I keep having these great ideas and get excited about implementing them, but I keep finding that other people had those same ideas earlier and already put a solution in place.
While I was interviewing with Torstar Digital, I came up with some ideas for improving Workopolis.com, one of their web properties. I thought that there must be a way to have enhanced resumes couple with some sort of generic online system for employee reviews. That way the system could rate people based on their performance as rated by their bosses. It would give additional information on top of the simple resume to help recruiters choose candidates to interview. I figured the same system could be used abroad in other countries so that skilled immigrants to Canada would have a rating to point to that would be familiar to employers here in Canada.
I also had that in mind when I was putting together my online resume. These days, recruiters get hundreds of resumes when they post a job. Sifting through them to find good candidates to interview is a time consuming and expensive job. The one-page resume formated isn`t enough anymore...you need something else to show recruiters. My online resume shows more detail in a way that`s easy for people to access and review. It also helps in trying to arrange info meetings.
I was looking into trying to develop a site where people could make similar online resumes easily and open the system up for recruiters to search through. A kind of giant resume book. I also thought of adding a performance review feature based on the U of Waterloo co-op evaluation form.
I started talking to people about these ideas and found out about two sites: whyhire.me and rypple.com. Apparently, these people had similar ideas put them into motion. What I had in mind was a little different (and in my mind better...for obvious reasons) from their solutions, but they already have something built.
I`m thinking about putting together a proposal for the Queen`s business career centre about implementing the solution for their grads with some other added features.
Showing posts with label Job Search. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Job Search. Show all posts
Monday, December 14, 2009
Back in Kingston
About a month ago, I was on my way to Ottawa for an info meeting with an engineering company. I made plans to stop in Kingston along the way and arranged another meeting with a company in town. The traffic on the drive was a lot lighter than I expected and I got into Kingston a couple of hours early, so I decided to stop by the business school and say hi to the MBA staff.
I ran into my old team facilitator from the MBA program and we decided to go out for lunch. I turned out that there were some changes that happened in the career centre and he became the director there over the summer. He was telling me about some of the challenges that he was facing. One of them was that the Queen's alumni weren't being utilized well enough in placing graduating business students in jobs. He wanted a database developed that would help in engaging alumni and help his department prospect jobs for students. He asked me how my job search was going and then asked me if I was interested in running with the project since he didn't have anyone available to make it happen. So we ended lunch with a verbal agreement on a 3-month consulting arrangement to get this database off the ground and I agreed to start 4 days later on Nov 23.
The info meeting in Ottawa fell through and nothing came of the other info meeting I had set up in Kingston so I left town earlier than expected to head home to pack a bag with some work clothes.
I've been working on defining the requirements of the project over the last 4 weeks...interviewing staff and asking them how they use alumni data and how they store it. It's a similar type of information flow and data problem to the one that I was tackling with my big business idea. People use data in a business process but keep track of data differently. You can gain efficiencies and better performance through a combination of behavioural changes and application of some technology. In the case of the business career centre, the goal is to place a higher percentage of students in jobs in a shorter time period. The final product will either be an adoption of an existing CRM database or a custom built system specific to the needs of the career centre. I'm leaning towards recommending a custom solution but there are other financial and time factors to consider. The new system should be up and running by mid-feb barring any issues.
It's an interesting place to be...My previous interaction with the career centre staff was as a student. Now I'm working with them in their office. The first week was a little surreal but I'm starting to get used to it now. I have to say that I like this type of consulting gig. I set my own hours and don't really have a boss. I just invoice my time and show results. I just have to find some longer term arrangements so I can finally stop living like a student and get to feel like a pro again.
