Latest Blogs
Posted:
8/17/2010 11:54:00 AM
Newsflash! Canada’s remarkable financial recovery stalled last month as the economy shed 9,300 net jobs, and the unemployment rate rose for the first time in almost a year. Statistics Canada reported 139, 000 fulltime jobs were lost. However, 227, 000 new jobs have been created over the past 3 months. So what does all of this mean for potential job seekers? Contracts, contracts and more contracts!
Now is the best time for IT professionals to take advantage of a slumping fulltime market. It is a known fact that when employers are laying off fulltime employees they will look for contractors to replace them.
Top reasons why companies use contractors:
- Sometimes a higher level of expertise is required for specific projects which only have a duration of 3 to 6 months, therefore a contractor is chosen.
- Contractors are a way to get around any headcount limitations. Temporary contractors are not calculated in the total employee headcount, but are tallied in the over all project costs. (Many projects are ‘capital’ in nature and thus can support the addition of cost but not necessarily headcount).
- Contractors are chosen for their flexibility, especially in a questionable economy. If a company does not have the ability to bring on a large number of "hires" for a major project they may want to take a contract-to-hire approach which gives them more flexibility.
Go to Soroc’s career page now to check out your potential opportunities!
Joe Caputi
ITR Team Lead
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Posted:
5/25/2010 5:05:00 PM
Put the winter blues behind you and welcome the sweet smell of possibilities. The snow has begun to melt on the recruitment market with clients and hiring managers awakening to a demand of expansion. This is the time of year for professionals to flourish, and achieve their successful career realization.
There couldn’t be a better time to make a commitment to your professional future. Whether you have a desire to advance in your chosen field or make a drastic career change, a resume is a job search necessity. A great resume provides an overview of your experience and skills, and will help you get an interview for that job you really want. Spending time and effort to make your resume as good as it can be will prove to be a truly worthwhile investment.
Here are a few tips to make your resume stand out from the crowd;
Target the resume to the job Use recent job experience and certifications that emphasize your qualifications. The addition of irrelevant information is viewed as a place holder, or filler, for qualifications that you don’t have.
Highlight the “buzz words” and “acronyms” By drawing attention to words or acronyms that are affiliated to the requirements of the posting not only makes the recruiter’s or hiring manager’s job easier, but also displays your knowledge of the topic.
Be honest Adding incorrect information to your resume can only get you in trouble. This includes the use of acronyms and terms that may pertain to the job you are applying for, but you have no definite understanding of. If one thing on your resume is a stretch of the truth, then how does the hiring manager know that the rest of the content is legitimate?
Keep it short A concise and well formatted resume will always move you to the top of the stack. A two page guideline is something that job seekers should keep in mind, as anything more could be overlooked or discarded.
Joe Caputi ITR Team Lead
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Posted:
7/6/2010 2:41:00 PM
Job Fairs are comprised of a multitude of job seekers, hoping to be interviewed by a recruiter who will evaluate their skill set and experience in order to find an opportunity that fits both the client’s requirements and the job seeker’s goals. Whether the advertisements for a company’s opportunities are posted online, on free job boards, HRDC or presented in an expensive newspaper ad, one thing is certain: face time with a recruiter or perspective client (or a candidate) is invaluable. A smile and a 30 second statement goes much further than clicking on the “submit” button on your computer.
Attending a job fair may be an overwhelming experience. Job seekers should come with resumes in hand and ready to sell themselves in their 30 second time slot for those new attractive opportunities. Preparation is key when given the opportunity to have one on one time with a prospective employer. Here are a few tips for job seekers when preparing for a job fair.
Rule #1 Treat a Job Fair As You Would an Interview
Since the candidate will be meeting with hiring managers and recruiters it is essential that they treat the job fair as they would an interview; come dressed for success and prepared.
Rule #2 Do Your Research: A Common Theme
Although you will likely not be able to research each company that you plan on speaking to, it would be a good idea to know what companies will be at the job fair. Out of those companies the job seeker should know which ones they would like to target for employment, and it would be ideal to have some background information into the workings of the company’s business.
