Job Seekers thread Mark 2

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Originally Posted by Weitz

If you hire someone who is over qualified for your position it’s likely they will continue to look for something else. There’s risks on the hiring side to get someone like that. No reflection at all IMO.

I haven't been in this position as a hiring manager, but my thoughts would be to still interview them.

Ask them in the interview why they want the position. It could be they want a change of pace, they want a change of direction, perhaps location means more than money?

I'd also ask myself if they are there just temporarily, would having them and their skillset in my organization, even if only for a short time, make those around them better? Would (pulling a number out of the air here) 6 months of the over qualified employee, help raise the level and skillset of those around them? Are the other employees better for having worked with them?

Obivously there's a cost/benefit of having to re-hire at some point in the near future (potentially). But *do* the analysis, don't assume because it's a potenital quick turn around that it wouldn't be worth it.

I do note, there is a subset of the work force (I'd consider myself in this) that aren't good at looking for work. The employee that when given a chance excels beyond expectations, but for one reason or another can't demonstrate that at the job search phase.

Could be imposter syndrome, could be they don't want to be seen as bullcrapping, could be that their perceived value is below your perceived value.

Heck, some people want to be a big fish in a small pond.

A guy I used to know from my undergrad days, went on to U of T law, became an associate at a big New York lawfirm. Woke up one morning and said "yeah, I don't want this" and now coaches public speaking.

My brother has a BA and BSW, and runs a small catering company in rural New Brunswick.

Why would someone 'overqualified' apply for a position with your company? Have a conversation and find out. Not everyone wants to be CEO, or a manager. Some people might just really enjoy a niche, and would be happier doing that than "succeeding" aka moving up the corporate ladder.

[Weitz]

I don’t disagree. Was just a comment on why you may ignore someone over qualified.

[81MC]

I can’t help but think a solid 80% of applicants are just looking for a foot in the door. That’s fine, but it’s like having a surgeon apply for a role cleaning service carts; it’s not a step down, but a ####ing leap and there’s no ladder back up.

Then of course, the other candidates who can’t even put together a resume that passes a elementary school drunkards standards of professionalism. #### guys, word has templates for god sakes...

[RichieRich]

Anyone seeing evidence at their work places of “the great resignation” and higher than normal turnover?

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

Anyone seeing evidence at their work places of “the great resignation” and higher than normal turnover?

We've had higher than normal turnover in our corporate office but that is largely because a competitor took a bunch of clients away from us and as a result various people followed those clients.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

Anyone seeing evidence at their work places of “the great resignation” and higher than normal turnover?

Would also be interested to hear about workplace experience with 'quiet quitting'.

[b1crunch]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

Anyone seeing evidence at their work places of “the great resignation” and higher than normal turnover?

I'm a teacher. I took a two-year unpaid leave and I'm just starting my second year of that leave now. I'd been wrestling with quitting/retiring/whatever for a long time and the pandemic basically gave me the impetus to walk away. I've basically been a stay-at-home dad for the last year.

I took a leave of absence to give me options in case I decided that I wanted to go back, but at this point I don't know. I will say, that I don't think I would have done this without the events of the pandemic.

Also at my rural Alberta school we had 6 retirements last year out of a staff of 15. That is ridiculously high for us. While they were all at retirement age, several of them were still relatively young and had expressed interest in teaching for years to come. At least 3 of them I can 100% say, left due to the events of the pandemic.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Would also be interested to hear about workplace experience with 'quiet quitting'.

Had no idea what this was until I started seeing videos about it. Seems like it's just a new term for work-to-rule.

Our company is pretty big on encouraging a good work/life balance and made an effort to encourage people to log off at the end of the day since working working from home makes it easier to work late or reply to emails all the time.

[8sPOT]

I work for one of the large O&G companies and there is a small portion of people who have not come back to the office at all, and a larger portion who work less than the mandated 3 days a week in the office.

