Data visualization now helps us interpret the world

Forget a bar graph, or a pie chart how about a time lapsed representation of rental bike use in New York City which could detail the ebb and flow of cyclists travelling from work to home, or a real time indication of how different city events made people move from one side of the city from another. Or General Electric’s visualization project that helps the company quantify how people use their radiography tools like CT Scans and MRIs.
The advances in programming mean that we can visualize more data in more interactive ways. Languages and tools like WebGL are only starting to be used to make the Internet more interactive.

Data and how it is shared has turn what was a private business conversation, into a valuable marketing tool and a way for the public to consume data in an impactful illustrative way. Readers no longer have to wade through tables of numbers; we can be shown moving graphical statements.

Science is advancing faster than ever before

In science as with business, experimentation is the root of all learning and knowledge. For scientists working around the globe, big data has rose to prominence long before anywhere else. In fact even the World Wide Web (as it used to be called) was invented to help the processing of data coming from the CERN, or the Large Hadron Collider.
The giant particle collider produces terabytes of data and the idea behind the World Wide Web, was that the global partners what built the Large Hadron Collider would all need access to the data so all of the scientists working with the data around the world would be able to work on projects simultaneously.

Everything from biology to astronomy is performed on a technically enormous scale. Today database developers and data analysts playing as important roles in the completion of theoretical and practical science as researchers are. Allowing the data they collect to be interpreted and worked with – even doing so is a science in itself.
In astronomy it would be impossible to collect and interpret the cosmos’ ultraviolet light without the use of big data, these are things we can’t see – we can only “see” them with tools that produce data.

Future generations will know more about us than ever conceived

With every cell phone and key stroke we’re producing a digital record of our lives. Anthropologists of the future will know what we’ve done, where we’ve done it and who we did it with to a degree that is astonishing compared to even 15-years ago..
Even today people are using GPS tools integrated into heart rate monitors to track and quantify physical activity. Other people are using digital tools to improve their productivity or track their spending habits.

It is possible today and will increasingly become possible to put metrics on everything you do and at the end of the day it will be Big Data that lets you understand that data and how you interact with the rest of the world.

Have you seen an interesting data visualization, share it with us on Twitter@RandstadCanada.

Last week with the reveal that the Heartbleed vulnerability was exposing peoples' private information to identify thieves we ran down a list of best practices of things to leave off your resume.

This week we want to share three other tips to help you keep yourself secure while you're on the job hunt.

1. Avoid open networks

In every coffee shop in the country there are open networks to surf the Internet on. You also have Bluetooth equipment connecting your phone to your computer or your mouse. If at all possible avoid jumping on open networks, this is a great way to expose yourself to data risk. 

Instead, try tethering to your phone, which you can password protect. Also, make sure you password protect your Bluetooth transmissions, because that's another easy way to gain access to your private data. 

If you must use a Starbucks Internet connection don't do any banking, or make and online purchases over the network. You might still be open to risk but you'll make it a little harder for criminals to access your credit information.

2. Apply to reputable employers

When you need a job sometimes we apply to positions that are a little risky. You might find a contract job on Craigslist, or a fulltime position with a company you've never heard of, that your friends don't know anything about and who's website looks like it was made yesterday.

It isn't hard to build a website, it isn't hard to post a job ad. You need look into company's and their reputations before sharing all of your personal information with them and even more important, when you begin to work with them. Ask yourself, is this company a licensed business? What processes are in place to keep my information secure? How am I going to be paid?

If some of these questions start raising red flags, or if after working with someone for a year you don't receive any T-4 information for tax purposes there may be something untoward going on. Reputable companies will have processes to follow when you begin working if you haven't heard about the company find out as much as you can before applying. 

3. Tell someone when you are going for an interview

When you are meeting new people, whether it is a date or an interview it is best to let other people know. Most first meetings today are done in public, but if you are interviewing for a new job in a private office it is always a good idea to tell a friend or family member where and when you are going; if only to have someone call you afterward and ask you how it went.

Project managers help teams deliver products, tools and programs on time and on budget. Aspiring PMs can pull their leadership lessons from history, mentors or training. Some of the most important project managers of all time were military leaders - directing large teams to complete dangerous tasks. Two such leaders were T.E. Lawrence  and Joan of Arc.

5 Project Management Lessons From History

T. E. Lawrence - Unpredictability can be a powerful tool

Lesson 1: Sometimes it is best to give teams and managers leeway to both make mistakes and produce unpredictable results.

Thomas Edward Lawrence also known as Lawrence of Arabia was made infamous for his role in uniting the Bedouins tribes during World War I, to mobilize them to fight the Ottoman Empire was a man who was given enough freedom in his role as a field commander to make the impossible, possible.

Having travelled throughout much of the middle east as an academic and a field archeologist, he was specially suited through language and cultural knowledge to liaise between the English military and various parties in the region. 

His commanders were busy in their part of the war and gave him enough room to operate in a unique style - taking their garb and adopting the cultural traditions of the Bedouins tribes he rallied them together helping the growing Arab revolt take hold. In doing so he rallied them against an English enemy winning some of the most stunning victories in battles of the last century.

Lesson 2: Project managers need to manage peoples' talents, skills, ambitions and expectations as well as a projects' budgets and timelines. 

Joan of Arc - Good morale is a strategy unto itself

Lesson 3: Just because someone’s idea sounds insane to you one day, doesn’t mean they are wrong and that they won’t make it happen. 

