PossScript

Staying at Home to Relax

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:04:02 -0500

I have a lot of friends who love their jobs. Some of those friends love the jobs so much that they become married to them. There's no actual wedding, nor do they get presents. They don't even get a partner to get married to -- unless work-husband or work-wife counts, a term defined by Wikipedia as "a co-worker, usually of the opposite sex, with whom one shares a special relationship, having bonds similar to those of a marriage; such as, confidences, loyalties, shared experiences, and a degree of honesty or openness. The work spouse is a potentially key relationship when one's actual spouse or boy/girlfriend is not able to be there."

I never had a work spouse but I've had close relationships with co-workers that seemed as important as my personal ones; in fact, I've remained good friends with some of those people, specifically one girl, Dani, who is an executive for a company that seems to employ her beyond her regular work tasks. This girl works hard, travels for work, is sent on trips as bonus (not for work, but if there's some little extra work to be brought along who should really complain -- it's a free trip!). She attends fantastic events, meets celebrities, samples the most luxurious spas and products, goes shopping with her boss, exchanges gifts… in other words, she has a blast. But, once during a friendly chat with her boss, Dani brought up that she was starting to burn out from how hard she's been working, even with the perks of all the trips and the occasional gifts that she wouldn't be able to afford to buy for herself. Her boss didn't get upset but was more surprised than anything. She said, But you don't have a partner, you're not dating seriously and there are no children at home, what else would you do?

With all this free time, right? (Well, she used to be a painter, and a writer and designed clothes, but never mind.) My friend Dani probably laughed as if the boss had said the best joke and they never talked about it again. Dani still works there and I still get her texts "we need to see each other soon as soon as I'm back from LA!," and I know that soon may mean a month from now, if that, and when it does we won't even talk about how hard she's working because she'll be too tired to talk about it. I hope she reads our Last Workplace Taboos article about burnout and takes a hint.

Jowita

P.S. By the way, I asked if she'd like to be interviewed for this blog. She said yes but I simply couldn't get hold of her.

Don't Give Up

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:02:50 -0500

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

Keep a Close Eye on Those Jobs

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:32:06 -0500

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

What I Found Out When I Drove

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:06:17 -0500

I'm one of these people who never thought I'd have to drive. I grew up in a large city but spent my youth in a small town where kids practically drove before they could even walk. I found their enthusiasm and love of wheels unappealing, plus we were always reading and hearing about so-and-so getting into an accident. Drunk driving was the equivalent to taking a spinning class here in Toronto, that's how passionately it was practiced. I drove in a car with a drunk driver once, and once in a trunk. Good times, I really recommend it if you haven't had that experience under your belt yet (not).

Finally, in my early 30s, it hit me that I should probably learn how to drive because I have a family now and it's about time. I took classroom classes right now am taking in-car classes with a patient yet stern gentleman who tries his best to teach me how to not to kill both of us and his car in the process. I am learning standard and it's winter. Our classes happen at night. It snows sometimes; last time we had a mini tornado going with newspaper boxes flying around onto the roads. Some friends -- driving friends! -- say that I'm completely insane to be learning in the winter, in Toronto. And perhaps they're right. Today I had my first car crash and am absolutely shaken up by it. It's nothing serious, everyone is healthy but my confidence level has plummeted (I am a fearless and stupid driver, though now the "s" word applies better).

I will drive again. And a standard. And I will ask my instructor 400 questions, most of them to do with driving. I have already learned that he has to drive close to 300 km a day to attend to all his lessons. He has students ranging from teenagers to a woman clocking at 70. The boys (because it's most boys) who moved here from the country do the best -- they know cars from their early years of having to operate farm equipment and so on. I'm fascinated by how the instructor's car is designed to teach driving -- all the extra mirrors, the brake on his side, the fact that students like me probably kill his transmission ruthlessly with our uncoordinated feet. I don't know how large his allowance is for damages like that but he indicated it's not huge. After the official classes are done, the instructor himself prepares people to pass their road test (G2) (I know I'm in no "danger" of passing that yet) and he himself gets tested as an instructor to make sure his training is up-to- date. Look out for a future career profile where I may just cover the job of a driving instructor.