It's a big enough issue that HR is trying to figure out what to do.

There's also a sense of O&G just not being the industry it once was, so people have left the industry all together, more than I've ever seen in my time here.

One last point, when I joined the company 10 years ago, employees at that time seemed to be a lot more loyal to the company than today. Where as now, there's a culture shift and employees are making changes that suit their lifestyle and values. Whether that's exiting the work force, or going to a competitor, there's a definitive impact across the board.

[calf]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

Anyone seeing evidence at their work places of “the great resignation” and higher than normal turnover?

My company's turnover is, from the rumblings I've heard, 5-6 times higher than normal. People held on over the last 2.5 years given all the Covid uncertainty, but now finding promotion opportunities that weren't provided. Our peer companies are experiencing the same thing as well.

[bagofpucks]

We have two employers that pay the bills in our house. Both are in boring regulated industries and both didn’t see any loss in profits during COVID.

Employer A took an organized approach to return to office and has realized a lot of employee gains from work from home (in fairness, the company is fairly spread out across Canada, so it does make sense that work from home wasn’t a big deal). They have not seen any change in attrition rates.

Employer B forced everyone back to the office in chaotic fashion despite feedback from employees. The company is now facing unprecedented attrition and vacancy rates and is having a huge problem recruiting, especially for specific skill sets. Interestingly, there has been very little attrition in field roles, so it is all coming from white collar office jobs.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by bagofpucks

We have two employers that pay the bills in our house. Both are in boring regulated industries and both didn’t see any loss in profits during COVID.

Employer A took an organized approach to return to office and has realized a lot of employee gains from work from home (in fairness, the company is fairly spread out across Canada, so it does make sense that work from home wasn’t a big deal). They have not seen any change in attrition rates.

Employer B forced everyone back to the office in chaotic fashion despite feedback from employees. The company is now facing unprecedented attrition and vacancy rates and is having a huge problem recruiting, especially for specific skill sets. Interestingly, there has been very little attrition in field roles, so it is all coming from white collar office jobs.

Employer B sounds like the company my brother works for.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by photon

Had no idea what this was until I started seeing videos about it. Seems like it's just a new term for work-to-rule.

Our company is pretty big on encouraging a good work/life balance and made an effort to encourage people to log off at the end of the day since working working from home makes it easier to work late or reply to emails all the time.

Agreed. But when I think work to rule I think of unions (not meant to be a negative connotation) and working exactly to the letter of the contract. Now it seems as though salaried employees are also beginning to do the same if quiet quitting is a thing.

Originally Posted by 8sPOT

I work for one of the large O&G companies and there is a small portion of people who have not come back to the office at all, and a larger portion who work less than the mandated 3 days a week in the office.

It's a big enough issue that HR is trying to figure out what to do.

There's also a sense of O&G just not being the industry it once was, so people have left the industry all together, more than I've ever seen in my time here.

One last point, when I joined the company 10 years ago, employees at that time seemed to be a lot more loyal to the company than today. Where as now, there's a culture shift and employees are making changes that suit their lifestyle and values. Whether that's exiting the work force, or going to a competitor, there's a definitive impact across the board.

The energy industry (all sectors) has nobody to blame but themselves for this. They have repeatedly demonstrated zero loyalty to their employees, chopping jobs by the thousands when times are tough.

[d00little]

Originally Posted by RichieRich

Anyone seeing evidence at their work places of “the great resignation” and higher than normal turnover?

Anecdotal, but I feel like a lot of people I know switched jobs in 2021 and early 2022, myself included. More than what I would normally see in a 1 year period.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by b1crunch

I'm a teacher. I took a two-year unpaid leave and I'm just starting my second year of that leave now. I'd been wrestling with quitting/retiring/whatever for a long time and the pandemic basically gave me the impetus to walk away. I've basically been a stay-at-home dad for the last year.

