Next_October 2011

LEARN MORE ➧ GET THE JOB


Kelly M. asks: “Should I tailor my cover letter to the job opp?” 5

How to end a job interview on the right note 6

Entrepreneur of the Year finalists’ success stories 7

CIOs reveal fourth-quarter technology hiring plans 12

Premier unveils new jobs plan for B.C. 13

Auto industry shifts gears to attract new recruits 14

expert advice

INSIDE

Call today: 604-580-2772 · www.stenbergcollege.comOver 94% of our grads are employed in their fi eld of study within 6 months of graduation.

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Many job seekers are attracted to ski hills primarily because of the opportunity to work in the great outdoors; jobs in this area would include ski and snowboard instructors

So whether you prefer majestic mountains to the concrete jungle, love skiing or the great outdoors or want to work alongside interesting colleagues while meeting active guests eager to experience nature as part of their recreation plans, this could be the ideal employment opportunity for you.

Front-line positions tend to re-quire good public relations skills and an outgoing, friendly per-sonality, while technical skills are more important for many behind-the-scenes jobs. Whatever the po-sition, a positive attitude and the ability to work as part of a team are essential in this business.

Hiring for entry-level positions is based more on attitude than ex-perience or education, as employ-ers often provide on-the-job train-ing. Post-secondary education will help to accelerate advance-ment into supervisory, manage-ment and technical positions.

Of course, many job seekers are attracted to ski hills primar-ily because of the opportunity to work in the great outdoors. Jobs in this area would include ski and snowboard instructors, heli-ski guides, lift operators and terrain park staff.

An outdoor education super-visor, for example, might co-or-dinate a variety of recreation and educational snowshoe programs and supervise a team of guides. A base radio operator would be responsible for supporting effi-cient mountain communications through the use of the base VHF

It’s not just a job, it’s a mountain experience

see page 4

Whether you’re seeking a full-fledged career or just a part-time job on the slopes, ski hills are alive with the sound of hiring

Did you know that tourism is one of the world’s fastest-

growing industries? It’s true. In British Columbia, tourism is out-pacing mining, agriculture and fishing as a leading industry for the province.

Not surprisingly, it offers a diverse range of job and career opportunities, which means no matter what your interests, you can be sure to find a job in tour-ism that suits you to a T.

This time of year, it would be hard to find a more dynam-ic working environment than at one of the province’s many ski hills and resorts. The snowsport sector offers a variety of stable ca-reer opportunities to suit your in-dividual skills and interests.

While the employment bene-fits are unique and exciting, get-ting started in the industry can be relatively easy because many positions don’t require specific education or training.

Virtually every community throughout B.C. features skiing at or near its doorstep. Wheth-er you prefer to live in bustling downtown Vancouver, a quaint town in the Kootenays or high up in the Rocky Mountains, a job in the snowsport sector is seldom far away.

With almost 100 snowsport companies (including cross-country, heli- and snow-cat ski-ing operations) providing thou-sands of jobs throughout the province, the sector offers diverse employment and lifestyle oppor-tunities.

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BY PAUL HARRIS

Canadian employment saw little change in Au-

gust, with the unemployment rate inching up by just 0.1% to 7.3%.

There was some good news for younger workers, as people aged 25 to 54 saw em-ployment gains that month. However, these were offset by job losses for workers aged 55 and over.

Over the past year, em-

ployment has increased 1.3%, which equates to 223,000 new jobs. Ontario and Alberta saw the largest gains in 2011.

While full-time employ-

ment has increased by 2.2% or

Canadian employment rate holds steadyEnd-of-summer statistics show some good news for younger workers

300,000 jobs, part-time work has gone down by 2.3%, repre-senting a loss of some 77,000 part-time jobs.

GROWTH & LOSSES IN KEY SECTORSIn August, the health-care and social-assistance fields saw employment growth with over 50,000 new jobs being created, while there were employment losses in construction (down 24,000 jobs), transportation and warehousing (down 14,000 jobs) and natural resources (down 12,000 jobs).

SUMMER STUDENT EMPLOYMENTOver the summer the average unemployment rate for stu-dents aged 15 to 24 was 17.2%, which is up from last year’s student unemployment rate of 16.9%. •

Originally published on the Workopolis Blog at www.blog.workopolis.com.

Canada’s health-care and social-assistance fields saw employment growth in August with over 50,000 new jobs created

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radio and telephone systems, a job that requires the ability to work well under pressure and be able to multi-task.

If you were a ski hill’s lesson desk supervisor, you would be responsible for managing the day-to-day operation of the lesson desk and its staff, overseeing the booking of single-day lessons and co-ordinating those lessons with the ap-propriate ski or snowboard instructors.

Various technical and trades positions are also vital to any ski area opera-tions. These include heavy-duty and lift mechanics, electricians, heavy-equip-ment operators and snow-makers.

A lift mechanic, for in-stance, is usually a mill-wright who installs, main-tains, repairs and trouble-shoots lift equipment, as-sisting with the starting up and shutting down of the lifts each day.

Lift mechanics also read diagrams and manufactur-ers’ manuals and are able to perform various mech-anical procedures that re-quire specialized training. They work at great heights, in all weather conditions, at any time of the day or night. Many ski areas offer appren-ticeships in such trades as well.

If an outdoor, active life-style isn’t for you, there’s a variety of positions avail-able indoors in ski rental and repair, guest services, accommodations, sales and marketing or administra-tion.

Food and beverage is an integral part of ski area operations and provides many job opportunities,

from baristas to bartend-ers, cooks to cashiers.

But regardless of the role you’re hired to per-form, most ski hills and re-sorts offer a fantastic array of employee benefits and perks, including skiing and snowboarding passes, dis-counts on equipment sales and rentals and food and beverage purchases and of-ten complementary access to skiing and snowboard-ing at other resorts across the province.

Ski resorts also call for trained professionals in areas you would find in any professional business, such as sales and market-ing, accounting, human re-sources, computer systems and general business man-agement.

With so many types of positions available, oppor-tunities abound for people at various stages of their life and their career – from entry-level to senior execu-tives.

This is the perfect time to visit www.moveonup.ca to learn more about career opportunities in this sec-tor of the adventure tour-ism and recreation indus-try. You can read profiles of people already working in the industry and access in-formation on upcoming job fairs near you.

Many ski resorts gear up for the winter season by holding job fairs during the month of October, as well as maintaining a job-posting section on their websites. So what are you waiting for? The ski resorts are hiring now! •

Article submitted by go2 – BC’s tourism industry hu-man resource association.