Jowita

Handmade Toilet Paper

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:16:20 -0500

Long time ago in a country in Europe we had "our" butcher, shoemaker, baker, the farmer from whom we'd get eggs and milk. My grandmother got her dresses made at "her" dressmaker and my mother would get sparkly water from a place downstairs across the street. My grandmother shopped for buttons for the sweaters she'd knit at ... a button store! This wasn't some magical land but communist Poland and I'm sure part of the reason for these services was because otherwise there would be nothing -- it's not like the sickly government had any money or desire to open up gigantic serve-all malls where all your needs could get met. No matter, I'm a fan of local and ma-and-pa shop, though probably not as much as a respectable hipster because I will go to Wal-Mart simply out of laziness and convenience. Still, to some extent I'm willing to support people who source and sell local, handmade products. I did all my Christmas shopping via Etsy.

According to the Vancouver Sun article Artisanal food creators find recipes for success, "Artisanal food products are a fast-growing sector of the food service economy." But it isn't necessarily because people are being pretentious, make cutesy chocolates to poo-pooh the big-box stores and show their superiority. As Marcus Samuelsson observes, "Many underemployed or unemployed are pulling themselves up by creating something on their own in order to become fully employed again."

Recently, a giant happy retail complex opened across the street from our office. It has a humongous grocery store and a big discount clothing store on the top floor. I go there a lot because it's easier than schlepping to the neighbourhood butcher/bakery shop (actually there are a couple of those around here). And I know that the giant happy retail complex itself is not so bad as it provides dozens of jobs for people so I can't be mad at it being here and stealing business from the local business owner. Still, I do feel guilty about it and am not sure how to make peace with those feelings.

Jowita

This is a hilarious parody about artisanal being taken to a totally different level.

And, Again, it Pays Off to be Social!

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Recently I decided to deactivate my Facebook account. If you've ever tried to do that you know that it's kind of complicated to delete it permanently and you always have the option to come back if you don’t really, really (REALLY) mean it. I didn't really mean it but I wanted to see how the break from Facebook would help me. As I was off of it, I thought about all the bad and good stuff that using social media has brought into my life. And I kept coming up with the good far outweighing the bad. I've met really interesting people via social media, I've done interview requests by using it, I've followed some people I admire and have been able to contact them. I've used it to advertise my side projects. But most importantly, I've made a very important professional contact that I value more than anything. As much as I'm struggling to admit it, Facebook was not so bad for my professional life. So I went back and I've no intention of disappearing just yet.

In her column How to Use Social Media to Find a Job, Krystal Yee talks about what we've talked about here at Poss.ca almost nonstop for months now: using social media to enhance your career, through Twitter or Facebook or LinkedIn, and so on. Yee talks about her own success in using social media -- from finding a real estate agent to talking to an editor about a potential freelance gig -- and mentions a survey that found 68 per cent of employers would hire a candidate based on what they've learned about them via social networking sites. Whether this an accurate number or not, the fact is that everybody and their dog checks out your online self so you better be prepared to vouch for whatever is on there. Yee suggests positioning yourself as an "influencer" -- someone who creates his or her own brand by talking (Tweeting) about things that interest you, creating your image as an expert in a given field on social networks. Following Twitter accounts of people you admire and may want to work for is another idea; even joining Twitter to get first-hand info about industry events and gossip can assist you. Whatever you end up doing, don't be a stranger and get used to considering this media as yet another step to getting you the job you dream of.

Jowita

Stay-at-Home Dads

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0500

We all know that staying home with kids is not unicorns, roses and endless sleep. It's work. And, in Canada, men have been getting more and more involved with their children. According to the Labour Force Survey (PDF), in 2010, 54,000 men in two‐parent families (with at least one child under 16) were "stay-at-home" dads, 11 per cent, compared to one per cent in 1976. Toronto's Mio Adilman is part of that statistic, having been a stay-at-home dad since the birth of his daughter in 2010. A former radio and TV producer, he has spent almost two years "working 7 a.m. till 7 p.m." as a full-time dad. His wife travels a lot and is the family's breadwinner. It was decided that Adilman would be the primary caretaker because it made more sense in terms of their incomes. "We couldn't afford a daycare so we decided I'd do it. I've been staying home with Satchi for 17 months now."

