Skip to main content
search
Category

Uncategorized

Jan 28
Love3

Congratulations to our HR Q&A Winner, Nii Sackeyfio of MaRS!

By Uncategorized

Nii Sackeyfio’s question was selected by our resident expert, Donna Smith, as the most relevant and thought-provoking HR question. We received many submissions by email, twitter, LinkedIn and here via the CEO Blog, and we thank you all for your submissions! If you did not win the contest, please check back on the blog as we will be trying to answer all of the relevant questions that were submitted to us over the course of the next few months.

Nii is an Ability Edge intern currently employed at MaRS Discover District as Project Coordinator for the Government of Ontario’s EnAbling Change Partnership Program which is designed to promote compliance and awareness of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act to the broader public.

For submitting the best question, Nii has won two tickets to attend the HR Summit Awards, held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on the evening of Tuesday, February 1st. Nii will be sitting at the Career Edge Organization table at this annual gala event. The HR Summit Awards are presented by the HRPA and Canadian HR Reporter, and kicks off the annual HRPA 2011 Annual Conference & Trade Show.

Speaking of which… Career Edge Organization will be at the HRPA Conference & Trade Show! Come see us at booth #643 and enter our draw for a prize!

Jan 19
Love3

We’re giving away 2 free tickets to the HR Summit Awards gala and dinner – TODAY ONLY

By Uncategorized

All you have to do to enter is submit an employment or HR-related question for our “HR Q&A” – examples of questions we’ve received so far include:

What will it take for us to move beyond People Profiling – usually done through average scale scores – towards People Competence as revealed by the dynamics between test scales?

What is the most important less obvious thing to look for in a candidates resume besides experience and education?

Submit your question by leaving a comment below!

About the event:

The annual HRPA Conference and Tradeshow at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre kicks of the HR Summit Awards gala dinner the night before. The event is presented by HRPA and Canadian HR Reporter. Tickets are $100 each – we’re giving the winner 2 tickets for free!

Submit your questions before the end of day – winner announced tomorrow!

*******For additional details, see the previous blog post (below).

Jan 13
Love4

Contest: HR Q&A Wednesdays Kick-off!

By Uncategorized

Starting in February 2011, every other Wednesday Career Edge Organization will be lending our expertise to the business community by answering real questions from real employers. To kick things off, we’re putting out a challenge and calling upon our readers to submit relevant, thought-provoking HR or employment-related questions, and a prize is at stake!

Win 2 free tickets to the HR Summit Awards gala!

Send us your question along with your contact information (name, title, organization and email will do) to marketing@careeredge.ca. You can also tweet your question to @CareerEdgeOrg on Twitter! Or, you can leave a comment and submit your question here on the  blog!

The person who submits the most unique, relevant and though-provoking question, as determined by our resident experts, will win 2 free gala tickets, valued at $100 each – a total value of $200!

The winner and finalists will have their questions featured on our blog, along with answers from our resident expert!

Winners will be announced on Thursday, January 27th!

Contest rules

1. You must be a Canadian employer/manager/HR professional

2. You must be able to attend the HR Summit Awards gala the evening of Tuesday, February 1, 2011

3. Your question must be HR/employment related; Relevant topics may include:

  • recruitment for entry-level and/or professional-level roles
  • pre-screening for long-term retention
  • diversity and inclusion planning
  • workplace accessibility and accommodation
  • seasonal, short-term or project based work
  • contingency staffing
  • payroll, salary and compensation
  • unique issues pertaining to hiring in non-profit, private or public sectors

About the HR Summit Awards

Date: Tuesday February 1, 2011

Time: 6 pm Cocktails, 7 pm Dinner, 8 pm Awards Presentation

Location: Metro Toronto Convention Centre, South Building, 222 Bremner Blvd. Toronto

More info: http://www.hrsummitawards.com

Learn from the best

Our “resident expert” is Donna Smith, Vice President, Career Edge Organization. Donna brings more than 30 years of senior management level experience in Human Resources and Operations. She holds a BA from the University of Toronto and a diploma in Advanced Human Resources and Strategic Planning from the Rotman Executive School of Business.

What do we know about employment?

Over the course of 15 years, Career Edge Organization has perfected the internship model; since 1996 we have worked with hundreds of employers and launched over 10,000 careers, putting talented recent grads, graduates with disabilities and internationally qualified professionals to work. Our work sees us collaborating with employers in the private, public and non-profit sectors, as well as with Canada’s leading post-secondary institutions and community-based agencies. As a result of this incredible vantage point, we bring a unique, multi-faceted perspective to diverse audiences on a wide range of topics related to employability, cultural diversity, Gen Y and accessibility.