Hilltop hiring: Seasonal jobs at ski resorts frequently mean flexibility and funfrom page 1

OCTOBER15 & 16, 2011 10AM-4PM

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GMR-CareerFairAd_Next_Colour.indd 1 10/3/2011 2:22:50 PM

WHO’S HIRING NOW FOR THE 2011/12 WINTER SEASON:• Big White Ski Resort currently seeks lift oper-ators, housekeepers, retail and rental clerks, cashiers, kitchen and serving staff and hotel staff. Visit www.bigwhite.com/contact-us/employment-info for more information.• Cypress Mountain currently seeks applicants for a variety of indoor and outdoor customer service-focused positions across all departments. No experi-ence necessary; on-the-job training provided. Part-time opportunities suit students, retirees and stay-at-home parents. Visit www.cypress-mountain.com/employment for details on the upcoming job fair (October 14 and 15) and a list of job descriptions and featured positions.• Grouse Mountain is hold-ing a hiring fair October 15 and 16 to kick-start its hiring for the season. Bring your resumé and be prepared for on-site interviews. Please allow a couple of hours to complete the career fair process. Visit www.grouse-mountain.com/careers.• Mt Seymour Resorts is hiring 350 to 400 seasonal employees on a full-time and part-time basis. Sea-sonal positions start from early October to late Nov-ember and run until March or early April. To apply, visit the employment page at www.mountseymour.com and complete an online application form; email a resumé and cover letter to [email protected]; or attend the job fair on Octo-ber 22, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., at Parkgate Community Centre at the base of Mt Seymour.

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Writing cover letters can be the bane of some

candidates’ existence. It’s one thing to create a resumé of your accomplishments, but it’s another thing alto-gether to have to creatively sell yourself in a cover letter that’s specifically tailored to the job being offered. Here to save the day: the “T letter.”

The T letter can be used if you possess 75% to 80% of the job requirements. It does not require complete senten-ces or fancy verbiage, merely a line here and there out of your already cleverly crafted resumé.

Open the letter with a power phrase expressing your interest in the position and how you’re the right fit for it, like, “When I read about the job for a sales and marketing manager for Greenbelt En-vironmental Products Inc. on Workopolis.com on Oc-tober 7, I knew right away that this position was of great interest to me.”

Alternatively, “With 15-plus years of experience in accelerated sales and mar-keting roles in consumer goods, I am greatly interest-ed in the position you post-ed on Workopolis.com for a sales and marketing man-ager.”

Then add a simple line stating, “As the follow-ing comparison shows, my qualifications match the re-quirements of the position.”

Next, make two columns. The left-hand side is a list of “Your Requirements”: the main skills and accomplish-ments required of the job. In the right-hand column match each requirement with an applicable qualifi-cation: “My Qualifications.” Make each point succinct, with a quantitative result if possible. For example, “Initi-ated and directed the imple-mentation of a business plan that increased national mar-ket share by 300%.”

This style of cover letter uses a lot of white space but is favoured by hiring managers and resumé screeners, who can easily tick off each point they’ve cited in their job posting against each of your responses, no guessing.

If you do not have a re-quirement, leave it out of the letter altogether. For ex-ample, if they want a univer-sity degree and you have col-lege with five or more years of work experience, put it in.

You are now ready for the power close. Give them a benefit statement, i.e., why they should interview you. Keep it simple: “I look for-ward to meeting with you personally to further explore the contributions I can make to Greenbelt and how we can build a strong and highly productive sales team.”

The hardest part of writ-ing this style of letter is get-ting all the important re-quirements into a one-page space and getting the two columns to line up. (By the way, this format is called a T letter because if you draw a line under the power open-ing sentence and between the two columns, you have a T.) •

Colleen Clarke is a career specialist, corporate trainer and author of Networking: How to Build Relationships that Count and How to Get a Job and Keep It. Originally published on the Workopolis Blog at www.blog.workop-olis.com.

New Ask AN employmeNt expert for yoUr chANce toWinGot a question about your job search, resumé, interviews, employment standards, wrongful dismissal, RRSP, budgeting, career training, student loan, networking, social media, etc? We want to hear from you! Send your query to [email protected] and it could be answered by an expert in a future issue of the Next. Plus, we’ll randomly draw the winner of a $50 dinner gift certificate from all entries received by November 30, 2011.

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ASK An EMPLOYMEnT EXPERT

COLLEEN CLARKE Kelly M. asks: “Should I tailor my cover letter to the position I’m applying for?”

open the letter with a

power phrase expressing

your interest in the

position and how you’re

the right fit for it

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BY RENÉE SYLVESTRE-WILLIAMS

You’ve rehearsed your answers for the tough

questions, but are you ready to end the job interview?

While first impressions are important, many people forget that last impressions tend to linger. How you end a job interview is nearly as cru-cial as how you start one.

“Just shaking their hand and saying, ‘I look forward to hearing from you,’ is not really the best last impres-sion you want to make,” says Brian Sekandi, a partner at executive placement firm Gilmore Partners.

Human resources ex-pert Sarah Paul agrees that your attitude at the end of an interview can help or hurt your chances.

She says, “Show confi-dence by giving a firm hand-shake and making strong eye

contact.”Paul’s other suggestions

include the following.• Avoid looking needy; make the interviewer feel like you have other options on the table.

• Asking if it would be ap-propriate for you to follow up in a week regarding the status of the recruitment also dem-onstrates assertiveness and

Closing the dealHow to end a job interview the right way

If you think you did a terrible interview, don’t show it. Good interviewers can read body language

shows you are not afraid to take control of your career.• You can also suggest that the interviewer please con-tact you should he or she have any further questions or clarifications. This shows you are collaborative and want the person to have as much information about you as possible.• If you think you did a ter-rible interview, don’t show it. Good interviewers can read body language.• Make sure you get a busi-ness card from the inter-viewer so you can email a thank you note.Marci Schnapp-Rafael, president of TeamQuest Systems Inc., also suggests taking the following actions to ensure you leave a positive lasting impression:• leave behind examples of your work and positive evi-dence of what you have testi-fied to during the interview;

and• stop talking and exit gracefully.

Schnapp-Rafael cautions, however, that job candidates may unconsciously sabotage their chances of getting the job at the interview by:• leaving behind garbage like an empty Starbucks cup or water bottle (not that you should bring your own cof-fee into the interview in the

first place);• taking a call on your cell-phone as you are walking out the door;• continuing to talk or ask questions even after the interview has ended; or• slamming the door, stomping your feet or show-ing any sign of being emo-tionally upset.

