Job Hunting is sooooo frustrating right now!

[mykalberta]

Originally Posted by MissKat

I have a question for any resume experts on CP. I was told that its really critical to try to keep your resume 2 full pages at the max. For listing your previous work history, how far back should someone go? Im 28, and my first job was when I was 16. I have about 7 or 8 jobs on my resume but thinking about cutting it down to perhaps 5?

I have always been told to keep it at 1 + Cover Letter.

Just put a note on the resume that indicates there is more information.

[WesternCanadaKing]

I FINALLY got an interview today, after searching for a job for quite a while. I was scouring craigslist, Herald classifieds, kijiji, everything, everyday and applying at anything I was qualified for.

Not sure if its been posted yet, but the best thing I found was the Canadian Job Bank. Had way more jobs than anywhere else, and it was a company that I found on there that ended up calling me.

I miss the good ole days where they wouldn't even interview you, you could just walk into anywhere and assume you had a job *sigh*.

[Rerun]

Misskat...

Try the Federal government.

My wife applied to work for Passport Canada (no previous passport experience ... her previous positions were as a scheduler for Rockyview Hospital and a long term care facility)

She really enjoys her job. She started out as a CR-4 (clerical) and within a year she applied for and became a passport officer.

Once you get in to a government job, lots of other positions open up for you. There are lots of positions that don't get advertised to the general public and are filled from within. Goverment employees changes jobs / departments all the time.


Try this...
https://psjobs-emploisfp.psc-cfp.gc....noBackBtn=true

if you get past the interviews and the tests (the gov't just loves to test the hell out of applicants... even if you are already working for them), you're gold and set for life. Good pay, good hours, good benefits. My wife started at about $38,000 per year and by the end of June (when her next pay increase becomes effective, she will be making $47,000 per year).

[Rathji]

I have been trying to get on at Shaw since school finished in April. They had a TSR job fair couple weeks back that I attended. 500 or so applicants for what seemed to be 30 or so immediate jobs.

So now I am working in a meat packing plant. Pays the bills, but you are pretty sore for the first few months. They are always hiring if anyone is interested.

[RW99]

Originally Posted by Rathji

I have been trying to get on at Shaw since school finished in April. They had a TSR job fair couple weeks back that I attended. 500 or so applicants for what seemed to be 30 or so immediate jobs.

So now I am working in a meat packing plant. Pays the bills, but you are pretty sore for the first few months. They are always hiring if anyone is interested.

How is the work? All I can picture is working on the kill floor

[cSpooge]

Originally Posted by Rerun

Misskat...

Try the Federal government.

My wife applied to work for Passport Canada (no previous passport experience ... her previous positions were as a scheduler for Rockyview Hospital and a long term care facility)

She really enjoys her job. She started out as a CR-4 (clerical) and within a year she applied for and became a passport officer.

Once you get in to a government job, lots of other positions open up for you. There are lots of positions that don't get advertised to the general public and are filled from within. Goverment employees changes jobs / departments all the time.


Try this...
https://psjobs-emploisfp.psc-cfp.gc....noBackBtn=true

if you get past the interviews and the tests (the gov't just loves to test the hell out of applicants... even if you are already working for them), you're gold and set for life. Good pay, good hours, good benefits. My wife started at about $38,000 per year and by the end of June (when her next pay increase becomes effective, she will be making $47,000 per year).

except for the freeze on contracts that means we only get a MAX of 1.5% instead of 2.3% like was agreed upon.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Rathji

I have been trying to get on at Shaw since school finished in April. They had a TSR job fair couple weeks back that I attended. 500 or so applicants for what seemed to be 30 or so immediate jobs.

So now I am working in a meat packing plant. Pays the bills, but you are pretty sore for the first few months. They are always hiring if anyone is interested.

I tip my hat to you, good sir. Certainly not a coveted job, but as you say, it pays the bills. Long live people who do what needs to be done to pay their fracking bills.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by RW99

How is the work? All I can picture is working on the kill floor

90+ % of people hire go into fabrication. Basically you work on a giant 'disassembly' line cutting , packing, or shipping sides of beef. The worst smell you need to deal with inside the plant is the chlorine for about 10 mins in the morning. You never even touch the meat itself.