I ran into my old team facilitator from the MBA program and we decided to go out for lunch. I turned out that there were some changes that happened in the career centre and he became the director there over the summer. He was telling me about some of the challenges that he was facing. One of them was that the Queen's alumni weren't being utilized well enough in placing graduating business students in jobs. He wanted a database developed that would help in engaging alumni and help his department prospect jobs for students. He asked me how my job search was going and then asked me if I was interested in running with the project since he didn't have anyone available to make it happen. So we ended lunch with a verbal agreement on a 3-month consulting arrangement to get this database off the ground and I agreed to start 4 days later on Nov 23.
The info meeting in Ottawa fell through and nothing came of the other info meeting I had set up in Kingston so I left town earlier than expected to head home to pack a bag with some work clothes.
I've been working on defining the requirements of the project over the last 4 weeks...interviewing staff and asking them how they use alumni data and how they store it. It's a similar type of information flow and data problem to the one that I was tackling with my big business idea. People use data in a business process but keep track of data differently. You can gain efficiencies and better performance through a combination of behavioural changes and application of some technology. In the case of the business career centre, the goal is to place a higher percentage of students in jobs in a shorter time period. The final product will either be an adoption of an existing CRM database or a custom built system specific to the needs of the career centre. I'm leaning towards recommending a custom solution but there are other financial and time factors to consider. The new system should be up and running by mid-feb barring any issues.
It's an interesting place to be...My previous interaction with the career centre staff was as a student. Now I'm working with them in their office. The first week was a little surreal but I'm starting to get used to it now. I have to say that I like this type of consulting gig. I set my own hours and don't really have a boss. I just invoice my time and show results. I just have to find some longer term arrangements so I can finally stop living like a student and get to feel like a pro again.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Work
Well...I'm finally working again. An old employer contacted me about helping them with a large order of machined parts that they received. The needed help programming their cnc machines and designing the work-holding fixtures. We figured out a short-term contract arrangement.
It's nice to be working, but it's a bit of a bitter pill to swallow. I started this blog after I quit working there because I got tired of the atmosphere and knew that I could do better than working there. There was limited opportunity for growth and learning and the place is rife with complainers. I left there because I had a chat with the owner about growing into larger role, but he told me he was happy with my productivity where I was and there wasn't much of a possibility of me growing into a management position or playing a larger role in developing the business. I quit a month after that discussion and decided to go to India and the Philippines to figure out what to do next. That journey eventually led me to the MBA at Queen's. I never thought that I'd be back in the same chair doing the same work again. I'm trying to make the best of the situation, but this turn of events isn't helping my morale. Hopefully, something will develop soon.
Reading articles like these doesn't help either.
It's nice to be working, but it's a bit of a bitter pill to swallow. I started this blog after I quit working there because I got tired of the atmosphere and knew that I could do better than working there. There was limited opportunity for growth and learning and the place is rife with complainers. I left there because I had a chat with the owner about growing into larger role, but he told me he was happy with my productivity where I was and there wasn't much of a possibility of me growing into a management position or playing a larger role in developing the business. I quit a month after that discussion and decided to go to India and the Philippines to figure out what to do next. That journey eventually led me to the MBA at Queen's. I never thought that I'd be back in the same chair doing the same work again. I'm trying to make the best of the situation, but this turn of events isn't helping my morale. Hopefully, something will develop soon.
Reading articles like these doesn't help either.
Monday, August 03, 2009
Online Resume
I applied to a position with an online properties company and decided to do a web version of a cover letter and resume. The position was called "Strategic Innovator"...really fancy title, but basically had to do with generating/promoting new business ideas and managing the process of bringing them to reality.
I had an interview for the position a couple of weeks ago and still haven't heard back from them in terms of a second round interview. I'll give them a follow up call soon.
In any case, you can have a look at my online resume here. It's the same as the one I used for the job application but without the cover letter.
I tried something like this a few years ago around 2003 or so. The reception was mixed...some recruiter was having a bad day and scoffed at it, while some other people thought it was pretty neat. These days though, online interaction is a lot more prevalent than it was 6 years ago. Hopefully this time around the site will make it easier for people to forward my info and some more opportunities will come my way.