Remember: the end of the interview is the final chance

you have to make a good im-pression. Says Paul: “Even if you don’t think it went well, confidence goes a long way and is sometimes more im-portant than how you an-swered that dreadful ‘give me an example of a weak-ness’ question.” •


“Just shaking their

hand and saying, ‘I look

forward to hearing from

you,’ is not really the

best last impression

you want to make”– Brian Sekandi,

partner,Gilmore Partners

The following jobs recently appeared in the Employment Paper’s Twitter feed. Follow the links for more informa-tion. Follow us on Twitter @employmentinvan for more local jobs.

ACCOUNTINGPurtzki & Associates seeks an intermediate accountant (Vancouver). http://t.co/dVdIHgR0

Randstad seeks, on behalf of its client, a junior accountant (Vancouver) for accounts receivable/ payable, inventory functions, various reconciliations, vendor setup, etc. http://t.co/fD9vMF7A

Steels Industrial Products Ltd. seeks a payroll and human resources administrator (Vancouver) for full-cycle payroll processing, benefits and HR administration, etc. http://t.co/BNkjMzMI

ADmINIsTrATIONHatch Mott MacDonald seeks a site administrator (North Vancouver) to prepare reports and do document control and

filing, scanning, e-filing, word processing, meeting co-ordination, basic accounting, etc. http://t.co/FaOuLm2u

Aerotek ULC seeks an administrative assistant (Vancouver) for data entry, customer service, etc. http://t.co/OgL39p5i

ArTs & CUlTUreExpress Employment Professionals seeks, on behalf of its client, a theatre manager assistant (Tri-Cities) to prepare contracts, market events, give theatre tours, order supplies, etc. http://t.co/AG6a37Yn

CIVICThe District of West Vancouver seeks a police dispatcher to respond to emergency calls for police, fire and ambulance and immediately transfer appropriate calls to fire and ambulance dispatch, etc. http://t.co/iONc0wap

Fraser Valley Regional District seeks a chief administrative officer (Chilliwack) to manage the

affairs of the district, play a key role in strategic planning and implementation of changes, etc. http://t.co/OgyJFs2V

eNGINeerINGThe Fairmont Vancouver Airport seeks a chief engineer (Richmond) to manage the engineering department, etc. http://t.co/dVdIHgR0

FINANCeCIBC seeks a director, trade finance (Vancouver) to market and sell trade finance products and solutions within a designated geographical area, etc. http://t.co/0qkl32KN

McNeill Nakamoto Recruitment Group seeks, on behalf of its client, a financial planner assistant (Vancouver) to provide support to a busy financial team, etc. http://t.co/u332hatL

HOsPITAlITY & TOUrIsmGreat Canadian Casinos,

TWITTER JOB BOARDInc. seeks a commis chef (Coquitlam) to create culinary fare for four food outlets and for banquets, etc. http://t.co/dXoXcjoQ

HUmANresOUrCesMindField Group seeks a French-speaking talent acquisition specialist (Vancouver) to manage the candidate screening process and recruitment efforts for several clients, etc. http://t.co/4jvJnakR

reAl esTATeSNC Lavalin O&M Inc. seeks a building technician II (Vancouver) to perform scheduled preventive maintenance and general maintenance on the mechanical/ electrical systems, HVAC systems and life safety equipment, etc. http://t.co/DpcsnUyr

Ian Martin Ltd./The 500 Staffing Inc. seeks, on behalf of its client, a residential mortgage underwriter (Vancouver) to review applications, do credit

adjudication, service clients, etc. http://t.co/WsVy0U0W

reTAIlLululemon Athletica seeks an assistant store manager (West Vancouver) to assist in evolving in-store functions and flow, etc. http://t.co/eLwSTAlW

skIlleD TrADesMosaic Millwork Ltd. seeks a cabinet marker-joinery (Surrey) who is experienced in the custom woodworking industry. http://t.co/FUrfT2ga

Express Employment Professionals seeks, on behalf of its client, an apprentice auto body repair/panel beater (Burnaby) who is a second- or third-year apprentice. http://t.co/KvyDVqVr

Honeywell International seeks an HVAC fitter (Burnaby) who is a third- or fourth-year apprentice, to perform preventative maintenance tasks for a diverse contract customer base, etc. http://t.co/Txn0Eone

TeCHNOlOGYPrecisionERP seeks a SAP ABAP developer (Vancouver) to work on user exit and reports, etc. http://t.co/P2RrO9he

WPCG seeks, on behalf of its client, a senior C++ software developer (Vancouver) to be responsible for maintaining and developing features associated with the client’s main product lines, among other duties. http://t.co/P2RrO9he

WPCG seeks, on behalf of its client, a senior database developer (Vancouver) to be part of a technical team designing and developing new products on SQL platforms and to work with the marketing team in developing new cubes and dashboards for analytical purposes, among other duties. http://t.co/fS7VORaQ

102 East 4th Avenue, Vancouver B.C., V5T 1G2Phone: (604) 688-8828 ➧ Fax: (604) 669-2154

E-mail: [email protected] ➧ www.employmentinvancouver.com

Publisher Cheryl Carter

Editor Noa Glouberman

Sales Manager Kim De Wildt

Graphics & Production Soraya Romão

Reach a wide variety of adults, students and job seekers interested in further learning and upgrading their skills to advance their career prospects.

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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2011 lEARN MORE ➧ GET THE JOB6

The annual Entrepreneur of the Year Awards continues the tradition of hon-

ouring the success of Douglas College self-employment program alumni. Here, we celebrate some of this year’s finalists.

DAVE BRUCE, BRUCE’S MARINE REPAIRS INC.

Dave Bruce of Bruce’s Marine Re-pairs, a mobile marine repair com-pany, strives to keep the “pleas-

ure” in pleasure boating for the Low-er Mainland’s yachting community.

“Diesel and gas engine repairs … what-ever the customers’ needs are,” says the Douglas College Entrepreneur of the Year Awards service finalist of his work. “What I can’t fix or install myself, I have a great net-work of other tradespeople in the marine in-dustry to back me up.”

Besides caretaking the old Expo 86 Mc-Donald’s barge (“McBarge”) and preparing boats for shipment to Australia, Bruce pro-vides service for a range of clients, some as far away as Yellowknife. His commitment to customer service is such that he even “baby-sits” boats for people who moor their vessels in Vancouver but live outside the city, prov-ince or country.

