When I decided to become a writer I was in my mid-20s and still learning English. Though it's funny to even say "decided" -- I was always a writer from as long as I can remember. I wrote stories and plays as a child, I had fun with words and took enormous pleasure in discovering new writers. But I never thought I'd do something with it as an adult and especially as a job. If anything, I saw myself working as a veterinarian because I loved animals, and later, I became really attracted to the idea of being a psychologist. I thought it would be a blast to sit in a chair and listen to other people's problems and charge them money. After I went to school, I discovered, naturally, that there's much more to psychology than sitting in a chair like a big Freudian goofball. I developed huge respect for the science of psychology and also learned that I didn't have the guts to do it myself. There is nothing "fun" about listening to other people's problems and I wasn't good enough at math to go into research.

I know, I know: why is this blog about my experiences again? Be patient. Speaking of patience, this is what this blog is really about. It's about being persistent, or specifically, about being persistent when achieving my biggest goal.

In my 20s, I began to write. Once the second language became a little easier to use, I wanted to write about everything and anything, and, as before, I discovered that I could get lost in words. And I found even more writers that I admired and wanted to follow and learn from. I also went back to school to get a postgraduate degree in journalism because I thought I should channel my wanting to write with an actual profession that would show me how to do it properly. It was also then that I had an idea to write something that was more substantial, namely a book. I had some vague notions about writing a book and I had a million ideas but it took almost nine years before I was able to sell a book to a major publisher. I can’t tell you the number of false starts and promising starts that didn’t go anywhere and the number of shady people and good people, who meant well but couldn’t help, and the amount of stress and frustration it took to get to this point. I was ready to give up so many times because of how much time this seemed to take. Years! The actual work (writing the book) was perhaps only one-third of what got me to this point. The other third was the discipline it took to stick with one project, the rest was perseverance.

Looking back I know I would do it all over again and in exactly the same way. Because it's what I always wanted and I never gave up on that goal. So yes, this blog is particularly about my own experience but I'm sharing it with you to tell you that you should never give up your dream, even if it takes forever, even when you are in the darkest of your moods and on the gloomiest days, because it may come true and how will you know it if you never try.

Jowita

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I'm always amazed at how hard working my son's teachers are. They are on their feet, all day, educating and entertaining groups of whiny youngsters who move around constantly, twitching even when they're supposed to be sitting. They do, however, seem slightly overstaffed and I'm always hoping that this is going to change for their sake as well as for the kids'. And so it was great to read that child care workers may be one of the jobs of the future. Here at Poss.ca we've written about jobs of the future already and even though we don't talk about child care in it, an article in the Toronto Star simply confirms that you should always keep on top of trends.

As we discussed in our article and as the Toronto Star confirms, computer technology, skilled trades and working with the aging population will be the hottest jobs on the market.

According to the Health Care, IT and Skilled Trades are the Canadian Jobs of the Future article, other jobs that may be high in demand are those of kindergarten teachers (when the province moves to full-day classes) as well as jobs in construction (ahem, check out our Around Your House article to learn more about this field).

The Star article says that those with college or apprenticeship training should expect to "get 35 per cent of the new jobs, followed by university graduates, at 26 per cent. High school dropouts are expected to get just eight per cent of the new jobs." In other words, stay in school, kids!

Jowita

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The other week a friend confessed that she didn't get a dream job that she had applied for and was now giving up on going after her dream. There was no point, she said, in trying to apply for a coveted position because she'd never get it anyway. She's been trying to find work in her field for whole four-and-a-half months and nothing! She claimed to have grown bored and disillusioned while working her "filler" job in retail. Not only that, being in her late 20s, she already felt like she missed her chance to be successful in life and said that she was way too old now anyway to get anywhere. Please.

A small part of me was angry at this kind of attitude because we all know how hard it is to find a job -- any job, even a "boring" retail job. Come on! And dream jobs? Well, I think they are called that because they are as rare as dreams coming true. And it doesn't mean that they won't happen -- they usually do happen if the person's ambitious and goal-oriented but also tough. My friend throwing her hat in so early in her trajectory simply means that somebody else will now take her spot in competing for coveted positions. Nothing more, nothing less -- she just freed up some space. The defeatist attitude is really harmful to success. It's true that on rare occasions luck helps us get to our goals sooner in life, but in most cases it's perseverance that really pays off. And even then there are no guarantees. But the worst thing you can do is give up so early in the process.