Like I said, the worst part is you get sore learning how to use a knife or packing boxes all day. They don't expect you to keep up for ~3 months so it is a perfect 'summer job' for school, in the respect that if you can put up with it, you never really need to do the full job. Starts at $15.xx, which kinda sucks, but most people earn ~$18 after 6 months. Top rate is about $19.50.

The downsides are you tend to get really obsessive about steaks and sharp knives. Most people have no idea how sharp a knife can get till how easy your job is depends on it. I can disassemble a cows hip in about 35 seconds from beginning to end.

Originally Posted by 4X4

I tip my hat to you, good sir. Certainly not a coveted job, but as you say, it pays the bills. Long live people who do what needs to be done to pay their fracking bills.

Meat cutting is my back up job. As long as people eat beef, I will always have a job.

[Sheva #7]

Hey Rathji can you please provide their address or some link to their website or something (if they have it) where I can find out more about how to apply there..I am desperately in need of a job right now and ready to take anything at this point

[ernie]

We're a supplier of the nuclear energy industry....that industry if on fire right now. Hiring left and right. Much of it spurred on by China planning to build a very large number of plant in the next 20-30 years. There have also been efforts to phase out nuclear power in some European countries (Belgium, Germany) but those plans are getting scrapped as the governments realize they can't replace the output with any other "green" technology. For example, Belgium has 3 or 4 small reactors and if they were to cover every scrap of land they could with solar film they's replace about 8 % of the output. Wind power could bring it to 15 %. Numbers may not be exact but you get the drift.

Anyways I digress.....if you want a job right now go nuclear.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Sheva #7

Hey Rathji can you please provide their address or some link to their website or something (if they have it) where I can find out more about how to apply there..I am desperately in need of a job right now and ready to take anything at this point

Cargill Foods.

(403) 652-4688 and ask for Human Resources, they will put you through to the hiring guy.

They interview whoever shows up at 10am and 2pm every day, it starts with a tour of the plant to weed out those who can't handle the environment. You will also need to do a medical once they decide you are suitable. The turnover is high ( ~ 10 - 15 people a week ) so they need to hire at least that many every week.

There are 3 buses to the plant from NE, SW, SE (buncha stops) every shift or it is about 40km from Deerfoot and 22x if you want to drive.

[tvp2003]

Wow, this thread is kind of depressing. Are people here mostly students looking for entry level work, or are there people that have been laid off from mid-level jobs looking for something to pay the bills?

Good luck to all -- I remember 10 years ago when I was in school and nobody would give me a job. When I moved back to Calgary 3 years ago, I was a little bitter because those jobs where everywhere (I was on a different career path so it didn't really matter). Now, it looks like things are back to the way they were before...

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Meat cutting is my back up job. As long as people eat beef, I will always have a job.

Eh, when times aren't the best, or when you're in school, a job's a job. Again, I tip my hat to you. Lots of people would be too squeamish or lazy to work in a meat packing plant.

Story time:

An old friend of mine, an Iranian fellow I met about 10 years ago, worked at Cargill. I met him because I was working at a coatings manufacturing plant. I was the guy that ran the plant, and he was the FOB that had a BSc in chemical engineering and had learned fluent English and French, plus payed off his student debts in Iran for both himself and his wife (who had an arts degree), plus banked $10,000 - just to qualify to immigrate to Canada. By far, the hardest worker I have ever met.

He qualified to move to Canada after accomplishing all the things I just listed. But those weren't the only hurdles. He had to come here by himself and find a job within a few months, or else he'd be sent back to Iran. So he did. He got off the plane, took a taxi to the hostel downtown, and promptly went to the Harry Hays building to look for job postings. Cargill was hiring, as they always are, and so he went to work there. Within a couple of months, he applied for his wife to join him, and was accepted because he was working maximum hours, and had found an apartment to rent.

Not entirely happy working in the plant, but knowing that he couldn't just quit his job, he approached the company I worked for and respectfully requested a few minutes of the chief engineer's time. He proposed that he work for free for two months, part time, to prove his worth to the company. If after that time they wanted to hire him, they could, and if they didn't want to, no obligation. Just a recommendation letter to other potential employers.

