The Bagg Group Blog

Our recruiters at The Bagg Group often tell candidates that looking for a job is like running your own company. Whether you are seeking a full-time position, contract work, or a temporary placement, you need to promote and sell your expertise – just like anyone who owns their own business.

That’s why the tactics which entrepreneurs use to get ahead in the marketplace are useful for job-seekers in the GTA.  With that in mind, staffing experts at The Bagg Group offer these four tips, inspired by the book The Risk Takers: 16 Women and Men Share Their Entrepreneurial Strategies for Success.

1.  Don’t overlook the bonus skill:  Successful entrepreneurs say it’s a good idea to service even small, special or niche markets that others overlook or ignore. In the same way, it’s a good idea for job-seekers to develop extra skills, in their spare time, that others in the field may not worry about acquiring. 

These additional skills —  which may range from learning a second language to a new software program — may not be essential for your work. They may only be of use in certain specific situations. But bonus skills can impress interviewers and give you a competitive edge over other candidates.

2.  Keep your eyes and ears open: Top entrepreneurs say they always stay up-to-date on trends so they can meet new needs and interests.  When in the business of job-seeking, stay up-to-date on trends in your area of work so hiring managers will know you’re in step with ongoing developments in your field.  

3. The best time to do anything is now. Those who operate companies insist there is no perfect time to launch a new idea. Instead, they say, the right time to start anything is ‘now.’  Similarly, don’t wait to start your job search until the economy picks up, the holidays are over, or you get the new Ipad.  Begin it today.

4.  Avoid pessimists. People who have built thriving businesses from scratch say they had to ignore those who insisted their plans would never work.  As a job-hunter, you too will want to seek people who encourage and help you, and avoid those who doubt you.  When you do come face-to-face with a pessimist, remind them that you’ve had a job before, and you will have one again.  Then, change the subject to the weather.

In the next blog, we’ll bring you four more strategies to help you succeed in your business of finding a job.

After 40 years of interviewing candidates to ensure they are the right fit for our clients, The Bagg Group has a well-known reputation for conducting insightful interviews. That’s why hiring authorities across the GTA often consult us on the subject.

One key piece of advice is to use of your limited time effectively. We know you have busy days and can’t afford to spend hours with each candidate.   A good rule of thumb is to ensure the candidate does 75% of the talking.  At a first meeting, it’s critical for you to spend most of your time together listening so you can assess the person’s potential.

If you find you’re doing more than 25% of the talking, you may be falling prey to one of three common pitfalls. 

1. Recounting the history of your organization:  Telling the history of anything takes time, more than you likely have to spare.  Moreover, it’s not essential information that you need to impart.  This is research that the candidate can do on their own time, and should have done before the meeting

2. Detailing your own career path:  It’s not unusual for a candidate to ask how long you’ve been with the company.  One anecdote leads to another, and soon you may find you’ve talked more about your experience and less about the candidate’s than you’d like.

3. Swapping industry gossip:  It’s hard for people in the same industry not to talk shop, especially if they have people and places in common.  

A little chit-chat is great, and recommended to put the candidate at ease. But it’s easy to lose track of time and have little left for the nitty gritty of the interview.

Also, keep in mind that what is said in the interview room doesn’t necessarily stay in the interview room.  When you trade war stories, it’s easy to make off-the-cuff comments that you may not want the candidate to repeat later. 

Two other common pitfalls to watch out for:

Letting first impressions rule:  We all make snap judgments.  Before a person says two words, we can be wowed or unimpressed by their personal style.  

However, as staffing solution experts who have successfully placed hundreds of people in full-time positions, temporary jobs and contract jobs, we know that first impressions can be wrong. 

The candidate who wears an eccentric tie can prove to be a fantastic team-player.  The one with tattoos may not look likes the sales rep you had in mind, but could have the best people skills you’ll ever come across.

Allowing the candidate to have an easy ride: At The Bagg Group, we ask our candidates hard questions, and only recommend those whose answers satisfy us. But we know that a candidate can be nervous in meeting with a hiring authority.

You may be feeling so sensitive to a person’s case of the nerves that you don’t want to add to their stress by throwing them a curve ball.  Sometimes, being too nice doesn’t do anyone a favour. Ask challenging questions as you need and allow the candidate to rise to the occasion.

Has this happened to you?   You write an email, press send, and then regret it immediately.

If you have ever wished you could stop an email, you are not alone.  When you are seeking full-time work, contract opportunities, or temporary placements, you can get into an impatient state-of-mind.  And sometimes that impatience translates into rash actions.  