I took a leave of absence to give me options in case I decided that I wanted to go back, but at this point I don't know. I will say, that I don't think I would have done this without the events of the pandemic.

Also at my rural Alberta school we had 6 retirements last year out of a staff of 15. That is ridiculously high for us. While they were all at retirement age, several of them were still relatively young and had expressed interest in teaching for years to come. At least 3 of them I can 100% say, left due to the events of the pandemic.

People retiring at retirement age doesn't seem that surprising to me. Especially from a job where you get 80% of your top salary until the day you die. You'd be nuts to not retire.

Are you at retirement age? If so, go for it and enjoy your life. You'll never have to worry about putting food on the table or gas in your tank with that guaranteed pension. No point in labouring if you don't need to.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

Agreed. But when I think work to rule I think of unions (not meant to be a negative connotation) and working exactly to the letter of the contract. Now it seems as though salaried employees are also beginning to do the same if quiet quitting is a thing.

I wish they'd use a better term because it's not necessarily a bad thing to promote.. at least in a context.

I mean someone can go way beyond and use up their lives in service to their employer if they want, but they should be doing it with a specific goal. Maybe it's to advance to a specific position quicker.

But someone who does it out of some sense of loyalty.. the company will do what it needs to do and in the end won't keep an employee around out of loyalty.

So working to rule or quiet quitting to me just means working a reasonable amount and doing what I was hired to do. I'll work overtime once in a while in extenuating circumstances, or take on more work than is reasonable once in a blue moon, but overworking employees and expecting everyone to just be happy with it..

A trend of "quiet quitting" maybe at least raises awareness that a lack of planning on the company's part doesn't require everyone to pay the price by overworking.

[b1crunch]

Originally Posted by Sliver

People retiring at retirement age doesn't seem that surprising to me. Especially from a job where you get 80% of your top salary until the day you die. You'd be nuts to not retire.

Are you at retirement age? If so, go for it and enjoy your life. You'll never have to worry about putting food on the table or gas in your tank with that guaranteed pension. No point in labouring if you don't need to.

Agreed. But teachers in Alberta can retire as early as 55. LOTS of teachers work well into their 60s. Two of these Three retired right at 55 after expressing they'd like to stick around to 60. The other one quit at 54 and cashed out his pension as a lump sum instead of taking it as a pension. All three of the time cited the pandemic as reasons for leaving. The guy who quit at 54 was a full-on Qanon guy (He had a Qanon sticker on the back of his truck) and resented all of the restrictions, so he quit as a kind of protest. The other two retired earlyish because they were burned out with the job during the pandemic (the online/in-school transitions wore on people) so they decided to cash out early.

I'm 40, so I'm not anywhere near retirement age, but I needed a break.

[RichieRich]

If I had the means and spousal support at home (Ie not buying so much stuff all the time) I’d try to retire too but I need more than cat food and a fidget spinner to keep happy. Still have a few years left but depends on investment returns and if I can keep working making a decent wage. Sadly no DB pension or DC for me. So it’s all on me to save/invest. Although not considered “PC” to talk about there might be some future inheritances but one should not rely on those. Heck look how long Chucky had to wait and he’s already got one foot on a banana peel.

At my present company we have had a lot of attrition both at home office and field locations. Definitely seeing a big cultural shift. Hoping HR realizes it’s both people leaving some poor leadership (not all) AND managing wages. Am presently a contractor so hard to decide about loyalty having personally suffered by being loyal and still getting door despite being a higher achiever. At the same time with big change comes opportunity.

