you. Reference letters are like money in your savings account, there to help you advance or to get back on your feet again if you find yourself unemployed. You also need to keep in regular contact with anyone who is a key reference for you – as important as the letters are, employers will need to do a telephone check as well. There is no worse feeling than having a reference for the great job for which you just nailed the interview but not being able to reach them, so keep your database up to date.

In general, DO:

• Use a clear format for your list of references. Have a header which matches your resume and clearly identifies you, as in the following example:

References for Caitlyn Candidate, MBA

Sally Superreference, Director of Marketing, IBM Western Canada
Formerly Director of Marketing for Business Objects
Direct Supervisor for 4 years
Tel. 604.234.5678
Cel. 778.987.6543
Sally.jonas@shaw.ca

• Provide 2-3 ways to contact each reference to make it easy for employers to follow up on a tight timeline. Hiring is a lengthy and onerous process and there is a temptation to just get it over with by the end. If your references are the first to respond, that might just give you the edge.

• Prepare your references to help you effectively. Call them when you have had an interview where you expect a reference check. Email them your most recent resume, along with the cover letter you submitted for the position. Busy people may not open your attachments, though, so also give them 3-5 one line bullet points on the position, the company, and the impression you were hoping to leave. The more specific you are, the better your referees can help you.

• Choose 360 degree references: one-two direct supervisors, the more recent the better; one colleague; one direct report; and possibly also a client. Show employers that you “work and play well with others” at all levels of an organizational culture.

And DON’T:

• Do not put references on your resume unless you are only sending it to two or three select companies. Show respect for your referees’ time and privacy. If you are emailing applications in response to dozens or hundreds of postings, know that your referees will not appreciate having their contact information broadcast that far and wide. Offer to provide references on request and have multiple copies in hand for every interview.

• Don’t hand out ratty, torn, folded, or otherwise mangled old copies of reference letters. Neither should you pull a crisp original out of a protective case and ask the interviewer to make a copy. Keep originals in a portfolio and make clean, new copies you can leave behind.

• Don’t use personal or character references, or family members as references, if you have any alternative at all. Employment references are best. Senior staff members or senior volunteers in organizations to which you donated your work or teachers/professors with whom you took a relevant course are next in preference.

Minto Roy
President
CareersToday Canada
www.careerstodaycanada.com
www.mintoroy.net

Posted by minto at 10:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I keep seeing the same jobs posted on three or four different websites, month after month. I’ve even applied for a couple of them but never gotten a call. A friend told me some companies keep postings up all the time but they are not really hiring. I’m just as concerned that maybe it is an indicator that the company is not the kind of employer I would want if they have a lot of turnover. How can I tell?

Kelly

Dear Kelly:

That’s a very common question and the short answer is that you probably can’t tell for certain – at least not as an outsider. But there are ways to learn what you can. First I want to say that you and your friend should not assume that a company is not really hiring or has problems with retention because of continuous postings. Many companies are growing so fast and/or so consistently that they are always actively recruiting, and top managers in stable companies would rarely refuse to meet a very suitable candidate even if they do not have a pre-existing opening. Some companies do have trouble hanging on to good people but regular job postings are not necessarily an indicator of that.

Your best source of information on a company is someone who works there and is in a position to know whether or not the company is growing and seeking talent expansion. Use your networks or research business news on the company to find someone on the inside and ask for a few minutes of their time to ask them a few questions about their work. Look up the company in the “Top Employers” and “Best Companies” guides and see if they made the cut. If they do not appear, read what is said about related or competitor companies to get a better idea of the evaluative criteria used to decide who is a good employer in that field. Send your resume to a few recruiters, ask for a meeting with them, and while you are there pitching yourself, ask if they know anyone who has worked for that company. One way or another, you can probably improve your knowledge before applying in most cases.

When you either can’t find the information you seek or don’t have time for the search, my call would be to apply, say yes to an interview if you get one, meet them and judge for yourself. If you are interested enough in the position to be wondering what they are like to work for, it is probably worth your time and effort to pursue the opportunity. And if you are just idly curious but not strongly drawn to the job or you have a nagging feeling that something is not right for you – before or after an interview or offer – trust your gut.

Minto Roy
President
CareersToday Canada
www.careerstodaycanada.com
www.mintoroy.net

Posted by minto at 04:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You’re talented. You work hard. That should be enough to ensure a satisfying career, right? No. Not even, “Sadly, no” or “Unfortunately, no.” Just plain NO.

Employers take a major risk when they hire. It’s a huge investment of time and money to recruit, screen, interview, hire, and train a new person. It costs them as much as 30% of your annual salary just to find you, then quite possibly another 50% to train you – and they’re paying you during that training, and paying compulsory remittances for you as well. And you haven’t made them any money yet.

If you earn $50,000 per year, an employer invests $130,000 in your first year just to get you to a place where they could begin to see a return on their investment. Ask yourself: how good, how secure, would a long term investment need to seem to you before you would be willing to shell out that kind of money? And how much better would it have to seem if you had lost money on similar investments in the past? That’s how attractive you need to be to a prospective employer.

