News and Tips

Considering a Job Change? This article addresses "changing a job" that involves a move to a new employer, as opposed to a move within the current organization.

Discussion Items:

• Considering a Job Change?


• Guidance on Attending Interviews


• Guidance on Providing References


• Guide To Resume Preparation.


• Permanent Employment vs. Contracting.

Changing a job ("the move") is a serious matter and must be planned very carefully. Reasons for your need to move from one employer to another may include:

• Limited growth opportunity with current employer


• Environment/Politics/Management style


• Uncertainty around current employer’s performance


• Geographic location


• Changes in job description


• Unrealistic performance requirements/expectations


• Current employer moving/closing


• Financial

Before deciding to make a move you should make sure your reason(s) for the move is/are very real. You are the only one who knows the circumstances well enough to make the decision, and at the end of the day it must be your decision. Take a little time to fully understand your current situation and compare it to the possibilities elsewhere. Be objective and ensure it is a fair comparison – remember, "the grass is always greener on the other side". If you are convinced the move is required then validate your decision - discuss it with 2-3 individuals who can relate to your circumstances and give you candid feedback.

Having decided to make the move you should treat the move just like any other project. Investing time in planning the steps and allocating required time for attending interviews/meetings will help in securing the desired position. Your steps should include:

• Define your next job – role, type of organization, geographic area, remuneration, etc


• Preparing/updating your resume.


• Selecting and contacting prospective employers – directly, through trusted friends, or through staffing agencies.


• If enlisting the assistance of staffing agencies you should select 2-3 and meet them to ensure they understand your requirements.


• Posting your resume on internet – this is not suitable for everyone, consider your situation very carefully before you post your resume on the web. The internet environment is much more "open" than you may think e.g. you may not want your resume to be viewed by certain organizations (including your current employer !!).


• Contacting individuals you want to use as references – before the prospective employers conduct their reference checks.


• Attending interviews


• Updating individuals/organizations that need to know about your change of employer, once you have made the move.

BACK^

You invest a great deal of time and effort in planning your move, contacting prospective employers (directly, through trusted friends, through staffing agencies, etc.) to get to the interview stage. Once a prospective employer schedules an interview for you it is very important that you give this step the priority it deserves.

Once you have scheduled an interview you should research the prospective employer to ensure it has possibilities of meeting your expectations – speak to friends who know the employer, check out their web site, etc. You should clearly understand what the employer is looking for and be prepared to present your skills to demonstrate that you are the person they need to fill the position.

As soon as the interview is confirmed you should ensure you have the correct address and directions so that you can plan your route. If you are not 100% sure of the location, how long it will take to get there, etc. consider doing a "trial" run i.e. travelling to the location around the same time as the interview time.

Play it safe and give yourself extra time to ensure you arrive for the interview 5-10 minutes before the scheduled time. If you arrive at the location much earlier it is better to go for a walk, coffee, etc. and go over your thoughts for the interview, rather than waiting in reception.

BACK^

Attending interviews can be pretty daunting at the best of times, especially if you are not prepared for them. If you have done your homework, you arrived for the interview a few minutes before the scheduled time, and you have the skills the prospective employer is looking for, then there is no reason to worry about the interview itself.

You should be confident with your skills and remember that the employer scheduled the interview based on what you told them through your resume.

In addition to the interview, there are many techniques used to assess prospective employees (including the use of technical skill tests, aptitude tests, profile tests, etc) depending on the type of position being filled. You should be informed of any tests involved ahead of time so there should not be any surprises.

The interview itself should be a two-way discussion; for you to learn about the employer’s business, performance, the position being filled, future prospects, etc. and for the employer to ensure you have the technical and soft skills required for the position. The following guidance notes are offered to help improve your performance at the interview.

• Unless specifically requested otherwise, always dress formally for an interview. First impressions certainly do make a big difference.


• Introductions – pay attention to name(s) and practice a firm (not a "vice grip") hand shake.


• Be confident – it shows that you "know your stuff", and remember that you are interviewing as well as being interviewed.


• Listen to the questions carefully (ask for clarification if you are not sure) and answer the question fully. Your answer is your opportunity to sell your skills that apply to the question - provide a "developed", orderly answer/explanation, taking care to stay with the topic and only providing the required level of detail.


• Do not ignore the question and avoid digressions, and unnecessary detail.


• Ask relevant questions about the job and your role within the team - this demonstrates that you understand what they are looking for and shows your interest in the position.


• Maintain eye contact with the interviewer at all times and be polite. Diplomacy goes a long way.


• Avoid watching time (your watch or a clock nearby) – it implies you are in a hurry to get away and perhaps not interested in the interview.


• Make sure you address your issues/concerns at the right time, in positive terms. Remember, the interview is not necessarily the right forum to address all issues/concerns e.g. the employer may not want to discuss remuneration at the interview.


• Always emphasis your positives.

"The glass is half- full" is significantly better than "The glass is half-empty".

BACK^

As a professional in your field, you must take pride in what you do and your aim must always be to turn every job/assignment into a reference. Your performance, attitude, work ethics, contribution to the team, etc. will determine the quality of your references.

When changing jobs (contract and permanent employment) you will need to provide quality references so that the prospective employer can get that "warm and fuzzy" feel from your references. The quality of your reference can often be the difference in securing or losing a job.

Your references should be from individuals who can vouch for your performance – i.e. your immediate superiors or their managers. Providing Peer(s) or friends/relatives as references is usually seen as a weakness i.e. an indication that quality references from employers (supervisor) are not available.