Adilman points out that everybody focuses on the actual birth, "the 36-or-so-hours of hell of it," but then the notion that you can never rest again sets in. "I wish somebody told me that you really don't rest. People try to help but they don't help in the way you want them to," he says, and I agree, thinking of the many hours spent entertaining both the eager grandparents and the baby and falling flat on my face when the "babysitting" was over. As for Adilman, being a stay-at-home-dad he only wishes his friends would understand why he's so tired and can't hang out, why this is not personal. Have people made any comments about him being a male taking care of a baby? "Yeah. Somebody asked me if I lactate," he says and neither of us laughs. We are both too exhausted.

Jowita

The Toughest Job in Town?

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:27:14 -0500

I've worked in retail. The longest was probably a bunch of months sometime in my 20s when I was in school and also a miserable employee of La Vie En Rose. The actual store, which sells lingerie, was a nice enough environment where, it seemed, we were all be cocooned in pink and lace and frills -- I have a girly girl side to me and I appreciated that. To a point. After a while the pink got to be a bit too much and there was nothing nice about working in a store. Okay, almost nothing. The only "things" that come to mind were two girls that I made friends with, Jennifer and Anita, but even friendships were hard to come by in that place. My manager was an unhappy lady who said bitter, undermining things to us, and one of her assistants was a troubled girl who really got off on the fact that she was a "key holder," meaning she could open and close the store, which, in turn kept her on a power trip from hell. But even that wasn't the worst thing. No, the worst thing was the customers who treated us all equally badly and complained about every single thing -- from a dust bunny in the corner of a change room to the music we played. (And the music was a whole other issue -- the main office insisted we play certain tunes, so, for example, the entire Christmas season it was Madonna's "Santa Baby" and All-Sinatra-All-the-Time. On repeat.)

I loved reading At Your Service by Caitlin Kelly, who "after three decades as a reporter [entered] the low-wage world of retail." She writes, "I had met impossibly tight deadlines at The Globe and Mail and [the] Daily News, but being shouted at for running out of gift boxes? Our job was the classic exemplar of stress -- responsibility without authority. Yet whether customers are finger-snappingly imperious or monosyllabically indecisive, the associate must inveigle them into actually buying something." Kelly now has a book out of the deal, (Malled: My Unintentional Career in Retail), so it all worked out in the end but reading her article made me appreciate my own retail time that was far, far behind me.

By the way, I'm not knocking it (retail) by any means -- I'm simply being reminded, again, that those lovely (or even not so lovely) people standing on their feet all day to sell me or you a pair of socks or a book are hard-working, underpaid and possibly tougher than many writers I've met (myself included). Remember that, this time of year (holiday rush) and I'll sign off with this quote from Kelly: "In retail, I had to be on from the minute I clocked in and donned my plastic name badge to the second, feet burning with exhaustion, I staggered home. Retail work resembles acting: employees are minutely observed by co-workers, managers, customers -- and those ever-present security cameras. [...] Holiday-season shifts offered a Chaplinesque workplace frenzy as long lines of toe-tapping shoppers stared at us impatiently. Why couldn't we work even faster? And, oh, the fury when we disappointed them!"

Jowita

Scotiabank Bringing People on Board

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:26:26 -0500

If you are the financial type, Scotiabank is not a bad place to be looking for jobs. Corporate hiring has increased in the last two years (although it may level off in 2012) with about 200 to 300 positions posted each month on the Scotiabank site.

Scotiabank is looking for "everything," says Mike van Doorn, senior manager of staffing and planning, who spoke last month at an information session held at JVS Employment Source North. Indeed, the site highlights a number of positions that range from contact centre reps to project managers to IT specialists.

