Monthly Archives: August 2017

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How do I choose my next job?

Jim Woodbridge – Career Coach – Job Search by Heart

That is the most important and possibly the most elusive question to answer, but the journey is worth it.

The types of jobs that will be available beyond the next five years have not even been created yet. In Toronto, 50% of the 75,000 business establishments were not in business just ten years ago.  Fully 36% of business establishments are no more than five years old, so it can be said there are new opportunities to work emerging all the time in the city.  Finding a career that you can grow with is an important step. It is also important to recognize that your job search may happen on a regular basis as companies, positions, and professions come and go. Establishing a lifelong learning plan, with a main career goal and a backup career or hobby goal will be a very useful strategy. Often what we do as a hobby or secondary interest may become our main occupation or a strong influence to support our primary work. (My hobby of photography helped me in my work through documenting our major annual events and shooting a video for the fund raising department.)

As most work in Toronto is in the service sector – strong customer service skills and business social skills are key to long term success and common to most work. The specific technical skills of the job merely differentiate the specific jobs that you can perform. A great place to start is with the National Occupational Classification provided by the Federal Bureau of Statistics. This handy service provides full job descriptions for thousands of jobs. Using these job descriptions, you can list out the essential duties of any job you have done in the past and any job you interested in taking up. Explore these job descriptions and make sure that you use this information to describe the work and the accomplishments you have already done for your resume and your interviews.

Here is an example listing for Office Manager NOC 1221.   You will see an overall description of the job, the main duties and the education and experience typically required for the job. When you are determining which type of job to seek, this information is helpful to determine if you have the required experience, education, and interest. When you get the descriptions of all the kinds of work you have done and compare them with the requirements of work you are seeking, you can determine whether you have the existing direct or transferable skills to do the job. You may also find out that you need to take additional training to qualify for the new position. Knowing the scope of the work you are seeking will help you to have conversations with people who are already doing the same work and will enhance your impression through being able to ask relevant questions.

In preparation for resume writing, use the National Occupational Classification 2016 to get the listings of all the kinds of work you have done and use this as a starting point. As you review these listings, make sure that you identify whether you have performed the duties listed. Are there any duties not listed? You will want to be sure that the information about your previous work included on your resume reflects your actual duties and accomplishments. (Resumes are checked.)

Take a moment to consider the kind of job you want next and get the job description as well.

Is the next job a natural continuation of the past jobs, a career change, a long term goal, or something that you can do immediately? All this comes clear when you compare your work experience and education with the duties and requirements of the next job.

Have some fun with this. If you have most of the requirements of the career, you may be able to demonstrate your strong ability to learn on the job and be the successful candidate.

So, as you move forward on your job search journey, remember that you’re not just trying to find any job—you’re aiming to do what you love and find those who love what you do. Embrace positivity, expand your vision, and build resources that last.

If you’re ready to dive deeper into how you can practically apply these techniques to your own career journey, reach out. Let’s make your job search more than just a task—let’s make it a heart-filled journey of growth and discovery.

About Jim

Jim Woodbridge is the Coach and founder of Job Search by Heart. His passion project is helping you “Do what you love and find those who love what you do!”

At Job Search by Heart, we support you at every step of your career search journey. We use state-of-the-art AI tools and techniques to help you put your best and authentic self forward. With over two decades in the career coaching profession, wisdom and best practices are at the heart of our service. Stay tuned for more practical advice and strategies to help you navigate the professional world with confidence and purpose.

For your own personalized career coaching, click here to contact Job Search by Heart for a free 30-minute discovery session – email jimwoodbridge@jobsearchbyheart.com or call +1-647-931-9211

Stay up to date with our regular blog posts by subscribing.

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Where to Find Jobs in Toronto: A Comprehensive Guide

Jim Woodbridge – Career Coach – Job Search by Heart

When people insist that no one is hiring – I am not exactly sure where they get their information. Perhaps they have approached their job search in a way that is ineffective, perhaps they have had heard this from others.

Every employer is hiring this year

In fact, in Toronto alone, 75,000 employers are hiring 11% of the workforce every year. This 11% represents people leaving their job for another job or other activity. With over 1.4 million jobs in Toronto – this represents over 160,000 jobs available every year. Finding a single job in this scenario becomes a relatively straight forward task.

The Conference Board of Canada came up with the 11% job turnover statistic, but this is the overall average number. Depending on the sector, you will find certain industries have a turnover that is much higher or a bit less than the 11% number. You can look at the overall survey that shows the turnover rates by major industry type by clicking on the following link: Industry Turnover Rates – Conference Board of Canada

So where are the jobs?

The City of Toronto surveys employers every year and the research comes out annually. The reports are available through the city of Toronto website: City of Toronto Employment Survey. You can look at the full report of the 2016 survey here: 2016 Toronto Employment Survey. Take your time reading the Toronto Employment Survey – it has a lot of very useful information, especially the location of the major employment districts.  With this helpful information, you can explore these regions across the city with the intention to find employment close to home or within an easy commute.

Mapping your Job Search

Google Maps can help you determine the commute times. Ideal commute times are less than one hour by whatever means that you choose. Need to find specific business addresses? You can use CanPages to locate businesses by category that are close to your place of residence. Using Google Maps to do a virtual tour of the streets surrounding the addresses of the business you identify in CanPages. Using these two tools can be truly helpful to organize your job search trips to visit companies.

So, as you move forward on your job search journey, remember that you’re not just trying to find any job—you’re aiming to do what you love and find those who love what you do. Embrace positivity, expand your vision, and build resources that last.