Educating his clients by “making sure they have a good understanding of the work or repairs that have been done … to avoid costly repair bills in the future” is another important aspect of his service. This, he says “can give them a better boating experience

SUCCESS STORIES

October 19, 2011

Home Based Business AwardPam Gervacio, Design 2 PrintHeather Kleim, Epic Empire DesignsDavid Marsden, Advantage English Language Services

Consulting AwardBrenda Garcia, Thrive SolutionsChris Zhang, Sager Education

High Tech AwardFabio Milano, RDS Support Inc.Jack Poniatowski, Sphere Communications

Global AwardPeter Wang, CanBright Enterprises Ltd.David Wong, DK Wong & Associates Inc.

Construction & Manufacturing AwardCharles Baverstock, StonebridgeAlyson Johnson, Aly Dahl DesignsJustin Johnson, JJ’s Custom Plumbing

Service AwardSalman Bazogh, Accountech Business Services Ltd.Dave Bruce, Bruce’s Marine Repairs Inc.Terryl Plotnikoff, Canadian Mattress Recycling Inc.

Retail AwardAline Beth Marshall, Clayzone Ceramics GalleryLaramie Tan-Amit, Jeepney MartCarla Wood, The Party Monkey

Perseverance AwardKaren Gill, Friendly Explorers Child Care CentreJudy Hamilton, TerraTap Technologies Inc.Francisco Harp, Jelly Delight Desserts Inc.

Youth Entrepreneur AwardJustin Gignac, Custom Creations CarpentrySanjana Khaira, Sanjana Khaira Law CorporationAmarvir Singh Rai, Amarvir Rai Law Office

Congratulations to our finalists

Entrepreneur of the Year AwardTara Blokzyl, Kanaka Diamond & GoldMike Londry, Westside Pest ControlDr. Cobi Slater, Essential Health Natural Wellness Clinic

Funded through the Canada-British Columbia Labour Market Development Agreement

SelfemploymentprogramWhere successful entrepreneurs begin

Inspired? Start your own business. Call the Douglas College Self Employment Program at 604 777 6012 or visit us online at: douglascollege.ca/selfemployment

Event Sponsor:

Awards will be presented Wednesday, October 19th during a ceremony at the Executive Hotels & Resorts in Coquitlam

11-2

06

Celebrating self-employment successMeet some of the inspiring finalists in this year’s Entrepreneur of the Year Awards

Take the LEAPwith your business

idea and we’llhelp you GROW it.

Funding provided throughthe Canada-British Columbia

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see page 8with their family and friends.”

Among his latest business achievements: doing service and repair work for Seattle-


based RDI Marine, which “cannot cross the border [to B.C.] to do repairs for their customers [here].”

For Bruce, the key to success starts with “sticking to what you know and sub-contracting out the other work. Most of my business is service work and in a down economy it has paid off to still be willing to get your hands dirty.”

Being an entrepreneur helps. “Staying a one-person business has allowed me to be a friend and a confidant to a lot of my customers,” he explains. “They hire me knowing that I am the one doing the work. … I have hired help over the years, but normally to work with me on bigger jobs and not to be on their own.”

He says it’s about giving back, too. In addition to participating in Variety’s Boat for Hope program, which takes kids with special needs out for a fun day on the water, Bruce decorates his own vessel with holiday lights for “Christmas cruises” out of Port Moody and helps educate stu-dents enrolled in power and sail squad-ron courses.

TERRYL PLOTNIKOFF, CANADIAN MATTRESS RECYCLING INC.

Terryl Plotnikoff launched Canadian Mattress Recycling in January, recycling mattresses, box springs and, more recent-ly, furniture for customers in Metro Van-couver, salvaging the recyclable materials and diverting them from the landfill.

While the Douglas College self-em-ployment program graduate and Entre-preneur of the Year Awards finalist takes great pride in the positive impact her work has on the environment, the recycling business wasn’t her first choice for self-employment.

“Originally [it] was going to be a health and wellness clinic,” she admits. “After I was unable to secure a suitable lease … I had to rethink my entire business and decided to start … one that I was actually more passionate about.”

Just seven months after leasing a suit-able space and opening her doors, Plotni-koff found herself managing 12 employ-ees, fielding calls from across Canada and looking to expand. Today, as she prepares to move to a larger location, she counts popular mattress retailers and high-end

hotels among her customers, as well as the City of Surrey.

“We also recycle for individuals who bring mattresses to our depot or hire our pickup service,” she adds. “Our second primary market covers the end users of the materials we salvage.”

Thus far the company’s recycled nearly 400,000 pounds of steel, 50,000 pounds of foam, 120,000 pounds of quilting, 70,000 pounds of felt and cotton and 100,000 pounds of wood that would otherwise have been buried in landfills.

Moving this amount of material takes a massive amount of manpower. In man-aging her staff, Plotnikoff says efficiency is key.

“HR issues need to be dealt with regu-larly and, since we’re open seven days a week and have two shifts, we need to continually be aware of our staffing needs and productivity,” she says. “At our most we have had 16 staff on payroll. Currently we have 10, all full time. By focusing on being more efficient we have reduced our labour costs while at the same time made the work easier for our employees.”

Plotnikoff’s recipe for success is sim-ple. “We differentiate ourselves by main-taining an affordable fee structure and … we listen to what our clients need, find out what their challenges are and then exceed their expectations.”

Customers also appreciate seeing for themselves that the company indeed re-cycles nearly 100% of every mattress it receives. That, she says, “instils trust … about what we do and who we are as a company.”

Entrepreneurship, however, isn’t with-out its challenges. “I regularly put in three hours of work in the evening after my chil-dren are asleep, even after a full day’s work at the warehouse,” Plotnikoff says, adding that she’s hired an operations manager to help ease her workload. But despite the hard work, she says she wouldn’t change a thing.

SALMAN BAZOGH, ACCOUNTECH BUSINESS SERVICES LTD.

Salman Bazogh, owner of Accountech Business Services in Coquitlam, has enjoyed good growth in his accounting business over the past six years. Today, he employs 2.5 full-time staff members and

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from page 7

SUCCESS STORIESOctOber/NOvember 2011 learN mOre ➧ Get tHe JOb8

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is eyeing a second location. But entrepre-neurship hasn’t always been easy.

“I started from scratch in 2005,” says the Douglas College self-employment program graduate and Entrepreneur of the Year Awards service finalist. “I remem-ber when we had [to do a] press release as a part of the [self-employment] program, the instructor told me that my business wouldn’t make any news, as there were enough … like mine. I experienced the reality of it and felt the pressure of com-petition after graduation.”

