PLEASE RECOMMEND LEGITIMATE JOB RECRUITING AGENCIES - HELP NEEDED !

[david1697]

The big five banks are all headquartered in Toronto so the majority of jobs are in Toronto. All of the hiring I've done has been for jobs located in downtown Toronto (in the financial district).

The last job I posted received around 250 applications. But only around 10 of these were applicants who had the qualifications / experience to be considered for the role.

One out of 250 candidates was selected. Even if only 10 had the qualifications, I suspect some positions were simple enough that anyone with zero experience in the field could be trained to perform, but over saturation of market with available work force gave an opportunity to describe the entry level position in a way that only someone who did exact same tasks for the past 5-7 years would be considered. Correct me if I am wrong.

 

[scylla]

One out of 250 candidates was selected. Even if only 10 had the qualifications, I suspect some positions were simple enough that anyone with zero experience in the field could be trained to perform, but over saturation of market with available work force gave an opportunity to describe the entry level position in a way that only someone who did exact same tasks for the past 5-7 years would be considered. Correct me if I am wrong.

No - that wasn't the scenario at all. The position I was hiring for was a more senior role (not a starting /entry position with the bank). It required specific capabilities and experience since it is a more senior role that is going to be responsible for managing projects immediately (i.e. as soon as the person arrives). Someone with zero experience in the field could not handle the job (i.e. will fail) and had no chance of being hired. To be honest, I have no idea why many of the candidates who applied submitted their resumes. It's like they didn't even bother to read the job description. The role was for a senior analyst in a non-technical field and yet I had many many very technical individuals apply who were clearly looking for a technical role based on their covering letters. Many of these candidates had applied for a large number of jobs at the bank (I can see this information when I access their resumes on our system). So I can only assume their were being very lazy and applying to everything with the word "analyst" in it without bothering to see what kind of job it actually was. I had the same problem with financial analysts. I had a lot of financial analysts apply who were looking for a financial analyst role (again, based on their covering letters) - even though my role wasn't a financial analyst role. So sadly the only answer I can give you is laziness. I would warn those who go this lazy route that we can see how many jobs you've applied for within our company. And if you're one of those people who applies for dozens of jobs in one company, even ones you don't qualify for, you're much less likely to get an interview for the job you do actually qualify for.

 

[david1697]

No - that wasn't the scenario at all. The position I was hiring for was a more senior role (not a starting /entry position with the bank). It required specific capabilities and experience since it is a more senior role that is going to be responsible for managing projects immediately (i.e. as soon as the person arrives). Someone with zero experience in the field could not handle the job (i.e. will fail) and had no chance of being hired. To be honest, I have no idea why many of the candidates who applied submitted their resumes. It's like they didn't even bother to read the job description. The role was for a senior analyst in a non-technical field and yet I had many many very technical individuals apply who were clearly looking for a technical role based on their covering letters. Many of these candidates had applied for a large number of jobs at the bank (I can see this information when I access their resumes on our system). So I can only assume their were being very lazy and applying to everything with the word "analyst" in it without bothering to see what kind of job it actually was. I had the same problem with financial analysts. I had a lot of financial analysts apply who were looking for a financial analyst role (again, based on their covering letters) - even though my role wasn't a financial analyst role. So sadly the only answer I can give you is laziness. I would warn those who go this lazy route that we can see how many jobs you've applied for within our company. And if you're one of those people who applies for dozens of jobs in one company, even ones you don't qualify for, you're much less likely to get an interview for the job you do actually qualify for.

Were all the positions you hired for in the past few years the same as one you describe, or were there some which were entry level positions? Or positions where requirements were imposed to qualify which wouldn't be there in absence of over saturation of the market with labor force ?

I can't speak for job market in Toronto, but in parts of US with statistically low unemployment rate and resulting influx of job applicants we have this new phenomena where HR's impose very strict requirements for jobs, in direct response to over supply of labor force.

We have front desk positions advertised where the applicant must have a bachelor's degree and 5-7 years of experience answering phone calls and taking down notes.

We have large number of very simple jobs where , if someone quits the position, employers want to hire a replacement that can continue doing all the tasks immediately without spending a day on training. These are also, by large, entry level positions (someone may have been hired in past with no experience, but today, with over abundance of job applicants, HR's demand someone who can get in drivers' seat from day one).

