Workscore banking on “social resumes”
A new social network has just been launched: www.workscore.com. The site is based on evaluation, and allows users to review their employers, managers and even contacts. The purpose is for users to build their own “social resumes” based on the evaluations of members of their network. Any professional skills can be graded, including technical knowledge, productivity, communication skills and teamwork. Comments can be added, and achievements and results can be specified. Objectiveness is not mandatory, as not only can you erase any contribution, you can also choose to give certain evaluations more weight. The new site joins the line-up of existing, successful evaluation sites including Ratemyemployer.caRateMyProfessors.com and RateMDs.Com for doctors.
New Conference Board Help-Wanted Index
In mid-September, the Conference Board launched the Help-Wanted Index, a new index that is an indicator of the number of new jobs advertised online in Canada, province by province. Quebec firm Wanted Technologies provides the data for the index. The initial results were quite surprising: in August, the index increased for the second time in three months to reach 86.9 (2007=100). This growth was mainly focused in Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia. The number of unemployed workers per ad is also growing, though, as shown by the Barometer of Labour Market Tightness. In August, the ratio reached 3.6 for every online ad posted, vs. less than 2 unemployed per ad in October 2008.
Launching of HR Reporter channel
The publishers of Canadian HR Reporter are now providing online video content. Since mid-September, interviews of HR managers on topics such as labour relations and corporate culture have been made available. New videos are added every week. Every Monday, the latest HR news and an overview of the upcoming articles to be published will be put online. Check out the videos on YouTube at www.youtube.com/hrreporter
Retiring any time soon?!
According to an Angus Reid poll of 18-25-year-old Canadians, 70% of young workers are concerned about losing leadership opportunities as their older colleagues put off retirement. The study also reveals that young employees want young leaders and value vision over experience and charisma. Some 93% of respondents said that the ideal leadership age is under 50, with 64% preferring a leader under 40.
Canada lagging
According to the latest OECD Economic Outlook published in early September, the recovery should come earlier than expected since all G7 countries experienced a slight growth of 1.2% in the third quarter of 2009. On the other hand, OECD is forecasting a decrease of 2% in GDP for Canada. In addition, with an increase in the unemployment rate of 2.5% between the start of 2008 and the second quarter of 2009, Canada ranks in the top six OECD countries with the strongest increase in unemployment.
Job outlook good for IT professionals
IT professionals have nothing to worry about, according to a survey by The Verde Group for Sapphire and IBM of 300 corporate decision-makers in early summer. Eight-seven percent of respondents plan to maintain or grow their staffing levels over the next quarter. Key roles include project managers and business analysts. The demand is driven by the development of new enterprise-wide applications (26%), increased workload (23%), increased customer support (16%) and organizational growth (15%).
Salaries up 3% in 2010 despite economic crisis
Canadian employers are planning on salary increases in 2010, according to the annual Mercer salary survey released in late August. The increases average about 3%, and more for top performers, who will get about 5.1%, while very low-level performers will get only 0.5%. Currently, a third of companies have frozen employee salaries.
CHRP certification subjected to pre-requisite of three years’ experience
The Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA) has reintroduced the obligation for three years’ human resources experience for the right to use the Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) title. In so doing, the Ontario-based association wants to increase the credibility and value of this certification, as well as better align itself with the requirements of the province’s other regulated professions.