I live in Canada’s capital city, Ottawa which is where a large majority of civil servants also live and work. In some respects Ottawa is a little more like Washington than perhaps London, England, The government is the primary employer in both Ottawa and Washington, whereas London also has a strong private sector economy.

I have never worked for the government, but have worked for some very large organizations with their own bureaucracies that seem to be inherent in all large companies.

I wrote a blog entry some time ago about why government workers get a bad rap and thought it would make sense to balance out the score card a little.

We have three levels of government here in Canada, Federal, Provincial and municipal. The civil servants who work for these governments are tasked with implementing the policies and laws imposed by the politicians and law-makers. I have upon occasion been quite vocal about some political decisions … but that really doesn’t reflect on the civil servants who just implement the wishes of our politicians.

Having lived here for many years I know lots of people who work in government and guess what … they are just like everyone in the private sector.

> There are various levels of motivation, there are various levels of skill, there are various levels of commitment and drive … just like in private sector.
> There are different frustrations … government typically don’t go bankrupt, or need to worry about the bottom line. However companies don’t often have radical swings in corporate direction depending upon who is running the show.
> In private sector you can often get things done purely based on ROI, in government you have to demonstrate fairness to all suppliers, include all stakeholders and keep your political masters out of the press!
> In private sector if you have a great idea, run with it, implement it and make it successful then likely you will be financially rewarded, perhaps even with your own company. In government you will likely be rewarded with more responsibility!
> We like to think we work long hours in private sector and those government guys all go home early … I think the reality is that there are plenty of government workers who put in long hours and plenty of private sector workers who slack off.
> In private sector if we need to get rid of someone we can fire them, in government its “possible” but the pain is so acute that very few people get fired.
> In private sector we can act and make things happen quickly … the bureaucracy in government can make it very frustrating for people to make things happen quickly.

We NEED to have capable people in both public and private sector … and that’s exactly what we have. It would naive to think of government workers as in any way less capable than private sector workers … or vice versa. Each has a different environment and different challenges … the good people navigate to the top in either world.

Recently when talking to some people about potential careers, I have suggested that government could actually be a great career. There is plenty of opportunity with the coming “Baby Boomer” retirement wave, there is an appetite for change and government invests in its employees through training and career advancement.

Worth a thought if at this time of year you are one of the thousands of new graduates considering your options.

Ya I know … now I’m probably going to upset all my clients and go out of business!!!

Bear with me here … if, as a staffing company, my core business is finding the right talent at the right time for a good price then I would expect that I can bring REAL value to my client.

One of the things that often happens in any business, and very often in ours, is that our client tells us what they want to happen … and we are expected to just “do it”.

IF we am good at what we do (and I think we are) and we just do what we are told, rather than what we think we should be doing then we are really not bringing true value to our client.

Think about that …

The REAL value I can bring to the table is helping our clients to develop a strategic approach to getting the people they need. Sure I can get them bodies, and too often that is all we do … BUT we can do so much more.

It is the same in almost every industry, particularly service industries … companies just do what they are told, or do what they have always done … yet they could be so much more effective if they would apply their core knowledge and come up with new and innovative ways to help their clients.

One problem is that clients often don’t want to listen … and an even bigger problem is that we suppliers don’t find ways to get the message across that they could get so much more, if they would step back and listen.

Another problem is that sometimes a progressive client wants us to get innovative … and we are not ready!

An interesting challenge in a time of great change AND great opportunity.

Are YOU up for it?

Common courtesy is a phrase I don’t hear very much these days, and yet it is common courtesy that in many ways defines the “civility” of our civilization.

There are many ways to demonstrate common courtesy and I have written relevant blog entries in the past. For instance I wrote a blog in June 2007 … Say Please and Thank You. Certainly those are words that most of us appreciate and yet many people just don’t bother … what’s up with that?

I wrote a blog entry last year entitled Thoughtfulness … which again is something that I think everyone appreciates as a recipient, but many of us forget to practice. Yet it is one of the things that makes everyday life better.

A couple of months ago I wrote an entry about Nice People … and how nice people really are good to be around, yet the label “nice” can sometimes be interpreted as boring, which is a little unfair.

Nice people, thoughtful people, the kind of people who say please and thank you are typically people who practice common courtesy. They will try to put themselves in the shoes of the “other person” and treat them the way they would like to be treated.

It doesn’t take much to treat people well”

> Set the right expectations about any time of communication;
> treat them respectfully;
> be honest with them;
> treat them fairly;
> be thoughtful;
> say please and thank you; and
> treat them like you would reasonably want to be treated.