For example, perhaps on the spur of the moment, you decide to inject some off-the-wall humour in a covering letter because you think this will help you stand out from the crowd.  As soon as you send it, you remember that unless you are applying to be a stand-up comic, you have to be professional, not funny.

Or maybe you are frustrated because you haven’t received a reply from a recruiter or a hiring manager. You sit at your computer and type out an angry email, demanding consideration.  After you hit send, you realize that what is top priority to you is one item on a long to-do list for others.

Linda Stone, a leading researcher who studies human-computer interactions, says there is a reason we may act quickly, and without good judgment, when we’re at our keyboards.   Her studies show that we often hold our breaths while cranking out emails.  She calls this phenomenon “email apnea” – shallow breathing, or not breathing for a few seconds, while dealing with emails.

Doctors confirm that when we hold back oxygen from our brains, we react emotionally, and less professionally.  We are more impulsive, and less reflective.

Our clients, the best companies across the GTA, have many stories about receiving emails from people looking for work who have asked them to delete an earlier email without reading it.  That’s a sign that the sender didn’t take a deep breath before sending the original message.  It doesn’t leave the hiring manager with a good impression.

The best way to avoid this situation? Stay clear-headed. Recruiters at The Bagg Group urge you to step back and breathe before hitting send. That simple act of slowing down for a few seconds can ensure you don’t send out anything that you’ll later regret.

Also, when you finish writing an email, read it over as if you were a busy hiring manager, who doesn’t know you.  Is there anything in your message that could possibly be misunderstood?  Recruiters at The Bagg Group say the best rule when you aren’t sure about whether to say something is: when in doubt, leave it out.

While you are seeking employment, take the time to upgrade your skills, and your knowledge about the industry you work in. 

The best way to bring yourself up-to-date is to follow in the footsteps of companies, and do some Research and Development.

We have placed many candidates with top companies in the GTA after they have done just that.

Organizations undertake R & D for two reasons:  to stay useful to their market, and to stay ahead of their competitors. 

Whether you are seeking full-time employment in the GTA, contract work or temporary employment, looking for a job is like running your own company. The product you are bringing to the market is your service and expertise.

And so, like any company, you too must do Research and Development to make sure you stay up-to-date, useful and competitive. This is an investment of time and energy that you can’t afford not to make.

Recruiters at The Bagg Group say candidates who have upgraded their skills and can talk knowledgeably about new trends and innovations in their field make a positive, powerful impression on hiring authorities.

So how do you conduct Research and Development? 

Staffing experts at The Bagg Group offer these tips:

• Upgrade your skills: Take classes, online or in person, in subjects related to your type of work. Be sure to include these on your resume.
• Attend seminars: Workshops and seminars are great for picking up news about your industry, as well as for networking. Look also for online seminars, many of these are free.
• Read, read and read some more: Read the business pages, trade journals, websites, and blogs about your area of interest. In this way, you stay informed about the people and the situations that are pre-occupying those in your field.
• Make Google your colleague: If you are not currently in an office, you may miss having a work buddy with whom you can exchange news over coffee. But you do have a resource that can offer you just as much insight into what is happening in your area of interest.
• Search engines makes it possible to research everything and anything. For example, if you are looking for temp office work in the GTA, you can discover the skills and qualities that companies consider to be most important nowadays by doing an online search. Or, if you are an IT specialist, you can get the inside scoop on how companies are responding to the latest software programs simply by Googling. It’s amazing what you can discover in the time it takes to have a coffee.
• Talk shop: Share the tips and insights you learn with former colleagues and contacts. This is the best way to keep lines of communication open and ensure a valuable exchange of information.
• Volunteer: Donating your skills to a volunteer organization is a win-win experience. Professionally speaking, you benefit from the opportunity to flex your skills in new situations, and the organization benefits from your help.

All companies consider Research and Development an essential investment in their future.  It works the same way for you.  Invest in some R & D to be the best candidate you can be.

Ask any athlete how they prepare for a game, and they’ll tell you they talk to themselves – a lot.  The pep talk is as much a part of an athlete’s warm-up as stretching.

And what helps in a competition for gold, can work equally well in competition for full-time employment, a contract opportunity or temporary work. 

Staffing solutions experts at The Bagg Group know this for a fact.  We have been coaching candidates on how to interview well with the best companies in the GTA for decades.   

Here are two winning tips for helping you put together a pep talk to give your best performance, whether on a ski hill, a skating rink, or in an interview.