You're encouraged to apply online for these jobs as about half of all corporate positions are filled through the job board. Van Doorn's colleague, Scotiabank recruiter Lucy Zhuang, a former JVS client, also mentioned networking as an alternate way to get your foot in the door. (While participating in a JVS program Zhuang found a mentor who had worked at Scotiabank which lead to information interviews with Scotiabank personnel and eventually a job offer.)

After applying online, your resumé goes through an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). Applicants who do not possess key hard skills (skills specific to a particular occupation) or who have spelling or grammatical errors in their applications will be screened out. Zhuang stresses that you should always customize your resumé and she further advises anyone applying for a job to think about what the employer needs. "Don't try to sell [someone] a house when they want to buy a condo."

Van Doorn has some further insight on the application process, pointing out that it's better to apply to a position sooner rather than later as HR personnel sometimes start going through resumés early. Also, van Doorn, who prefers a chronological style resumé, pays the most attention to an applicant's last few jobs and doesn't pay much heed to cover letters, mainly reading them to get a sense of a candidate's grammatical and communications skills. (Contrast this to Ryerson University where your application will be rejected if you do not send a cover letter.)

If your application makes it through the ATS human resources staff may call you for a short screening interview. If you make the final shortlist, you'll be asked to attend an in-person behavioural interview. Depending on the hiring manager you may have to attend yet another behavioural interview as well as a panel interview.

According to van Doorn interviews at Scotiabank focus on applicants' soft skills. In the Canadian market soft skills have a high value especially for more senior level jobs, says van Doorn. In his opinion, job hunters sometimes stop their job search to go back and get more certification [thinking this will make them more employable], when it might have served them better to have focused on improving their soft skills.

Note that Scotiabank does not list pay grades. So to prepare for questions about salaries, you need to do research on such sites at Glassdoor.com, which contains salary information for many companies. (Glassdoor also provides reviews of companies by employees or former employees. As well, people who have had an job interview with a particular company write about their experience.)

If you think you qualify for a job at Scotiabank, apply now and always keep plugged into poss.ca. Come March we'll have a feature on working in banks.

kathyo

Making the Best of It

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 11:26:39 -0500

On the day of writing this blog I'm running on five hours of sleep. My toddler woke up at 4 a.m. and I made the mistake of taking him to bed with me because he's sick and I don't think clearly in the middle of the night and he was so miserable and I'm such a softie and, and ... and so on. We both fell asleep around 6:30 a.m. and woke up at 7:30, I got him ready, got me ready, got dropped off at the daycare (not me) and went to work (not him). Busy. Frantic. Underslept. Hey, have I written about this sort of thing before? I can't remember. I'm actually half-drunk. Or it feels like I'm half-drunk because that's how it is when you don't sleep but still have to function fully in your everyday working life.

I know I'm whining and I know that I'm quite privileged to be working and being able to pay for daycare and I've only one little guy to worry about while many other working moms struggle to make ends meet. I'm still baffled as to how so many of us manage to go to work and be quite productive when raising small kids. Or dealing with anybody in our life for that matter, anybody that may need help and attention -- a sick parent or a partner, or an animal (have you ever dealt with a really sick cat? Worse than a toddler, I guarantee you.) The reason I slept so badly last night wasn't just because of the sick toddler. It was because I lay there and obsessed over not sleeping and having to wake up and making it to work on time because I have to leave in time to pick him up from the daycare, and, oh my god, it's now 5 a.m. and I'm still lying there, thinking and trying to force myself to relax enough to sleep. And I'm getting kicked in the stomach by little feet while I'm trying to accomplish this. Anyway, I'm a mess today. I can still think clearly enough to finish this blog but ask me to come up with some good ideas for a bigger article and I'm toast. I have to put it off till another day where sleep is not a precious commodity like saffron.

And what keeps me going is knowing that we all (working moms, working partners, working children, working pet parents) usually pull through the difficult times and the lack of sleep and we make it to work and try to make the best of it. Yawn.

Jowita