Skip to main content
search
All Posts By

Career Edge Org

Oct 22
Love4

Happy Birthday, Blog! The “CEO Blog” turns 1 today

By Uncategorized

Exactly one year ago our little organization had a big launch for our blog with its inaugural post, An Open Door Policy.

Since October 2009 Career Edge Organization’s official organizational blog has brought over 8,000 readers economic and employment news, updates, discussion, research and profiles in over 75 individual posts!

We’ve had over 14,000 pageviews and continue to build a loyal community of returning readers, primarily in Canada.

At Career Edge Organization, we’ll be celebrating with some delicious cake and a big thank you to everyone on our team who has contributed content or ideas for the blog. Most importantly, we would like to thank you, our loyal readers who have helped make our transition to the web 2.0 world a wonderful success.

Happy Birthday Blog!

Oct 21
Love5
National Disability Employment Awareness Month

October is “National Disability Employment Awareness Month”

By Diversity and Inclusion

In October of every year we celebrate National Disability Employment Awareness Month, but what exactly do we need to be “aware” of?

A large number of working age Canadians have some sort of disability – and the definition of “disability” in Canada is broad, including physical, non-physical, visible and non-visible disabilities of all kinds including diabetes, epilepsy, partial hearing loss, chronic pain, depression.

People with disabilities are far more likely to be unemployed than the rest of the population because of the barriers they face – and most of the time, those barriers are not physical.

Barriers can be attitudinal, systemic, policy-driven or a result of unintentional discrimination. It’s a lot easier to address the barriers we can see or hear or touch. These other barriers, which many of us are not even aware of, can at times seem impenetrable to a job-seeker who happens to have a disability. Especially if that person is also a recent graduate with little real-world work experience. That’s why we created Ability Edge.

Early next week our quarterly newsletter, CareerBulletin will be sent electronically to over 20,000 of our stakeholders – employers, HR professionals, alumni, interns and partner organizations. In recognition of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, disability and employment will be the theme of our upcoming issue. Features include:

  • An interview with Loblaw, one of Canada’s largest and best employers and a host to Career Edge interns.
  • A letter from the President & CEO of Career Edge Organization, Anne Lamont
  • An interview with Allyson Hewitt from SiG@MaRS about their recent partnership, EnAbling Change
  • Interviewing tips for BOTH employers and persons with disabilities
  • The “MythBusters” quiz – provided by Business Takes Action to test your knowledge of disability issues in Canada

CareerBulletin is an e-newsletter with career and employment-related insights from Career Edge Organization, gained from almost 15 years of experience working with Canadian employers and over 10,000 recent graduates, graduates with disabilities and internationally qualified professionals (educated and experienced immigrants in Canada). Our readers include HR professionals, hiring managers and Canada’s leading diversity and employment experts.

If you want to receive the newsletter, all you have to do is subscribe or just leave a comment below and let us know – we’ll add you!

Oct 14
Love4

Download My Talent – Toronto Life Magazine profiles the city’s most innovative new talent

By Uncategorized

tech

Everyone knows that Career Edge Organization works with both Canadian and international corporate giants like Bell, RBC, GE, and the list goes on.

But our interns – including recent grads, grads with disabilities and experienced newcomers – have found homes in small organizations as well, many of them entrepreneurial start-ups in the IT sector.

Some of our smaller, less ubiquitous hosts recently popped up in an issue of Toronto Life. In a fascinating article called “Download My App” by Katrina Onstad (with photography by Daniel Ehrenworth), the magazine profiles some of the cutting-edge, high-tech innovation that has been brewing in the Canadian city.

The companies profiled, such as Extreme Venture Partners and Five Mobile, are for the most part young, diverse, hip and forward-thinking enterprises with fun workplace cultures that attract some of the world’s brightest talent, keeping them motivated to do what they do best – create.

In a nutshell, the article describes “how a bunch of young tech entrepreneurs have turned Toronto into the next Silicon Valley.”

Toronto is known to be one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world – people have brought ideas and perspectives from all over the world. This is the perfect mentality for “the wired generation,” whose world is not defined by physical space, let alone geographical borders.

A less expensive (albeit colder) living option than Silicon Valley, with free healthcare and, as the article points out, “excellent bars,” Toronto has quickly become a hotbed of talent.

It’s no surprise to us that Career Edge Organization host employers Bluecat Networks and Polar Mobile, both profiled in the article, also see the value of partnering with us for talent. These entrepreneurs represent a generation that knows “the right thing to do” also makes good business sense, and so partnering with a not-for-profit to bring in top quality talent like youth or internationally qualified professionals who face barriers to work in the Canadian job market – well it’s kind of a no-brainer.