When an illiterate farm girl who claimed to hear the voice of God telling her to lead an army against the English in 1429 the King of France at the time, Charles VII, did what any good leader who was behind the eight ball on a project might do, he said (I'm paraphrasing here)“Go for it Joan, that sounds crazy enough to work.”

Joan’s conviction which started years earlier when she said she received visions from God and a message to help drive the English from France led her to passionately make her point up the chain of command.

Lesson 4: Find people who believe in your plan and refine your pitch until it finds its audience, or you become more effective at persuading the people who need to be persuaded. Joan found people to listen to her idea, she made a case for it passionately and when it came down to execution she got it done.

She was laughed at along the way until the King of France agreed that at least she believed what she was saying, and with hope in little else, he invested in arming her with horse and armor and let her march on Orleans.

She became a moral leader to the army and helped make the war one of religion instead of power and money. After being shot in the neck and shoulder by an arrow, Joan stayed on the field of battle carrying a battle standard and was attributed much of the credit for the ending of a months’ long siege. and taking Orleans. 

After defeating the English in many battles, she fought a group of French dissidents who had broken from the Catholic Church. She'd demanded their conversion back to Catholicism and following a subsequent battle she was captured by a fellow Frenchman, sold to the English, put on trial on nonsense charges and then executed by being burned at the stake. Later she was found to be innocent.

Lesson 5: One big lesson from Joan’s story is one of caution. Know when to stop when you’ve won. Don’t over extended yourself and get burned at the stake for your ideals; stay flexible and role with the punches.

7 Tips to Becoming an Employer of Choice

by Elena Candeloro, Talent Acquisition Manager, Randstad Canada

At Randstad Canada, earning a spot as a “Best Place to Work in Canada” by the Great Place to Work ® Institute Canada for the 8^th year in a row is a pretty important coo for us. What makes this win so important to us is that the results were determined by the people who know our company best – our employees!

After 8 consecutive wins, it’s quite an honour and it’s become crystal clear that we indeed have a lot to be proud of. Ranked amongst the top 50 in the country, next to impressive multinational organizations like Google, Microsoft and Starbucks, this announcement solidifies that Randstad Canada is truly a great place to work.

Best workplace lists and accolades make it clear that being a good employer is good for business, but becoming a top-rated employer is not a matter of chance. The best employers know that they benefit from their reputation and they make decisions every day to ensure that their status as a great place to work is maintained.

Becoming an employer of choice isn’t easy. It means taking an honest look at your organization’s culture and having a clear idea of what you want it to become. That may result in acknowledging some difficult truths and making internal changes. But the rewards are hard to overstate. You’ll boast the best workers, performing their best work, all while positively impacting your business’ bottom line.

So what can you do as an organization in order to gain recognition as a top employer? While there is no magic formula, the following tips will set you on the right path towards becoming an employer of choice.

Figure out what it’s really like to work for your company and then identify the good and bad.

1. Look at your competition and see what they are doing. Take note of what works and what doesn't.
   
   
2. Position your brand by identifying your target audience and knowing, and giving, today's employees what they want. To help you with that task, Randstad Canada conducts yearly research probing what it is Canadian’s look for in an employer. You can download the material here. (hyperlink to Randstad Award research doc)
   
   
3. You can also use exit interviews, employee focus groups and stay interviews to establish your brand reputation. They will allow you to gauge employee perceptions and allow them to openly discuss what is and isn't working for them.
   
   
4. Determine the attributes of your company and sell your strengths to potential candidates. Attracting and retaining people who share the same values as your company and brand will result in a higher level of employee loyalty.
   
   
5. Use employee referral programs. Employees who refer friends and colleagues to your company clearly think your company is worth working for.
   
   
6. Social Responsibility. Many people want to feel that they’re doing good. As an organization you can recycle, partner with a charity, and engage in fundraising activities. At Randstad, for example, employees are given one full work day per calendar year to volunteer at the non-profit organization of their choice. The possibilities are endless.
   
   

This week is Administrative Professionals Week, join Randstad in thanking your friends and colleagues for their support and hard work as business support professionals and executive assistants. 

From dictation to direction, a profile on today’s administrative professionals.

When Nancy Cote, the Vice President of Randstad Canada’s Western Division began recruiting administrative assistants for Canadian companies over 27-years ago she was looking for people who could type well, people who would by answer phones, do the filing and book meetings. But now, in 2014 she says that, “Things have changed; they’ve drastically changed.”

To a room of 150 bright eyed men and women beginning their careers as business support professionals at an event at Conestoga College on April 16, 2014, she shared how.
“They (administrative assistants) might have even been making coffee or picking up laundry, anything to make their executive or manager’s life easier,” said Cote.
The stereotypes aside the role changed in big ways that means that today’s admins don’t just help one person they are supporting entire companies.
“Sure typing is still important as are computer skills; but the fit and the values that the employee have to match with the organization,” said Cote, explaining that “Business support professionals are no longer making coffee as a primary function of their jobs – they aren’t picking up laundry – they are providing support in the direction of the organizations they work in. Their values matter more than their typing skills.”

Reason 1

"With Kelli's help in an eight hour day I can get done what would take me 12 or 14 hours," - Tom Turpin Randstad Canada President. 

For Randstad Canada’s President, Tom Turpin, his administrative assistant, Kelli Cutler is exactly as Nancy described – a communicative expert who helps her executive leader and the organization behind him, achieve more.
With Kelli, the company can get more done: says Randstad Canada President
“With Kelli’s help in an eight hour day I can get done what would take me 12 or 14 hours,” said Turpin. “Kelli has the unique ability to not only take what gets said in a meeting and carry those marching orders out the rest of the company, but she can also anticipate what needs to be done –she fills in the details on plans and I value her opinion on everything from personnel to strategy.”

