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Career Edge Blog

Why employers choose Career Edge Organization

By Employer

Earlier this year, Environics Research Group conducted a Client Satisfaction Survey on our behalf. The results were overhwhelmingly positive, and though it’s seldom that we toot our own horns, we thought it’d be ok to make an exception just this once: Toot, toot!

Here are some highlights from the results:

  • 91% felt that Career Edge Organization has exceeded or met their expectations and business needs so far
  • 85% say that they would be likely to recommend our internship programs to colleagues or their network
  • The most important factors in making working with us worthwhile for clients were:
    • access to unique quality and diverse talent,
    • finding cost effective recruitment options, and
    • working with a not-for-profit that contributes to launching the careers of those who face employment barriers.

If you work with CEO and want to make your voice heard, let us know – why do you choose CEO?

3 Reasons Why Your Business Needs to Hire New Graduates This Year

By Uncategorized

By Anne Lamont, President and CEO, Career Edge Organization

Excerpt from Anne’s blog post for the Toronto Board of Trade’s VoteOntario2011 campaign.

  1. The first good reason to hire young graduates is likely also the most obvious one; without them businesses risk eroding their knowledge foundation. Let’s face it, our workforce is aging – and at an alarming rate for some organizations. Eventually, that knowledge housed within the senior ranks needs to be transferred, or it risks disappearing altogether. Keeping the talent pipeline fresh with new hires allows organizations to plan, build and transfer expertise and knowledge more seamlessly while mitigating timing delays or productivity.
  2. The second great reason to hire young workers is to help grow and develop your middle level managers. By creating coaching and mentoring roles for middle managers, exceptional opportunities for learning and professional development are also created that can only be achieved through first hand experience. When organizations encourage the development of these leadership skills, they are also fostering a supportive and positive workplace culture, in turn improving productivity, enabling the transfer and sharing of knowledge and driving innovation too.
  3. The third very compelling reason for hiring recent graduates is because they bring the latest training to their employers, fresh perspectives, can-do attitudes, and in many case, hands-on experience. Although it may sound trite, an investment in recent graduates is an investment in our future. Through their post secondary educations, university and college students today are not only getting exposed to traditional best practices, but more importantly they’re participating in and contributing to leading edge innovations and emerging technologies through living labs, think tanks, innovation centres, private/public sector partnerships and joint ventures – whether it’s through Ryerson University’s Diversity Institute, Queen’s University’s Innovation Park, University of Waterloo Institute for Social Innovation and Resilience or George Brown’s Institute of Entrepreneurship and Community Innovation, just to name a few.

To read the full article on the VoteOntario2011 blog, click here.

Toronto’s lessons on immigration

By News & Announcements

This past week, in an opinion editorial in the Toronto Star, John Tory and Julia Deans of CivicAction reminded us that the world has a lot to learn from Toronto when it comes to new and innovative ways to attract and integrate newcomers. Pointing out that “Canada has a productivity challenge” and that “the competition for talent is heating up,”  our Career Edge paid internship program was cited by CivicAction and an international delegation as “a model for other cities.”

We are delighted to be recognized in this positive way, not only by CivicAction, but by readers of The Star as well.

Still, as Career Edge Organization’s President & CEO, Anne Lamont points out, looking to internationally qualified professionals is only part of the “creative solution” required. Here is Anne Lamont’s response to the article:

“Canada needs to attract, develop and retain a productive workforce – this means leveraging the skills, experience and potential of recent graduates and skilled immigrants to augment the talent pipeline for most companies.  Having these discussions at a time when there is significant economic turmoil creates a disconnect between what is in Toronto or in fact Canada’s long term economic and prosperity interest and the immediacy of employers’ actions of reducing the number of employees as a cost saving measure in response to the challenging business environment. The lost opportunities for recent graduates who have made an initial investment in their future through education and the underemployment of many skilled immigrants that we have attracted to our country are both a reputational and an economic risk. However, the reality is that while it is not business as usual, organizations still have hiring needs, which presents an opportunity for seeking out creative hiring solutions. As the head of an organization that has worked with employers who have faced this dilemma before, I know that access to talent through our paid internship programs for recent grad and skilled immigrants has been an effective option. “

Anne Lamont
President & CEO
Career Edge Organization

Career Edge Organization to lead panel at the 2011 Recruitment Innovation Summit, Oct 26 & 27

By Events & Holidays

Paula_CalderonRecognizing our expertise in the areas of employment and diversity, Career Edge Organization was invited by Richard Matthews and the organizers of the annual HRNG (Human Resources Networking Group) Recruitment Innovations Summit to assemble a panel of employers to talk about hiring diverse talent.

Our panel, “Global Markets, World-Class Talent: Building a Diverse Workforce,” will include representatives from RBC, St. Michale’s Hospital, the City of Toronto and George Kelk Corporation, and will be moderated by our own Paula Calderon.

This is a must-attend event for HR professionals and business decision-makers – we participated last year and were highly impressed with the level of professionalism and engagement of participants. To learn more about this event, or to register, I encourage you to visit the event website: http://www.hrng.ca/Conference2011/events.php

What Makes an Internship a Success? 4 Things Employers Should Know

By Recruitment

Internships seem to be a perennial “hot topic,” resurfacing every fall in conjunction with “back-to-school” time. Prompted by growing youth unemployment in Canada and increasing controversy about unpaid internships around the globe, the topic was featured on a recent episode of CBC Radio’s “The Sunday Edition” with Michael Enright.

Click here to listen to the program

Click here to go directly to the “4 Keys to a Successful Internship”

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