Periodically, in the interests of diversity and education, I post some information about special days celebrated around the world. They can be cultural of religious celebrations, some are well known and others perhaps not quite so well known. I will never capture all of the important dates, but there are some that really should not be missed. As a person who enjoys a drop of single malt scotch occasionally, and who played soccer with a bunch of Scotsmen for 25 years here in Canada how could I not mention Robbie Burns Day?

I’m a little late because I have been away on vacation … but here goes.

Robbie Burns Day … January 25th

Robert Burns was a poet and lyrist born in Scotland on January 25, 1759. He was regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is known as the pioneer of the Romantic Movement and after his death became a source of inspiration to the founders of liberalism and socialism. He became a cultural icon in Scotland and has been a strong influence on Scottish literature.

Burns Night/Day is known as the second national holiday in Scotland and is celebrated on January 25th. It is celebrated with Burns suppers and is more widely observed than the official national day. The format of the Burns suppers has not changed since his death in 1796. The dinner starts with a general welcome and announcements followed with the Selkirk Grace. After the grace comes the piping and cutting of haggis, where Robert’s famous Ode to a Haggis is read and the haggis is cut open. People begin to eat and just after the haggis is presented comes the reading called the “immortal memory”, an overview of Burns’ life and work, is given; the event usually concludes with the singing of Auld Lang Syne.

Note …

1. The thought of haggis is unappealing to many people, however it is really an inoffensive taste. In fact a “wee drop” of single malt scotch poured on the haggis will make it even better!
2. As an Englishman I am bound to crack (a modified version of) my old joke … that there were three great things that came from Scotland; (1) Single malt scotch (2) Robbie Burns and (3) the road to England!

Apologies in advance to all my old teammates … you’ve heard it many times!

As a business owner I sometimes tend to push myself a little hard. If I am not willing to put in the effort, how can I expect my team to do the same?

In the day to day challenges associated with running a company it is easy to just keep pushing hard, and then push a little more … and of course as “the boss” you think you can just keep going and going like the proverbial energiser bunny!

The trouble is that things “give”, typically it is those good habits (if you have developed them). The diet slips a little, the exercise slips a little and before you know it you are working more hours, not exercising enough and your eating and drinking habits suffer.

Over time you feel more tired, that boundless energy you normally have has slipped and you are not feeling as generally energetic as usual. You also notice that you make mistakes, don’t read things as carefully as normally, miss an appointment here or there, forget to send emails etc. Probably nothing too important, but troublesome all the same.

It is clear to me that I operate much more efficiently when I am feeling good …when I am healthy and in decent shape.

Last year we experienced one of the toughest economic times in living memory and our industry tends to be hit very hard in downturns. Anecdotally 40% of staffing companies in the US went out of business during that time. It has been a long hard road just to survive the recession and the world economy is not out of the woods yet.

I know that the effect on me of this last year was dramatic, I was working longer, travelling more and the stress levels were higher than probably any period in our thirteen years in business. I am very happy with how we have performed and how we are positioned as the economy recovers but it took its toll.

There was a strong impulse to keep the “pedal to the metal”, to keep pushing and ensure that we have a good growth curve before stopping to take a breather. The holiday season was timed such that it was easy to have a nice long break without taking too many work days … so my plan was to recharge the batteries over that period and come back refreshed to start 2010.

It didn’t work out so well, a nasty case of bronchitis knocked me back and it was still hanging around when got back to work. A couple of days of dragging myself around convinced me it was time for drastic measures and I took two weeks off … without going anywhere! This is not something I have done before and it was a big decision to step away from the business for two weeks at a time when we need to be taking full advantage of a recovering economy.

Sometimes you just need to listen to your body! Half way through week two I am feeling great, I think I slept more in week one than I can ever remember, I am back to having daily workouts, I have been eating healthy meals and have dropped a couple of pounds. I feel ready to get back int things … and I still have a few days to go.

I have written before about the need to look after yourself. Most times a good nights rest and a return to a healthy lifestyle will do the trick, but every now and then it takes something a little more drastic to charge those batteries back to full. I’m glad I took the break … 2010 here I come!

A little while ago I wrote a blog entry called Challenging the Norms, which suggested that perhaps as a society we put blinkers on and just do things because that is how it always was. I zeroed in on three semi-controversial subjects;
(a) Why our government should get to choose to grow without the blessing of those who pay for it;
(b) Why can’t older people perform some of the military’s dangerous tasks (youth is not always necessary); and
(c) Why can’t people receiving “free” money from society be expected to provide some service back in payment?