In Tom’s role, he’ll have everyone from Randstad’s clients, shareholders, corporate leadership from other parts of the company coming at him at the same time all with important priorities all of them impacting the business in one way or another.

Reason 2

Admins keep things from falling through the cracks.

“With Kelli when a client priority comes up, she can help me reprioritize everything; if I had to do that myself things would fall through the cracks – big things and with Kelli that doesn’t happen.”
For Nancy this type if integration into business strategy and directive scheduling that Tom outlined isn’t an exception it is the rule.
“We did a study which looked at what type of activities business support professionals are doing today and while many are doing traditional secretarial tasks, 41 per cent of respondents said they are making managerial or recruitment decisions,” explained Cote, speaking to a study performed by Ipsos Reid commissioned by Randstad called The Changing Face of Today’s Business Support Professionals. “To me this means they are an integral part of management. They are bringing people into the company, this they have a say in how organizations develop. “

Meet Kelli Cutler

For someone who has been in the position the role is even more nuanced. Kelli has worked within Randstad twice, supporting two company executives for more than six years.
“It is fun, you get to be a business driver, you get access to the entire company. I’m at the centre of everything I know how the business works and even though it can be stressful waiting for people to track back with things or having to follow up with so many parts of the business it is a great job,” said Cutler.

Reason 3

With years of experience and specialized training admins know the systems and processes to help organizations get things done.

Kelli has worked all over the world, having grown up in Australia and completing a traineeship in Clerical and Administrative Skills in Australia in the 1990s. “It was sort of like an apprenticeship; you’d work for two days a week and attend school for two days a week and it took a year to complete.”
In the 20-years that Kelli has held business support roles she’s worked in diverse industries ranging from engineering to insurance and now in the human resource management and recruitment field. She’s worked all over the world from Banff, British Columbia, London England, Sydney, Australia and now in Toronto, Ontario.
“All of the skills I learned and have developed are transferable it has given me the flexibility to build an exciting career,” said Cutler.
That flexibility and adaptability are two of the most important traits for an executive assistant today, Kelli also admitted that she's a bit of a control freak, "It helps me keep everyone in line." 

The variety of work environments and difference in technologies has meant Kelli has had to constantly keep learning and growing her skill sets.
"It isn’t just that you’re going to change over from one word processor to another but every company – every leader, has different ways of doing things,” Kelli explained.
Another benefit of her role, Kelli said that the variety of work she does keeps her interested. She’ll organize large company events, direct campaigns and at times lead corporate social responsibility activities.
“People trust me. I’m given parts of projects or whole ones they know that it will get done. I’m a business driver, and I’m a silent one – I help everyone communicating to the executive looking good and I keep the executive following up on time, it is a two way street.”

The role may change but it will never disappear

In closing her speech Nancy was optimistic about the industry and roles she’s recruited for most of her professional life.
“The role has come a long way from dictation to direction and I hope today’s business support professionals know how valuable they are and how exciting the next few years will be,” Cote said. “Admins aren't making coffee anymore and business support professionals are only going to be more important in the years to come.

Help Randstad Canada celebrate Administrative Assistance Week and share this story with the hashtag #Happyadminday.

Canada is an exciting country to work in, with many of the world’s leading employers and strong growth in industries like oil and gas, technologies and finance opportunities to grow your career and your skills are endless.

Companies are developing their employer brand to help attract candidates to join their organizations; much like businesses have established their own marketing brands to attract new customers. Knowing what a company's employer brand is and how you could fit into it is every more important on your job hunt.

In a recent survey in support of the Randstad Award, 8,500 Canadians were asked their perceptions on a number of topics about their work lives and their perceptions; we wanted to share 3 Facts that every job hunter and employer should know.

1. Canada's most desirable industry to work in

The Transport and Logistics sector 45% is the most desirable, with both men and women. The sector also earned favorable results on training, a pleasant work atmosphere and interesting job content. Transport and Logistics was followed by:

High Tech Manufacturing 42%

Motor Vehicle & Parts 39%

Energy 41%

2. Best way to attract job hunters

This year, Canadians hold competitive salary and benefits as the most important factor in deciding whether a job opportunity is attractive enough with 73% of respondents leaving the factor in their top 5 followed by;

Long-term job security 56%

Pleasant working atmosphere 51%

Good work-life balance 43%

3. What endangers good work life balance

When Canadians were asked what factors would put their work life balance at risk, Canadians responded strongly with 57% of respondents answering that an unfavourable working environment is the greatest risk to a good work life balance, followed by;

Poor cooperation with colleagues 51%

Work during evenings/weekends 47%

Putting in too many extra hours 45%

What's more important to Canadian workers, honesty or strength?

Last week we revealed the results of our annual Randstad Award Survey; where Canadians shared what brand they found to be the most attractive. Those surveyed chose WestJet to be the most desirable brand to work for, for the third year in a row. 

In the Randstad Award Survey, we asked 8,500 Canadians  to rank personality traits by importance of what would they look for in an employer. Overall the world prefers employers who are honest, sincere, secure and reliable and find traits such as strong, or thrilling to be less important. 

Canada was typical in this respect; while other nations were more polarized towards the leading traits like, Poland who's respondents spoke in near unison with 40% saying that honesty was the most important traits; while 20% of China's respondents said that Strong was their most important trait.

We also found out what Canadians felt was the most important factor when looking for an employer, what employment sectors were most attractive  and  what the current perceptions on timelines for retirement are.