Think about what you can control:   At the Vancouver Olympics, athletes talked to themselves about succeeding at elements they could control, not what they couldn’t.

Jennifer Heil, who won a silver medal in freestyle skiing in Vancouver, told reporters that she prepares by telling herself that she is “going for it” and that she will have a “fun” and “exciting” run.  

And she said, she visualizes being flexible enough to deal with any unexpected event.

She gives herself a pep talk about what she can accomplish on the way to the finish line.  But she says, in sports, it’s impossible to know the outcome ahead of time. So she doesn’t think about it.

 ”I’m doing everything I can,” she told reporters before the Olympic Games.  “And at the end of the da,y I’ll know I’ve done my best effort. I don’t think I can ask more of myself than that.”

Likewise prior to an interview, visualize yourself speaking positively about your prior work experience and your skills.  Tell yourself that you will enjoy the interview and talking, with confidence and knowledge, about issues of interest to the interviewer.

And like Heil, before your performance starts, remind yourself that you are going to give this your best effort, and that is all that you need to do. 

If you focus on things you can’t control — such as other competitors or  the interviewer’s personal likes and dislikes — you will be increasing your panic and anxiety, not decreasing it.

Turn negatives into positives: For athletes, training is often a physically painful experience.  In a Canadian Curling Association blog, Gidon Gabbay writes that athletes know they can’t always eliminate the negative thoughts, so instead they turn these into positive affirmations.

For example, he writes, athletes don’t tell themselves, “This hurts too much, I want to lie down and die.”  Instead they say, “This feeling is connected with doing my absolute best.”

As a job candidate, you may have to do a test, an assignment, or a series of interviews that are truly migraine-inducing.  Take your cue from the curlers, and psych yourself up by telling yourself this challenge is a new experience that is letting you stretch and strengthen some skills.

Remember, what you say to an interviewer is important.  But so is what you say to yourself.

February is the time of year when a lot of people call in sick, and we know, from more than 30 years experience as staffing solution experts, that it’s not just a virus that gets people down. 

About 15% of Canadians suffer the winter blues, according to the Ontario Ministry of Health.  And the desire to pull the blankets over one’s head is aggravated by stress and insecurity at work.  In turn, that prompts headaches for managers and colleagues who are left to pick up the slack. 

A survey of 1,700 employees showed that the three main causes of workplace stress are an uncertain future, an inability to assert control at work, and a lack of organizational support, according to Strategy + Business magazine (September 2009 issue).  The study confirmed that employees who are stressed have trouble concentrating and call in more sick days.  

It’s not news that when work becomes overwhelming, people are quick to take a mental health day.  In October, the Globe and Mail reported that a North American survey of 4,700 employees found that 32% of people call in sick at least once a year when, physically, they feel just fine.

And what do they do on their day off?  Some update their resumes and call staffing agencies.

At The Bagg Group, we work closely with hiring authorities at organizations of all sizes in the GTA.   And we collaborate on solutions to decrease workplace stress year-round for higher employee satisfaction and retention.

 Our clients, top employers in the GTA, know that ensuring employees don’t feel overburdened by their workload is good preventative medicine.

The first step is to support employees by ensuring they are not juggling too many priorities at once.  But if there is a multitude of tasks that must get done, the solution is to spread the work around. In other words, delegate.

With that in mind, our staffing solution experts offer these three tried-and-true tips on how to delegate.  

Trust the one you delegate:  Whether you are hiring a contract worker to take over a project, or an office temp to take over a variety of tasks, you must be assured that they have the appropriate skills, experience, track record, and initiative.  They need to have the right competencies and attitude so you can concentrate on your priorities, worry-free.

Take the time to know the task:  It’s important to break down your project into its smallest components.  For example, write down who needs to be contacted, what research needs to be done, what reports need to be written.  Next to each detail, write your name if you are the only one who can do it, or write a D if it’s something that can be delegated.

Say it, don’t just think it:  No one is a mind-reader.   The more clear and detailed you are about what you want done, and how you want it done, the greater the result.  Go over the breakdown of the task with the person who is taking it over and encourage questions.

Good delegating can’t melt snow, but it can melt away some of the panic and that’s a good boost to the immune system.

Calling on long-ago contacts and others to learn of any possible job opportunities is nobody’s idea of fun.  But that is a fact that works in your favour.

People respect you for making the call because they know it isn’t easy to do. It takes initiative and some courage, and everyone appreciates that.

As we said in the last blog, looking for a job is like having your own company.  What is your product?  Your services as an employee  – whether you are looking for full-time employment, contract opportunities, or temporary work. 