Interestingly, my friend was called by the employer a week after being turned down and was offered another position in the company. It wasn't the position she wanted in the first place but she may be able to get there anyway now that she's got her proverbial foot in the door. And guess what? After that phone call she was no longer full of doom and gloom and felt hopeful about her career in general. I just hope that the next disappointment (if and when it comes) won't make her give up because you gotta work for your dreams sometimes.

Jowita

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Over the last year I've seen countless press releases like this one promoting thousands of green energy jobs. Happily, some of those green energy jobs might go to Torontonians receiving Ontario Works assistance. This week a variety of positions within the solar energy sector were posted on the Toronto Employment & Social Services Employment Opportunities System (EOS) site.

In the keyword search field enter "solar" to view the following positions:

• Project Manager, Grid Tie
• Junior Systems Designer
• Senior Systems Designer, Grid Tie
• Sales Positions
• Rooftop Installers
• Business Development Representative
• Commercial Sales Manager
• Executive Assistant
• Partner Accountant Manager
• Project Coordinators
• Solar Energy Advisors
• Business Development Manager
• Warehouse & Scheduling Manager
• Solar Installers (Crew members and leaders)

The deadline is Nov. 22. You'll need to set-up a profile in the EOS system before you can apply for any of the positions. By the way, you can find out more about solar installers in our Whatever-the-Weather Careers article.

kathyo

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Many of us have been lucky enough to grow up with someone who inspires them -- whether it's a relative, a teacher or a stranger who took an interest. I've always found mentoring a fascinating issue and spent my first year of grad school shadowing (for an article) a Toronto group, A Capella, that was set up to pair young women at risk of dropping out of high school with successful women over the age of 21. The older young women served as mentors to the teenagers and helped them to cope with different life challenges, ranging from body issues to "appropriate boundary creation, assertiveness, development in self-esteem, and healthy and responsible physical relationships." What I remember from that time was how extremely important it was for these young women to have people in their lives who could show them that success and change were possible. Many of them remained in school and did quite well at that.

Last month I attended Mentorapoloza, an event set up by Skills for Change to bring together community organizations, mentors, mentees,employers, and HR and diversity management professionals. Attendees were able to partake in mini sessions set up to showcase different styles of mentoring (online mentoring, group mentoring, environmental mentoring) and watch a stimulating panel discussion that addressed many fascinating questions from the audience -- people asked what to do if their mentor was not working out (yes, there is chemistry involved!),and what the differences were between the mentoring styles of males and females (most places take gender issues into consideration and set up same-gender pairs), and more.

It was great to be able to see so many people involved and interested in this issue and as Skills for Change executive director, Cheryl May, said in her opening notes, mentoring "is two-way learning experience that shares knowledge and experience, and it is being reconfigured in a multitude of extraordinary ways."

Jowita

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Call me old-fashioned but I still think that targeting your resumé is where it's at when it comes to landing that perfect job. Applying for work is not a race and getting your resumé in first before anybody else should have no bearing of your chances of scoring an interview.

Consider this silly LinkedIn apply button that will let you send out your LinkedIn profile to a job opening with one click. Miriam Salpeter, the author of What LinkedIn's "apply" button may mean for job seekers points out that this will only mean that there will be more unqualified people applying and that this won't make the process any easier for anyone -- the applicant or the employer. The applicant will get lazy and the employer won't even bother with sifting through a pile of virtual garbage.

Because how could you possibly write out your profile so that it corresponds exactly with every job posting that comes up? It's impossible and no matter how accomplished you'll feel after sending out 150 resumés, it'll mean nothing in terms of getting a job. Ignore the "apply" button when it shows up and hope -- like I do -- that it will get removed before it launches. Unless the employer looks to work with a bunch of robots I doubt he/she will consider whatever comes through the LinkedIn "apply" channel. (Supposedly you will be able to tweak your LinkedIn profile once you apply so that it is more customized but wouldn’t that mean that you could still only do it for one employer only?)