There that wasn’t so hard was it?

If we all operated in that manner it would be a nicer world.

It has been a while since I blogged on this topic, so I thought it was timely to revisit.

Almost three years ago the blog entry was called When You Need a Friend … and the title is pretty self explanatory. It is when you are in need that you find out who your real friends are. The little twist I threw in was that it can apply equally to individuals as to companies … because each is in need of a friend at various times.

Late in 2008 I wrote a blog entry entitled Friendship … which talked about the value of friendship, the need to nurture friendships and the fact that as a business owner focused on the needs of building and growing a business I have probably neglected that investment needed to develop lasting friendships.

Here we are in 2010 and things have changed a little for me. We are now empty nesters, which theoretically gives us more time to work on friendships. We have done some more of that, but we have also travelled more which makes it hard to plan “get togethers”. Overall I would say that we are getting better but still a work in progress:-)

Its also funny that as you get older you think a little more about this subject. I don’t think I’m old (although there are probably more than a few who might argue that point) but good friends are a valuable commodity and they become more valuable with the passing of time.

Like anything in life the more you put into a relationship the more you will get back. We know a lot of people through various means, business, soccer, hockey etc but typically they are busy, just like us … so its hard to make the time necessary to build lasting friendships. There are some who make an effort, which makes it easier to reciprocate which is how any relationship builds. When the effort is more on one side the relationship (friendship or more) is probably not destined to work out in the long term.

I am grateful for the friends I have, and the friends that Eagle has … we will keep working at those relationships AND at adding more!

Do you give as much as you get from you friends?

There was yet another article in the local paper today taking a run at the temporary help industry … and once again it is to do with the Federal Government. Let’s look at some realities:

What do these agencies do:

They supply qualified labour in a “just in time” environment at extremely competitive prices.

In order to do this the agencies manage literally thousands of applicants … they screen, interview, test and comply with all federal and provincial employment rules. They respond to RFPs, provide security checks, and report back into the government on a regular basis creating EVEN more mountains of paperwork.

Government managers could not “get stuff done” if they did not have access to this flexible workforce capable of stepping in at a moments notice to cover off absences, take on projects or just help cope with peaks in workload.

Let’s examine some of the “Knocks” against this industry:

1. Profits … some people suggest that the staffing industry charge HUGE markups on the cost of an individual. It is funny how the facts so easily elude people who talk about this:

(a) The HUGE markups include all of the federally and provincially mandated deductions that include income taxes, CPP, EI and workers comp.
(b) Tacked somewhere in the markup is a piece to cover off the costs of the agency operations and its staff, in addition to financing the payroll for the temps until the government pay their invoices.
(c) After all of those direct costs Statistics Canada numbers suggest that the staffing industry profits are in the 3 to 5 % range … hardly excessive.

2. Temps are an expensive solution for the Federal Government.

An “apples to apples” comparison would suggest that temps are actually a very cost effective solution when you consider the costs of training, pensions (indexed), benefits, various options for leave (paid maternity leave, stress leaves etc), and the management time required to manage an employee’s career etc.

3. The Government should have their own in-house agency to save money.

The government does a lot of things well, and a number of things not so well. Here are just three reasons why the government doing it themselves would not be a good option.

(a) Speed. The government is not known to operate fast, and that is a critical factor in the temporary help industry. When a client needs help they need it now, not “in a while”.
(b) Cost. It would be my contention that to get enough government workers to operate an internal agency they would far exceed the costs of the existing agency staff. It is a very fast paced, high volume environment and I’m not convinced that a unionized, government-manned operation could do it … and certainly not in a cost effective manner.
(c) Bureaucracy. The temporary business is paper bound today, complying with all of the various levels of government regulations. Imagine how much more bureaucracy would be associated with an internal government operation. Look at the Public Service Commission who are trying to deal with a rising tide of retiring employees and have a great deal of trouble just keeping up!

4. The temporary workers are cheated out of getting government jobs.

An interesting perspective but totally wrong. Many, many temps go on to find full time employment in the Federal government having got their start through an agency. There are those who don’t get a full time job but would like one … there could be a lot of reasons for that:

(a) There might not be a long term position available;
(b) The temp might not have the right qualifications (even though they are doing the job … whole other story);
(c) The government manager might not WANT the person as a full time employee.
(d) There might be an ongoing “competition” through the government process that the temp is not eligible to partake in.

