Last week on Wednesday, February 24 Career Edge Organization gathered partners, employers, interns, alumni, board members, leaders and ambassadors to celebrate the 2009/10 Achievement Awards. The response at and since the event has been overwhelmingly positive!

The food and decor was exquisite – we have never been prouder to be members of the Toronto Board of Trade! With Oliver & Bonacini behind their events and catering, everything was top-notch.

The entire Career Edge Organization team was on hand to hand out awards during the ceremony.

After enjoying cocktails and hors d’oeuvres during the networking hour our own Janice Rudkowski (Director of Marketing and Communications by day, MC by night) kicked off the evening following by President and CEO of Career Edge Organization, Anne Lamont with a warm welcome.

John King, the Executive Vice President and CAO of St. Micael’s Hospital was the first recipient of the night, honoured with the Leadership Award for his dedication and commitment to the Career Bridge program, and was presented with an original piece of artwork from the Petroff Gallery.

Another highlight of the night was Minister Harinder Takhar’s address to the audience. The Government of Ontario was among our event sponsors and the Ontario Public Service (OPS) was an award recipient.

Other big winners of the night include Scotiabank, First National Financial, Webcom, Bell Canada, RBC and AMR Process Inc. For a full list of winners, click here or download a PDF of the Achievement Awards Program where you can view winner photos, profiles and more: http://www.achievementawards.ca/images/10_AchievAwards_Program.pdf

The theme of the night was “Real People, Real Talent, Real Success” whose stories we told through framed portraits and testimonials stationed throughout the room, postcard photographs on all the cruiser tables, experiential multi-media slideshows and professional videos profiling our Mentor and Intern of the Year Award recipients: Andrea, Katie, Asma, Patricia and Richard.

The videos are now on the Achievement Awards website here: http://www.achievementawards.ca/video/

We have dozens of fantastic photos from the night which you can see on our Flickr “Talent Showcase”!

A big thank you to everyone who made this event possible – the guests who missed the Olympic Canada/Russia hockey game to be there (hopefully you caught the end of it…I heard it was a great game!), the sponsors, our staff and the incredible volunteers, many of whom are Alumni (former interns) and sit on our Alumni Network Committee.

We can’t wait to do it all again next year! If you have any comments or suggestions about the event, don’t hesitate to let us know!

Tonight is the night that many of us at Career Edge Organization have been waiting for. Our staff has been hard at work ensuring that the 2009/10 Achievement Awards is a flawlessly executed event enjoyed by all of our guests including host employers, partner organizations, government officials, interns and alumni. We are looking forward to seeing familiar and new faces at the Toronto Board of Trade this evening.

Career Edge Organization recognizes our talent, partnerships and successes annually and the Achievement Awards have become a highly anticipated event in the Canadian business community, particularly in and around the GTA.

We could not pull this off without the support of our incredible sponsors: Scotiabank, RBC, TD Bank, Government of Ontario, Manulife Financial and sponsoring supplier Petroff Gallery.

Not only has our staff been hard at work – our extended family of event planners, graphic designers, photographers, video producers, printers, venue/caterers,  volunteers, and many others are also to credit for tonight’s anticipated success.

Tonight is our opportunity to share the incredible stories that our team is privileged to hear every day – inspiring stories of recent graduates, graduates with disabilities and internationally qualified professionals rising to the challenge of a meaningful paid internship experience and going above and beyond expectations; mentors who have changed the lives of others and in the process grown and learned so much themselves; organizations that have created these opportunities in an inclusive and welcoming environment that really takes the term “host” to another level; leaders who have created a special place for our programs within their organizations.

Tonight is the night we celebrate and recognize all of our achievements and hard work – fingers crossed it will be the best one yet!

Click here to go directly to the audio clip

Last week Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion held the “Mayor’s Job Creation Summit,” to gather insights and ideas from key stakeholders in the community.

The idea behind this was to identify, understand and put forth solutions to employment challenges in Mississauga, with a special focus on youth and newcomers.

Led by a Steering Committee of prominent figures in Mississauga business, government, not-for-profit, education and labour organizations, the summit took place last week on Tuesday, February 9 and was a follow-up to previous summits held in May 2009 and in 2007.

