To turn a failing company into a breakout success, you’ll need to inspire positive, creative thinking from your team. When your company is failing you may get only one chance to turn it around. In this five-part series of articles, I’ll show you how to execute a successful turnaround, using a hypothetical company with no specific product or service. Last week, I advised that you provide the employees with a 24-hour deadline to return a view of their job and the organizations top three objectives from their perspective. Employees that fail to complete the survey after 24 hours for no good reason should be fired. This exercise was meant to help you root out dead-weight employees.:

As the interviews progress, you should start leading the discussion to ensure you have all the information you need to make a sound decision.

• Overview:  introductions, 2 minute commercial
• General Information about position and company.  Learn about the job and the organization and interviewer’s challenges.
• Align the position to your background and skills.
• Summarize your experience and how you will/will not fit the position and clarify next steps.

Construction: residential and commercial, and all related specialty contractors.

Manufacturing: Cement and concrete products, architectural and structural metals, Agricultural, construction, and mining machinery, Other transportation equipment, Wood kitchen cabinets and countertops, Medical equipment and supplies, Pharmaceuticals and medicines, and more.

Wholesale trade: Lumber and construction supplies, Hardware and plumbing, Miscellaneous durable goods, Druggists’ goods, Grocery and related products, and more.

Retail trade: Motor vehicle dealers, Home furnishings stores, Electronics and appliance stores, Building material and supplies dealers, and most normal retail enterprises.

Financial activities: wide range from Insurance, Real estate and rental and leasing, to Automotive equipment rental and leasing;and much more.

Professional and business services: in almost every area of services

Educational services: All levels

Health care and social assistance: all levels ranging from private practice, nursing, hospitals, to diagnostic laboratories, home health care, nursing and residential facilities, and all levels of social assistance.

Leisure and hospitality: all levels Arts, entertainment, and recreation, Museums, historical sites, zoos, and parks, Amusements, gambling, and recreation, Accommodation and food services (hotels, restaurants), and Food services and drinking places.

Other services: all levels of Repair and maintenance, Personal care and laundry services, Membership associations and organizations (including grant making and Civic and social organizations).

Government: Department of Defense

Source: http://jobbait.com/2018/index.htm

Go for simplicity in writing to ensure your resume is easy to read. The summary should not read like an autobiography – be relevant, get to the point, and avoid telling your life story. Read more

Here are a few tips:

Visual Appeal

By taking the time to determine and define who you are, what you are good at, what you want and your successes, you will be well on your way to developing a clearer, more comprehensive understanding of your personal and career needs.

Through a self-assessment exercise, you’ll discover the challenges required to provide you with the career satisfaction and work environment that best meets your unique personal needs. Remember that everyone has intrinsic and extrinsic needs and motivations; therefore, the ideal job must satisfy all of our needs. Read more

As a Career Coach who has worked with 1000s of unemployed job seekers from entry level to senior executives, the first question most of clients ask of me is – how do I start my job search? There is usually grave concerns with getting it right, of having the most up  to date job search techniques and an overwhelming fear of what one of my clients term “the new job search stuff” that they are not familiar with.

I call the early stages of the job search the initial research stage. It is important for all job seekers, those new to job searching or skilled old hands, to know that the job search is primarily a research process – you need to research the right job, the right company, the right industry.  As such, job seekers need to conduct an initial investigation of the job market prior to launching into a full-scale job search. Through this investigation, they could prevent time wasted spent pursuing largely inappropriate opportunities.

The initial stages of an effective job search are:

• Analyzing your target job and industry: Prior to revamping that resume and cover letter, a job seeker should analyze the type of job or jobs they will be targeting and the related industry. In essence, conduct a SWOT analysis to identify the opportunities, the weaknesses, the threats and the strengths.
• Networking: all job seekers need to network with people  this could include  past colleagues, past managers, friends, associates etc.– to gather information on job opportunities, the job market and to generate potential leads
• Building a list of contacts:  Once the networking has commenced, the job seekers needs to make a list of key contacts in their field. Key contacts can be recruiters, human resources professionals, hiring decision makers, former colleagues or anyone who can be of value in helping to gain an interview or find a job. Establishing key contacts is a very important tool in penetrating the hidden job market – that is accessing those jobs that are not posted to the public.

Note that parts of each initial stage will continue throughout all phases of your job search.

In writing your cover letter you can be creative and direct in showing a potential employer, how your unique skills abilities meets their requirements without the limitations of the resume. The following are five key reasons why you should include a cover letter with your resume. read more 

Read rest of article here

I find this trend to be crossing the line. By accessing a job seeker’s Facebook account, employers would now have access to all the private messages shared with other parties who are probably under the impression that their messages were only being shared with the intended recipient.