Kudos to all the great companies mentioned in the article, to Canada for being awesome, and to Toronto Life for putting together such a cool article – we highly recommend you pick up a copy!

Oct 08
Love4

Counting our blessings: Career Edge Organization gives thanks to employers, partners, interns & alumni

By Uncategorized

Around this time of year, all of us here at Career Edge Organization can’t help but think of all we have to be thankful for. What was initially a small private-sector solution to a big social problem nearly fifteen years ago has since grown into a thriving organization that employs a team of nearly 20 dedicated staff and has launched thousands of careers.

In September we celebrated our 10,000 interns milestone . Now in October, we have surpassed that number beyond our expectations. Today, we consider our 10,000 former interns part of our extended family, and hundreds of our Alumni are still keeping in touch with Career Edge Organization telling us where they have landed since we launched their careers and how much they want to give back.

Among this growing network of Alumni are our dedicated Alumni Network Committee members who met as recently as the beginning of this month to begin planning programs and events for the greater network.

And of course, there are the employers whose continuing support through times good and bad have made these celebrations possible.

So, wherever this long weekend takes you, whether or not you eat turkey, all of us at Career Edge Organization would like to say thanks for being there and thanks for reading our blog!

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Oct 06
Love4

Social HR tips and best practices for employers

By Uncategorized

Last month, I asked, “What’s next in social media recruiting?”

To find out, a few weeks ago Career Edge Organization attended “Recruitment Innovation Summit” held by the Human Resources Networking Group (HRNG). In addition to participating as exhibitors to share our expertise on employability and diversity, we also had the opportunity to network with HR professionals including leaders and decision-makers from organizations we work with like RBC, Xerox, Rogers, CIBC, Sun Life and many others. Several of us attended including our VP, Donna Smith, the marketing team and members of our client relations team.

Read More

Sep 24
Love3

Finding the Fit: 3 tips on attracting the right person for the job

By Recruitment

From the July, 2010 Issue of CareerBulletin

In a competitive job market where candidates tout more credentials and technical skills than ever, fit is increasingly becoming the differentiator.

What is organizational fit? It means that above and beyond being “qualified” for the job, the employee’s goals, values and preferences are aligned with those of the organization. It means there is working chemistry between the employee and his or her team, and that coming to work every day is a pleasure and not a drag.

Here are a few things employers can do to ensure they are attracting, hiring and retaining the right people for their organizational culture.

Read More

Sep 22
Love3

“HR under unprecedented pressure to lift its game”

By Uncategorized

HR professionals carry the responsibility of championing progress and change in one of the most important areas of an organization – its people. One of the most challenging aspects of this is measuring the impact HR departments have on business performance.

This is especially true around CSR and issues like diversity and inclusion. Great HR professionals know that diversity makes good business sense, but if HR is not equipped with the tools to measure the impact, how will anybody else know?

In a recent discussion on LinkedIn’s HRPA group, Phil Johnson, an Organizational Change Coach, speaker and author, posted the following:

HR under unprecedented pressure to lift its game

HR departments face unprecedented pressure to lift their game and become more aligned to key strategic drivers of business performance. Measurement of HR performance is requiring practitioners to demonstrate their contribution to high-level corporate goals.

HR must deliver measurable returns that support strategic objectives and outcomes. Increasingly, HR practitioners will need to put aside the narrow metrics of HR activities and focus on broader business outcomes. HR practitioners will need to keep pace with dynamic change and articulate critical strategic issues that are of central importance to the business.

They will have to think about how “the people element” adds value at every stage of the organisation and consider factors that both “enhance and dilute” that value. Conversations with HR about HR are transactional. The new value chain for HR is conversations that are transformational – talking to business leaders about business issues.

His insights resonated with several other group members, who chimed in nothing the evolution of HR within organizations, “from transactional HR Managers to transformational HR leaders.”

Todd Humber of Canadian HR Reporter commented on the timeliness of this post, adding that an interview with academic John Boudreau in the upcoming October 4 issue will address the topic of “retooling” HR.

It seems that one of the biggest challenges that lie ahead for HR professionals in Canada will be measuring and communicating successes in a way that engages leaders outside the human resources realm.

Of course, some functions of HR are more measurable than others and metrics like turnover, absenteeism, recruitment costs, etc. are more evidently linked to business goals than others. Many HR professionals find the biggest hurdle to overcome is around championing diversity and inclusion initiatives.