One neat thing about using Drupal to develop the online resume is that I can use Google Analytics to track the site usage. This gives it a lot more feedback on viewership than any of the job sites like Workopolis or Monster.
I'll also put a link in the side bar.
I had an interview for the position a couple of weeks ago and still haven't heard back from them in terms of a second round interview. I'll give them a follow up call soon.
In any case, you can have a look at my online resume here. It's the same as the one I used for the job application but without the cover letter.
I tried something like this a few years ago around 2003 or so. The reception was mixed...some recruiter was having a bad day and scoffed at it, while some other people thought it was pretty neat. These days though, online interaction is a lot more prevalent than it was 6 years ago. Hopefully this time around the site will make it easier for people to forward my info and some more opportunities will come my way.
One neat thing about using Drupal to develop the online resume is that I can use Google Analytics to track the site usage. This gives it a lot more feedback on viewership than any of the job sites like Workopolis or Monster.
I'll also put a link in the side bar.
Entrepreneurship Links
I was going through some old bookmarks lately and came across this link from CanadianCareers.com, an old site but with some relevant info.
The first link contains some good resources for researching about starting your own business in Canada. There are a couple of links that test your entrepreneurial spirit.
The second link has some good general info about job search techniques.
The first link contains some good resources for researching about starting your own business in Canada. There are a couple of links that test your entrepreneurial spirit.
The second link has some good general info about job search techniques.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
The Ottawa Network
The Ottawa Network has events every now and then to get entrepreneurs around Ottawa to get together and discuss business topics. I went to the last one this spring, held at the Code Factory, to see if I could meet some people that could lead me to a job with a small startup company. I didn't get any solid job leads, but the discussion was really interesting.
The topic had to do with bootstrapping your business. The tree panelists were in full agreement about external funding: there is none. There are some VCs that are still investing, but only after a business is demonstrating revenue growth. Angel investors have been hit hard by the economic recession and are finding safe havens for their money. The only good way to raise funding for your business is by generating customer revenue. Basically, sell your idea to someone before you even spend a dime developing it.
Practically this means identifying your target first customer, meeting with them, and explaining that you can solve their problems if they explain them to you. At this meeting, your job is to sell them the idea using a presentation. If they like it, you can then start talking about a deposit to begin the work and subsequent funds to continue as the project progresses. But until you have a first customer committed, there's not much point in doing any work or spending any money.
Apart from that, I met some interesting people doing some interesting things. One guy in particular started a website called careerseer.com. It's basically a search engine for job postings for the Ottawa tech sector. It mostly has to do with the software industry, but there may be some postings that are more business related.
It's too bad I only went to one of these networking events. I knew about them when I was still in the MBA program, but never went to one for various reasons. I should pass on the info to the new class, especially the new ventures club members.
The topic had to do with bootstrapping your business. The tree panelists were in full agreement about external funding: there is none. There are some VCs that are still investing, but only after a business is demonstrating revenue growth. Angel investors have been hit hard by the economic recession and are finding safe havens for their money. The only good way to raise funding for your business is by generating customer revenue. Basically, sell your idea to someone before you even spend a dime developing it.
Practically this means identifying your target first customer, meeting with them, and explaining that you can solve their problems if they explain them to you. At this meeting, your job is to sell them the idea using a presentation. If they like it, you can then start talking about a deposit to begin the work and subsequent funds to continue as the project progresses. But until you have a first customer committed, there's not much point in doing any work or spending any money.
Apart from that, I met some interesting people doing some interesting things. One guy in particular started a website called careerseer.com. It's basically a search engine for job postings for the Ottawa tech sector. It mostly has to do with the software industry, but there may be some postings that are more business related.
It's too bad I only went to one of these networking events. I knew about them when I was still in the MBA program, but never went to one for various reasons. I should pass on the info to the new class, especially the new ventures club members.
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