Today’s subject is again a little controversial, and perhaps even more topical … it relates to our healthcare system.

Earlier today we took our dog to the vet, as she had been obviously under the weather. We called around 9:30 am and she was seen at 1:30pm. Test were performed this afternoon and by 4pm she was having relatively serious surgery. At the vet hospital she had blood tests, x-rays and stool sample testing. Had she needed it she could have had an MRI or almost any other diagnostic to see what was needed.

Does it strike you as strange that in our society animals can receive treatment this quickly and yet Canadian human beings can’t? Well actually we can, we just have to hop across the border and give our Canadian dollars to a US facility, or perhaps take a flight to India for surgery in some of the best equipped hospitals in the world.

Canada’s Universal Healthcare system is among the best in the world, but that is not going to remain the case if we don’t do something.

I had no family doctor for more than five years … there are many, many people in the same boat.

If I am willing to pay for a service then why am I denied that right in Canada? My dog isn’t!

Ours is a changing world and we need different thinking in order to protect our way of life, whether we are businesses or governments or even individuals.

In the case of healthcare demographic changes alone will put tremendous pressure on our systems.

(a) As the boomers retire they will become “takers” from the system rather than contributors (they will be collecting pensions rather than paying taxes).
(b) There will be less people actually working as a proportion of our population. These are the people that will be paying for our healthcare system.
(c) People are living longer and they are a drain on the system because of lifestyle related issues, for example our modern society has increased obesity and all of the related medical issues that go with that.
(d) Much of the world is dealing with the same issues, so there is more demand for medical staff. Which means hanging onto our trained nurses and doctors is going to be tough.
(e) Other countries offer us medical options so we do have people travelling out of country to get their healthcare needs met already … I can only surmise that supply and demand will only cause this to increase.

Why are we hanging onto the old way of doing things? Why do we resist change so forcefully? Doing nothing is the last thing we should be doing!

I guess in my next life I’ll have to come back as a dog. A dog’s life used to be synonymous with something undesirable … I’m not so sure here in Canada.

I think that I am the last person in the world to give advice about “chilling” … as my son would call it. Of course he has mastered that fine art and has provided me with advice on the subject many times. It seems that I fail miserably in that department.

So why am I blogging about “down time” or relaxation.

Sometimes we all need to recharge the batteries … it can be a physical thing or it can be a mental thing, and we are all different.

There is that phrase … a change is as good as a rest, and I can definitely subscribe to that theory when trying to recharge from the stresses thrown at us in day to day life. A week on an active holiday could really be refreshing, make the body feel good and give the mind some distance from stress resulting making us feel refreshed and ready to charge back into the daily fray.

When the mental stresses get you down then an increase in physical activity can really help. A good workout can make you feel good, and an increase in fitness levels can make you feel really good about yourself.

When the need for a rest is physical then there is a different answer. It could be because of illness, or a prolonged period of extreme effort or because of an injury. Under those circumstances an active holiday might actually not help that much … perhaps a week lying in a hammock reading a few good books might actually prove more beneficial.

We all work hard in this crazy world we live in, we do need to take time to look after ourselves. Sometimes we just need a mental break, sometimes a physical one … and when we do, it sets us up to go again!

I can definitely get better at that “chilling” thing …but I am trying!

Change happens in our society because people are willing to challenge the accepted wisdom of the day. The kind of protest that causes change can be uncomfortable for the affected government and we have seen recent protests of this kind in places like Taiwan and China, and are not uncommon in other countries including our own. Think of the Tamil Tiger protests in downtown Toronto.

We don’t have to agree with the people protesting, but we do need to open our minds to the possibility they have a point … that is how change happens.

It is difficult for people today to picture our society as repressive, but it was not that long ago that Martin Luther King and his followers were fighting for their rights. Martin Luther King was a leader who exemplifies the kind of protests that have helped to shape a society that is so much more tolerant today … but still has a little way to go. Take a minute to think about our world here in North America, we owe a lot to people like Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a holiday celebrated in the United States marking the birthday (January 15th) of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and is observed each year on the third Monday of January.

In the eleven-year period between 1957 and 1968, King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action; and meanwhile he wrote five books as well as numerous articles. In these years, he led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that caught the attention of the entire world, providing what he called a coalition of conscience. and inspiring his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, a manifesto of the Negro revolution; he planned the drives in Alabama for the registration of Negroes as voters; he directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C., of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, “l Have a Dream”, he conferred with President John F. Kennedy and campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson; he was arrested upwards of twenty times and assaulted at least four times; he was awarded five honorary degrees; was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure.

At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.