With plenty of hard work (at least 70 hours a week), patience and persistence – not to mention support from his wife and family – Bazogh’s business eventually took off. Watching his costs, maintaining a high level of quality in his work and paying per-sonal attention to each of his 60-plus cli-ents continue to be important factors in his success.

“We see our clients as part of our busi-ness and their success as our success,” he explains. “We feel responsible for their suc-cess. Besides doing bookkeeping and ac-counting, we function as their returning point for business advice.”

Because these types of “long-term” client relationships are often reciprocal, Bazogh places much of his effort on pro-viding “quality service on a timely basis at an affordable rate. Our clients appreci-ate the quality of our service. They refer us to new clients and they pay their bills on time.”

In fact, despite employing more stan-dard methods of advertising over the years, word of mouth remains the num-ber 1 source of new business for Bazogh, who also stresses the importance of form-ing what he calls “strategic alliances” with other service providers.

And, despite handling over 500 per-sonal tax returns a year and working to-ward completing his Canadian CMA designation by June 2012, this busy busi-ness owner finds time to give back to the community, sitting on the boards of the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce and Tricity Iranian Cultural Society.

JUSTIN GIGNAC, CUSTOM CREATIONS CARPENTRY INC.

After being laid off from his job at a mill-work company, Justin Gignac couldn’t

find work. The recession had hit, and his future seemed uncertain.

“I wasn’t sure what to do,” says Gignac, who now owns Custom Creations Car-pentry, designing, fabricating and in-stalling custom commercial and residen-tial millwork. Then, a letter from Service Canada, with the opportunity to become self-employed, arrived.

“I had always dreamed of owning my own business,” he recalls. “My wife and I found out we were going to have our first child. I knew that starting a business and a family at the same time would not be easy but I had to take this opportunity.”

He enrolled in Douglas College’s self-employment program and “worked every day toward building a successful busi-ness.” Despite having a good knowledge of woodwork, Gignac admits he didn’t know how to run a business on his own.

“The self-employment program was one of the best things that ever happened to me,” he says. “It gave me the skills I needed to learn and the opportunity I had always dreamed of.”

After completing the in-class por-tion of the program, Gignac applied for a Canadian Youth Business Founda-tion (CYBF) loan. Once approved, the money helped him purchase much-need-ed equipment – that’s when things really started to take off.

“Every month is better than the last and the business has been steadily grow-ing,” he says. “I’ve been doing a lot of high-end projects and enjoying delivering qual-ity products to deserving clients.”

Gignac – a youth finalist in the 2011 Entrepreneur of the Year Awards – has his own shop, truck and trailer, one em-ployee and several part-time staff. While the CYBF loan helped launch his business (which is currently being incorporated), he attributes his ongoing success to pas-sion, dedication and “a lot of hard work.”

Strategic alliances, networking and re-ferrals are also part of running a success-ful enterprise. Gignac uses his portfolio, references and personalized customer service to ensure repeat business.

“Every job completed brings in more business from others who have seen the work,” he says. “A lot of business comes from word of mouth and … the most ef-fective thing has been creating alliances with the right people and businesses.”

Gignac, who has attended sever-al business networking meetings, says that “talking with other business-es about providing them with mill-work solutions” has also helped spread the word about his company. Offering support to other self-employment stu-dents at monthly “success circle” meet-ings gives him and other entrepreneurs a chance to “set goals for our businesses and help each other achieve those goals.”

SUCCESS STORIES

see page 10


from page 9

CHARLES BAVERSTOCK, STONEBRIDGE OPERATIONS INC.

Charles Baverstock owns Stonebridge Operations, which provides electrical ser-vices to residential, strata, commercial and long-term care facilities. His specialties lie in lighting design, home automation with iPod, iPad and iPhone integration and home auto-matic standby generators.

With customer service top of mind, Baverstock – a Douglas College self-em-ployment program graduate and Entrepre-neur of the Year Awards service finalist – takes great pride in educating his clients as to what to expect during an installation or renovation. This, he says, is what differenti-ates his company from others.

“We help them with product selection and make sure that they are comfortable with the work that is to take place,” explains Baverstock. “They are encouraged to ask questions during the installation to ensure that they will be happy with the end result.”

So far, it’s worked. In the second year of business, Stonebridge Operations was able to double its sales over the first year.

SANJANA KHAIRA, SANJANA KHAIRA LAW CORP.

Sanjana Khaira Law provides an array of legal and notary services in an honest, ef-fective and caring manner. Since opening her business, owner Sanjana Khaira’s goal has been to ease the various strains caused by legal problems and situations for her cli-ents: home and business owners, as well as the local Indo-Fijian community.

“We are one of the only firms in the Low-er Mainland that specifically caters to the

needs of the local Indo-Fijian population,” says the Douglas College self-employment program graduate and Entrepreneur of the Year Awards finalist. “We practice in the areas of personal injury, general civil litiga-tion, including collections, immigration and basic corporate and commercial law, includ-ing contract disputes. We also provide no-tary services and have three Lower Mainland locations, with our head office in Surrey.”

Khaira further differentiates herself by being accessible to and understanding her clients: “I do not ‘nickel and dime’ them by charging an exorbitant amount for each second I spend speaking to them. Everyone at some point in their lives needs a lawyer. I am the lawyer for the everyday person. My services, my company image, everything is geared toward appealing to the everyday person.”

This often means making house calls and working evenings and weekends so clients need not miss work or have to drive when “they may already be nervous of driving or facing financial difficulties following an acci-dent,” she explains, adding that she does her best to offer flexible payment plans, appreci-ating that “we are all in some way suffering from an extended global recession.”

By remaining cognizant of her clients’ re-alities, Khaira identifies her law firm as “one for the people and not just for my pocket.” By not chasing the might buck, she says success has come to her, instead.

“Generally people do not come to a law-yer when their lives are going well. When someone enters my office, my first goal is to ease their tensions. I let my clients voice their concerns without fear of judgment, in-difference or … the billable hour. I base my fees on the value of the work performed and not the seconds.”

Clients appreciate Khaira’s accessibility, which includes access to her direct phone line during and outside of regular business hours. They also value her honesty.

“Sometimes … I give them the tools and proper suggestions to solve their own prob-lems or even tell them unequivocally there may just not be a solution to their predica-ment,” she says. “They leave the office grate-ful that I kept their best interests in mind, even if it meant telling them something they did not want to hear or sacrificing a retain-er.”

Khaira gets her good name into the com-munity by volunteering her services to char-itable organizations like the Access Pro Bono Society of BC, Muslim Business Council of BC, BC Muslim Association and Canadian Federation of Fijian Associations. She’s also dedicated to running a sustainable business, particularly at her Surrey office where she’s implemented a recycling program that she hopes will spread throughout the entire busi-ness park by the end of 2011.