Here at Poss.ca we always stress the importance of job targeting and we're 100 per cent behind writing out sometimes tiresome cover letters that address each job posting and employer as if they were the only job posting and the only employer in the world. And, having looked through avalanches of resumés before I can tell you that the date stamp on them meant absolutely nothing as to what ends up landing in the "Yes" pile.

Jowita

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The other day I was at a job fair. As usual at job fairs, there were many, many people who really insisted on shaking my hand. I went from "I have a baby at home" (a lie, the baby is not a baby anymore) to "I have a deadly virus that will eat your flesh" -- (okay, that's not what I said at all). But I felt that I had to keep saying something and that this business of handshaking is still going strong and people still get offended if you refuse to extend this dubious courtesy.

At this job fair, a teenage boy told me that I was rude when I said simply that I don't shake hands. I was just about to give him the "I-have-a-deadly-flesh-eating-virus" story but then I stopped and just shrugged. Fine, I'm rude. I'd rather be rude than unhealthy. I said I'm sorry and he walked away. I know I confused him because I'm sure he's heard from his teachers how important that first impression of handshaking is. For years, there's been some serious emphasis on confident handshakes in workplaces and lengthy debates on how such an activity should be carried out for its maximum benefit. But unless you're an American president and really have an obligation to do it as part of your job, stick to dispensing your germs as little as possible.

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The other day, applicant X accepted a position at a certain company, and the team she was supposed to work with got very excited. They got excited because it took a (loooong) while for the company to find the right person for this position and there was a slew of unfortunate glitches related to fulfilling the job. (For example, one candidate never showed up for the interview and didn't call to inform the team that he was not going to show up at all.) This time, the team thought, things were going to be different because X seemed quite enthusiastic about working at the company. All that was left to do, for the team, was to decide on what they wanted X to learn first, and for the management to prepare an agenda for X's first day at work. X was supposed to start on Monday, the 28th. The agenda was prepared and the team waited. On Friday, the 25th, X called human resources and announced she was not coming in on Monday after all.

"Back to square one," said one of the managers. But it was a little more than that. It was more like back to before square one, since once X had accepted the position the hiring breaks were put on. There weren't that many other candidates in reserve; there certainly wasn't any active hiring process in place, because why would there be? The perfect person had been chosen and she accepted. Now, in retrospect, it's clear that the company was way too optimistic about this process.

It's certainly interesting to observe this turn of events, especially after the wonky job market due to the recent recession. It's good to know that people are confident enough to be picky and nonchalant about finding jobs (and, well, rude). It's disheartening, however, that there's nothing the company could've done to protect themselves from this turn of events, but it's also a great lesson about having a backup plan (alternative candidates) in any situation -- X probably had her own reserves, a better salary somewhere else or maybe it was her good twin all along that accepted the offer, not her.

Jowita

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After I graduated from school I was bitter. It was my second degree and I was told many times that I would get a job in my field. Eventually. I just heard the first part, of course, and set myself up for a disappointment that lasted almost a year while I worked so-called joe jobs and one shady job that was sort of (but not really) related to what I had studied in school. I was indignant. Didn't the world see how my education and wit was being wasted in those jobs? Hello?

It took me two years to get the sort of position I had always dreamt of and another two to figure out that the fulfilment of dreams does not equal satisfaction. I'm just slowly (very slowly) but surely arriving at this particular milestone now -- the feeling of satisfaction. (And this is years after I finished school and also not due to the fact that I went to that particular school and took that particular program.)

I know someone who has just graduated and who's slightly broken up about being able to get "only" an administrative position (first job). The position is actually at a very respectable company and it's possible that it may lead to some other opportunities. Not good enough. Because no one is acknowledging the fact that this person has finished a Master's degree! With a really high average! From an awesome school! It's astonishing to me how, now that I'm old(er) and wise(r) to witness such attitude (heh heh). I see this person's venture into the professional world with this administrative position as something that can be potentially quite beneficial (even if "only" for networking purposes) and that is just a beginning of an exciting career journey. But the way he sees it is as the end of the world and proof that all his efforts up to now meant nothing. And I would say something but I won't because I remember there was no talking to me about that when I was his age. I knew better.