For other results found in the Randstad Award survey, visit, www.randstadaward.ca.

Driven for a rewarding career? Learn more about the roles keeping race cars on the track. 

Click to enlarge

The Formula 1’s Grand Prix in Montreal isn’t just a race, it is a feat of industry, logistics and teamwork. Teams from around the world come together bringing their unique talents to bare in the effort to compete and win. Strong teams are built by leaders with the vision to see how independent team members will work together, empowering the team to succeed. In the F1 teams are striving for perfection and so are we.

Randstad Canada is proud to support F1 and you can count on us to bring the same level of professionalism to your workplace, that race teams bring to the F1.

About The Speakers: Why JAVA Will Never Die

Leo Meyerovich, Founder of Graphistry Inc.

Leo Meyerovich is a technologies entrepreneur, academic and innovator working on the leading edge of Big Data. A lot of people are talking about big data, but not many can actually work with it. Leo is one of the few who can translate numbers into tangible benefits and his research will help you understand developers, programming languages and how to recruit the best.

Leo Meyerovich co-founded Graphistry, Inc., a startup that improves real-time visual exploration and analysis of graph and time series data. The big idea is to deliver next-generation visual interaction on the browser with 2-5 magnitudes more data than normally possible by introducing GPU cloud infrastructure. Graphistry is working with pilot customers to improve visibility in customer transactions, web-scale software performance, and other graph and time series data sources.

Previously, Leo researched programming language design and implementation at UC Berkeley (Ph.D. 2013) and Brown University (BS 2007). His language research over the past decade focused on applications towards parallelization, sociology, security, concurrency, and the web. His PhD introduced the first multicore web browser (3 PLDI SRC awards) in order to achieve large-scale  improvements in performance-per-Watt on small devices. It was a precursor to recent parallel browser projects by Mozilla, Samsung, Google, Microsoft Research, and Qualcomm, and led to Graphistry's GPU technology. Leo led the largest scale analysis of programming language adoption and its social underpinnings (OOPSLA best paper) and, with security researchers at Google, Microsoft, and Brown University, designed several secure web scripting languages (400+ citations).

His BS at Brown University (2007) introduced the functional reactive language Flapjax for highly concurrent web software (OOPSLA best paper) and lit the path for popular frameworks by Microsoft, Facebook, and others. He was supported by the first Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship (winner among 50 Ph.D. teams at Berkeley and Stanford), the NSF GRFP, and grants from Samsung, Nokia, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Intel, and others.

 The Socio-PLT project (joint work with Ari Rabkin from Princeton) was featured by Wired, received an OOPSLA best paper award, triggered a DARPA ISAT workshop in 2013, and marks the shift towards a scientific approach to the social design of language technology.

 earn more about Leo and his research on Why JAVA Will Never Die, a webinar presented by Randstad Canada.

 Register Today using code 1337, and receive a free white paper on the subject after the webinar!

About Scott MacKinnon, Vice President of Randstad Canada

Scott MacKinnon is an innovative leader in management and recruitment having worked in the IT and staffing industries for over 20 years. As the Vice-President of Randstad Technologies for Western Canada, he is part of a leadership team that placed over 40,000 technologies professionals in Canada last year.

With a background in systems engineering and with experience deploying recruitment strategies with leading companies like Microsoft, IBM and Bell Canada, Scott maintains close watch of IT hiring and training trends to keep ahead of the industry and in touch with leading candidates and the companies that hire them. Having seen everything from the Dot.Com bust to the rise of big data, Scott’s expertise goes beyond buzzwords and into the hiring processes and realities that the industry faces today.

Hear from Scott on his insights into recruiting over the last 20 years and how programmers will drive your business in the years to come. Register today.

What made JAVA such a popular language?

When you look at the IT recruitment landscape, certain skills and languages rise above the rest.  JAVA development is currently the most recruited for IT skill, but do you know why?

It isn’t because JAVA is the best language or easy to write. It is because it ties into everything and has been used for a long time – it is a universal medium.

But how did that happen? What will come next and who are the people who will develop the tools and products that the IT industry will use in the coming years?

4 Reasons JAVA Will Never Die

1. It is still growing: Through Randstad Canada’s internal numbers, we have tracked that demand for JAVA developers has been growing month over month and  year after year. Between Q1 of 2013 and Q2 of 2014, demand for JAVA has increased by 83%, which is amazing considering how JAVA is almost 20-years old. Thank you Oracle.
2. It integrates old systems with new ones and is used everywhere: Whether a client is building a customer relations management system, a mobile app, or a database, JAVA is versatile. It has gotten this way by being so widely used.
3. It has an amazing community: Its use has made it flexible and the community  has invested a great deal of time into it. The network effects of strong development communities sharing ideas, materials and code on platforms like Github and Sourceforge only make the language stronger.
4. More senior IT Managers know JAVA – they can vet others’ work: It is easy to see how a newspaper editor can vet a reporter’s work, but the same needs to be done in programming. If a developer is writing in a language that their manager is new to or has never seen before, how can a manager figure out what the code will do, or fix it if it is broken? JAVA is robust enough that it can do almost anything new, or old –  despite any iterations, managers can have a strong frame of reference around what code is being written by their teams.

Find out at , Why JAVA Will Never Die, a webinar presented by Randstad  Canada, with leading industry innovator, Leo Meyerovich. Meyerovich is the founder of Graphistry Inc. and an award winning academic, with a Ph.D. in computer science from UC Berkeley and experience working with Google, Microsoft, Samsung, GE, and Qualcomm.  Leading IT recruiter and the Vice President of Randstad Canada, Scott MacKinnon will also be present.