Rule #3 Elevator Pitch: Thirty Seconds of Perfection
Look around you; the ratio of job seekers to recruiters and company representatives is severely unbalanced. You will need a strategy and pitch that makes you stand out from the crowd. Learn to be concise and to the point about what you have to offer, why you are a good fit for the job, and what you hope to get out of the position. 30 seconds is all it will take…
Rule #4 Stick To What You Know
You may have always wanted to be an astronaut, but that's likely not your skill set and similarly, you are not qualified for that position. Keep that in mind while attending a job fair. Target your focus on positions that are attainable based on your qualifications and suit your future goals.
Rule #5 Follow Up
It would be extremely beneficial for a candidate to make sure that their calendar, post job fair attendance, is open to follow up with the recruiters that met with them. Opportunity does not always fall in your lap; you must be able to take the time, and put in the extra leg work for those positions that really catch your interest.
Following these steps should help ensure a higher degree of success when attending a job fair.
We hope to see YOU at the next Soroc Job Fair!
Joe Caputi
ITR Team Lead
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Posted:
1/27/2010 10:02:00 AM
With the recent economic climate, I’ve seen an emerging trend in the marketplace – a demand for a streamlined IT resourcing process that can rapidly respond to ad hoc staffing requests. Companies need immediate resources, for varying contract terms, and want to simplify the procurement process to ensure their need for flexible and immediate staffing can be met. In other words, they want resources ‘on-demand’.
Soroc has recognized these changes and adapted accordingly by providing a new service: People-on-Demand.
With People-on-Demand, Soroc provides its clients access to a pool of resources that they can tap into on an ad hoc basis for immediate staffing. Soroc is able to quickly respond to staffing requests by leveraging referral streams, virtual benches and our database of ready-to-hire candidates – no matter what the budget or contract term.
To support the People-on-Demand service, Soroc offers clients flexible billing mechanisms to simplify the procurement process. Clients may secure access to the pool of resources via statements of work or by drawing down on committed funds. This means one contract agreement provides access to multiple resources that can be staffed ‘on-demand’.
Many of our clients now engage with us for People-on-Demand. The rapid and flexible access to resources enables them to fill a contract for as short as 2 days or as long as a year or more under the same contract. The process is fast and easy. More important, our clients are able to get the right resource, when they need it.
-Director, Recruitment Services
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Posted:
10/15/2009 4:59:00 PM
I recently read an article in IT in Canada titled “ IT staffing levels expected to grow: survey” that described how nearly 87 per cent of employers plan to maintain or grow their current IT staffing levels over the next quarter.
This is welcome news and we are certainly seeing activity pick up in our IT resourcing organization in terms of hiring activity. It is typical that the summer months are quiet. However this past summer, Soroc experienced a slight increase in hiring. September 2009 has also been a month of change and we can see a light at the end of the tunnel after a year of frequently hearing “hiring freeze”, “downsizing”, “no headcount for hire” and “sorry we have no funds to support any IT projects” during sales calls. Organizations are starting to hire IT resources again due to enterprise level projects being approved. Whether it is due to last-minute funds, approvals for on-hold projects, or some reassurance about the recovering economy, we see hires coming through and the IT staffing industry turning around. In the wake of this improvement, we are returning to the days when our recruitment staff was busy driving project deliverables and turning over on-demand requests.
In support of the article’s statement that new projects are starting for which expertise is required, we have seen a peak in hires in Support, Development, Business Analysis, and Project Management roles. Although the amount of full-time employment hires has not changed significantly, Soroc has seen a definite increase in contract hires.
The pattern we see from summer, through fall, and into the end of the year is clear: growth. For this to continue, hiring must maintain its steady position within an organization’s IT environment. If the 87% of respondents who indicated they would hold or add to their staffing count stay true to their word, 2010 looks like a busy year for IT staffing.
– Director Recruitment Services
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