Changing Careers

 

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Laura Moldovan joined Telus at its headquarters about two years ago and went directly into a leadership program that gives recent grads exposure to a wide range of departments and roles within the company over that two-year period.

Best employers good for your career

Like many graduating students, Laura Moldovan wasn't sure what opportunities she wanted to pursue when she completed her marketing degree in 2007.


 
 
 
 

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Shorter work hours could mean more time to spend with the family.

Recession offers potential for more work-life balance

In past recessions, employers instituted shorter work hours to cut costs and save jobs, a historian says, suggesting this economic crisis could leave people with more time for life outside of work - albeit with a smaller paycheque.


 
Dustin Pendergast enjoys working as an ultrasound technician at Royal Jubilee Hospital. "You get to use your mind a lot and at the end of the day, you go home and say, 'I've done something good for somebody.' "

Need work? Lots of jobs in health care

A major Vancouver Island employer hopes to fill hundreds of jobs and attract future employees at a time when Canadian unemployment numbers continue to rise each month.


 
Although what excesses may have existed on Bay Street pale beside those of their Wall Street head offices and competitors, the financial meltdown and evocative subprime crisis have wreaked similar havoc on the fortunes of Canadian investment banks and other financial institutions.

Bay Street severances a boon

"Jackpot!" is an exclamation increasingly heard from the newly unemployed members of the Canadian financial sector. There is often more profit in dismissal then in remaining in that de-eroticized, even stigmatized profession. My office recently has negotiated some eight-and seven-figure settlements. The dissolution of the adrenaline and glamour coupled with the reputational calumny and slim bonus prospects often makes a severance payout more attractive than the position.


 
According to statistics, small and entrepreneurial businesses are suffering at record rates in the recession. But struggling as they may be, many entrepreneurs say they prefer working on their own, launching a small business or promoting an original idea.

Entrepreneurs hope to beat economic odds

Rachel Dooley quit her high-paying job as an attorney a month ago to launch a jewelry business, and her friends think she is crazy.


 
To adequately assess potential succession candidates for key positions it is helpful to have articulated the set of skills necessary for the optimal performance of the leadership position.

Succession planning takes on new importance

Today's organizations are facing a curious paradox. While the massive layoffs we hear about almost daily are creating a glut of employees, companies are also coping with an exodus of baby boomers from the workplace. These are often people in leadership positions whose skills, talents and experience are not easily replaced.


 
 

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Greg Pocherewny, regional vice-president for Robert Half Canada's Prairie region advises people get their financial house in order, update resumes and reach out to personal and professional networks to expand them--just in case.

Prepare for potential downsize

The economic downturn has many employees looking around the office wondering if job cuts might become a reality this year, yet there is a lot of opportunity in this recession.


 
It might be time to toss aside the notion of climbing the ladder, especially if company expansion is unlikely and the rungs are already cluttered with people.

Maybe it's time to consider a lateral move

It's still the new year, although it already seems ground down by bad economic news and growing job losses. No better time to think about hanging on to the job you've got, even as the belt-tightening continues.


 
Reinvention: How to Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life, by Brian Tracy.

If you had to do it all over again

These days, as friends take voluntary buyouts and others fear of being forced to leave their jobs, as some companies shrink before our eyes, while others disappear altogether, I feel like someone who once stood on terra firma, with hills and valleys spread out before me but now finds herself on no more than a small island, with water lapping around its edges.


 
See a hostile job interview as a way to hone your survival skills.

Bumps on road to career change can be managed

So you're out of a job. Maybe you chose it. Took that buyout because the future in your place of employment looked bleak. Or, maybe you were nudged into it, when your company merged with another and there was no place for you. It's even possible that you've had to move on along with everyone else, when your bankrupt company liquidated its assets and closed its doors.


 

Act now if you face layoff risk

I am a manager of a company that has been hit by the economic slowdown. The company has already started to lay off staff and I'm concerned I might be next.


 
People stay in careers they are miserable in for years -- sometimes lifetimes, because they can't get up the nerve to quit.

Two catalysts in play when changing jobs

I've been miserable in my job for the past five years. I keep saying I want to make a change, but I can't seem to get up the nerve to quit. What can I do?


 
Lisa Price, partner at PSG Executive, a search firm in Mississauga, says that Gen Y workers find it hard to justify staying with an organization for a long period of time.

A generation to win or lose

Members of Generation Y-- individuals born after 1980 -- have a reputation for possessing a love-'em-and-leave-' em attitude when it comes to how they treat employers.


 

It may be time to search out a new position

I have been a manager in the same company for more than 10 years and, in the last year, I have lost my interest and enthusiasm for my position. What should I do?


 
Retailing is now the No. 1 career for males, who traditionally were more often associated with jobs in the manufacturing sector.

Who can make the switch?

At a time of gut-wrenching job losses in the manufacturing industry, retailers are hiring like gangbusters. But can those who made solid careers working at auto plants and constructing products on factory floors make a transition to satisfying new careers focused on serving the consumer face-to-face?


 
Life cycle plays a big role in precipitating peaks in career change.

Birthdays ending in zero make us take stock

But it's not just the time of year that can precipitate peaks in career change. Life cycle plays a big role. When people hit 30, 40, 50 and 60, they reflect on where they've been and where they're headed more than the average crowd in between those ages.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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