Individual concerns about not being hired usually have very good reasons. We know that the government hire lots of temp employees into their full time ranks. A staffing industry survey suggests that 80% of temps use “temping” as a bridge to something else, a new career, a new job, a new employer, etc.; about 20% of temps CHOOSE it because it fits their lifestyle, they don’t want a “regular” job.

5. The use of temps is a means of getting around the government process.

(a) If the government was my business I would have to ask myself whether there is something wrong with the process!!!!
(b) Government managers need to get things done … so operating within their guidelines they get people where they can. Perhaps the government should talk to their managers and ask how they can make things better.

Canada, like every industrialized nation will be faced with growing skills and labour shortages as we emerge from this recession. Government should be looking at new and innovative ways to attract, hire and retain people through right now, not finding ever more creative ways to hurt an industry that brings so much value.

HISTORY

In September 1969, U.S Senator Gaylord Nelson announced that in the spring of 1970 there would be a nationwide grassroots demonstration on the environment. He proposed this protest to drive the environment onto the National Agenda. April 22nd, Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the environmental movement.

Earth Day is meant to promote environmental citizenship and encourage year round progressive action worldwide. It aims to create environmental awareness around the world and to change local, national and global policies.

NOTABLE EARTH DAY MOMENTS

Earth Day 1990 gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide.

Earth Day 2000 sent a message around the world for action on clean energy.

Earth Day 2007 was the largest Earth Day to date with an estimated billion people participating in activities around the world.

People around the world are trying to make a difference by supporting Earth Day … the bigger challenge is in protecting our planet so that it is still inhabitable for our children and their children!

Today I gave a presentation to CGA Calgary … it was the first time I have given a presentation in a while, so I was a little rusty. I took it as a good opportunity to remind myself of some basics, one of which has to be that practice makes perfect … so I need to do more presenting!!!

Preparation Beforehand.

An obvious one but the better prepared you are the more you can loosen up and be natural. So make sure you know your material, understand how much time you have, plan the presentation to fit the time and practice it.

When you get there.

Get there early, make sure that the set up works for you and get everything ready to go. That can mean having any props ready (in this case I used my iphone and eReader as examples of technology change); ensuring any technology works and is set up right laptop, projector etc; understand if a mike is needed or not; understand how the slides are going to be flipped (by you or someone else, on the computer a mouse or remotely); practice with the setup particularly if any of it is unfamiliar; set up your watch or a clock so you can be conscious of time.

During the presentation.

Think about the pace, are people understanding what you say, are you talking too fast (a common problem). When talking to the audience try to make eye contact with as many people as possible. Add a little humour if at all possible … there were several comments from this group that they appreciated the levity in today’s session. Make sure you are giving them some meat and that the talk is relevant. In this case I was talking about the Changing Workplace and what it means to them. The kinds of opportunities and challenges it brings and what they might like to think about.

Afterwards.

At the end of many presentations the audience does not come up with any questions, which was the case here. If I was “on my game” I would have prompted some questions, but I had not prepared for that and didn’t want to blow it. A few years ago I gave a presentation to the Entrepreneurs Club at the University of Ottawa, after which there were no questions. I was up on a stage addressing a dinner crowd, so I jumped down walked out to the middle and addressed a question to myself, then climbed back up on stage and answered myself. It gave people a laugh and opened the gates to a bunch of questions!

This is a subject that I have addressed before in this blog … so you could check out my blog entry about Giving Presentations from September 2008. I also wrote a blog entry specifically about Toastmasters back in May 2007 … The Power of Toastmasters. They are a great organization and a low risk way to learn and improve your presentation skills.

I guess this taught me that I will have to get out more … I quite enjoyed the speaking and the topic would be good for many groups. Look for my world tour!!!

I am proud to tell people that my background is in sales, it is a profession that I hold in high regard and one without which most companies could not exist! We do however suffer, like many professions, from a couple of drawbacks:

(a) people still associate the sales profession with some of the “old school” tactics employed by some car salesmen in times gone by; and
(b) there are still salespeople today who give our profession a bad name through their less than professional tactics.

I wrote a blog entry called The Profession of Selling back in September that talked about the need to listen to clients, to understand their “pain” and only then to understand how our product or service might help.

Three years ago, in July 2007, I wrote a blog entry about Cold Calling … which had some tips about this sales tool, and how to be effective in cold calling. The subject of today’s blog entry is related to cold calling.

