Canada’s young professionals want to work abroad

Canada’s young employees (under the age of 39) are looking for career opportunities that will offer them employment overseas, according to a recent survey sponsored by Randstad Canada.  Other considerations that ranked highly in the survey included, career progression opportunities, training and work-life balance. Stacy Parker, Executive Vice President of Marketing for Randstad Canada, explains that these factors are important to young Canadians as they will, “help improve their employment prospects and build their career during its formative years.”  Furthermore, Parker believes that the organizations and managers which prioritize what employees view as critical will be the ones to attract and retain top talent and “confront and resolve the causes of disengagement in the workforce.” Article
News Date: July 1, 2012

LinkedIn – the ideal sourcing database

In this article, Dr. John Sullivan, professor of management at San Francisco State University, highlights the top 20 reasons to use LinkedIn for sourcing talent, stating that “LinkedIn has the potential of becoming the #1 corporate recruiting portal.”  Among his top 20 reasons, here are a few mentionable ones.  The majority of LinkedIn members are not actively looking for a job but rather on LinkedIn to share, communicate and connect, as a result recruiters that are sourcing top employed prospects can successfully turn to LinkedIn to seek out talent without all the information clutter.  It allows for introductions, recommendations and is “referral-friendly”.  LinkedIn makes it easy to connect with others in the same profession and includes features that promote networking and expansion of professional contacts.  Additionally, LinkedIn has made it easy to post and distribute job vacancies to prospects and in turn compare different prospects side-by-side in a consistent profile format on the same factors. Read the full article to find out the other top 20 reasons that make LinkedIn “superior”, according to Dr.John Sullivan. Article
News Date: July 2, 2012

13.5 million unemployed Americans but 2.5 million jobs unfilled every month

The United States is dealing with a disconnect when it comes to what employers are seeking and the positions candidates think they are qualified to fill.  The five areas U.S. enterprise organizations said are facing the biggest challenges related to recruiting the right individual include: engineering, C-level positions, information technology, research & development and production.  Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder firmly believes, “if we want to see more positive movement in the U.S. market, we have to do a better job of realigning the skills of our labor force with positions that are in high demand. Prolonged vacancies can result in lower quality work, lower sales and morale, and can cause a delay in creating other related positions within the organization.”  The results of the CareerBuilder Talent Crunch survey indicated that 60 percent of individuals surveyed are “not doing anything” about the skills gap. Employers interested in bridging the skills gap can start by providing more productive feedback to candidates; “get smart about attracting and retaining top talent”; re-evaluate internal training, re-training and re-skilling practices; and “adopt a talent management philosophy for long-term, sustainable growth.” Article
News Date: July 3, 2012

Digital connectivity is a basic right for Gen Y

Is your office “BYOD” friendly?  A recent survey conducted by Fortinet which canvassed 3 800 20-something employees in 15 countries revealed that Gen Y assumes the workplace welcome a “bring your own device” policy. Employees who use their personal smart phones, tablets and laptops to connect at work can open the door to data and security breaches and IT problems, but according to the survey, “a critical mass of users maintain they would go or have gone against company policy in order to use their own mobile device for work.” Article
News Date: July 2, 2012

A new career planning tool at York offers students online expertise

Students at York University in search of career information can now turn online to a new tool that will assist them with their career exploration and job search.  My Career Plan, developed by the staff at the York University Career Centre, covers the four main areas of career development:  Making Connections; Learning About Myself; Exploring My Options; and Looking for a Job.  My Career Plan was developed in recognition of the fact that students aren’t always at the same stage within the career development process,” says Julie Rahmer, director of the Career Centre. “Some students are clear about their career path and want to embark on a job hunt, while others need clarity about who they are and what they want in the world of work before they can even consider career options or start looking for jobs.”  Each section is laid out in easy to follow steps and students can track their progress as they move through each of the four areas. The tool is not intended to replace career exploration and job search services provided by the Centre but rather offer comprehensive support at any time a student has access to a computer. Article