On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, he was assassinated.

The campaign for a federal holiday in King’s honour began shortly after his assassination. Ronald Reagan signed the holiday into law in 1983 and was observed for the first time in 1986. It was officially observed in all fifty states for the first time in 2006.

This is a look at the Canadian IT Job market across Canada from our (Eagle) company’s perspective. We have offices in 10 cities across the country and our three General Managers have tapped into their market knowledge to write this … hope you find it helpful. I will stress that this is not a scientific or statistical look at the market … this is what we see day in day out “in the trenches” of the war for talent across Canada.

Overall employment across Canada remained fairly consistent this past quarter, with Statistics Canada reporting the Canadian unemployment rate at 8.5% in both November and December. Employment in the public sector actually decreased in December which was offset by a notable increase in self-employment. Across Canada, Alberta had the largest rise in employment while Manitoba seems to have taken the biggest hit, with employment declining by 4,600 last month.

In Western Canada, some regions are still experiencing hard times due to the recession; however, many cities are seeing more job opportunities as markets start to pick-up. Calgary, in particular, seems to be ahead. Oil prices are reasonable and both oil and gas prices have stabilized, allowing companies in the industry to return to some previously shelved projects. Suncor’s acquisition of Petro-Canada had spurred a lot of activity and turmoil in the resource market, while Encana and Cenovus’ split was completed and saw a lot of hiring. There are reports that top candidates seeking jobs are beginning to receive multiple offers again, suggesting that the market is well on its way to reabsorbing the jobless shed in the downsizing of the past year. Hot jobs in Calgary include: Project Managers and Business Analysts, as well as Content Management and SAP resources.

British Columbia is also starting to recover, although in slower fashion than Calgary. Most of the recovery has been felt in Vancouver, where companies are beginning to shake off the effects of the recession and the Olympics are fuelling the need for ramped up help desk resources. Victoria, however, is still pretty quiet due to a dearth of government spending.

Edmonton and Winnipeg are two regions in Western Canada still struggling. Both cities’ IT industries rely heavily on either government or service companies, whose main client is the government. The municipal and provincial governments, though, are not spending due to deficits caused by the recession. The Alberta Government’s hiring freeze has caused all levels to cancel projects or not extend existing contractors’ contracts. Skills that are in demand include Project Managers, Business Analysts, and Security resources. In Manitoba, the NDP leadership transitioned smoothly and appear to be waiting out their fiscal year before considering new spending. Winnipeg’s financial industry also appears to be very quiet as they rework/re-commit to their strategies given the new economy. Network Administrators and Business Analysts seem to be the hot jobs in Winnipeg.

Rates are holding firm in Calgary and BC, but are still depressed and, in some cases, still declining in Edmonton and Winnipeg as many IT professionals have been without work or contracts for some time. There is also still news of pending layoffs in Edmonton and Winnipeg which is impacting both supply of available resources and rates. As supply of available resources is still quite strong across the West and companies are still intently focused on cost control, rate increases for contract extensions are few and typically come with a corresponding change in scope. Additionally, the percentage of contractors accepting extensions to their current contract has been very high as suitable alternatives have been much more difficult to find. Last quarter many companies across the West took advantage of the market conditions to tender for new resource supply agreements as a way to cut costs and lock in the lower rates.

With the exception of Vancouver, full-time hiring is still down. Many companies often require several levels of management approval before a requisition can be created and they are very cautious with the newly stabilizing economy. In Vancouver, permanent hiring has increased modestly, especially towards the end of November and into December.

The overall job market in the GTA is still feeling fallout from the recession as the December unemployment rate remained at 9.5% as it did in November (the rate is 0.2% higher than the province of Ontario’s unemployment rate and an entire 1.0% above the entire country). The IT job market in the region is growing, with both government and financial institutions undertaking more projects and raising demand for more resources in both contract and permanent positions. Permanent placements, in particular, are growing within the Retail and Financial industries as they seek fulltime resources, mainly Project Managers, Infrastructure Managers, Business Analyst and Enterprise Architects.

Other skills in the Toronto area that continue to be hot include Business Transformation and ERP specialists, including SAP Functional Analysts, as well as Oracle Financials and PeopleSoft Resources.

A notable trend in the region is the significant increase in Systems Integrator activity. These companies, over the last quarter, have picked up a good amount of projects from the local market and are starting to demand more resources. The attitude of IT professionals has not changed much in the past quarter. They continue to be cautious in their job hunts and are searching for those long-term, more stable contracts, or even permanent positions.