Register today, for Why JAVA Will Never Die, on June 12, at 2 p.m. EST, using code 1337 and receive a free White Paper on the state of IT recruitment in Canada.

Learn more about the speakers for Why JAVA Will Never Die.

6 employer branding lessons from Canada's most attractive employers

As a talent and brand champion, Randstad Canada thinks it’s important for employers to understand the benefits of a strong employer brand strategy. To this end, we consulted several of the most attractive employers in Canada honoured with a 2014 Randstad Award for their advice. Here are some of their insights into what makes a strong employer brand:

1. Create opportunities for development.

Bree Ranieri, Vice President, Human Resources, Molson Coors

“What we’ve really been focused on to keep our employees engaged and motivated is helping employees understand the opportunity for development in front of them. We’re a unique sized company in that we are large enough to offer a wealth of opportunities to build capabilities and grow new skills, but not too large where there is a lot of bureaucracy. So I think that people feel quite comfortable that they have some positive development experiences.”

2. Keep your finger on the pulse of your employees.

Amanda Holmes, Director, Talent Management, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts

“We are always looking for new and exciting ways to engage our colleagues in addition to the standard employee engagement survey that we administer every year. We also do pulse surveys midway through the year to touch base and see how people are doing on their action plans and make sure they are moving forward. But we’ve also recently launched a new internal social media platform that allows our colleagues to share photos, videos and fun updates with their colleagues at our hotels around the world.”

3. Live your brand.

Cathy Sprague, Executive Vice President, Human Resources, Bruce Power

“The one piece of advice I give every employer who wants to build a strong employer brand is make sure that you live your brand. It has to be something that is really believable. If your employees don’t believe your brand, it’s not worth the paper that it’s written on, so you have to live it every day.”

4. Reinforce your core values.

Ted Moraz, President, Beer Store

“Our strategies, every year, regarding retention always include looking after our core values. I think that good companies are guided by their core values. Nothing is more important to me than the health and safety, and well-being of our employees and as far as I’m concerned, if we are looking after our employees, then they are going to look after the business.”

5. Walk the talk.

Liza, Votiky, CIR Director, Talent Acquisition Canada, Coca Cola Refreshments Canada

“I think you have to walk the talk, you can’t just talk the talk. SO if you are out there in the marketplace and you are talking about what the company will deliver, whether it’s from a sustainability perspective, from an employee perspective, an engagement piece, you need to deliver on those things.  A culture of accountability, so that the leadership within your organization is delivering every single day, on the employment brand.”

6. Build your foundation.

Rose Marie Forlini, Manager, Talent Acquisition Services and Operations, Air Canada

“Start with your foundation. Look at what your employees bring to you. Look at what the values are and how they shape your organization today and communicate that outwards and have that same voice.”

Learn more about employer branding, download your Randstad Award Report at http://www.randstadaward.ca

Career fitness tips: 3 things to work on this summer

Last night I attended my first boxing class and as fatigued as I was by it I'm energized by what I accomplished. The same can be said about the past year. Accomplishments are the icing on the cake but it is the journey that nourishes you whole.

Career building and navigating your way through it, is more about overcoming your failures than it is celebrating your successes. The good times are good because your worked hard, planned well and stuck to it.

As good as you are today you can always get better. Here are three things you can do to help push your career further this summer.

1. Learn about something new

Even if you have 10-years of experience in human resources with all the designatations imaginable - there are opportunities available to expand your awareness of your business and industry. Look for new training opportunities, learn a new language or find something completely new to dig into.

We launched registration for a webinar on the lifecycle of a coding languages and how to recruit developers called Why JAVA Will Never Die, this could be a great opportunity for you to learn something new.

2. Network more

New people bring new ideas. Spreading your influence between different departments and different community groups can expand your horizons and bring new opportunities for yourself and your organization. Every city has some nooks and crannies culturally that you’ve never seen and there are parts of your organization that you haven’t ventured to. Take a day this summer and do one of the two. Developing knowledge of a new demographic or age group - or learning about a new system from an different type of organization can bring great insights into your day to day.

When I was a reporter learning how the advertising sales teams managed their contacts taught me a lot about follow-up and relationship building. Similar synergies can be found where you work.

3. Become a mentor

Mentorship is growing in popularity as new generations of workers are working their way through the ranks. If your organization doesn’t have a mentorship program – think about starting one. In a poll of 500 female executives and managers, 58% felt that organizations across Canada could provide better mentorship or advocate programs. 

This exercise will benefit your team, your organization and yourself. One of the best things you can do to cement your skills and processes in your own mind is to help develop someone else’s.

Personal development is professional development and if you forget former the later will suffer.

Engineering recruitment: How to appeal to the cream of the crop

Looking to hire an engineer? So is everyone else. The facts are clear: Engineers are currently in high demand and that need will only increase over the coming years. In fact, a recent Randstad Engineering study conducted in conjunction with Engineers Canada has projected a shortage of engineers in Canada reaching 80,000, by the year 2020. Engineering recruiters looking for top engineering talent are facing significant recruiting challenges. These days, posting a job ad, interviewing applicants and then being able to hire your first choice for the position is no easy feat. Engineering candidates with hot skills need to be wooed. But how can you entice them?  

With so much competition in the engineering marketplace, it's now more important than ever, to be on top of your recruiting game. Consider incorporating the tips below into your engineering recruitment strategy:

 Know what you want by way of experience, knowledge, skill, personality and fit for your existing team; stay true to those wants even through adversity. It may take a longer period of time to find the right person, but it will benefit your organization once you’ve found the right fit vs. the wrong fit.

