Job hunters look for help
The recent increase in online job postings may mean that the worst of the recession is behind us, says the Conference Board of Canada.
The Board’s help wanted index, which measures the number of new jobs posted online, jumped in every province except PEI last month. It had dropped nearly 30 per cent over the past year as the number of new online job postings plunged during the recession.
That would be the good news.
The Board’s help wanted index, which measures the number of new jobs posted online, jumped in every province except PEI last month. It had dropped nearly 30 per cent over the past year as the number of new online job postings plunged during the recession.
That would be the good news.
The bad news is that for every job opening online, there were still almost four unemployed workers. In comparison, the ratio less than a year ago was fewer than two unemployed people for every online ad.
What’s worse, it seems, many of "jobs" posted are actually from placement firms looking to capitalize on someone’s hard luck or at least pad their resume files. And these providers represent only one load-bearing wall in the job-search infrastructure.
Forget generalists like Dick Bolles. Now you can find a host of job search specialists, focusing on resume overhauls, interview prep or billing themselves as do-it-all career coaches. Fees range from just a few dollars for group seminars to $300-an-hour for personal coaching.
Sometimes though, you can get a deal. A couple of months ago, over 70 professional coaches volunteered their time by providing personal coaching in select Starbucks locations in Toronto. For $5, people were invited to sit down and have a 25-minute, one-on-one conversation with a coach.Tell us: What’s your experience with those offering to help with your job search?
By Gordon Powers, MSN Money
Posted by: gary vander haeghe | Oct 6, 2021 6:18:26 PM
you guys should try looking for a job in quebec as an english speaking non visible minority whose family have lived here for over 200 years
Posted by: Mary Dempster | Oct 11, 2021 8:55:45 PM
I did my resume with a pro back in the early 90s and the doc I came out with and the knowledge about job searching, building an expansive but focused network and interview presentation has really helped. The deal is, I keep evolving and changing and my circumstance do the same. It has not been a linear road going up and up in income but it certainly has been interesting, worthwhile and a journey that has required some good strong courage muscles. I highly recommend that you check out www.4minutestothejob.com or email Geoffrey Lalonde, the career professional I think so highly of. His emal is geoffrey@lalondepartners.com and you can also reach him by phone at 416-593-4683.