On his eponymous NewsTalk 1010 radio show, John Tory interviewed the Mississauga Mayor the day of the summit.

“We’re going to come forward with action,” McCallion said. “We have to act on the information we received today.”

Career Edge Organization was thrilled to hear John Tory cite Career Bridge as an example of an effective and thriving solution to employment issues faced by internationally qualified professionals who are newcomers to Canada. Thanks for the shout-out!

Click here to listen to the audio clip.

Congratulations to Dan Gignac, CHRP at Aecon who won our prize draw at the HRPA conference and trade show!

Dan’s business card was randomly selected (via the scientific method of reaching my hand into a glass bowl, eyes closed and no peeking!) among dozens of entries from visitors to the Career Edge Organization booth.

The prize includes two HR-related books, “Loyalty, unplugged” by Adwoa K. Buahene and Giselle Kovary, and “Recruiting, Retaining and Promoting Culturally Different Employees” by Lionel Laroche, Ph.D and Don Rutherford, as well as some Career Edge Organization collateral (pens, etc.).

For our latest quarterly e-Newsletter, CareerBulletin, employment branding experts, Tamm, contributed an article on becoming an employer-of-choice.

Ciabh McEvenue, Managing Director at Tamm, provides some great tips including:

1. Know who you are – storytelling is key, according to Ciabh, who encourages employers to come out of hiding from “behind a veneer of business language,” and show personality.

2. Engage your talent – who better to tell your story than your own people? Ciabh (pronounced “Keeve,” by the way) points out that when your own people are recruiting or referring from within their personal and professional networks, engagement and retention go up.

3. Invest in tools – Ciabh lists an authentic employee value proposition, targeted marketing materials and memorable communications among recruiting tools that are a must in effective employer branding.

4. Speak up – Here, Ciabh encourages a good deployment strategy including:

• investing in advertising in relevant media
• motivating employee ambassadors
• optimizing your organizational website
• engaging in a meaningful, accessible way with your audience through events, social networking/media, and relevant professional forums

5. Keep at it – Commitment is key and Ciabh suggests identifying efficient, low-cost alternatives to traditional advertising to “keep your story circulating.”

Click here to read the full article. Thank you Tamm for this practical and well-written piece!

Talk to us!

What do you think makes an organization an “employer-of-choice”?

I came across an interesting article on the Charity Village website this morning, written by Tim Rutledge, Ph.D., a veteran human resources consultant and publisher.

It’s generally accepted in HR and employment worlds that, on average, only 30% of employees are “engaged.” So what about the other 70%?

Rutledge blames “the fish pond mentality” among other chronic workplace issues.

Many consultants trumpet the presence of such things as snack carts and fish ponds as reasons why a company is a great place to work. I have nothing against ponds or snacks, but they don’t lead to engagement. If my manager creates a disengaging environment, I can’t snack my way to engagement.

Agreed! Having said that, snacks are always a plus.

Click here to read the full article

Last week, Career Edge Organization conquered the Human Resources Professionals Association’s Annual Conference and Tradeshow – aka HRPA 20X.

We not only took up post at the tradeshow as an exhibitor, we also had eyes and ears in the conference. So if you couldn’t make it out this year, no worries! Let us fill you in.

Overview:

More than 3,500 business professionals attend the HRPA Conference and Tradeshow annually, making it Canada’s top HR event and one of the largest HR events in the world.

The event boasts 120+ workshops for professional development and over 250 exhibitors offering the latest and greatest in HR products, solutions and services. Attendees included everyone from HR students, to HR managers as well senior executives and business leaders. And, of course, we were there too!

Keynote highlights:

We already told you about Mitch Joel, one of my personal favourites. HRPA 20X had a great lineup of seasoned speakers that were ready to inform and entertain.

As the first Keynote of the conference, Dr. Nick Bontis took the main stage on Wednesday morning to talk about “Harnessing the Power of Collaboration.” What did we learn? That “unlearning” is the key to collaboration – clearing space in the mind in order to make room to learn something new.

A great example of this is how recruitment strategies continually focus on Type A personalities as the ideal candidate when actually, Type A’s aren’t always the best collaborators Stereotypically hungry for power, Type A’s are more concerned with climbing the corporate ladder and hoarding information. He stressed the importance of revisiting HR strategies to ensure diversity of thought and perspectives so that each team member can contribute the organization’s goals in a unique and collaborative way.