The mid level positions are even worse and harder to qualify here. Many HR's will not even consider an applicant unless he or she has Master's or higher degree, even if candidate is bright, has bachelor's degree in the field and solid experience doing the tasks applied for. With great abundance of qualified candidates, employers can always choose the better ones. While many final decisions are made by a panel of three or more individuals making the hiring decision, the pre-selection and filtering of resumes is mechanized and popular algorithmic formula based software used to throw out large number of candidates who may be very well qualified for positions but out of luck due to one or another variable not meeting the pre-set (and often arbitrary) requirements for candidate selection.

The blame, of course , is not solely with HR or hiring companies (though, they have their share of contributing to irrational handling of situation, as they are not pressured to be more efficient under current, very favorable to employer, market conditions) .
The real problem here is job market and the current economy. But, the resulting outcome is that if you are a job applicant you get frustrated at some point, it feels like your resumes never get anywhere and it no longer makes difference how thorough you are and how carefully you read ads. You don't get any traction anyway.

The last two jobs I landed in US by literally spamming out my resumes to hundreds upon hundreds of jobs, after a quick search by a key word. I no longer had a time to waste going through each ad, after I had done that for a considerable length of time and got nowhere. It became a matter of statistical hit or miss. And, as odd as it may sound, I found and landed two of my last jobs in US doing just that.
Not because I am lazy, but because I wanted to land a job and going conventional way landed me nowhere. Job market has changed.

In our Canadian searches we have tried both conventional (going through job description, writing a cover letter specifying my qualifications and reasons for applying for a job), and unconventional method (just searching for certain jobs by a key word and submitting a resume right away).
Particularly my spouse tried conventional (what you would describe as "not lazy") method of identifying and applying for opportunities in Canada.
And unlike in US, neither of us got any response at all. So, I am wondering if job market (at least in Ontario, where we were applying heavily) is just the worse version of what we have in the North East US.

What I find encouraging is the fact that major banks in Toronto, Canada accept candidates applying online.
But, overall, not sure we can land a job in Canada under current economic conditions.

 

[scylla]

When I have them, I fill my entry level positions with candidates who are either straight out of school or only have a year or so of experience.

I would strongly recommend against applying for dozens of roles with one bank in the hopes you get lucky. This is the wrong approach to take with the big banks. Apply for the specific jobs you are interested in and have the skills for if you want a chance of being hired. In our system as soon as someone has applied for more than around 20 jobs, the system automatically pops up a warning message to let you know when you click on their profile. Most hiring managers I know ignore a candidate as soon as they see this message because they assume the person is applying for everything under the sun and don't want to deal with someone who hasn't even bothered to read the job description.

 

[david1697]

I haven't personally tried to apply for more than one or two positions at the same company. In fact, since I run my searches by using a key word, only jobs related to my search pop up. So, unless a bank (or other entity) advertised 20 jobs under the same job title, I wouldn't be able to apply for 20 positions at the bank or at any one pace, even if I wanted to. Moreover, I haven't yet applied for jobs in Canadian Banks, in Toronto or elsewhere. And neither did my spouse. But thank you for the advise.

 

[next2015]

Hi David,

I'll send you a PM in a few minutes with some information that might be helpful and I'll do what I can to give you a bit of an edge. Reading, analytical, legal and bilingual skills are, in my opinion, particularly marketable in my own industry (as well as in others). The good news is that there are worldwide players in my industry with offices in major Canadian cities that are often looking for people that have both generalized and specialized skillsets. You can always look at the Fortune 500 list and Google company locations in the markets you would consider, but everyone that's been through this knows that it is all about making direct connections to the decision makers rather than being just a piece of paper crossing HR's desk.

Hi AtHomeInMontreal,

Judging by the name I believe you are located in Montreal? I will be moving as a PR to Montreal in June 2015 from the US and I find my self in a somewhat similar situation as David.
Kindly share with me too any info you deem relevant for a job seeker in the Quebec job market other than the requirement for french. Like David, I have submitted applications online to numerous employers. The only offer I got was from a gmail account with directions to send my resume to an ovi account - i gladly deleted without a 2nd thought.

@David- Thank you for the thread.

 

[david1697]

@ David- Thank you for the thread.

You are welcome my fellow American.

 

[AtHomeInMontreal]

next2015,

Yes, I am in Montreal.