In Eastern Canada, clients and candidates alike are nervously wondering what 2010 will hold for them. With what can easily be described as the toughest year in recent memory, for companies and individuals, there are signs of better days ahead, but also signs of more of the tough stuff.

In Ottawa, often viewed as an insulated economy, the two biggest drivers, the Federal Government and a very distant second the Technology marketplace, continue to struggle with different challenges. As the year wound down, many government clients had immediate, if not pipeline, demands for resources but were simply unable to navigate procurement and/or funding challenges. With the government’s stimulus efforts putting government in a deep deficit position, many projects are under greater scrutiny than ever and some departments have already felt a significant pinch, if not deep bite, in available dollars to fund new hiring or even continued projects. Clients also add that the grind through procurement or contracting approval is as difficult and slow as ever. What is not in doubt, though, is there is absolute and clear demand for these resources as many projects that have been in the hands of large vendors, some quite significant, will soon be at the stage that they be turned back to the Feds to run and there will be significant skill shortages to do that in the months and years ahead. Many Federal Government PMO’s will be in this very situation as we look ahead and government will no doubt turn to industry to augment those with the skills and resources needed to operate effectively.

The “high technology” market in Ottawa has all but disappeared from the heydays of yore with the exception of a couple bright lights. It’s hoped that as one or two of those aforementioned bright lights blossom, there will be a renewed spark in the market and employment opportunities will follow. In the interim, though, the two drivers of the Ottawa market – technology and the Federal Government – were seen as the two poor performers that caused an unexpected jump in the Ottawa unemployment rate in Ottawa in December.

In Montreal, the market is definitely seeing a palpable up tick in dem
and as requirements have grown steadily through the fall and through the New Year. The Montreal market seems at though it will continue be an active one through the spring and beyond.

Hot skills in Ottawa include: Oracle, Siebel, as well as IVR skills. In Montreal they include Security Consultants, .NET and Java Developers, as well as PMs and BAs.

It is difficult to imagine the horror being suffered in Haiti. A massive earthquake strikes, buildings are reduced to rubble, electricity is gone, running water is gone, phone service is gone. Your home is destroyed with all of your belongings, maybe some of your loved ones. You are alone, desperate as night falls … no food, no shelter and decimation all around you.

In 2004 an Indian Ocean tsunami hit Asia, killing 230,000 people in 14 countries. Can you even imagine what it might have been like to survive amidst that destruction, to wonder if help would come. Surrounded by the dead, the injured with the potential for further disease and hoping someone, anyone would help.

Disaster struck nearer to home in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina slammed into the gulf coast most particularly New Orleans. The aftermath has been discussed many times, the looting and destruction, the slow response from the US government and the lack of preparation for a city that was a time bomb waiting to go off. Some 1,800 plus people in the US lost their lives and more than $100 Billion of damage was done. Those survivors had those same feelings to cope with, is anyone coming? Am I going to die? How am I going to eat?

I have a good imagination, and modern communication together with past experiences gives us a glimpse of what it might be like. In some respects it is like watching reality TV … we see it, it evokes emotion but we are not experiencing it, so we don’t really know what its like. What we do know is that we don’t want to be there!

Charitable giving is a very personal thing, and we all have our favoured charities. We certainly can’t support every cause … but every now and then comes along a special circumstance. The people of Haiti need some help … are you going to do something? Anything? If we all gave a few dollars to the accredited agencies proving relief then we could make a difference.

Close your eyes, picture yourself on the road outside your home. Your family are safe but your home is destroyed. The road is destroyed, The shops are destroyed. There are dead and injured people in the buildings around you. There is no electricity, no water, no food, no shelter and night is coming. You would want someone to help … do something.

Michael Dalton Johnson is the Editor & Publisher of “Top Dog Sales Secrets”, the best-selling sales book featuring; advice from 50 renowned sales experts. He is the Founder and Publisher of SalesDog.com, an education resource for sales professionals. Johnson is a successful entrepreneur with over 30 years of business leadership. For a free subscription to his weekly sales tips newsletter, visit his website at http://www.salesdog.com/

One of the value-add resources on Michael’s website is “This Week’s Expert Tip“. The following is one of those “tips” and contains good life advice for anyone.

Thanks to my friend Jim Stechyson for sending me this …

Make Small Commitments. Get Big Changes.
Compiled by Michael Dalton Johnson

Taking Care of You.

Drink plenty of water.
Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.
Eat more fruits and vegetables and eat less that is manufactured in processing plants.
Avoid eating food that is handed to you through a window.
Live the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy.
Play more games.
Read more books than you did in 2009.
Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
Sleep for 7 hours.
Take a 10-30 minute walk daily.
And while you walk, smile. (Is that like Smile and Walk Fast?)