Jowita

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You often hear this complaint from first-time interns: the job isn't at all what I expected. And so, instead of doing something glamorous, you find yourself fetching coffee or making endless photocopies. I know of an intern who walked out on her job this summer because she was stuck in the coat check room instead of working in the gallery she had applied to.

In the blog post Help, My New Job is Not What I Expected!, Toni Bowers talks about what happens when the actual job that diverts wildly from its original description. Sometimes, this is just due to the fact that you're a new hiree and you simply need to be patient and act cool. Things will improve, just not right away.

Maybe the job sounded too good to be true and the reality is nothing like what you've expected, but give it some time before you storm off in anger. Bowers writes, "You can't go barging in on your first day and tell everyone how you think things should be done, criticizing the existing infrastructure. No matter how esteemed you were made to feel in the interview, no one will appreciate that kind of introduction." She goes on to suggest that you observe the interactions between your fellow co-workers as well as familiarize yourself with the so-called office politics because "you could be inadvertently crossing some lines you don’t even know about."

Use her advice, and it if turns out that the job indeed is really not for you, take it as a sign to move on. Nothing's going to change just because you complain about it.

Jowita

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Many years ago, when I neither had dental benefits nor much money to speak of, one of my lower left molars became abscessed. This hell-on-earth pain quickly put all the minor aches, pains and inconveniences of my existence up until then into perspective.

Since the pain peaked late at night, I ended up being treated at a none-too-cheap emergency clinic by a dentist who shot me a disapproving look when I insisted he pull the offending molar from my mouth. Extraction certainly wasn't the best option, but it was the cheapest one, and, luckily, the crater left in my jaw wasn't obvious to anyone but me. Unluckily, that vast empty space changed my chewing pattern so much that it wreaked havoc on my overworked second right molar. The resulting root canal was no day at the beach.

Even before these intimate encounters with dentists, molars and bicuspids did not top my list of favourite body parts -- not even close. But the experiences gave me a healthy respect for teeth, the condition of which can have a huge impact on both your overall health and your employment prospects.

Job seekers with visibly bad choppers have no easy time of it. "You can't get a job in Woolworths with gaps in your teeth," Dr. Ian McIntyre, the ex- president of the British Dental Association, says bluntly in The Price of Perfect Teeth.

A Toronto Star article from a few years back profiles an almost toothless young man, Jason Jones, who was stared at by employers when he went on job interviews. Although he found work "out of the public eye," the physical pain Jason experienced forced him to slow down and he ended up losing these jobs. (Jason did get a new set of teeth -- see the startling difference it makes in his appearance in this video.)

This Star article doesn't candy coat the inadequacies of our dental system, something I don't dispute. Still, I've discovered there are some low- (or no) cost dental resources out there. I encourage you to take advantage of them -- more than just your mouth may be at stake.

kathyo

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After being laid off from my full-time job in early 2009, I ended up being unemployed for a big chunk of that year. Because I'm extremely self-disciplined, I would set my alarm every morning and try to be at my desk (at home) by around 9:30 a.m. I treated my job hunt like an actual job (as the experts say you should). But after months of acting out what felt like a charade, I was getting demoralized. I'd applied for, like, a gazillion jobs, had been on a handful of fruitless interviews and, by the end, couldn’t quite remember what I had to offer a potential employer. On top of all that, when I mentioned to a new acquaintance that I was unemployed, she joked about how she wished she were in my position and didn't have to go to work. I felt like punching her in the face.

Let's face it: unemployment is no picnic. But when things are at a breaking point, it just might be time to go on a picnic to get away from it all. As Cindy Krischer Goodman reveals in an article in The Miami Herald, taking time away from your job search can ease your stress levels and do wonders for your mental health. So why not take a Friday off or go for a mid-week fishing trip? (Just remember that if you're on Employment Insurance, you're expected to spend your weekdays looking for work. So don't skip off for a little vacation without notifying Service Canada first.)