As usual, Scylla's input is right on target (also for Quebec) and I don't know what I can add beyond what I've already said here. My industry (commercial real estate) often hires mid-level and senior talent through referrals and via personnel defections (sometimes an entire group) from competing companies. Entry level jobs do seem to appear on the company website, through recruiters, or on job search websites; however, this isn't always the case and referral activities do take place at all levels.

What can I say specifically about Quebec... ...I'll understate things and state that it can be quite frustrating to find a job as a new PR. As I stated previously, this is why I took a different approach and made connections through the U.S. rather than applying directly here. There are probably some local recruitment agencies in Montreal that are open to working on a person-to-person basis if you are able to come into Montreal to sit down with them (david1697 is overseas and this would not be helpful to him) but it's my understanding that most applications / communications are via the web these days. I'll contact my own HR department and ask if they know of anyone in Montreal that's legitimate / willing to meet an applicant in person (it is a bad two weeks to try to contact HR so it might take a while for them to get back to me). This could give you an advantage over the flood of online applicants.

 

[AtHomeInMontreal]

next2015.

I sent a message to the proper HR person here in Montreal this morning and will let you know what I discover. It might help others here too.

Again, the holidays may result in a delay before I receive a response. A lot of people are "working from home" if you know what I mean.

 

[next2015]

next2015.

I sent a message to the proper HR person here in Montreal this morning and will let you know what I discover. It might help others here too.

Again, the holidays may result in a delay before I receive a response. A lot of people are "working from home" if you know what I mean.

Thank you so much. I appreciate it. I did see the post where you mentioned the idea of reaching out to employers in the US ahead of moving to CA. I'm officially adopting that strategy.

 

[AtHomeInMontreal]

Ok, here is the first that I've been able to verify with regard to being "real" and currently placing people:

Fuze HR Solutions
http://fuzehr.com/
1-800-876-3571
info@fuzehr.com <- be sure to remove spaces, this is a general email box only; use their website or call them directly.

Montreal Downtown 514.904.1810
Montreal (Ville St. Laurent) 514.227.4640
Toronto 416.775.3678
Mississauga 905.361.3987
Denver (US)
Cleveland (US)

Industries covered:

Technology
Supply Chain
Clerical & Administration
Engineering & Aerospace
Accounting
Legal
Industrial
Sales & Marketing
Flex Work

They have available jobs listed on-line (website) as well as a general CV/Resume submission if nothing available at the moment matches your skillset.

More to come as I find them.

Best of luck to all.

 

[AtHomeInMontreal]

With respect given to jazibkg (+1) for first identifying Randstad in a post above, I've just learned from my HR people that this is the recruiter that my company uses for support personnel. We've hired a number of people over the years that have been connected through them.

Randstad Canada
http://www.randstad.ca/

They have offices located across Canada with many in and around Montreal focused on different specialties. I've listed their locations closest to downtown Montreal but you may want to explore their website to locate others in the greater Montreal area if your specialty doesn't appear in the list below. Other cities they have offices in include Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Quebec City, Ottawa, Toronto, Halifax and Sherbrooke.

810 De Maisonneuve Blvd W
Montreal
Administrative Support
Telephone: 514.350.0033
Finance and Accounting
Telephone: 514.350.1002

1001, boul. de Maisonneuve Ouest, Suite 1510
Montreal
Technologies
Telephone: 514.845.5775

Place Victoria, 800 Square-Victoria Street,Suite 405
Montreal
Engineering
Telephone: 514.845.8297

3500 Cote-Vertu Blvd, Suite 175
Saint-Laurent Quebec (Montreal)
Administrative Support
Telephone: 514.332.1055
Finance and Accounting
Telephone: 514.332.0760
Industrial Support
Telephone: 514.332.0955
Skilled Trades and Industrial Management
Telephone: 514.332.0955

7655 Newman Blvd, Suite 75
LaSalle Quebec (Montreal)
Administrative Support
Telephone: 514.366.2336
Contact Centre and Customer Care
Telephone: 514.350.1006
Finance and Accounting
Telephone: 514.366.2336
Industrial Support
Telephone: 514.366.2336

Their website is comprehensive and I can see how you could be "lost in the numbers"; however, they are real and do place a lot of people into decent jobs.

 

[david1697]

Many thanks to AtHomeInMontreal for the links and very valuable information!

 

[next2015]

Thank you so much AtHomeInMontreal. I really appreciate it.

 

[telegram]

this is an interesting topic.
If other people can participate, that would be great.