FABIO MILANO, RDS SUPPORT INC.

Fabio Milano has been tinkering with tech-nology since he was a kid. While his uncle studied at the University of British Colum-bia’s physics lab, Milano – with his own flop-pies in hand – would play on the computer. He spent hours taking apart toys and putting them back together again. When his family bought him his first computer, there was no looking back. Milano was hooked on IT.

As the son of an entrepreneur, Milano had business acumen running through his veins from the get-go. “Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs helped me under-stand that the growth potential for a star-tup is unlimited,” he says. “Microsoft and Dell started in college dorm rooms and be-came billion dollar companies. Anything is possible.”

After college, Milano took on a number of different roles but was yearning for some-thing different. “The startup I was working for shut down; I had a hard choice to make: find another job or start my own company,” he says. “I chose the latter.”

Milano enrolled in Douglas College’s self-employment program (SEP) and crafted a vision for his own IT business. “Learning how to write a business plan, crunch finan-cials and explain my business idea to a com-mittee was invaluable.”

With certificate in hand, Milano set forth and launched RDS Support, dedicated to helping small to medium-sized businesses manage their IT better. But launching an IT startup in a sea of likeminded technology companies wasn’t easy.

In addition to finding a way to stand out from the crowd, Milano was also juggling a new marriage and two children under two. “Balancing work and family is tough,” he says. “I can’t spend 12 to 18 hours a day work-ing. I need to be efficient. It’s a good lesson to learn from the get-go.

“Success for me has been in setting goals and achieving them, then setting new goals,” he adds. “The Douglas College SEP program taught me how to set goals and measure re-sults. It supercharged my entrepreneurial brain.”

The future looks bright for RDS Sup-port, which will celebrate two years in busi-ness in February. “We’re really trying to do something different in IT. We want to be in-novative with our support services and take

the fear and loathing out of IT,” he says. “If we can take the headache away, then we’ve succeeded.”

JUDY HAMILTON, TERRATAP TECHNOLOGIES INC.

Three years ago Judy Hamilton picked up her first smartphone and instinctively saw the mobile wave that was coming. She walked away from a 20-year career and a full-time job as a director of IT to start her own mobile de-velopment company.

With an idea for a barcode app that would link the offline and online worlds and help consumers find more information while shopping, Hamilton enrolled in Douglas College’s self-employment program (SEP) and emerged with a business plan for her company, TerraTap Technologies.

To get a product to market, she joined Accelerate Okanagan’s ACETECH market validation program to learn “lean startup” methodology, which requires getting real cus-tomer feedback from the start.

During early development, it became clear to the entrepreneur that the biggest “pain” wasn’t for consumers who needed help get-ting information “on the go,” but, rather, mar-keters who needed a way to get their mes-sage to mobile consumers. Traditional bar-codes, controlled by manufacturers, weren’t useful, but a new barcode called a QR code was, because its content is controlled by the marketer.

With a solid foundation from SEP and the lean startup principles from ACETECH, Hamilton was able to easily pivot her busi-ness model and have her developers create a flagship product called ToggleTo: a web-based QR code campaign management system that has everything mobile marketers need to cre-ate, manage, measure, test and tweak their QR codes.

“In the competitive and fast-moving tech-nology industry, only the agile survive,” she says. “TerraTap is not only surviving, but thriving and, now, receiving acclaim.”

Recently, ToggleTo was showcased to the World Future Society at Tech Cocktail 2011. Hamilton has also been nominated for an Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the SEP program. TerraTap, ToggleTo and Hamilton are now poised to take on the next chapter, nimble, adaptable and ready for success. •

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Technology executives ex-pect information tech-

nology (IT) hiring to con-tinue in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to a recent Robert Half Technology “IT Hiring Index and Skills” re-port.

In the latest quarterly sur-vey, 24% of chief information officers (CIOs) said that they plan to expand their IT de-partments and 2% expect cutbacks, for a net 22% pro-jected increase in hiring ac-tivity. This is up eight points from the previous quarter’s projections.

The report is based on tele-phone interviews with more than 270 CIOs from compan-ies across Canada with 100 or more employees.

Executives were asked whether their companies plan to increase or decrease the number of full-time IT personnel on their staff dur-ing the coming quarter.

Key findings from the re-port include:• the net 22% increase in an-ticipated IT hiring activity is up eight points from a net 14% increase in hiring activity projected last quarter;• 86% of CIOs are at least somewhat confident in their companies’ growth prospects in the next three months, down seven points from last quarter;• 61% of technology execu-tives rated the confidence of their firms investing in IT projects in the fourth quar-

CIOs reveal fourth-quarter hiring plans Robert Half Technology survey finds uptick in IT hiring projections

IT factor: new report shows that information technology hiring will likely continue in the fourth quarter of 2011

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“A growing number of CIOs are optimistic about their hiring outlook, and there is greater demand for IT pro-fessionals who can help firms maximize their efficiencies with new and existing tech-nologies,” says Lara Dodo, a regional vice-president of Robert Half Technology in Canada.

SKILLS IN DEMANDThe functional areas in which executives cite the greatest challenge in finding skilled IT professionals are systems administration (17%) and net-working (16%). Applications development followed, with 11% of the response.

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Premier Christy Clark recently unveiled B.C.’s new jobs plan, meant to attract

investment and open new markets for B.C. products and services, defending and creat-ing jobs for British Columbians.

“[B.C.] has incredible advantages that make us unique in the world,” said Clark in a news release. “We are building on our position of strength and never has this been more important than now, given the global economic uncertainty we are facing.”

Three pillars are at the heart of the “Can-ada Starts Here” jobs plan: • expanding markets for B.C. products and services, particularly in Asia;• strengthening infrastructure to get our goods and services to market; and• working with communities and employers to enable job creation.

To accelerate growth, the jobs plan lever-ages the strengths of B.C.’s most competitive sectors: forestry, mining, natural gas, agri-foods, technology, tourism, transportation and international education.

The premier made a number of an-nouncements connected to the jobs plan. Among them: the province will invest $50 million to improve the corridor that con-nects Deltaport to Canada’s rail transpor-tation network as part of the Deltaport Ter-minal, Road and Rail Infrastructure Project in support of increased container capacity. The expansion will add 600 to 800 new jobs to port operations.