An unnamed company in the investment business has recently “rattled my cage” a little, prompting this blog entry. As a company they are aggressively pursuing new clients and for that I applaud them … the problem comes in the implementation of their strategy, which could be a company problem or a sales person problem. It is always the company that “wears it”, when a sales person creates the wrong impression such as in this case.

Their strategy is a classic one … send a “piece” in the mail, differentiate yourself in some way (in this case they enclose a one dollar US bill) and then follow up by phone.

By differentiating in the mailer the sales person has something to open a conversation with, that will hopefully lead to a more meaningful discussion … nothing wrong so far.

However …

1. the dollar bill does not buy any rights with the prospect. To “assume” (as in this case) that the client should now spend time talking with you is arrogant and “off putting” for many people; and
2. IF the tactic does not get you what you want, then you need to find another way to get the prospects attention. In the case of this company, the salesperson felt that if they called every day then at some point we would break down and call back, or accept their call. NEVER going to happen!

As a professional salesperson you are always trying to get “mind space” with your prospects … there are MANY ways to do that and the most effective ways involve referrals and getting to know something that interests your prospect before you try to batter down their door! Just pounding on the door is annoying and not very effective. Once you annoy your prospect, you lose!

There is a fine line between persistence and stalking … calling someone every day is absolutely stalking! Calling on a weekly basis with the right message (professional, courteous and demonstrating some willingness to bring value) is probably OK … but even that in some cases could be borderline.

Sales people need to build credibility with their clients in order to be successful, this particular guy is going about it the wrong way! In doing that he perpetuates the perceptions that all salespeople employ these type of tactics … not good for our profession, not good for his company and hopefully he finds a different profession soon!

The volcanic ash spewing from an Icelandic volcano (Eyjafjallajokull ) has caused disruption on a scale that is hard to fathom. I have a number of thoughts on this subject …

1. Business Travel. I have written before about the “joys” of business travel, and how hard it is on the person travelling, their wardrobe, their wallet, their family and their social life. In my wildest dreams I couldn’t have forecast a situation where most of Europe could not be serviced by air … I couldn’t imagine being stuck across an ocean with no idea how long it might last. Sure it might be close to done … but it could also get worse!

2. Business Risk. It is said that the airlines are losing $200 million a day! How can any organization absorb that kind of cost? Are we seeing more bailouts in our future? How do the countries just recovering from a major recession afford to bail this industry out?

3. Personal hit. I was planning to be in the UK for a quick visit to see my family … my flight has been cancelled and the window of opportunity has gone. There are some things in life that just can’t be controlled!

What is that saying … “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.” –Reinhold Niebuhr, The Serenity Prayer.

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.

The overall job market across the country continues to show positive signs. Although the unemployment rate was barely affected, Statistics Canada reported an increase of 18,000 jobs throughout March, with Ontario, Quebec, and Saskatchewan leading the way in growth. Specific to Canada’s Information Technology sector, each region is showing different signs, some more positive than others, but generally, there are many signs pointing to many new opportunities in the coming months.

The IT job market activity throughout Western Canada varies across the region, with a number of different factors affecting activity levels. Over the last quarter in British Columbia, Vancouver hosted the Olympic Games and, as a result, experienced an increase in job market activity. The end of the games, though, in combination with government year-end, caused a drop in these activity levels, specifically in government, creating some challenges within the market. Most hiring activity is coming from the financial sectors and some crown corporations, with the province’s hottest skills being Storage, SAP, Senior Infrastructure and health-specific roles.

Although still not at the level it was before the recession, Edmonton’s hiring activity has picked up in the last quarter. Top IT contractors are starting to report that they are receiving multiple offers and some slower moving companies have even lost candidates to other opportunities. Additionally, there has been more interest from IT professionals in permanent positions to consider the potential of contract work; this is a marked change from three months ago. Companies are continuing to be rate sensitive, however, which keeps the market in check, although the low supply of Business Analysts is causing marginal increases in their rates. Many of the open positions are functional in nature and Edmonton’s high-demand roles are BAs, PMs, and ERP (SAP and Oracle) specialists.

Calgary’s IT job market remained relatively strong over the last three months, driven primarily by the Oil and Gas sector. Utilities have been particularly slow to return to investing in their IT initiatives, but as this year continues, companies around Calgary are becoming more aggressive with spending and their IT budgets have been opening up. In particular, there appears to be growing interest in infrastructure projects as many were put on hold during the recession, and with new Microsoft Exchange, Office and Windows suites being released, it looks as though this trend will continue.