It is not always easy, as people move around, but you should keep in contact with your references to ensure their memory of your performance is kept "evergreen". A written reference, obtained at the time of completing/leaving a position/assignment, may be a useful alternative if contact is lost.

When deciding to change your job or your contract assignment is coming to an end, you should assess which 2-3 of your references is best for your next move. Make sure you know how best these individuals can be contacted by prospective employers.

Caution: The individuals who have agreed to provide a reference for you do so in good faith and you should ensure their privacy is protected as much as possible. Do not include references with your resume unless specifically requested to do so by the prospective employer. Use your discretion when providing references to employment agencies – make sure the references will be used for the purpose intended.

Your resume should be updated as you progress through your career, even if you remain with the same employer (permanent employee or as a consultant/contractor) to ensure each major change in responsibility and skill mix is captured/presented when you know the details best. This requires an organized and planned time investment on your part to create and maintain your resume in an orderly manner, rather than creating/updating it in a hurry when you start your job search. We all know that the quality and content will suffer if we do things in a hurry (especially some thing as important as the resume) - yet, all too often, this is exactly what we do.

The resume plays a major role in securing new positions (contract or permanent employment) - it must make the reader’s job easy, as they review it to determine how closely your experience and skill mix matches their requirement. The details must be factual, concise, complete, well presented/formatted, and free of grammatical errors. The most important thing to remember is that the resume must represent the real "you" and must not mislead the reader.

The following sections and notes can be used as a guide (with some minor refinements - to reflect your personal preferences) in preparing and maintaining your resume.

1. Identification
Use the words ‘Resume of’’ followed by your full name (first name, initials, and last name) to identify each page of your resume.
On the first page, state your home address, telephone number, and email address (if you have one).
Personal data such as Date of birth, marital status, SIN number, etc. should not be included in the resume.

2. ObjectiveIf applying for a permanent position you can either describe what type of position/role your are seeking in this section or address it in your cover letter.

For contract positions, this section is not as important so it can be excluded.

3. Experience Summary Vs Personal Profile
A Personal Profile is a high level summary of your resume, a useful document (no more than one page) for presentation on it’s own. It should not be included as part of the resume. Instead, the resume should contain your Experience Summary i.e. a high level summary of your work only because the other items (education, training, and personal interests/social activities) are presented elsewhere in your resume.

In your Experience Summary, indicate when your career started (as opposed to the actual number of years experience - this would require updating each year), your key skills/strengths, and achievements to date. Keep this section to 1-2 short paragraphs.

4. Technical Skills Summary
With the exception of Management positions, this section should always be included to summarize the products (Methodologies, Databases, Network/Communication Protocols, Programming Languages, Operating Systems, System Utilities, Application Packages, etc) that you have experience with.

5. Education and Training
Provide details on your academic achievements as well as any relevant training courses you have successfully completed. For each item, name the University/College/Training School, and indicate the month/year of completion.

If this section is more than 4-5 lines it may be moved behind the Employment History section.

6. Employment History For each employer (latest one first):

• Show your employment period (starting month and year, and ending month and year showing years only is confusing and raises more questions),


• Name of the employer, and your latest/final position title.


• For lengthy employment periods involving multiple positions, include a paragraph to describe your career progression.


• Itemize your achievements and projects, indicating size and complexity, your role, technology/products that you used, and the project’s significance to your employer.

8. References
You can include 2-3 references (Name of the individual, their position, name of the company/organization, and telephone number) but it is not a mandatory requirement. You should, however, state that ‘References will be provided upon request’ to show that have thought about the references.

Make sure you speak to the individuals, you intend to use as references, before you provide their details to any prospective employer. This way they will not be surprised by a reference check call and they will be better prepared to provide a quality reference.

9. Resume Size
The resume should not be more than 4 pages long, even better if you can keep it to 3 pages. Long resumes (more than 3-4 pages) certainly test the reader’s ability to retain pertinent data, as they review your document, and you may miss out on their decision to interview you.
Top

Decision to change from Permanent Employment to Contracting should not be taken without, as a minimum, considering the following:

Personal/Family circumstance - can you afford to take the risk?
You will need to plan for holidays/sickness, health insurance, further training, idle time between contracts (yes, it can happen and it's better to expect it rather than being surprised), etc.

Skill Set - are you confident, and have sufficient depth and breadth in your skill set to support it, that you can be employed on contracts for 220-240 workdays per year.

If you do decide to start contracting, plan your move carefully.

Prepare your resume - you can get help in preparing the resume but you must be responsible for the accuracy and quality of presentation.

Select 2-3 Agencies - selecting reputable agencies and investing time in meeting them and establishing/maintaining ethical business relationships with them will ease your transition to contracting.

Timing - Flexibility in timing your move to contracting will enhance your chances of finding a contract quickly. You may only need to provide 2-3 weeks notice to terminate your employment, but you may be in the middle of a project and want to take it to a tidy conclusion. Do not Burn 'Bridges' Unnecessarily.

First Contract - The work may be the same, but working as a contractor brings pressures that you must face in an ethical manner. You may need time to adjust to the contracting world. Make sure your first contract is at least 6 months duration - even better if there is a possibility of extension.

Business/Company Registration - Consult an Accountant regarding the type of business/company you need to register i.e. incorporated (named or numbered) company, partnership, or sole proprietorship. The business/company registration process is fairly quick.

Business Reporting/Deductions Requirements - The type of business reporting and deductions (i.e. Employment Insurance, CPP, and Tax) requirements differ - depending on the type of company you decide to register. Your Accountant can advise on the requirements but remember you are responsible for your company's obligations. Make sure the appropriate deductions are submitted and business-reporting requirements are filed in a timely manner.

BACK^