“This announcement today is a signifi-cant investment into Deltaport, which is es-sential for B.C.’s position as the gateway to Asian markets and for Canada’s success as a

Premier unveils new B.C. jobs planChristy Clark says “Canada Starts Here” aims to defend and create employment for British Columbians

trading nation,” said Tsawwassen First Na-tion Chief Kim Baird. “But it is equally im-portant that national infrastructure, such as Deltaport, also benefit local communities through the creation of long-term jobs and economic activity.”

The province is also committed to eight new mines and the expansion of another nine by 2015, creating approximately 1,800 new jobs, and will take steps to create a pros-perous liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry and jobs in B.C., including making the Kiti-mat LNG plant operational by 2015.

The Kitimat LNG terminal proposed by Apache Canada Ltd., EOG Resources Inc. and Encana Corp. is located on Haisla Na-tion territory. Kitimat LNG and the con-necting Pacific Trail Pipeline have received the required environmental approvals. The province continues to work to ensure it be-comes operational.

“The province’s assistance is timely,” said Haisla Nation Chief Councillor Ellis Ross. “Our own training capacity is limited by re-sources and capabilities, and these have been exhausted given the projects now underway on our territory and the demands they place on our people for skills and training. Our economic future has never looked better, and this assistance will help us deliver on this promise to our community.”

Once completed, the Pacific Trail Pipe-line will connect natural gas from the West-ern Sedimentary Basin to the Kitimat LNG facility. Natural gas liquefied at the Kitimat LNG plant would be transported by ves-sels to markets primarily located in the Asia Pacific region.

These two projects are each expected to create approximately 1,500 person-years of work during construction. The export terminal will create 120 to 140 permanent positions once in operation. In addition to these jobs, a successful LNG export oper-ation would keep exploration and production activities at a high level across northeast B.C.

and keep service-sector workers in demand for decades.

Clark also announced that B.C. plans to support small business innovation and entrepreneurship by expanding access to venture capital tax credits, extending tax credits available to apprentices and employ-ers and working with business leaders to cut red tape and streamline administration of provincial taxes.

“Innovation and entrepreneurship create jobs, diversify economic activity and help keep British Columbia globally competitive,” she said. “One of the key challenges for small business is access to capital for business star-tup and expansion. Through Canada Starts Here, B.C. will help small business access early-stage venture capital to help commer-cialize ideas, attract and retain employees, expand operations and bring their ideas to global markets.”

Additionally, with more than one million job openings in the province projected for the coming decade and emerging economic sectors creating new jobs, B.C. needs a high-ly skilled workforce. The province intends to deliver a three-year extension of its ap-proximately $31 million annual funding for B.C.’s Training Tax Credit Program to help employers and apprentices get the skills and training they need. Continuing this funding through 2014 gives employers and apprenti-ces the certainty they need to plan their busi-ness and education. •

To read the full Canada Starts Here: The B.C. Jobs Plan report, visit www.bcjobsplan.ca.

Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation Minister Mary Polak; Premier Christy Clark; Jobs, Tourism and Innovation Minister Pat Bell; and Haisla Nation youth in Haisla Village, where the premier announced key steps to create a prosperous liquefied natural gas industry as part of her new Canada Starts Here jobs plan for B.C.

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BY NOA GLOUBERMAN

By the year 2015, nearly half (48%) of Canada’s

workforce will fall between the ages of 45 and 64. As baby boomers reach retirement, finding the right people to fill needed positions is only

going to get tougher.Though the talent-short-

age issue applies across in-dustries, the problem is ex-acerbated in the skilled auto-motive trade. According to a survey conducted for the Government of Canada-funded Skilled Trades Cam-

Auto industry hiring gets a tune-upKirmac Collision shifts gears in order to attract new talent to a range of interesting job options within the automotive sector

paign, 42% of youth in this country claim to be uninter-ested in pursuing a career in the skilled trades.

“What we have is a situ-ation where the trades and auto repair aren’t thought of in the same way they were 20 years ago,” says Ian Mc-

Intosh, who co-founded Kirmac Automotive Colli-sion Systems Inc. with his brother in 1973. “It didn’t happen overnight, but a couple of factors that have been building up have really forced us to change the way we go about attracting new people to our industry.”

Those factors include changes in what McIntosh refers to as the “front end” of the automotive business, which, he says, “is all about relationships: with custom-ers, between managers and employees and with dis-tributors and suppliers.

“When people brought their cars in to be fixed 10, 20 years ago, they weren’t ne-cessarily looking for great customer service first,” he explains. “The thing that they were most concerned with was the work itself.”

Today, cars are so techno-logically advanced, most owners can’t fix their own vehicles. As such, “they want to go to someone who they have a great relationship with, who will treat them – and their car – well. Much of the repair work happens be-hind the scenes; it’s the rela-

Kirmac CEO Ian McIntosh, estimator Taylor Sigman, manager Kerry Triboulet and assistant Manager Carlos Galvez: a wider range of career opportunities exists in the automotive industry today than ever before

“The reality is, people

are not exposed to cars

in the same fashion the

baby boomers were”

– Sean McIntosh,manager,

Kirmac Automotive Collision Systems

tionships that are formed up front that matter.”

On what McIntosh calls the “back end,” where repairs and other skilled trades work take place, more change is occurring. With advancing automotive technology cre-ating an ever-widening gap between man and machine, most youth no longer grow up tinkering with engines – the technology is simply too complex. And when the time comes for them to con-sider their career options, many lack that “hands-on connection” with the auto-motive field.

“Kids don’t grow up working on the family car in the driveway with dad anymore,” McIntosh ex-plains. “So when it’s time to choose a profession, auto re-pair doesn’t come to mind so easily, or they think, ‘That job must be dirty and dan-gerous.’”

And that, he says, links back to the front end of the field, where the variety of customer service and man-agerial positions has grown. “It’s no longer Joe who owns the garage working the front desk, too. Joe’s in the back working on cars, and there’s someone with real people and management skills run-ning the show up front.”

His point: a wider range of career opportunities exists in the automotive indus-try today than ever before. Kirmac, in remodelling its approach to recruiting and hiring to reflect the grow-ing need for repair techni-cians, customer service reps, estimators and managers, is working to keep the looming talent shortage at bay.

“We want high school students and those with some college to see the many opportunities that are avail-able in automotive field, both those who want to work on the skilled trades side in re-pair, where there are many interesting and highly spe-cialized jobs using new tools and equipment that require good technical ability, which is something that people can be trained in, and those who want to work on the custom-er service and management side in parts ordering, pro-duction management and overall store management.”

