The Bagg Group Blog

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.

There is more to a job than a paycheque.  At the Bagg Group, we know that money matters, but it isn’t the only thing that does.

When our recruiters talk to people who are seeking full-time opportunities, contract opportunities, or temporary-placement, we ask about more than salary.

As well as talking about your skills and experience, we ask about your interests. What do you care about?  What are your ambitions, what do you hope to achieve?  What does a great day at  work look like for you?  These are terrific questions to think about before you go to any interview.

Our recruiters have asked themselves the same questions, and our answers have resulted in The Bagg Group winning the Award for Commitment to Community Service and Education from our industry, the Association of Canadian Search, Employment and Staffing Services (ACSESS).  For the second time.

As a staffing agency, we found that we care most about empowering people.  We believe we succeed when we help our candidates, clients and community meet their goals. The Bagg Group was founded on that belief over 40 years ago, and it continues to drive us today.

That’s why we sponsor a Human Resources Professional Association (HRPA) scholarship that enables a person to complete studies in human resources.

It’s also the reason why we launch and support so many charitable initiatives.  This spring,  recruiters got together to help send our company president, Geoff Bagg, and his son to Honduras to do volunteer work and donate a house to one of the poorest families in a region ravished by poverty and neglect.

Every December, all us at The Bagg Group shop together for gifts for the Scott Mission Adopt-a-Family program.  And we have a great time.

As a group, and individually, we are energized by giving back.  Thinking of how we can best help others makes us more creative in all that we do.  We are inspired to think about more ways we can support our candidates and clients.

So consider what it is that inspires you to be the best you can be?   Acting on your answer will help you succeed in interviews, in your job, and in everything else you do.  We have the proof in the successes of the hundreds we have placed in the best companies in the GTA – and in the awards that hang on our walls.

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.

It happens on occasion that you get called to interview, and even as you write down the time of the meeting, you decide you don’t want the job. 

Sometimes, your instincts are right.  But with more than 30 years in the business of staffing, the recruiters at The Bagg Group know that often people are guided not by instinct, but by preconceptions. 

The definition of a preconception is an opinion that is formed before you have adequate evidence.  And jumping to conclusions is never a useful strategy.  Certainly, it is not an advisable plan for anyone who is seeking full-time employment, contract opportunities, or temporary work.

At The Bagg Group, we urge all candidates to lose their biases and instead make informed judgments about opportunities.  The key word is “informed.”  That means going to an interview and learning all the facts before deciding on anything.  

To that end, approach the interview with an open mind, and the attitude that ‘you just never know.’  Many of our candidates have reported back that they were pleasantly surprised. 

At best, the opportunity for which you are interviewing offers more potential than you anticipated.

At the very worst, your meeting with a hiring manager gave you a chance to practice your interview skills.  And that is worth every minute of your time and effort. 

What’s more, you can never afford not to make as good an impression as possible.  The people you interview with today may move to new company in the GTA tomorrow.  And their new position may be at your dream company. You want to make sure they remember you well.   

That’s why as staffing experts, we urge candidates to always dress for the interview, do their preliminary research on the company, prepare questions, and show enthusiasm, regardless of their preconceptions.

Cecil Taylor, a pioneering jazz musician, is famous for saying, “You must surrender whatever preconceptions you have about music if you’re really interested in it.”

His words apply equally well to anyone who is interested in expanding their work skills, knowledge, and opportunities.  Give every interview a fair chance, because every chance you take can be a chance to win.

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.

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.

The art of writing a good resumé is taking on renewed importance as unemployment rates remain high and the number of candidates vying for the same job increase. Yet many job hunters are making mistakes that eliminate them from the short list, say recruiters.

“It is a very competitive landscape,” says Jackie Chua, general manager of the Full Time search arm with The Bagg Group in Toronto. “There are lots of resumés to be reviewed.” Spelling and grammar mistakes, fluffy or vague language and bad formatting are still prevalent when sifting through a stack of resumés, so many recruiters say there is a need to get back to the basics….

Many organizations use applicant tracking systems that will automatically search for certain keywords used in the job postings. If those words don’t appear in a job hunter’s resumé or cover letter, they could be weeded out, so make sure to read the posting carefully.

Tailor your resumé to each organization and align it and your cover letter with the needs of  the organization and the posting, demonstrating you have done your research. It all starts with the first document a recruiter will see.

Cover letters should be no longer than three concise, succinct paragraphs outlining your skills, education and experience in relation to the job posting. In the last paragraph, outline why you are interested in the job and the company by showing you have done your research on the firm.
Most recruiters advise against using a functional resumé that groups skills; instead, utilize a more effective chronological resumé that highlights jobs individually. Professional experience and education should be first and second on the resumé. Avoid using corporate job descriptions, since your job has likely evolved or expanded during the time you have worked there. Instead, use concise language to be as specific as possible about key roles and the achievements you have reached, such as milestones and performance targets.

In both cover letters and resumés, make use of white space to avoid clutter. Similarly, avoid long bullet lists and compress the points into smaller groups that are easier to read.

The standard format is Microsoft Word, but pay attention to the job posting. There has been a trend toward using Adobe Acrobat (.pdf ) documents, but Word is preferred unless an alternate format is requested in the posting.

Stick to the past 10 years, other than any very important previous experience, since you can elaborate on older experience if asked.

Use positive language and make sure all dates are accurate, since recruiters often verify this information. If you fudge a date, it could come back to haunt you if you get the job…. it’s more important than ever to keep in mind most resumés are not just submitted electronically, but also viewed in that format. Too many people leave the spelling, grammar and formatting functions turned on when submitting a document, only highlighting and magnifying mistakes and generally cluttering the document.

Job hunters can set themselves up for success long before they even start looking for a job if they keep their resumé current. It’s easy to forget key information as time passes, so keeping a document updated on a regular basis will help ensure it stands out and includes all relevant information.

Finally, check with references that they are OK with you using them, but don’t list their names and contact information on your resumé. Just note that references are available upon request, and tell your references what you are applying for so they can have some thoughts prepared if contacted.

Throughout the process, keep in mind the person reading the document. And remember the document’s purpose.”A resumé isn’t to get you a job, it’s to get you an interview,” Ms. Chua says.

excerpts from the National Post, FP Careers, Wednesday November 16, 2009