Most companies have to do some degree of cold calling. Your company is likely no exception.  With that in mind, The Bagg Group offers seven tips for when the time comes to pick up the phone and promote yourself.

Remember, this is a call between equals.  You have something valuable to offer – your skills.  If you feel awkward about calling, the person on the other end will pick up on your embarrassment.  And your discomfort will make them uncomfortable.  At that point, they will want to end the call as quickly as possible to put you both out of misery.

Be professional, confident and friendly, and the person on the other end will respond in kind.  The more at ease you are, the more at ease the recipient of the call will be.  The end result will be a more productive, useful exchange of information. 

Set the stage:  Ask the person if you’re catching them at a good time.  Most will respond that they are busy (no one can afford a lengthy chat at work), but will ask the purpose of your call.  You may want to say that you have a “quick” question to reassure them that you will be respectful of their time.  People get impatient and annoyed if you talk too long.

Research before you call:  Look online for any professional information on the person you are calling, on their company, and trends in their market.  Making a relevant comment or providing some information of value establishes good rapport. And if you have any common ground-perhaps you worked for one of their clients – be sure to emphasize it.

Seek information, not luck:  Calling old and new contacts is an important way to identify opportunities, but also to expand your network and get people to think about you if anything comes up.  Don’t ask only if there are openings at the person’s organization.  Instead, set a wider net.  State the kind of work you’re looking for, and ask if they’ve heard of any opportunities in the field, or if they know of anyone you might contact.  

Script your message:  Write out how you will open the call and what you want to say, and rehearse it until it sounds natural. Remember, you have to communicate three things clearly:  The kind of work you do, the kind of work you are looking for, and what you are asking of the person you are calling. 

Have a cheat sheet by your side:  Keep your resume in front of you so that you can quickly refer to key experience and achievements.  Anticipate all kinds of questions and write out bullet point answers to have at the ready.   

Cold calling is always a numbers game. The more people you call, the higher the chance you have of reaching your objective.  It’s work. And like any work, set a schedule for yourself and stick to it.  Then give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done.

Study shows some times to call are better than others, but The Bagg Group recruiters insist it’s what you say that counts more.

Every now and then, anyone who is selling anything has to do it.  They have to pick up the phone and make cold calls or, at the very least, they have to call contacts that have long gone cold.  

If you think as a job-seeker you aren’t selling, it’s time to think again.  Right now you are running your own business.  And what you’re selling are your services as a potential employee — whether you’re looking for a full-time job, contract work, or temporary employment   

Like any business, you have to market, as many ways as you can.  Cold calling everyone and anyone you can think of could be one of those ways.

At The Bagg Group, we are often asked when is a good time to call new contacts or revive long-lost ones.  Speaking with hiring managers in companies across the GTA, we know that it’s much more important to focus on your message, than on the day and time of the call. 

There’s no crystal ball that will let you know whether your call is perfectly timed or not.  Typically, people don’t answer if they are otherwise busy.  So if someone picks up, they may not have a lot of time to talk, but it’s safe to say they aren’t in the middle of a crucial meeting. 

Still, according to Dr. James Oldroyd of the Kellogg School of Management, some times and days may be better than others.  He analyzed more than a million cold calls, made by thousands of professionals, at 50 companies.  

Dr. Oldroyd’s study investigated traditional sales cold calls, but the findings can also be of interest to job-hunters.   According to his research …

Thursday is best day to call someone out of the blue, and get a conversation going. It’s 19% more effective than Friday.

Friday is the worst day of the week for cold calls..

The best times to call are first thing in the morning, between 8 am. and 9 am and end-of-day between 4 pm and 5 pm.

Still, for job-seekers, the expert recruiters at The Bagg Group can’t emphasize enough that it is always what you say, not when you call, that really counts. 

The best call depends not on the clock, but on your preparedness, and your friendly, professional tone of voice.  Have your message ready before you pick up the phone.  In our upcoming blogs, we’ll review the key points for a good message and how to follow-up with an email. 

Meanwhile, if you are going to set a day aside for cold-calling, experiment with Thursday. It can’t hurt to try. But of course, there are no guarantees, and some people have their own preferred day and times which work best for them.  Here’s the one thing you can be sure of: nothing will happen if you don’t make contact – on any day.

The beginning of a new decade always feels like a clean slate – the zero at the end of the number seems to act like a reset button.  And for those seeking employment, it’s the perfect time to reflect on what you want to delete, and what you’d like to keep, as you move into the future.