Kirmac’s new approach to hiring includes:• shifting the emphasis on desirable qualities away from industry-specific experience and onto qualities like cus-tomer service (a direct op-

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Program: Duration: Potential WagesAutomotive Service Technician 42 weeks $100k/yrAuto Body & Refinishing Technician 42 weeks $80k/yrAuto Body Technician 24 weeks $80k/yrAutomotive Refinishing Prep Technician 24 weeks $80k/yrBusiness Manager 2 weeks $50-$100k/yrCollision Estimator 13 weeks $36-60k/yrService Advisor 13 weeks $36-$60k/yrParts & Warehousing 6 weeks $32-$48k/yr Auto Detailing 2 weeks $15-$20/hr Sales & Leasing 1 week $36-$75k/yrDispatching and Transportation Operations 25 weeks $36-65k/yrNEW

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posite to the traditional ap-proach);• greater focus on person-ality, knowing that the cus-tomer experience on the front lines matters more than an existing knowledge base for staff (i.e., industry-specific skills and informa-tion can be learned as part of a comprehensive training program); and• identifying potential ca-reer paths for successful Kir-mac employees. Sharing this with prospective employees creates immediate attraction for those that are motivated, loyal and looking to grow with a company.

“The reality is, people are not exposed to cars in the same fashion the baby boom-ers were,” Kirmac manager Sean McIntosh says. “Ad-vances in technology have made servicing your own vehicle more rare. We can no longer assume poten-tial hires have spent most of their childhood working on cars. What our most success-ful new hires share with pre-vious generations is that they have a passion for cars.”

“We’re always hiring,” adds Ian. “Our workforce in B.C. is pretty stable, but as our business continues to grow we’re constantly look-ing for more great people.”

That being said, Kirmac’s ideal employee:• possesses an interest in the automotive industry, with a passion for bikes, cars, boats – anything motorized;• has a sales background or demonstrates the skills need-ed to attract new revenue;• is a customer service guru who interacts well with em-ployees, customers, insur-ance partners and vendors;• possesses a diploma in operations, business man-agement, sales or finance;• has a strong work ethic and can multi-task; and/or • is highly motivated and continually improving his/her operation within the business.

“Our industry’s changed drast ica l ly, and we’ve evolved as well,” he con-cludes. “There’s a more pro-fessional approach to car re-pair these days, and we have some fantastic opportunities for young people. You can get a great job in the auto-motive field, and a well-pay-ing one at that. If you’ve got great people skills and a pas-sion for cars, that’s what we consider the ideal candi-date.” •[email protected]

“The reality is, people

are not exposed to cars

in the same fashion the

baby boomers were”

– Sean McIntosh,manager,

Kirmac Automotive Collision Systems


world, is dismally behind the times when it comes to government-mandated va-cation time.

Over the summer I was speaking with a family vis-iting from Norway. Yes, I know, Scandinavian coun-tries have excellent social policies, but after speaking with this family the vaca-tion policy alone made we want to get much more ac-quainted with my Danish ancestry.

Employees in Norway generally have five weeks of vacation, three of which, ac-cording to www.exposure-jobs.com, they can take over the summer.

This makes sense to me. If in fact the workload in your workplace slows over the summer, why not give people time off? Make people

BY JENNA CHARLTON

The world would be a bet-ter place if we all had

more vacation.This is the thought that

occurs to me every time summer winds down. Even if I’ve worked all or most of the summer, it’s hard to say goodbye to more relaxed workdays and three long weekends in a three-month stretch. Thanksgiving week-end seems far away.

The start of autumn makes me begrudge Can-ada’s two-week mandatory vacation policy. Ten days a year just isn’t enough. How can employees get enough rest and feel rejuvenated with only 10 days off to do with their time as they wish?

Canada, compared with many countries around the

happy and they’ll probably stick around longer. Seems like good economic sense.

In fact, there are Can-adian companies that have recognized that increasing vacation time can and does lead to greater productivity. Many companies give new employees three weeks of vacation, and add an extra week every few years.

And, there’s at least one Canadian social media com-pany that’s pushing past the mandated 10-day policy and offering its employees unlimited vacation. That’s right: UNLIMITED VACA-TION.

This particular firm has garnered much press re-garding its unconventional approach; however, it isn’t the first, and won’t be the last.

Netflix was the first big public proponent of unlimit-ed vacation, allowing em-ployees to take months off at a time, and there are reports of other small, mainly social media companies travelling down the same path.

The idea is that employ-ees aren’t judged based on their “face time” but, rather, on their productivity and the quality of their work. At first glance this approach appears to have some merit, but the cynic in me wonders wheth-er companies can offer un-limited vacation because the workload is so enormous it’s difficult to find the time to get away. Maybe I’m wrong and this concept is the wave of the future – a wave I can only hope to ride.

What do you think? Would you welcome an un-limited vacation policy in your workplace? Could the company stay in business or would people simply take advantage of it? How do you think it would change your work environment? •


Gimme a break: with only two weeks of government-mandated vacation time per year, many Canadian employees get far less time off than workers in countries like New Zealand (four weeks) and Norway (five weeks)

SOUND OFF• Jon says: “Canada, are you kidding me? New Zealand has a mandatory policy of four weeks’ paid vacation and 11 public holidays. Sick leave is 10 days per year, with most companies allowing the first day to be taken after six months of continuous employment.”• Kip says: “Depending on the company or corporate policies, some employers will allow employ-ees to take five days’ vacation after six months of employment, using the days up as they are earned in the same calendar year. There are also companies that do not grant vacation days in the first year of employment; technically, you’re still ‘earning’ them.”• PD says: “If you read the comments on the blog of the social media company mentioned above, you’ll find that ‘unlimited vacation’ really means that staff members get the lowest legally allowed vacation time in their contracts and then have to ask permission to ensure any additional time fits with the company’s ‘business needs.’ I’d rather have three or four weeks of vacation than have to beg for anything over the legal limit.”• Dawn says: “My husband started a new job at a small-ish company the end of March and was told he doesn’t get any holidays in his first year. Is this allowed? I would like to see the government legislate vacation days so that everyone is treated the same, no matter the size of the company they work for.”• Lionel says: “My last company gave us flexible benefits with which we could buy two extra weeks of vacation. I used my time to volunteer at my kids’ school, take a family vacation and spend one week alone on my motorcycle. I also used the extra days to extend long weekends in order to miss traffic. Give me an extra week over a $1,500 raise any day; I’d rather make less money and have more vacation/re-creation time!”

Make people happy and

they’ll probably stick

around longer. Seems like

good economic sense

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Next_October 2011

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