Needless to say, he was hired. And much sooner than two months. Him and I became pretty good friends, albiet "work friends", but friends nonetheless. He told me about Cargill. The job, the commute, the turnover, the demographic. And to this day, I have huge amounts of respect for the folks that work there and in places like it. Not because it's some over the top awful job. It's a job. But it's generally not a job that you grow up wanting to work at "one day".

[BlackArcher101]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

Wow, this thread is kind of depressing. Are people here mostly students looking for entry level work, or are there people that have been laid off from mid-level jobs looking for something to pay the bills?

Good luck to all -- I remember 10 years ago when I was in school and nobody would give me a job. When I moved back to Calgary 3 years ago, I was a little bitter because those jobs where everywhere (I was on a different career path so it didn't really matter). Now, it looks like things are back to the way they were before...

Mid-level job/career. I could go get myself a low paying entry level job (dishwasher somewhere), but it would be awfully close to what I can get with EI probably. So right now I'v bought a ton of instructional books to increase my abilities and learn some more skills (ie software). It's a good time to do it.


On a separate note, I have this question which I've heard conflicting answers to. Most job ads I apply to are via e-mail and at the moment I write a different cover letter for each one and include my resume (I have 5 variants focusing on different info). When e-mailing them, I attach them as both a word (*.doc) file and also pdf. Now, my question is... what you normally do with the body of the e-mail. I've heard instead of attaching the cover letter, I should be putting it into the body of the e-mail. What I have been doing though is putting a quick one paragraph intro in the body to get them to read the cover letter. I've also heard that I should be putting both the CV and resume in the e-mail body and not even bother with attachments.

What's your preferred method?

[Winsor_Pilates]

small paragraph in email.
Cover letter attached; I usually have 2-3 templates and makes small adjustments depending on the job.
Resume attached; 2 pages, listing 3-4 most recent jobs, or most relevant to the position

When last job hunting, I also had 2 different resumes. One was typical that listed all of my past employment/education and 1 was skill based that focused on skill groups i had and then showed employment/education.
Skill based worked great for industries I had little or no experience in, as it showed that I still had relevant skills for those jobs and just needed to acquire the industry specific experience. Got my job in an industry I'd never been in, and the skills based resume was a huge factor. I highly recommend this to anyone trying to switch fields.

[Sample00]

I have a friend that works for NWA. She sent me this message so I will pass it along here for people that are looking for jobs.


NWA in edmonton is looking for part time agents. http://www.delta.com/, the careers link at the bottom.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by Sample00

I have a friend that works for NWA. She sent me this message so I will pass it along here for people that are looking for jobs.

Do you have to be a rapper or a wrestler to work for them?

[MissKat]

Originally Posted by Rerun

Misskat...

Try the Federal government.

My wife applied to work for Passport Canada (no previous passport experience ... her previous positions were as a scheduler for Rockyview Hospital and a long term care facility)

She really enjoys her job. She started out as a CR-4 (clerical) and within a year she applied for and became a passport officer.

Once you get in to a government job, lots of other positions open up for you. There are lots of positions that don't get advertised to the general public and are filled from within. Goverment employees changes jobs / departments all the time.


Try this...
https://psjobs-emploisfp.psc-cfp.gc....noBackBtn=true

if you get past the interviews and the tests (the gov't just loves to test the hell out of applicants... even if you are already working for them), you're gold and set for life. Good pay, good hours, good benefits. My wife started at about $38,000 per year and by the end of June (when her next pay increase becomes effective, she will be making $47,000 per year).

Thanks will try that link right now.

[MissKat]

Originally Posted by Sample00

I have a friend that works for NWA. She sent me this message so I will pass it along here for people that are looking for jobs.


NWA in edmonton is looking for part time agents. http://www.delta.com/, the careers link at the bottom.

Thanks, too bad none of the open jobs are in Calgary.

[MissKat]

Can someone comment on this company? I called and the lady wanted to book me in right away for an interview and wouldnt tell me much other than "have 2 non profit organizations that they do work for"...."no selling cause we dont have a product"

http://www.ace1advertising.com/

From reading the sypnosis, im guessing they get companies to get them to advertise for?