At The Bagg Group, we have been helping candidates find full-time opportunities in the GTA, as well as contract work and part-time employment for more than three decades.  We know, from experience, that the best thing you can do is keep your list of achievements top-of-mind, and delete any history of bitterness and resentment from past work experiences. 

This is not always easy.  But it’s a great new year’s resolution to make.  To help you stick to it, ask yourself, as a job-hunter, “How is being anything less than positive going to help me?”  The answer is simple.  It’s not.  

Hiring managers across the GTA tell us they steer clear of candidates who project negativity.  And we know that contacts who might be able to help a job-seeker also prefer not to take the call of someone who will bring them down.

A 30-year-old University of California study is still used as the definitive research on non-verbal communications. The study shows that tone of voice accounts for 38% of people’s perception of you, and body language for 55%. That means that the actual words you speak only contribute to 7% of a person’s impression.

That’s why it’s essential to walk into an interview feeling good, in body and mind, about who you are, and what you’ve accomplished.  Here are two key tips from expert recruiters at The Bagg Group to help you do just that: 

• Write a realistic daily plan and break down each of the day’s tasks into bite-size activities.  In her new book The Follow-Through Factor: Getting from Doubt to Done, Gene Hayden notes that the smaller the task, the more likely you will accomplish it.  What’s more, in this way, each activity will be well thought out to bring you one step closer to your goal.

For example, let’s say your goal is to call a former boss.  Write out each of the steps necessary for the task to be successful, as shown below.

Task:  Contact Bob  (former boss).

Step 1:  Write out key points you wish to convey to Bob.  (What are the 2 or 3 messages that I want Bob to know?) 

Step 2:  Write questions or requests for Bob.  (What do I want the outcome of this call to be?  What do I wish to ask Bob to do? )

• Celebrate all the small wins on your way to finding employment.  Updating your profile on Linkedin is a win.  Calling a contact and setting up a coffee is a win.  Whenever you can put a checkmark next to a task, it’s worthy of a pat on the back.  

Being positive about what you have done in the past, what you are accomplishing day-to-day, and what you can contribute in the future, is a key job-seeking strategy.  So be sure to put it high on your list of resolutions.  And the good news is that it is likely a lot easier to stick to than giving up sugar, fat, and bad TV.

Tis the season to remind all your contacts of your name, say recruiters at The Bagg Group

It’s a great idea to send out holiday cards to people on your networking lists.  It’s not just about keeping a nice tradition going.  The holidays provide an excellent opportunity for job seekers to put themselves on the radar with those who are helpful contacts.

But whether you are seeking full time work, contract work or temporary work, use this occasion to build relationships, not to blatantly sell yourself and your skills.

Our expert recruiters at The Bagg Group have put together a list of etiquette tips for how to send seasonal greetings that impress.

Make it a Happy New Year:  You can’t go wrong with a New Year’s card as it is an occasion that is celebrated by everyone.  It’s a good idea to avoid sending cards with a religious message to mark a holiday unless you are certain that your contact celebrates the event.

If you miss the deadline for sending cards, you can still use the New Year as a good excuse for touching base.  In early to mid January, send an update email that opens with greetings for a happy new year.  Follow this with a short paragraph that details your latest activities.  If you don’t have any professional news, look to share an interesting piece of industry news that relates to your area of work. 

Splurge.  You don’t need to break the bank on cards, but don’t send the very lowest quality on the market.  You want to make a good impression, not a cheap one.  You can never go wrong with cards from Unicef or other charitable organizations.

Keep it classic, not cute:  Consider the greeting card as a marketing piece and keep it professional.   It’s not worth it to you to send a card that could risk being perceived as distasteful, even though you may find it hilarious.  Similarly, one person’s idea of cute is another’s idea of dumb.  

Write a message that is personal, but not pushy:  You need to do more than simply sign your name, but not too much more.  For instance, “Best wishes for a wonderful start to the new decade” or ” All the best for the year ahead” is enough for the occasion.  You may add, if it’s appropriate to your relationship, a line such as, “Looking forward to touching base in the New Year.”

Don’t send ecards to business contacts:  It’s one thing for corporations to send specially-designed emails to their clients, but it’s not ideal as a personal initiative. Unless you know the contact well, don’t send an ecard.  The recipient has to take the time to download the card and most people will not wish to do that so your efforts are wasted.  Even worse, your gesture could backfire as many who suffer from mail overload consider non-essential email simply annoying.  

Keeping your name out there makes a difference.  So make your new year’s resolution to stay top-of-mind.