Wednesday afternoon we listened to Bertice Berry, PhD, sociologist and award winning lecturer, deliver a funny and inspiring presentation in “Renew, Re-energize and Re-engage.” A celebrated, best-selling author, we are eager to pick up her newest book, The Ties That Bind: A Memoir of Race, Redemption and Memory.

On Thursday morning we attended “HR Transformation” with David Ulrich, a business professor at the Ross School of Business and University of Michigan. Ulrich has written fifteen books covering topics in HR and leadership.

On stage at the conference, David Ulrich discussed how he has helped shape thinking on hot to transform HR practices so that they are aligned to customer needs, and integrated around organization capabilities. He described how the next generation of HR Transformation is more tightly linked to corporate strategy and to creating business value through HR service that address a company’s most strategic challenges. That means anticipating critical workforce trends, shaping and executing business strategy, identifying and addressing people-related risks and regulations, enhancing workforce performance and productivity, and offering new HR services to help a company improve and grow.

Friday morning, professional speaker Jeff Tobe delivered an energetic presentation that challenged us, the audience, to see beyond existing paradigms to communicate and solve problems creatively. He also emphasized the power of asking the right questions and listening between the lines to effectively relate an organization to its employees’ goals. He encouraged HR professionals to “colour WAY outside the lines” in order to thrive in a changing global market.

Ali Velshi, CNN’s chief business correspondent, closed the conference on Friday afternoon with some fascinating insights into his experiences as iconic finance journalist. He spoke candidly about his experiences in Hurricanes Ike and Katrina, and about being ahead of the recession at CNN.

Workshop Highlights

Having recently conducted our own Gen Y Study, we were excited to kick off Wednesday morning with Cheryl Cran at “Boldly Lead Gen X, Y and Zoomer Generations in Your Workplace.”

One of the key takeaways was how technology itself often creates the biggest divide between the generations, who fall into one of three categories: techno savvy, techno efficient or techno adaptive (we think there may be a fourth: technophobe!).

She also discussed how Gen Y has gone through a school system that provided a more flexible work environment and encouraged a more creative, well-rounded approach to learning rather than the “three R’s” of their predecessors (reading, writing, and arithmetic).

HRPA 20X offered so many great options it was difficult to select workshops, however Lynda Goldman’s session stood out because it was about integrating immigrants – something we take a keen interest in due to our Career Bridge program for Internationally Qualified Workers. What we particularly liked was a 7-step checklist for inclusiveness in the workplace (check our blog in coming weeks for a full post on this!).

Wednesday afternoon ended with an encouraging presentation from HRPA on accelerating the integration of internationally educated human resources professionals, based on findings from a research project aimed at understanding the challenges and barriers they face. Among their findings, the study showed a significant need for post-employment coaching and that middle managers need access to cultural competency training.

Thursday’s highlights include a session from PepsiCo, presenting a case study on their journey towards promoting diversity and inclusion. In talking about their successes, Career Edge Organization and Career Bridge were noted several times as being a significant part of their strategies to attract and retain talent.

Maria Escobar, MBA, Manager, Talent Acquisition and Diversity and Inclusion, PepsiCo Canada, also emphasized the importance of senior leadership’s involvement and promoting awareness across the company. PepsiCo developed a national strategy which was locally executed, bearing in mind demographic differences. The central involvement of employees was a key component of the sustainability of their efforts.

On Friday morning, we heard from coach/consultant Chuck Bolton who enlightened us on how to work efficiently and bond within a team. He tackled everyday issues such as how to address conflict, and the “rotting fish” issue (lingering issues need to be dealt with within 48 hours before the relationship is irreparable).

In the afternoon we attended Julian Chapman’s “supersession,” entitled “Mining Talent: From Competencies to Capabilities.” He stressed that with the departure of Boomers in the workplace, Managers should place more emphasis on Talent Management (rather than Performance Management) which takes an integrated approach that considers future capabilities and relies on mentorship and succession planning.