And while you're walking your dog through the park or standing in line at the movies, take advantage of any networking opportunities that pop up. Who knows? While casting your fishing line and chatting up lakeside acquaintances, you might end up catching more than fish.

Veronica

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For years now we've been hearing about internships that don't pay students, use them to do menial, unrelated tasks and even require that the applicants pay for their placement. Karen* (see Poss Exclusive: One Intern Reveals the Truth!) didn't have to pay a penny to work at the Royal Academy of Arts but there were some major challenges that have made her experience somewhat frustrating. Here she outlines things she didn't like about her internship:

• Reports! Writing reports is tedious.
• Applying theory to work. Sometimes theory is hard to apply. Things happen and you cannot go by the measures of a textbook to explain them.
• I found getting involved difficult. It's hard to network when you're just thrown into a situation and expected to become personable and chatty.
• Making sure people take you seriously and give you a combination of practical and research-based tasks. Know what you need to make it a successful internship and don't be afraid to ask for it.

Karen found the actual process of looking for internship quite challenging, too, and the actual placement a little disillusioning. She says, "The frustrating aspect of this entire thing was the realization that people may not want your free work. The idea sounds awesome -- in theory -- but the reality is that even if you want to work for free it will cost you a lot of time and effort including countless applications, references, interviews and so on." She says that after coming to Royal Academy she realized that there was no guarantee that she'd get to do what she needs to do to get specific experience.

Overall, however, Karen seems to be happy with her experience and says that it taught her one extra lesson she never expected to learn: "Finding an internship was an eye-opener to the realities of the working world. I can only worry about how hard it is going to be to get a job with a salary," she says.

Either way, as hard as it all seems to be, I think nothing beats getting home via a double-decker bus.

Jowita

(*Not her real name -- she asked to protect her privacy as the internship is still going on.)

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Karen*, a 23-year-old Canadian student, works for one of the top art institutions in the world: the Royal Academy of Arts (RA). She had applied to a few places and never counted on even hearing back from her first choice despite being a top student. When she did hear -- they wanted her -- she squealed in delight (her words), arranged a flat rental, booked her ticket and off she went.

Two months into the internship we checked with her to find out how things are working out.

What does she like about her internship?

• Being invited to awesome events. I have only gone to a handful of events but they were great for meeting people.
• I do what I want. I walk into my office, do some work and then I can go have lunch and walk around. The freedom given with doing free work can be good.
• The location is awesome! Being situated in the heart of London is amazing. There are galleries and auction houses everywhere. Sotheby's and Christie's anyone? It is important to consider where you will be placed for your internship. Even if things do not work out and it gets boring, if you are in an awesome place then you can make up for it.
• What's in a name? Considering the name of the institution and the reputation is important.
• Working in a medium-sized institution means I got to dabble in the entire Collections Department. A smaller museum would likely mean more tasks and a larger one would translate into more focused tasks.
• I was able to combine my internship with the chance to make my own work (a print). I am working on an edition and I get to put up a work in the staff exhibition at the RA. The fact that I can build my artist CV while pursuing a museum studies degree is amazing.

Sounds great but there must've been some things that annoyed her, no? Yes! Tune into our next and final installment.

Jowita

(*Not her real name – she asked to protect her privacy as the internship is still going on.)

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Internships are meant to teach young people about the work environment they're interested in. And, hopefully, they put theoretical knowledge into practice and test all the assumptions people may have about their goals. So it makes sense that internships would be accessible and should at least partially reflect what a person wants to do for living. Sadly, according to Summer Interns: Few Jobs, Modest Pay, Less Partying, working as an intern means little (or no) pay coupled with menial and often unrelated tasks. Occasionally, applicants even have to pay for their placement.

I was always encouraged to get experience in fields that I wanted to work in. First, during my undergrad Psych degree, I volunteered as a counselor for a distress centre and discovered I was not cut out to deal with people's mental health issues. It was a gratifying experience but I just wasn't that committed to it. Second, I worked at a small-town paper as their Arts & Culture reporter on a very short stint, which, in turn confirmed that I enjoyed telling more than listening.