Your Outlook

Don’t compare your life to others.
You have no idea what their journey is all about.
Don’t have negative thoughts of things you cannot control.
Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
Don’t overdo. Keep your limits.
Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.
Dream more while you are awake.
Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind others of their past mistakes.
Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
Learn a new word every day.
Smile and laugh more.
You don’t have to win every argument.

Your Relationships

Call your family often.
Each day give something good to others.
Forgive everyone for everything.
Spend time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6.
Try to make at least three people smile each day.
What other people think of you is none of your business.
Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Your Life

The worst promise you can break is one made to yourself.
Do the right thing!
Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.
However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
The best is yet to come.
When you awake alive in the morning, thank God for it.
Your Innermost Self is always happy. Follow it.
No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

I often write about the need for passion, that through passion for a job, a relationship, a hobby we can really and make things happen. However sometimes passion can be demonstrated in the wrong way, and it can come out as anger.

I’m probably not the best role model for this because I can be a little volatile, but time has mellowed me (I think). I really try hard to think before reacting.

There was an exchange on the internet this week where one industry expert in the staffing industry accused another of “taking shots”at a third person. It resulted in a number of blog entries and “some back and forth” which really wasn’t necessary.

In this case, someone got upset about a comment they thought was derogatory. Instead of picking up the phone, or sending an email to the “offending person” to understand the situation he “let loose” with a shot across the bows through his blog. The result was an escalation that was fairly predictable.

All too often we can “react” with anger, or a quick response, without truly understanding the situation or taking time to think through the ramifications of our response.

Here are a few thoughts on the subject:

1. If something upsets you make sure you truly understand all of the facts before reacting.

2. If someone upsets you then try to address that person alone, rather than have the discussion in public.

3. If you are upset then do not write something that you may regret. A common trick is to write the response, then delete it before it goes anywhere.

4. Time has a way of making us look at things a little differently … take some time to let the emotion reduce.

5. If you need to respond to someone or some thing, then get a second/third opinion from a trusted advisor before proceeding.

Often anger will pass, and a response is not necessary.

Almost always a measured, calm response will elicit a better result than “flying off the handle”.

Too often the issue is miscommunication or poor communication leading to a misunderstanding.

Give people the benefit of the doubt.

There is way too much real conflict in the world … we don’t need to add needless battles for no good reason.

There is a fairly common phrase … “Be slow to anger and quick to forgive”. Not bad advice to live by! 

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Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)

Want to know where Canada’s hot jobs are?   Visit the Eagle Job Centre!

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Yesterday I blogged about going into 2010 with optimism and a positive attitude.

Sometimes it is difficult for people to translate statements like that into actions. What does it mean, with out being trite, in real terms.

Here are some thoughts for twenty-ten …

The pace of change in the twenty-first century is accelerating even faster than the change in the last century … which saw the introduction of cars, televisions, computers, the internet etc.

What worked twenty years ago is highly unlikely to work today, and certainly will not be working tomorrow!

If you are not reinventing yourself and/or your business on a regular basis then you will be left behind.

DO NOT THROW YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR AND GIVE UP …

This is exciting!
This means opportunity!
This means living!
Accept that everything is changing … its just a fact.

If everything is changing then how can you be relevant tomorrow.

Invest in yourself … read, understand what is going on around you, network with interesting people.
Look for ways to bring value to others … it is personally rewarding (it just feels good) and it is the best way to ensure your own success!

What do you know about web 2.0? Find out … it will change your world.
Do not assume that job security comes from working for the same big company for a long time … job security comes from what you know and how valuable that is to somebody.
What do you know about biotech? Find out … it will change your world.
Become a life-long scholar … more than ever it is “knowledge” that will ensure success.
What do you know about globalisation? Find out … it is changing your world and will continue to do so.

If you have prejudices (we all do … they are inbred from birth) learn to understand that you have them and then overcome them.

Here are some thoughts for you …

What do you think about the car company Hyundai? If you are a boomer (like me) you might think cheap, low quality clunkers. Reality … they are the fastest growing major car maker and JD Power ranked them number 3 or 4 car in the world for quality, plus their latest sedan will challenge Mercedes and BMW at a significantly lower price point.

When you think of global superpowers do you think of Russia or do you think of India? Its not too many years ago the answer would have been Russia, but not any more! What about China?

Twenty-ten will continue to see change accelerate and you can try to hold back the inevitable OR you can find ways to be a part of that future.

I’m excited … what about you?