Finally, Patricia Murray, LLB, Barrister and Solicitor at Hicks Morley LLP delivered an important workshop on accommodation and took the discussion beyond accessibility and physical disabilities. Instead, she focused on the unique challenges of accommodating employees with childcare needs and those with mental health disabilities – two increasingly common workplace issues. She reviewed legal principles such as the duty to accommodate and provided an overview of the new Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, a significant change that occurred in the summer of 2008. The key message to employers here was to be proactive or take action as early as possible, because waiting until the last minute could have legal consequences and negatively impact your image as an employer of choice.

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our presence at the HRPA conference and our time at the booth was equally satisfying. It is always a pleasure to represent our organization and get out from behind our desks to meet people face-to-face. Many of the visitors to our booth were employers or alumni (former interns) that were thrilled to connect with us and share their personal success stories.

We can’t wait to do it all again in 2011! In the mean time, visit our blog again as we continue to elaborate on some of the key findings from our sessions, such as tips from Chuck Bolton, legal updates on accommodation, the “7-step checklist for inclusiveness in the workplace,” and much more!

“The best resumes are LinkedIn, You Tube…that’s where people are who they really are.”

Today at the 2010 HRPA conference, Mitch Joel, our afternoon keynote speaker, helped the audience of human resources professionals make the important connection between digital media and employer branding.

“Be open,” he told us. “We are moving towards an open world.”

Mitch Joel is probably the most influential man in Canada as far as social media goes – it’s no wonder they call him “the rock star of digital marketing.”

For those of us who work in this space, he is to e-marketing what someone like Jack Welch is to the business world – a real thought leader. So when he speaks, we listen.

It was interesting though to see and listen to him speak at the HRPA conference today because, even though a lot of us understand and embrace the concept that we are all connected by “6 pixels of separation” (and not through Kevin Bacon, as previously thought in the 90’s), some employers are still struggling to understand what impact, if any, all of this has on what they do.

A few entertaining examples quickly illustrated that Social Media is not a Fad. It is changing everything. If you’re in the business of people, then anything that impacts connectivity directly impacts you.

Mitch said it best today with the first of his 6 closing points: “Accept it!”

Instead of creating hard policies around banning the use of social media tools in the workplace, he encourages “guidelines” that will actually teach employees how to utilize them, empowering them to be ambassadors for your organization.

“This can really increase productivity, and the way people connect to your brand,” he assured us. “This is not a time suck!”

We at Career Edge Organization certainly agree.

The Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA) is holding their annual conference and trade show and conference this week, from Wednesday January 27th to Friday January 29th, and as in previous years, Career Edge Organization is going to be there.

As you may be aware, the general admission to the Trade Show at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (conveniently across the street from us) is FREE for all guests, so take advantage of the great networking and learning opportunity, and visit us at our booth, #337.

Following several successful initiatives with our former interns in previous years, Career Edge Organization decided to officially launch an association for those who completed paid internships in our three programs – Career Edge, Ability Edge and Career Bridge. We call this the Alumni Network.

In October 2009 we sent out an announcement and a call for volunteers to sit on a Committee that would steer the direction of this program. The response we received was overwhelmingly positive, with many indicating they were interested in participating in Alumni forums and events. We received over 130 applications to sit on the Committee!

Choosing the final Alumni Network Committee (ANC) members was a difficult task but we are proud to say we now have a team of 30 impressive and dedicated individuals.

For the other 100 applicants as well as the 9,500+ former interns in our database – we intend to create many opportunities to volunteer and participate with our organization, our Host Employers and each other.

To kick things off we held our inaugural ANC Meeting at Toronto City Hall (many thanks to our Ward Councillor Adam Vaughan)  this past Wednesday evening and were thrilled to see almost every single committee member in attendance, as well as members of our team including our VP, Donna Smith and our President & CEO, Anne Lamont.

To tackle the massive job of running a Network for Alumni, we decided to divide and conquer, breaking down into groups or subcommittees that will each oversee Alumni Events, Online Communities, Benefits and Perks as well as professional development needs for Alumni of each of our three programs.

By the end of the meeting, every single person had contributed and participated and there was an air of excitement and anticipation in the room because we know that collectively, we can create a program that is innovative and tailored to the specific needs of our thousands of stakeholders. I can’t wait to see what we come up with by our next ANC Meeting in the Spring!