In both cases, it was the hands-on experiences that gave me a glimpse of what my possible working environment could be like and I'm grateful for it. Over the years, I volunteered and interned at many other places, using what I learned to deduct what worked and what didn't. For example, I couldn't spend a whole day on the phone dealing with people; I needed quiet time. I couldn't do data entry for long periods because I needed variety. I dealt amazingly well with deadlines, however, and produced a lot in a short period of time. I learned all of this by actually doing it.

This is what I think internships are meant to do. I'm curious to find out if things really have gotten so dire -- is it really all about making coffee, copying papers and being broke? Tune into our next two blogs to read about one Canadian intern's experience working for the Royal Academy of Arts in London, England.

Jowita

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A few years ago, I worked on a contract for a company that boasted great employee morale and frequently organized events devoted to entertaining their employees. There were golf matches, movie nights, fun lectures on wine tasting and meditating, yoga classes, dancing lessons and a number of BBQs throughout the year. One Friday, at the end of the workweek, a cart filled with beer rolled through the building and stopped at everyone's desk! The company often landed on the list of best employers in the city and even in the country.

Recently, The Toronto Star published its 50 Best Employers list. The ranking is based on a study that is supposed to figure out how much of a company's workforce is truly engaged, according to Neil Crawford, the leader for the annual Best Employers in Canada survey. Engagement is measured according to how well employees speak about their company and whether they show "eagerness to be part of the organization and the degree to which they are inspired by leadership, the culture and what the company is doing for stakeholders and customers."

A company I worked for while in university is currently on the list but the one I did contract work for is not mentioned. Why? It doesn't exist anymore. The coddled and courted workers got the shock of their lives when this Canadian company's president and founder sold it to a U.S. conglomerate. The conglomerate quickly ate it up but not before spitting out all of those ever-so-satisfied employees.

Jowita

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Seven years ago I heard about an opening for a writer for a new, cool TV show. I had no experience writing for TV but someone recommended me to the development producer, so I went and met with her to talk. She explained what the show was going to be about and said they were still working on episode ideas. I went home and spent the next 12 hours (I worked all night) writing out potential ideas. I came up with 96 and emailed them to the producer. Unfortunately, the show was pulled before it even launched (hopefully, not due to some of my suggestions). I'm still recovering from that night -- I think I might've fried my brain.

This is probably the most extreme I've ever gone to get a job but there are some people out there who will go to any lengths. A CareerBuilder.com survey found that people have done things like bringing a video recommendation from a former boss, designing the prospective employer's entire portfolio and, in one case, a woman dealt cards and pretended to interact with clients -- this in order to get hired as a blackjack dealer. Not to forget the man who sang his resumé.

Of course, like with everything, trying to impress the future boss should probably be done within reason. CareerBuilder.com lists some hilarious (and scary) things that were actually said in job interviews. One candidate being asked why he wanted to work for the person interviewing him responded: "My old boss didn't like me, so one day, I just left and never came back. And here I am!"

Jowita

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It seems that every time the topic of job searching has come up lately, the question has been raised, should one "tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God?"

I recently attended a session on how to complete an online application. Many large employers are using this method for screening potential candidates and I was interested in understanding the ins and outs of the process. The instructor stressed the importance of checking all the boxes that match the requirements listed in the job posting. If you don't, you're out of the game. In fact, there's no point applying at all. When you have the choice between lying about your skills and forgetting about the posting, lying becomes an attractive proposition, especially when you know that you can do the job and easily acquire the missing skill. Why should you exclude yourself from the competition because of an unbending and unthinking automated system? "The important thing is to get that interview," the instructor insisted.

My son, who has been trying to find a summer job for the last few weeks, was advised by his friends to beef up his resumé a little and come up with fake references. They even offered their phone numbers as reference contacts. That's handy!

A co-worker, who was unemployed last year, told me that she started leaving her M.A. out of her resumé from fear of being seen as overqualified and quickly disqualified. Can you blame people for omitting information that limits their chances of getting a job?