Communicate your company’s story. It’s important that engineering recruiters do a terrific job articulating what is special about the business. “What’s your story? What are you trying to do? What’s the vision for the company?” are some of the important questions engineering recruiters should keep in mind. If possible include someone on your team in a similar role, share the experiences of working for your firm in that role. Be clear it is not part of the interview per say but more of an informational session that will shed some light on what working for your organization is like. Make sure that your culture is reflected in every step of the hiring process. From initial outreach, to interviews, to team introductions, make sure that you represent the culture you have, and the culture you’re trying to create.

Lead with a problem. Engineers are typically people that are passionate about solving problems.  They care about having interesting problems to work on and when it comes to your recruitment strategy, this can work to your advantage. During the interview process, share a problem you are encountering (related to their role, of course) and frame your conversation around it. Pique the interest of the engineer and get them thinking about how they’d tackle the issue.  

Ask for referrals. A great way to recruit talent is to receive a referral from other talented people. Encourage your staff to help with networking efforts by offering incentives for recommending someone who accepts an offer. You can also attend engineering industry meetings and events, serve on committees and become involved. Develop relationships through these events - and don’t be afraid to ask for referrals from this network. Make it reciprocal; be sure to refer potential candidates to others in this network when learning of someone who may be a good fit for what they’re looking for. Strategically building a network of referral sources will pay off when it's time to recruit.

Focus on what engineers want. Competition for top engineering talent is stiff. So when it comes to securing that ideal candidate, it’s important to focus on what engineers want and need from an employer. For example:

• Top engineers want to work for companies that have leading edge technology. So promote yours, especially if it’s more advanced than what your competition is using.
• Most engineering candidates are highly ambitious and want to get ahead. So talk about opportunities for advancement and professional development within your organization.
• Many engineers want to make a difference. Explain how their work within your organization could potentially help someone or benefit the bottom line.
• Skilled engineers require competitive pay and benefits. A strong compensation package can certainly tip the scales in your direction when recruiting engineers. For a look at our recent Engineering Salary guide click here.

Move quickly. When you’ve found the right person, move fast; we are in a very competitive marketplace, don’t let someone else get your new employee, while your work to cross your T’s and dot your I’s.

So finally, when it comes time to make an offer, remember to make your best presentation, hit all of your key points and don’t offer 10% less and expect to negotiate.  In the marketplace today potential employee’s may have 2 or 3 offers on the table, and often don’t want to negotiate. A shortage of skilled engineers is one of the biggest challenges facing engineering recruiters today and with a limited pool of candidates, understanding what motivates engineers is a key component to attracting engineers to Canada’s leading employers.

3 Jobs Artificial Intelligence Will Change Forever

Get ready for Skynet, someone beat the Turing Test.

With news from the Royal Society in London that a team from Russia has built a computer program which has passed the Turing Test (where judges are fooled as to whether they are chatting with a real person or a computer through a digital chat), the question in the staffing and recruitment world is When will these programs begin to work their way into our daily lives?

The program, named Eugene Goostman, which played the part of a 13-year old boy from the Ukraine, fooled 33% of the judges, that it indeed was a person, instead of a computer program. The Turing Test was devised in 1950 by the godfather of computer science, Second World War codebreaker Alan Turing, who built the test with the idea if a human couldn’t tell that they were conversing with a machine, the machine was thinking.

While Eugene may be the first, we are still at least a decade away from seeing any sort of authentically automated digital people engaging with us online – but when they come there will be impacts on employement.

1. Customer service

One of the first places we’ll see Eugene style chat-bots engaging with actual people will be in customer service. Today some companies use pop-up chat windows on their sales’ pages to answer questions that customers might have. In the future, these conversations could be automated. Likewise, when you email a complaint to a brand, whether the shoes you ordered are late, or the an experience in store you received from a service representative was negative, the email responses could well be those of computer. The benefits for brands will be assurance that complaints are dealt with and consumers will be engaged with. Also knowing that you can't annoy a computer is nice food for thought.

2. Communications

Today there are already examples of reporters being replaced by robots particularly in the reporting of sports media. In the future, the near future, other forms of public relations or social media engagement could be automated with an artificial intelligence. Today brands program much of their social media communication with canned content – sharing stories and photos. In the future responses to people through Twitter or Facebook could be done by a program. With enough of a back catalogue of communications a robot – Tweeter could be more effective than human engager, no typos, near immediate response, no selfies. 

Interested in learning more about programming languages or coding? Register for Why Java Will Never Die, a webinar about the life and death of coding languages.

3. Retail or restaurant service

Whether you are at a table or a in a checkout line automated services are already in the field. You can sit at a sushi restaurant and order from a tablet, with your only human interaction being the delivery of your sashimi. Right now, people are still more economical than machines to bring items from a store-shelf to the checkout line, or from the kitchen to your table, but that line is drawing close. Nothing beats good table service, but what if you aren't looking for a luxury experience and you just want a burger without cheese, cooked extra-well done? The line between service and satisfaction will be where AI fills in gaps and takes hold.

Computer scientists have been working on programming languages and supercomputers to beat the Turing Test in a serious way for the past 40-years.

Teams on prestigious campuses like the University of Waterloo, MIT and Harvard and multinationals like IBM with Watson, Google with its self-driving cars and even Apple's Siri have all in their own way begun to tackle the issues of making the technology and theories behind it commercially viable. We might be 10 or 20 years from seeing programs like Eugene living and breathing out in the wild but really, once they are will you be able to tell?