[CaptainCrunch]

Bump, I'm currently recruiting for the following role located in Calgary

On behalf of our client, we are looking for a Project Manager based in Calgary, who wants to combine their Construction project management experience with their passion for sustainable energy and green initiatives.
Our client focus on clean energy technology deployment in the built environment and have a highly engaged and experienced staff who deliver projects to clients that make a meaningful impact in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, lowering utility costs, and improving the functionality of all facility types.
If you are passionate about sustainability and have an entrepreneurial mindset this role could be suited you as you will have the opportunity to be part of managing energy conservation, and sustainability projects throughout Canada.
Projects can range from electrical installations, lighting installations, electrical vehicle charger installations, energy audits, building condition assessments and many others.
Qualifications:

• Technical Diploma in Electrical, Mechanical, Construction Engineering Technology or related.
• Experience as an Estimator.
• Minimum 5 years experience working as a Project Manager.
• Direct experience in project management of electrical, lighting, electrical vehicle charger installations, energy consulting, building condition assessments or other energy conservation projects is a strong advantage.
• Deep understanding and experience with the full project lifecycle.

Responsibilities:

• Attend, lead and be responsible for internal hand off meetings of awarded projects with estimating and business development.
• Attain all required information from estimating and/or business development to take over all project responsibilities for execution.
• Create and maintain project progress files, timesheets, and work in progress (WIP) sheets.
• Monitor project health continuously using progress files for project completion percentage and work in progress sheets for financial metric’s and forecasting project costs at completion.
• Build bill of materials and create purchase orders for all required materials, equipment, and ancillary requirements.
• Coordinate all activities on site including deployment of personnel, material delivery’s, equipment rentals, transportation of workers, scheduling of work fronts, demobilization, waste disposal and returning of any unused products.
• Create monthly invoices based on project progress and communicate with accounting division all relevant invoicing instructions.
• Maintain and seek out relationships with material vendors to ensure SPG has access to competitive material pricing and ensure a diverse network of vendors is available to secure material delivery.
• Actively communicate with all new and current clients of ongoing projects to ensure high customer satisfaction. Ensure final walkthrough and sign off when project is completed.
• Attend and lead meetings with clients and stakeholders on project deliverables on an ongoing basis.
• Mentor site supervision on company policies and procedures and ensure compliance with all project safety requirements.
• Perform regular site visits to show our clients a strong management presence on site and to monitor and stay engaged with field personnel.
• Ensure site supervision has all required project information to be successful on site. Internal project kickoffs with site supervision will be key to project success.
• Provide support to in-house estimators and provide feedback on completed projects to help refine estimation.
• Perform estimates as required for additional work on current projects or change order requests from the client.
• Create change order requests for additional work on site or as directed by our clients.
• Regular travel throughout Canada to project sites for progress and client meetings will be required regularly.

Required Skills:

• Must be able to effectively communicate both internally with project teams and externally with clients. Daily communication with site supervision, subcontractors, client representatives and internal teams will be expected.
• Exceptional attention to detail is a must.
• Above average computer skills, specifically with Microsoft Excel.
• Strong financial acumen and knowledge of standard project accounting methods.
• Must be a very quick learner and highly motivated to actively seek out answers to questions.
• Must possess a planning mindset to avoid having to be reactive but must also understand that change is inevitable and can adapt to different situations that may arise during project execution.

COVID-19 VACCINATION
Our clients employees are required to be fully vaccinated a condition of hire in accordance with the Company's Mandatory Vaccination Policy.
Applying with Ian Martin
Ian Martin is an established healthcare, IT and engineering hiring firm with over 60 years’ experience connecting talented candidates with meaningful work. When you apply, you’ll get more than just a chance at a great job—you’ll become part of a vast network of engineering and tech employers that are always changing.
We strive to build teams that reflect the diversity of the community we work in and encourage applications from traditionally underrepresented groups such as women, visible minorities, Indigenous peoples, people identifying as LGBTQ2SI, veterans, and people with disabilities.


If you're interested or know someone who might be, the job link is below to apply


https://www.livehire.com/job/ianmartin/YJG63


You can also DM with questions.

[RichieRich]

When on a contract… how far in advance of the end of contract should discussions of an extension start? Who initiates?

These days does one say hey about that inflation can we add 5% to the rate?