Seeing the hiring process from their side is the first step. Understanding what they are looking for is the next. So what do employers want to see from you in that all-important job interview?

1. FIT. Each workplace has its own culture. Some are budget-conscious while others are profit-driven. Some are pro-active and others reactive. Some strive for stability, others for creativity. You can’t be a productive member of the team if you don’t fit. It’s not about your qualifications at this point – it’s about whether you will want to work the way they like to work, and whether they get the sense they will like working with you.

2. SPECIALISTS BACKED UP BY SOLID GENERALIST CAPACITY. Employers want to know you are really good at the thing they need you for. They want you to have the education, skills and experience to meet at least 80% of the job demands right out of the gate. If you are telling yourself, “I could (learn to) do that,” you are looking at a career longshot unless you already have a relationship with the employer where your aptitude, quick learning ability and fit have already been demonstrated. (This, by the way, is why every career expert you have ever seen, heard, or read advocates networking—because it builds the relationships that make transitioning fields or jumping a few rungs of the corporate ladder less of a risk from the employer’s point of view.) So the specialist part is being able to handle the lion’s share of the job without requiring hand-holding or expensive training. For the generalist part, you need to also show that you have other, value-added abilities which are relevant to the job—key word relevant. Maybe you could offer relief backup in another department. Or you have training, presentation, writing, or second language skills which could be used on a particular project. And the number one generalist skill which is relevant virtually everywhere in the private sector is networking/business development. Notice I didn’t say sales. A company doesn’t need everyone making pitches and trying to close—they have specialists for that. But someone who is at least alert to opportunity and able to bring in leads to new business is always higher value than someone who isn’t.

3. COMMITMENT. Remember that $130,000 investment in a $50,000/yr employee? When an employee quits during their first two years for a company, it’s as if a public company in which you invested your retirement savings going bankrupt and the stock becoming worthless. It’s Enron. You’d be very outraged and incredibly cautious going forward if that happened to you.

Naturally, then, employers want to know when they hire you that you plan to be around for awhile so they can enjoy a reasonable return on their investment in you. When they ask about your lifestyle, your focus, your goals, and where you see yourself in the next 3-5 years, that’s what they are trying to assess.

Minto Roy
President
CareersToday Canada
www.careerstodaycanada.com
www.mintoroy.net

Posted by minto at 02:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Some of the toughest days jobseekers have are, contrary to what you might expect, not those days when there are no postings to apply for but rather those first few days after you have applied and you have not heard back. No email, no phone call. Just deafening silence from the outside world and overwhelming uncertainty – even panic – inside your head.

You want to know that they got the resume. You want to be sure that it reached the right person. You want some sense of when they’ll make a decision. You want them to shortlist you for interview, pick you for the job, make you an offer you can’t refuse and live happily ever after without ever having to look for work again for the rest of your life!

Okay, so you’re laughing. That’s good. It means you’ve relaxed a little. Now look back over that post-resume submission meltdown with a little distance. You’ll see it’s all about you and your wants. Your meltdown completely violates the number one rule of job searching: It’s all about the employer.

Once you have submitted an application, you need to know it got there, yes. Send hard copies by courier or registered mail with signature required; fax using a machine which prints a proof of transmission; and check your email for bounce-backs. Once you’ve done that, your need to know is over and your concern is really only a reflection of want. It’s perfectly natural to be anxious or curious, and to want to have those feelings resolved – it’s just not okay to ACT ON that want.

You must resist the impulse to phone even once, let alone repeatedly, saying, “Did you get my application? Have you made a decision yet?” But that doesn’t mean you can’t follow up. Roughly two business days after the closing date or five business days after your resume submission where no closing date is listed, you can call or email to “renew your interest” in the position and offer to provide references.

You can perhaps also, as an alternative or as a second follow-up a few days later, send a note pertaining to your availability for interview, along the lines of, “I appreciate that hiring is a challenging and time-consuming task and, mindful of your demanding schedule, I just wanted to take a moment to let you know I will be away from my phone and email at a workshop (or family function or retreat or out-of-town interview) on the 17th and 18th but will be checking my messages each evening. I will be available for interview after the 19th, including times outside business hours if that would be more convenient for you. The more I learn about XYZ company – particularly recent coverage in the Globe of your service innovations on the 123 account – the more interested I am in joining your team. I see a solid fit between your expansion into SME markets and my experience as quality assurance coordinator for mid-size accounts. I look forward to meeting you in the near future.” The tone is confident, diligent and keeps the employer’s interests in focus amid its self promotion. There is not a frightened, needy or desperate-for-work note to be found.

Yes, after you have applied you want to know when they will call. But what you need is to be sufficiently impressive, composed and attractive and they actually will make that call.

Hang in there – at the end of this long and bumpy road, your new career awaits.

Minto Roy
President
CareersToday Canada
www.careerstodaycanada.com
www.mintoroy.net

Posted by minto at 02:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)