For more 100% organic communications, follow Randstad Canada on Twitter @RandstadCanada.

Want to know what job seekers are really looking for?

6 Reasons Calgary’s Job Market Is Booming

With over 1,360,000 residents, the highest per-capita income, no provincial sales tax and the highest population growth in the country, Calgary has the hottest job market in the Canada.

Whether it is in the oil and gas, technologies or finance sectors demand for people has never been this high.

It is higher than when in 1912, the city grew around the first Calgary Stampede, or in the time after oil was found in Pembina Oil Field in 1956. Today's growth is even greater than the 20-years after the Winter Olympics of 1988 when the population of Calgary nearly doubled.

Today companies of all types are seeking to grow in the city, looking for skilled labourers, engineers and technologists, analysts and administrators to build the tools, run the departments and extract the resources that will drive the Canadian economy.

Whether you are looking for work in Alberta, or need assistance recruiting the people you need, we’re here to help.

Book some time with one of our western experts and find the people you need today.

Imagine you are building a deck. You have all the wood and all of the screws you need, but instead of a drill and a power saw you are given a screw driver and steak knife. How much more efficiently would you be able to build that deck if you had the right tools for the job - and if you were going to contract out the work but placed the conditions that a steak knife and screw driver must be used - who would honestly consider takign the work?

The same goes for recruiting developers. You might want the most talented developers and they are looking for work but if you are telling them in your job ads' to use tools (programming languages) that they have no interest in using you're going to have trouble bringing them on board.

Thinking a little bit longer term about how you build a new DEV can improve your hiring and retention.

After speaking with a leading expert in programming language design, Randstad Technologies hosted a webinar focused on helping companies hire top development talent.

To learn how programming languages can benefit recruitment, watch, Why JAVA Will Never Die, an IT Recruitment webinar.

5 Take Aways from the Webinar

1. Programming languages are products

While you might think that a programming language is an engineering tool, they are more like a brand or a product. You can build a deck with any type of drill, but will you choose a Dewalt, or Crafstman? The difference in choice for any single developer can be determined by market forces, the same as if  you are going to buy an iPhone or a Galaxy phone – what your peers are using and what you’ve used previously has more to do with it than if it works well.

2. Programmers are consumers; languages are learned and used if they are attractive and popular

As a programming languages are a brands, that makes developers consumers. Any developer will know between four and six programming languages. They’ll be experts in between two or four languages and be proficient in one or two additional languages. Some languages are more easily learned than others ; if you are looking for a candidate and they are missing a language, it doesn’t mean they won’t be great for a role, it just means they might need two or three months to become highly proficient in the missing language. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.

3. Coding languages are chosen by group think

Teams are more likely to choose a programming language based on their previous experiences with a language, what they are currently using and what has open source libraries available. If you are going to make a shift in what languages are used this can impact your current team in unexpected ways – you may need to retrain some team members, or look for new ones with some developers greatly preferring some languages over others.

4. Every language only needs one true expert

There are some tools within a programming language that are extremely specific. They may be rarely used or when they are used they need to be constructed with in such a way that it takes great skill. You don’t need a team full of people with that level of skill, you need one person on a project who can set the table up for a team, think of this as the difference between an artisan over a labourer.

5. Programming language choice can drive recruitment

Just like a brand, certain languages excite people. Some people are excited about shoes, others about a brand of beer – developers get pumped about coding languages and which ones your company uses regularly speaks to developers in certain ways.

New languages like Apple's Swift, Google’s Go, or Mozilla’s Rust are on the rise – while older languages like ELang or Ruby are beginning to show their age. Before you start your next major development project consider who you want to bringing into the company over the long term.

Watch, Why JAVA Will Never Die and get ahead of the recruitment curve.

5 Tips for a flawless resume

A spelling error on your resume can hurt your chances of landing the job of your dreams. You’ve worked too hard to let a missing word stop you now. Follow these five tips and build a flawless resume.  

1. Buy a style guide and read it

Today we are all writers and editors so we all need the right tools on hand to get the job done. Style guides are your writing bibles, the closer you follow their rules the nearer to perfection your resume will be. In Canada, if you were to purchase only two such resources these are the two you should buy.

1. Caps and Spelling the Canadian Press: This book is a guide on what words to capitalize, what not to and how to spell words in Canadian English; think labour, favourite and traveller.

2. The Canadian Press Stylebook, A Guide for Writers and Editors:Caps and Spelling you can fit in your back pocket – while The Canadian Press Stylebook would fit better in a nightstand. It contains all of the language rules that govern the media and insights into fact-checking and research that will benefit you no matter what your career is.

2. Have someone review your resume

The best eyes to look over your resume aren’t yours; while this is true of all writing when a job is on the line it is a must. A reader will catch more inconsistencies, misspellings and awkward syntax than you will.

We don’t read our own words the same as we read the writing of others’. It isn’t that you aren’t a strong editor; it is that your brain fills in missing words, skips over misspelled words and understands your textual mannerisms too well - it doesn't need proper grammar to makes sense of what your wrote but other peoples' brains will.

3. Fact-check all names, places and things

There is nothing worse than spelling your own name, a company’s name or a city’s name wrong. If you include a proper noun (a noun that in its primary use refers to a unique entity) verify that it is correct.

Do this in emails with your interviewer, on your cover letters or in Linkedin messages. Using Google to verify the spelling of places or a business’s name takes a few seconds – spelling Xerox with a Z instead of an X, lasts a lifetime.