Best of all we work with some of Canada’s top employers including RBC, Bell, GE, the Ontario Government and countless others. So if we don’t know the answer to your question, we could find someone in our vast employer network that does!

Jan 06
Love3

Another year, another resolution: 3 goals for HR professionals in 2011

By Uncategorized

Last year, we put together a great resolution list for career-minded individuals everywhere. Covering topics such as work-life balance, organization and learning, our Ten Resolutions for 2010 can be found here.

This year, we have but three simple but necessary tips for HR professionals. Consider these commandments for 2011:

1. Get Online and Get Social!

Social HR, Recruiting 3.0 – there are many names for it. The point is, job-seekers are increasingly turning to the online world of social networking to learn about an organization’s work culture and to find opportunities in hidden places. As attracting top talent becomes more competitive than ever, having the tools to build and maintain relationships with customers, employees and potential talent is going to be a key advantage in 2011.

Remember, using online tools will also help you develop your own personal and professional networks, meaning better access to new, up-to-date information, unique perspectives and exciting opportunities for you and your organization.

2. Swim in new talent pools!

Look for talent in new places by embracing diversity – this means focusing on the abilities of persons with disabilities, considering the potential of educated recent grads and acknowledging international skills and education. It not only makes good business sense to have a diverse workforce; as a hiring manager or HR professional, broadening your perspective and your understanding of what it means to be “qualified” will give you access to more and better talent.

3. Put fit first

In 2010 we told you about the importance of finding the right fit in our newsletter and on our blog. With the recession behind us and a skills shortage ahead, organizations need to recruit and retain strong talent to compete. It’s a fact that when hire for person-organization fit (and not just person-job fit) your employees will be more engaged, more productive and more likely stay!

Dec 24
Love3

Happy (politically correct) Holidays!

By Uncategorized

Here we are, Christmas Eve officially just hours away, and yet as our team at Career Edge Organization slowly trickle out one by one, “Merry Christmas” is seldom heard. Instead the message is, “happy holidays,” and “happy New Year.”

Like many urban, Canadian workplaces, our team is incredible diverse. For many of us, the “holidays” have passed.

Hanukkah for instance took place at the beginning of December this year. And Ramadan, the holiest month of the Islamic calendar, took place this last September! Eid-al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, took place September 10th.

For Orthodox Christians, Christmas doesn’t come until January 7th, so put your “Ho Ho Ho’s” on hold for your Greek and East European friends of this faith.

While many of us in Canada will be out hunting for deals on Boxing Day, others will be observing Kwanza, a week-long holiday honouring African culture.

But we can’t go wrong with “happy New Year,” right? Well actually, different cultures have different calendars. The Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) took place back in February, and the Chinese New Year won’t come until February 3rd.

Whenever you celebrate your holidays, there is something undeniably special about this time of year in North America… Maybe it’s the cookies, the gifts, or the beautiful lights that illuminate our streets on these short, dark days; or perhaps it’s the multicultural potlucks that have allowed us to showcase our cooking skills and learn more about each other.

Despite our cultural differences, we all share one very important thing in common here at Career Edge Organization: The holidays mean more time with family and loved ones. So happy statutory holidays to you and your workplace as you lock your doors, shut down your computers, and enjoy some well-earned time off!

Nov 19
Love3

Conan O’Brien you’re not alone; according to the Montreal Gazette “aspiring younger staff have nowhere to go”

By Uncategorized

The following article is from the Montreal Gazette –

read it and let us know your thoughts!

“Older workers who won’t retire hurt successors’ careers; Aspiring younger staff have nowhere to go”

By Michelle Nichols,  Montreal Gazette, Mon Nov 15 2010

U.S. late-night television host Conan O’Brien was not alone when his career aspirations were crushed this year by an older colleague who refused to retire, experts say.

Read More

Oct 29
Love4

Understanding the “digital behaviour” of job seekers

By Uncategorized

 

By guest contributor, Sydney Helland, Marketing & Communications Coordinator at Career Edge Organization

In the breakout session “Talent Generation and Candidate Nurturing” held last month at the Human Resources Networking Group (HRNG) 2010 Recruitment Innovation Summit, speaker Steven Woods (CTO, Eloqua) presented the trending indicating that the traditional, pre-digital recruitment model has no doubt been overthrown by a modern, post-digital model that hinges on the online, social behaviour of job seekers.

Read More

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 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.

Close Menu