I am not a legal expert; however, I would assume there maybe some legal issues around employers asking for this information and using it to log into a user’s account. Read More

Research has shown that many job seekers are unaware or potentially do not understand what information should not be included in their resumes. The information that should not be included on a resume includes:

• Using “I”, “me” or “my” statements use the third person instead and eliminate the pronoun to make your sentences more active. To illustrate instead of “I reduced cost by 20%”, write “Reduced cost by 20%”
• Employing the words “responsible for” and “duties included” – do not use
• Personal information such as age, health, ethnicity, marriage and family status. These items could potentially be used to discriminate against you and should not be included. For legal reasons, some employers go so far as to dismiss your resume if it has this information, as they could someday be accused of a hiring bias
• Photographs – these should only be included only if you are a model or actor
• Explanations for leaving your prior employers or employment gaps in your work history
• Additional information that is not requested by employer. These includes information such as letters of recommendation, certificates or portfolios / samples of your work
• Salary history or expected salary – never include these details unless requested
• The inclusion of professional references

The first principle of finding a job is to advertise your qualifications and experience. Let employers know who you are and what you can do for them. In other words, send your resume to everyone that might need someone with your profile. There is no harm in sending your resume to even those employers who are not actively looking for people.

They may need your expertise at a later date.

Follow up the resume with a phone call to the hiring department of the company to see if the resume was received and if there is anyone that you can talk to about setting up an interview. At the very least, you might get an inside scoop on what positions are available so that you can talk to those departments directly.

Sometimes, it is worth the effort to go to the companies in person or set up appointments to talk to the head of the concerned department. Of course, this may not get you an instant job, but if you make a favorable impression on the department head, you stand a chance to be considered when they need to hire someone.

Networking is the best way to create job opportunities. Talk to everyone about your desire to find a new position. You’d be surprised how many people will be able to help you find something that works for you. Talk to friends and relatives. The more people are looking, the more able you will be to find something.

Remember, your resume is a window to your personality. So, try and make it as impressive and professional as you can. It’s a good idea to take the help of a professional resume writer or software program, and print it on high grade paper. It should be well worded, clean and readable, and should present you in a positive light.

While losing your job may have been expected, you never want to talk badly of your previous employers. In any future communications with job prospects, bring up all of the positive attributes of your prior jobs and only describe the challenges that you overcame while being employed.

The secret of finding a job is patience and perseverance. If you go about it the right way, soon you will be able to find someone who can see your worth and will hire you.

“Branding” is, by far, the single most over-used and over-hyped business-related concept….When people say they want to “enhance their brand” or “build brand equity,” they usually mean “improve their reputation”: what people generally think about them or their company. Some examples of good reputations:

• Moleskine notebooks have great paper.
• Getting Things Done is the best book about productivity that has ever been written.
• Derek Punsalan is the best blog designer I know.

read more 

1. Have I made certain that those I love feel loved?

2. Have I done something today that improved the world?

3. Have I conditioned my body to be more strong flexible and resilient?

4. Have I reviewed and honed my plans for the future?

5. Have I acted in private with the same integrity I exhibit in public?

6. Have I avoided unkind words and deeds?

7. Have I accomplished something worthwhile?

8. Have I helped someone less fortunate?

9. Have I collected some wonderful memories?

10. Have I felt grateful for the incredible gift of being alive?

Here’s the thing.  The questions you ask yourself on a daily basis determine your focus, and your focus determines your results.

These questions force you to focus on what’s really important. Take heed of them and rest of your life—especially your work—will quickly fall into place.

The growth was seen primarily in the province of British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island while Quebec showed losses. The seasonally adjusted, unemployment rates vary from 12.8% (Newfoundland and Labrador) to 4.9% (Alberta).

Unemployment rates for all the provinces were (prior months are in parenthesis):

• Newfoundland and Labrador 12.8% (13.2%)
• Prince Edward Island 11.4% (11.1%)
• Nova Scotia 7.8% (8.6%)
• New Brunswick 9.4% (9.8%)
• Quebec 8.7% (8.0%)
• Ontario 7.7% (7.9%)
• Manitoba 5.4% (5.5%)
• Saskatchewan 5.2% (5.1%)
• Alberta 4.9% (5.0%)
• British Columbia 7.0% (7.0%)

Did You Know?

In a survey conducted by USA Today, a third of the respondents admitted that they sometimes took sick days at work when they were not ill but merely “sick of working” or wanted to do something else. How do you think most of these people see their work in relation to their long-term goals? How much would their behaviour change if they found more daily opportunities for making progress towards their goals