Whether it's omitting to mention important facts or manipulating the truth to make it look better (such as only including the year worked in your employment history even if it was a four-month stint or a part-time job), it appears that "that the current economic climate and the resulting competition for jobs could push candidates to bend the facts in their favour," research carried out in the UK deduced.

But, how much are you willing to bend the truth? Does it depend on how bent you are? There's a big difference between a little white lie that presents the facts in an advantageous light and a bold lie. Or, does it depend on how desperate you are and the implications of your lie. Saying that you know CPR for a lifeguard position is different than making up a reference to get a dishwashing job.

The hiring process is frustrating for job seekers. It is very competitive, often complicated and has become very impersonal. No wonder people feel obliged to play around with facts or to simply lie. Only your conscience can guide you.

Josée

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Sometimes looking for postings on job sites can be like chasing rabbits. The good jobs that pop up on the screen are few, far between, and fleeting. It can be especially frustrating and confusing to discover that the herd of cottontails you've been pursuing is really one bunny cloned a dozen times. And sometimes those tasty long-eared critters are but visions, ghosts of rabbits past.

All this to say that the happy (virtual) hunting ground you've landed on may not be as flush with jobs as it appears. Instead, you may rapidly realize that many of the "perfect-for-you" postings are duplicate jobs or -- worse yet -- have already been snagged by another job hunter.

If you've experienced the above scenario, chances are you've wandered onto a job board aggregator site. The Diggings blog explains that job aggregators, like Indeed or Simply Hired, collect listings from thousands of job boards around the web. If you apply for a job found on an aggregator site you must sign up to the job board that originally posted the position. According to Diggings, aggregator sites contain many positions that have already been filled and some that are fraudulent.

And then there is the problem of duplicate listings, which occurs because many employers advertise their openings on multiple job boards. Jason of The Talent Buzz blog did a search on indeed.com for Microsoft jobs. Of the 4,043 jobs he found listed, there were only 616 openings!

Don't make the mistake of confusing aggregator sites with job search engines. Although both scour the web for listings, job search engines pull postings directly from company websites not job boards.

The Canadian job search engine I know about is Eluta, which in March overtook Monster as one of Canada's most-visited online job search destinations. I did a small search of random occupations on Eluta, finding that most of the postings (except for writing ones, for some reason) were current and linked directly to the companies' websites.

Eluta also allows you to search jobs collected from Canada's top employers, the best employers for new Canadians, and green companies. In addition, the site can focus on the best employers of new graduates -- just plug in your degree and your area of study and voilà! Jobs appear, just like a rabbit pulled from an old top hat.

kathyo

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A recent Toronto Star article reveals that, amongst 19 major worldwide cities studied, Toronto has the worst commuter times. While the article mainly focuses on Toronto's systemic transportation problems, it leaves me with a compelling question: how much time are we willing to spend commuting to work and at what cost?

According to a 2005 Statistics Canada study, the average Canadian spends the equivalent of 12 full days a year commuting. Further analysis of the study shows that people who spend more than two hours a day travelling between home and work are more likely to loathe their commutes.

An article in Business Week notes that commuting is associated with many negative health and social effects, including raised blood pressure, musculoskeletal disorders, increased hostility, lateness, absenteeism, and adverse effects on cognitive performance. Despite these findings, extreme commuting—spending more than 1.5 hours getting to work and back—is becoming increasingly common in North America.

When you live in a big city like Toronto, commuting is a complex issue, especially since rent and real estate prices often dictate where you live. Family members who go to work or school in opposite ends of the city are especially plagued by commuter frustrations.

Over the years, I've gone back and forth on the commuter debate. I've certainly made longer-than-ideal commutes for the sake of having a job that I thought would advance my career. And last year, after I had been unemployed for several months and was feeling increasingly desperate, I even made a daily three-hour round trip for a job. But when I think about the hours I wasted on streetcars, subways and buses, I start to wonder whether long commutes are ever really worth it. What do we get in return for our daily treks? Perhaps a nicer house that we barely spend time in? Slightly larger salaries that end up being used to buy items and services to compensate for lack of time?

We all have compromises that we make in life. I guess when it comes to commuting, you need to decide whether you’re actually getting somewhere or merely spinning your wheels.

Veronica

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