Career Professionals of Canada News Feed

Articulating a Powerful Value Proposition

July 23, 2015 |

By Sharon Graham. Over the last two decades, the term “value proposition” has gained much popularity in the corporate world: Companies use it to describe the value an organization offers customers. Marketers use it to summarize a core strategy for differentiating competitors. Advertisers employ the term to differentiate products in specific markets. Manufacturers define it as the primary benefit of a product or service. The concept of Value Proposition* is a formalized approach to job search, derived from various established corporate and personal branding strategies. It is a marketing strategy…

Statics Canada Economic Insights: Full Time Employment

July 10, 2015 | Comments Off on Statics Canada Economic Insights: Full Time Employment

Statistics Canada has released a report outlining how the percentage of the workforce working full time has evolved from 1970. The report also discusses how full-time employment has changed across age groups, education levels, sex, and regions. It also provides insight to how changes in labour market and worker demographics affect full-time employment across Canada. “Full-time employment is an important labour market indicator from the perspective of both labour supply and demand.” Top Insights: The percentage of Canadians employed full time has risen modestly over the last four decades. Women aged…

Helping Mitigate Barriers to Employment

July 4, 2015 | Comments Off on Helping Mitigate Barriers to Employment

In a recent project, Career Professionals of Canada’s Résumé Strategist Mastermind Group analyzed a number of barriers to employment. Here is a snapshot of their findings. Our clients may be struggling to address one or more barriers. Employment barriers might be actual concerns, those that are perceived by the employer, or those that are perceived by the candidate. No matter which situation, our role as practitioners is to help the candidate gain insight, improve self-esteem, determine viable career paths, and leverage resources to mitigate the barrier. Sometimes a real or…

How Economic Conditions Affect Employment

April 20, 2015 |

By Shannon Mack. CPC Mastermind, Shannon Mack discusses the effect of ebbs and flows with the economy on employers, employees, and job seekers. Economies ebb and flow. When the economy is flowing, life is good. It seems that things will always be this way. Job opportunities and money are abundant and no one gives much thought to “wants” versus “needs.” For some reason, ebbs in the economy take us by surprise.  Most of us have lived through downturns before and we should know that eventually all good things come to an end. But, for…

Why “Buzzwords” are Necessary in a Job Search

February 27, 2015 | Comments Off on Why “Buzzwords” are Necessary in a Job Search

By Adrienne Tom. Every year articles circulate on the topic of  “the year’s most overused buzzwords,” cautioning us on the most widely used keywords in resumes and LinkedIn profiles. Yet not all buzzwords are bad. Think about it – most buzzwords are born from employers’ requirements and job postings. If a company is seeking someone who is “effective, driven, or innovative” and you avoid these words in your career communications, it can be risky. Despite the urge to market yourself uniquely, you have to remember that the majority of major organizations…

Are you Faceless on LinkedIn?

February 13, 2015 | Comments Off on Are you Faceless on LinkedIn?

By Adrienne Tom. So you joined LinkedIn and started a profile – perfect – but then you went ahead and left your profile picture blank.  Was this strategic or did you just not want to share it? Some people fear that adding a photo will cause scrutiny or discrimination that detracts from their content – which could happen – but in all honesty, by not including a photo this same judgement is being cast. LinkedIn profiles were designed to include a photo; not including one is going against the norm.…