U.S. job seekers waste time surfing… • … but Canadians are savvy surfers • Spies like us • Feds should stop on-the-job training, language czar says • Staffing services association announces new board
U.S. job seekers waste time surfing…
New York — It’s taking nearly 23 per cent longer for unemployed Americans to find jobs than it did during the last recession, and the Internet may be the problem according to John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., an international outplacement firm. He said a growing number of unemployed workers waste time browsing the estimated 4,000 to 5,000 online job boards, blanketing them with resumes and then waiting for a call back. Since March 2001, the average duration of unemployment has grown to 15.2 weeks, 23 per cent longer than the 12.4 weeks it took job seekers to find jobs during the pre-Internet recession in the early ’90s.
… but Canadians are savvy surfers
Toronto — Canadians have a success rate four times greater than the global average when it comes to finding employment online, according to a study by Drake Beam Morin-Canada Inc. About 12 per cent of Canadians who found a new job in 2002 cited successful Web searches as the reason. That compares with a three-per-cent success rate worldwide and six per cent in the U.S. A recent study by HotJobs Canada, an online recruiting services firm, showed that about 7.2 million Canadians are using online job search services to look for employment.
Spies like us
Ottawa — Canada’s spy agency has entered the realm of Internet recruiting. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service began publicizing job openings for intelligence officers and support positions in Ottawa on the Web earlier this year. An internal report showed CSIS was less than satisfied with some aspects of past recruitment techniques, and it decided to use the Web to increase its reach and to attract more visible minorities. CSIS isn’t abandoning its other recruitment strategies, though. It will continue to use business breakfasts, contact with professional groups and academic circles, newspaper ads, recruitment videos, employee referrals and active pursuit of Aboriginals and other visible minorities to fill positions.
Feds should stop on-the-job training, language czar says
Ottawa — The federal government should scrap the two-year grace period that allows applicants to bilingual public-service jobs to learn a second language on the job, according to Canada’s official languages commissioner. Dyane Adam said the 22-year-old policy, which allows unilingual Canadians to be put in bilingual jobs while they learn a second language during the grace period, should be eliminated. Adam wants bilingualism mandatory upon hiring for all bilingual internal job postings, beginning with executives in 2004 and moving down the ranks by April 2006. About 38 per cent of the 148,400 jobs in the federal public service are bilingual. She said the government will have to continue hiring external candidates who don’t meet the language requirements “for a certain amount of time” because the quality and accessibility of language training varies across Canada. These people should be sent to language training immediately, and if they don’t meet the standards after two years, their employment should be terminated.
Staffing services association announces new board
Mississauga, Ont. — The Association of Canadian Search, Employment and Staffing Services (ACSESS) has announced its board of directors for 2003-2004. ACSESS monitors trends in the industry and provides input to federal and provincial governments on employment legislation and regulations. The national president is Yvan Michon of The Employment Solution. The directors are: Barbara Allen, TOSI Placement Services (Toronto); Sheenagh Beadell, Taylor Personnel (Victoria); Paul Christie, Services de Personnel Unique Inc. (Montreal); Terry Davey, Bowen Personnel (Calgary); Kevin Dee, Eagle Professional Resources Inc. (Ottawa); Bill Bretz, The 500 Staffing Services (Oakville, Ont.); Laurie Fisher, Kelly Services Ltd. (Halifax); Valerie Gilmore, Gilmore Staffing Solutions (Toronto); Jeremy Ingle, SPI Consultants (Ottawa); Stephen Jones, The People Bank (Toronto); Jim Keenan, Spherion Workforce Architects (Mississauga, Ont.); Bruce McAlpine, Fulcrum Search Science, Inc. (Toronto); Remi Tremblay, Adecco (Toronto); Sandra Sears, Staffworks Employment Solutions (Toronto); Steve Walker, Manpower (Toronto); Karen Watt, Excel Personnel Inc. (Kamloops, B.C.); and Chris Roach, The Employment Solution (Mississauga, Ont.).
New York — It’s taking nearly 23 per cent longer for unemployed Americans to find jobs than it did during the last recession, and the Internet may be the problem according to John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., an international outplacement firm. He said a growing number of unemployed workers waste time browsing the estimated 4,000 to 5,000 online job boards, blanketing them with resumes and then waiting for a call back. Since March 2001, the average duration of unemployment has grown to 15.2 weeks, 23 per cent longer than the 12.4 weeks it took job seekers to find jobs during the pre-Internet recession in the early ’90s.
… but Canadians are savvy surfers
Toronto — Canadians have a success rate four times greater than the global average when it comes to finding employment online, according to a study by Drake Beam Morin-Canada Inc. About 12 per cent of Canadians who found a new job in 2002 cited successful Web searches as the reason. That compares with a three-per-cent success rate worldwide and six per cent in the U.S. A recent study by HotJobs Canada, an online recruiting services firm, showed that about 7.2 million Canadians are using online job search services to look for employment.
Spies like us
Ottawa — Canada’s spy agency has entered the realm of Internet recruiting. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service began publicizing job openings for intelligence officers and support positions in Ottawa on the Web earlier this year. An internal report showed CSIS was less than satisfied with some aspects of past recruitment techniques, and it decided to use the Web to increase its reach and to attract more visible minorities. CSIS isn’t abandoning its other recruitment strategies, though. It will continue to use business breakfasts, contact with professional groups and academic circles, newspaper ads, recruitment videos, employee referrals and active pursuit of Aboriginals and other visible minorities to fill positions.
Feds should stop on-the-job training, language czar says
Ottawa — The federal government should scrap the two-year grace period that allows applicants to bilingual public-service jobs to learn a second language on the job, according to Canada’s official languages commissioner. Dyane Adam said the 22-year-old policy, which allows unilingual Canadians to be put in bilingual jobs while they learn a second language during the grace period, should be eliminated. Adam wants bilingualism mandatory upon hiring for all bilingual internal job postings, beginning with executives in 2004 and moving down the ranks by April 2006. About 38 per cent of the 148,400 jobs in the federal public service are bilingual. She said the government will have to continue hiring external candidates who don’t meet the language requirements “for a certain amount of time” because the quality and accessibility of language training varies across Canada. These people should be sent to language training immediately, and if they don’t meet the standards after two years, their employment should be terminated.
Staffing services association announces new board
Mississauga, Ont. — The Association of Canadian Search, Employment and Staffing Services (ACSESS) has announced its board of directors for 2003-2004. ACSESS monitors trends in the industry and provides input to federal and provincial governments on employment legislation and regulations. The national president is Yvan Michon of The Employment Solution. The directors are: Barbara Allen, TOSI Placement Services (Toronto); Sheenagh Beadell, Taylor Personnel (Victoria); Paul Christie, Services de Personnel Unique Inc. (Montreal); Terry Davey, Bowen Personnel (Calgary); Kevin Dee, Eagle Professional Resources Inc. (Ottawa); Bill Bretz, The 500 Staffing Services (Oakville, Ont.); Laurie Fisher, Kelly Services Ltd. (Halifax); Valerie Gilmore, Gilmore Staffing Solutions (Toronto); Jeremy Ingle, SPI Consultants (Ottawa); Stephen Jones, The People Bank (Toronto); Jim Keenan, Spherion Workforce Architects (Mississauga, Ont.); Bruce McAlpine, Fulcrum Search Science, Inc. (Toronto); Remi Tremblay, Adecco (Toronto); Sandra Sears, Staffworks Employment Solutions (Toronto); Steve Walker, Manpower (Toronto); Karen Watt, Excel Personnel Inc. (Kamloops, B.C.); and Chris Roach, The Employment Solution (Mississauga, Ont.).