The impact of this quarter’s activity in Calgary is being felt in a number of ways. Most of the top talent is now back to work, multiple offers are becoming more common and companies who have been doing their own recruiting are now returning to agencies for assistance. Furthermore, while rates have remained stable over the last three months, pressure is beginning to build. Companies are beginning to offer contract extensions for longer periods to lock in rates; contractors, on the other hand, are testing the waters outside of their current roles. Similar to other Western Canadian regions, Calgary’s hot skills in demand this quarter are PMs, BAs, Architects, SAP and Infrastructure specialists, in addition to more interest in ECM (Livelink) and asset management professionals. Buzz on the streets suggest that there could be a lot of SAP projects kicked off later this year and talk of large outsourcing initiatives are commonplace.

In Manitoba, both municipal and provincial governments have decided to cut costs by using short-term contractors to govern any gaps, increasing the province’s contract activity toward the end of this past quarter. Rates, however, have remained level over the last three months due to out-of-town resources who are remaining competitive and not requesting large premiums for the travel. With the increased activity in other regions, though, this won’t be the case for long. Currently, hot skills in Manitoba are Infrastructure Specialists, Developers, and BAs.

The Greater Toronto Area (GTA)’s IT job market is showing many healthy signs of growth through a significant increase in hiring activity. The region’s financial institutions are still demanding large numbers of resources to fill both permanent and contracting roles to help staff the many projects they have on the go. As well, the major systems integrators are engaging in new projects, resulting in more requirements for contract resources. Overall, IT professionals are seeing more opportunities throughout Toronto and being presented with multiple offers; however, short contract durations shrinking to one or two month terms seems to be a current trend.

Hot skills in the region include Business Transformation professionals, as well as ERP specialists, including SAP Functional Consultants, Oracle Financials and PeopleSoft Resources. In addition, permanent opportunities are still on the rise, particularly in banking and retail companies, where needs seem to be focused around PMs, Infrastructure Managers, BAs, and Enterprise Architects.

With an early spring already weeks underway in Eastern Canada, markets continue to be mixed. Aside from the Government fiscal year end flurry, the Ottawa market was steady, if not quiet, while Montreal showed little sign of slowing down. The increased activity in Ottawa during year-end was largely around extending and approving current projects, as opposed to starting any net new initiatives. Now that the federal government’s fiscal year end has come and gone, and new budgets, plans and funding approvals are in place, Ottawa is shifting into a more normal pattern. But what is the new normal in Ottawa?

The Ottawa market is entering a different fiscal environment as the remaining stimulus money filters its way through the system (for the most part far outside of any IM/IT targets) and the Feds wrestle with freezes, cutbacks and rationalization to help deal with significant fiscal deficits in the years ahead. Although there are a number of “rust -out ” systems and applications need to be renewed, a fresh wave of new e-services demanded and cyber security more urgent than ever, the bottom line is that budget demand will far out-strip capacity to fund and government will no doubt have to streamline and become more efficient. There is absolute talk in Ottawa of hiring freezes and reductions, certainly through attrition and other means that may see the reduction in size of 10,000 jobs in Ottawa alone in the next few years. With demographics not being kind to technology lea
dership in the government, specifically in that the bulk of senior managers in IM/IT who are set to soon retire, will that void now be addressed at all? If so, will it now likely be augmented by subcontractors, outsourcing or other non-traditional hiring methods? In other areas, industry continues to collaborate and work with the Feds to streamline and make procurement more effective and efficient, now with the bulk of the IM/IT spend coming through the new TBIPS contract vehicle.

Outside of government in Ottawa, it is a very different story. Technology employment fell again in March to the lowest level we’ve seen in four years as a par Canadian dollar hammered what was left of a once vibrant local high tech industry. Hot skills in Ottawa include Application Architects, Senior BAs and PMs, as well as GIS resources and .NET Developers.

In Montreal, there continues to be very strong demand through the spring months, particularly in the Banking, Financial Services sector, as well as in Telecom. There is an increase in both permanent and contract demand that began in the fall and has sustained itself through the New Year. There is no doubt an industry challenge in finding enough resources, certainly on the contract side, to satisfy demand even with the return of many native Montrealers who had worked in the oil industry of Western Canada in recent months and years. Hot skills in Montreal continue to be mostly on the Infrastructure side with roles like Network Analysts, System Analysts, and Technical Architects, in addition to a demand for Security, SAP and Senior PMs.