TORONTO -- Financial wellness comes in many forms. It can begin with landing the perfect job and the confidence you feel when you truly prepare for an interview and put the effort into learning more about your potential employer.
The good news is: companies are hiring.
According to data from the for the third quarter of 2021, 8.3 per cent of businesses expect to have more job vacancies over the next three months.
In fact, there are job opportunities in every province, led by Ontario and Quebec. According to Statistics Canada, health care and social assistance have the largest need of any sector. In fact, this sector represents one in seven job vacancies in Canada. Vacancies grew in all subsectors, led by hospitals and nursing and residential care facilities.
Opportunities also continue to rise in construction, especially in masonry, painting, or electrical work. Retail trade has struggled to find employees throughout the pandemic, manufacturing has a record number of vacancies and the list goes on.
For someone looking for work,these are encouraging statistics. But it鈥檚tough for employers trying to recruit.
Yet the challenge can still come down to ensuring you have the right skills and present yourself in the right way to a potential employer.
Compensation matters, and so does fit. How do you bring the two together?
As a potential employee:
1. Begin by doing your homework on the company you are interested in. Who they are, what they do, their competitive advantage. Get to know a little bit about the culture and that even includes work attire. What does dress for success in the company look like? You need to prepare for the interview in detail. Doing a little due diligence leads to confidence.
2. Know what you can bring to the position you are applying for. What skills do you have that sets you apart from others? Be crystal clear on what you can bring to the table. You need to highlight these skills during an interview in a thoughtful way. Once again - prepare ahead of time.
3. Look for opportunities where your skills could help the company achieve their goals.
4. Always highlight that no one will work harder for them than you will. You may not have all the skill sets the hiring manager is looking for, however, what you may lack in skills you can more than make up for in attitude.
5. Before leaving the interview, be sure to ask for the job. It is surprising to me how many people will leave an interview without expressing how much they actually want to work there. It can be as simple as saying how much you want that position. By the way, never discuss salary in the initial stages -- that is a conversation for another day and don't self-eliminate from a position before you even know for sure what they have to offer. It never pays to negotiate against yourself.
Given the employment landscape, it just might be a golden opportunity to land that dream job.