While we know that inclusive organizations are employer-of-choice, attract top talent and relate best with the Canadian and global markets, not all organizations are measuring the impact of their diversity efforts or effectively communicating them across the organization.

Many HR departments are doing this effectively, but there are still challenges, and until the HR profession as a whole has the tools to demonstrate the link between inclusion and business performance, gaining alignment across organizations at all levels from front-line to senior management may continue to be an uphill climb.

Sep 14
Love3

What’s next in social media recruiting?

By Uncategorized

In these high-tech times of constant change, it’s remarkable that over ten years since the advent of online job boards, they still have a significant presence online and in the world of recruiting, without many significant changes.

Few people know this about us, but Career Edge Organization actually put up the first electronic job board in Canada back in the 90’s.

Before electronic job boards, community newspaper classifieds was the best place for a job-seeker to look for work. In today’s globalized economy, employers need to reach talent on a global scale in order to stay competitive. Until recently, this has taken place in the form of posting jobs online. But we have to ask – what’s next?

As an organization that was an early leader in bringing together technology and recruitment in Canada, keeping our finger on the pulse is among our top priorities.

That’s why next week on September 22nd and 23rd, Career Edge Organization will be attending the “Recruitment Innovation Summit” held by the Human Resources Networking Group (HRNG). We will be among some of the most influential decision-makers in Canada’s business community as an exhibitor.

The summit will focus on the latest innovations in recruitment, including panel discussions on “Social Networking Strategies” and “Sourcing 3.0.”

I am hoping the summit will help address some of the opportunities and challenges around social media recruiting (or as some call it, “web 2.0 recruiting”). Growing numbers of hiring managers and HR professionals in Canada can be found online “creeping” the Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts of potential new employees.

Facebook Profile copy

While this can be an incredibly powerful tool, there may also be unforeseen risks to employers. One of the issues is the potential to screen out candidates based on discriminatory grounds (either consciously or subconsciously).

Through social media, recruiters can access sensitive information about candidates such as age, marital status, appearance, race, religious affiliation and sexual orientation (just look any facebook profile page and you’ll see what I mean). Studies have also increasingly found that minorities are underrepresented in popular North American online social networking sites. These and many other issues are worth consideration and discussion especially in a Country as diverse as Canada.

At Career Edge Organization, we see the potential opportunities to be gained from social media recruiting and are committed to educating ourselves and staying on top of emerging trends – and most importantly, passing the info on to you! But, we do so with caution and upholding our ultimate values and mandate of helping to create and promote diverse workforces.

Sep 08
Love3

This Labour Day Career Edge Organization celebrates 10,000 internships!

By Uncategorized

By guest contributor, Anne Lamont, President & CEO at Career Edge Organization

10000 cupcake celebration

It is truly a privilege to be part of an organization that has had such a positive impact on the Canadian business community as well as on individuals and families across the nation. Leading a passionate and dedicated team further enhances this experience.

While it is a pleasure, however, it is often a challenge as well – this is especially true in challenging economic times. So when the opportunity to celebrate arises, we embrace it.

As you might already be aware from our press release, our special edition e-newsletter or other announcements, we recently reached a significant milestone in our organization’s history and it is with pride that we can now proclaim that through our Career Edge, Ability Edge and Career Bridge paid internship programs, our internship numbers have surpassed 10,000.

Our small team recently gathered and celebrated with cupcakes – each one with an individual staff member’s name – a testament to the importance of each team member’s contributions.

Our internship programs have not only launched 10,000 careers, they have also provided employers with over 10,000 talented interns. Additionally, thousands of individuals have had the opportunity to be a mentor or a coach to an intern, which for many was an invaluable experience that contributed significantly to their own professional growth and development.

Our former interns or alumni, as we refer to them, represent individuals who came to Career Edge Organization, frustrated by their inability to secure meaningful work opportunities in their professional fields. Through the commitment and support of our valued host employers, who opened up their minds and doors to quality, diverse talent, we have launched the careers of engineering, marketing, human resources, operations, IT and business professionals across the country in a variety of industries such as financial services, technology, health care and telecommunications to public service, pharmaceuticals and the environment.

Career Edge Organization is proud to have uncovered such a wealth of talent by looking beyond mainstream candidates and tapping into under-utilized sources of talent, in order to help employers connect with the right talent who have the right skills and fit with their unique environments. It is our quality talent, our ability to adapt to change, our openness to new ideas and technology, and many other factors that have allowed us to stand where we are today.

We hope you will join us in celebrating this incredible feat as we celebrate 10,000 successful internships and look forward to achieving the next 10,000!

Close Menu