4. Avoid adverbs

Positively avoid including these clunky, undescriptive words. Instead of describing how you did something, spend time describing what you accomplished.

If it ends in LY, delete it and rethink how you describe yourself. Replace the adverb with actual results or write what you learned while in a role, or on a project. 

Example:

With an adverb: I expertly deployed an integrated marketing campaign.

Without an adverb: With my team we executed an integrated marketing campaign that resulted in a 33 per cent increase in foot traffic, which generated $24,000 in new business in the month of June.

Which one has more value to an interviewer or an employer?

5. Re-read the job description

Resumes are not a one size fits all solution. Unless you are applying to roles with identical job descriptions you should be making modifications to your resume before sending it out. A Marketing Coordinator isn’t the same thing as a Marketing Manager. While you might have the prerequisite job experience for both, if you fail to highlight the right experience and use the right phrases in your resume you will be overlooked.

1. Three keys to acing the this year's interview

2. Learn from past mistakes with the Randstad blogger's worst interview ever.

3. Trends in Resumes for 2014, the Dos and Don'ts 

Calgary’s hottest jobs: Part 1

When you think of Calgary, what jobs do you think are in highest demand? In the land of the Calgary Stampede and the Alberta Oil Sands the answers might surprise you. While the Oil and Gas industry is hot and continues to drive both the local and national economy the industries and companies supporting the resources sector are booming too.

The City of Calgary projects growth in almost every industry; with a population boom and no slow down the world’s demand for oil it is easy to see why.

Reach truck or forklift drivers

The warehousing and transportation industry in Calgary has seen impressive growth as companies ship materials to and from work sites and to support the city’s growing population.

It is projected by the Government of Canada that Calgary’s Transportation and Warehousing sector will see an growth of 13.5% between 2014-2018. This aligns well against the massive increase in companies that the region saw between 2009-2013; when the city saw its Transportation and Warehousing sector grow in number of companies by over 23%.

Forklift driver jobs are abundant and for workers looking for a pay increase and a new city to grow in, Calgary’s job market couldn’t be hotter.

Are you looking for help growing your company in Calgary, book a meeting with a western market expert today.

Administrative assistants

The Calgary Economic Development Forecasts 15% growth in the business services sector between 2014 and 2018. Supporting the professional services industry, like the financial industry which is projected to grow by 13.6% in the same period are business support professionals like administrative assistants and executive assistants.

These roles are important to inter-organizational efficacy and the productivity of large teams working in the professional space.

Electrical engineers

Extracting resources out of the ground, through mining, or steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) requires precise tools and custom machinery. On top of that is process for refining those raw materials that requires further measurement and adjustment.

Electrical Engineers are important in every stage of resource extraction and refinement. Monitoring the machines that make oil and gas refining possible and even power generation the transmission and distribution of the power itself requires teams of engineers.

Electrical Engineer Jobs are available in many fields, like manufacturing which is projected to grow by 13.8% between 2014-2018, the utilities sector which may grow by 13.5% and the Professional, Scientific and Technical Services Industry which saw strong sustained growth between 2009-2013 with grow in number of companies over 17.8%.

Why is Calgary's job market so hot?

Find out here!

Jared Grove

Today is Canada's 147th birthday, well to be precise it is the anniversary of Canada becomng a new federation with its signing of the Constitution Act - formerly known as the British North America Act.

To help celebrate, we took a look at 5 Reasons Canada's Workers Are the Best.

Canadians are among the longest living and hardest working people on Earth surviving on average into our 80s, so when we looked at data from our latest Workmonitor survey which asked Canadians about their fitness and who’s responsibility is it to maintain it – we weren’t surprised that 96% of Canadians said fitness and wellness was their own responsibility.

Canada is the second largest country and it is filled with dedicated, creative and incredibly well trained people. Here are the 5 Reasons Canada’s Workers Are the Best.

1. Canadian’s are the best trained in the world

Canadians are rated highest by; meaning college level or higher post-secondary degrees with 51% of our population receiving graduation papers beyond high school. What is even more impressive is that scales predominantly female, as almost 80% of female students who enter post-secondary education complete their degrees.

2. Longer working hours

Canadians work almost 40-hours a week and have ranked among the hardest working, and most productive workers in the world for the past decade. May be it is because Canada is the second largest country in the world and we only have a population 34.8 million; we're compensating.

3. We have great companies to work for

Being a great worker takes having great companies to work for, it is a team effort. Through generations of consistent management of our banks and governments, Canadian workers can work for almost any company in the world here at home. Canada consistently ranks in the top 10 best countries to work in; this gives Canadian workers the chance to gain international experience and the job mobility to build amazing careers.

4. Multicultural, multilingual and multitalented

Through decades of aggressive immigration Canada has one of the most multicultural populations in the world. Toronto, Canada’s most populous city is represented by almost 50% first generation Canadians, or people who were born outside of Canada, meanwhile Toronto is one of the most economically robust cities in North America. The cross cultural connections forged by immigration foster a culture of inclusiveness in our workplaces further benefiting that average Canadian worker.

5. We’re optimists at heart

It might be the winter that makes us this way we’re always hoping for spring, but Canadians are optimistic about their work, job prospects and the companies they work for. Earlier this year when we asked 2,000 Canadians  (89%) of those polled expected their company/employer to perform better and more than 50% said they expected to get a raise this year.  

How has working in Canada made you a better employee? Share your thoughts with us on Twitter @RandstadCanada.

Are you looking for a job in Canada?

 

Happy Canada Day!