If you’re ready to dive deeper into how you can practically apply these techniques to your own career journey, reach out. Let’s make your job search more than just a task—let’s make it a heart-filled journey of growth and discovery.

About Jim

Jim Woodbridge is the Coach and founder of Job Search by Heart. His passion project is helping you “Do what you love and find those who love what you do!”

At Job Search by Heart, we support you at every step of your career search journey. We use state-of-the-art AI tools and techniques to help you put your best and authentic self forward. With over two decades in the career coaching profession, wisdom and best practices are at the heart of our service. Stay tuned for more practical advice and strategies to help you navigate the professional world with confidence and purpose.

For your own personalized career coaching, click here to contact Job Search by Heart for a free 30-minute discovery session – email jimwoodbridge@jobsearchbyheart.com or call +1-647-931-9211

Stay up to date with our regular blog posts by subscribing.

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Mastering Skills: The 10,000 Hour Rule Explained

Jim Woodbridge – Career Coach – Job Search by Heart

When I was a small child I was drawn to the piano in the den of our home. It made wonderful sounds. I always played the piano tunefully and never banged it. This love for the piano translated into many hours sitting at the keyboard and picking out tunes on the keys. Eventually, over many years and several failed attempts to give me lessons, I joined a garage band at school, and the rest is history. I went from there to play piano through college, earning my way to pay rent by playing solo at the local piano bar. In the height of my musical abilities, I could play for 5 hours straight and never repeat a tune. Without even noticing it – I spent hours a day playing piano and finding joy in its sound. As Malcolm Gladwell would put it – I spent the 10,000 hours it takes to develop a sort of mastery with the instrument. Others would spend time shooting hoops, or baking and cooking, drawing, or working with wood. Whatever your passion – you gladly spend the hours, solving problems, celebrating small wins and even bringing the skill to others for acceptance.

Whether hobby, sport, relationship, or profession, the process is similar. You take an interest in something you have never even tried before, and bit by bit, through trial and error, success and failure you begin to get good at it. Eventually, you become so good that you do not even have to think about it. Being able to do things is where esteem comes from and why it is so powerful to begin your job search by doing an inventory of the things that you do well without having to think about it. You will find that your esteem and self-worth will climb as you discover just how many things you have mastered well. Anything worth doing well is worth the painful beginner’s stage.

The question is – What do you wish to learn next?

Here is a link to a Wikipedia article on the Four stages of Competence. Click on the link below:

The Four Stages of Competence (Wikipedia)

Try this exercise to identify the things you have mastered and how: The download link is below:

Click to view the Job Search by Heart Inventory

So, as you move forward on your job search journey, remember that you’re not just trying to find any job—you’re aiming to do what you love and find those who love what you do. Embrace positivity, expand your vision, and build resources that last.

If you’re ready to dive deeper into how you can practically apply these techniques to your own career journey, reach out. Let’s make your job search more than just a task—let’s make it a heart-filled journey of growth and discovery.

About Jim

Jim Woodbridge is the Coach and founder of Job Search by Heart. His passion project is helping you “Do what you love and find those who love what you do!”

At Job Search by Heart, we support you at every step of your career search journey. We use state-of-the-art AI tools and techniques to help you put your best and authentic self forward. With over two decades in the career coaching profession, wisdom and best practices are at the heart of our service. Stay tuned for more practical advice and strategies to help you navigate the professional world with confidence and purpose.

For your own personalized career coaching, click here to contact Job Search by Heart for a free 30-minute discovery session – email jimwoodbridge@jobsearchbyheart.com or call +1-647-931-9211

Stay up to date with our regular blog posts by subscribing.

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Job Search Roadmap: A Step-by-Step Guide

Jim Woodbridge – Career Coach – Job Search by Heart

Job Search Roadmap in Reverse Order

In the design of any project or activity, starting with the end in mind will help guide the outcome to the desired goal. Often in a job search, we start with the résumé and hope that our trajectory will hit the target. In this case, let’s start with the end – passing probation into full employment as our end point and let’s break down the steps that got you there. When working with an Employment Services agency, the Employment Advisor may “work backward” from the goal to assess your job search readiness, employment readiness, gaps, and solutions.  The four stages of job search are Prepare, Plan, Prove It!,  and Perform.

We have provided a handy document that outlines this process in full. Just download it from the link provided below:

Job Search Roadmap in Reverse Order – Job Search By Heart

So, as you move forward on your job search journey, remember that you’re not just trying to find any job—you’re aiming to do what you love and find those who love what you do. Embrace positivity, expand your vision, and build resources that last.

If you’re ready to dive deeper into how you can practically apply these techniques to your own career journey, reach out. Let’s make your job search more than just a task—let’s make it a heart-filled journey of growth and discovery.

About Jim

Jim Woodbridge is the Coach and founder of Job Search by Heart. His passion project is helping you “Do what you love and find those who love what you do!”

At Job Search by Heart, we support you at every step of your career search journey. We use state-of-the-art AI tools and techniques to help you put your best and authentic self forward. With over two decades in the career coaching profession, wisdom and best practices are at the heart of our service. Stay tuned for more practical advice and strategies to help you navigate the professional world with confidence and purpose.

For your own personalized career coaching, click here to contact Job Search by Heart for a free 30-minute discovery session – email jimwoodbridge@jobsearchbyheart.com or call +1-647-931-9211

Stay up to date with our regular blog posts by subscribing.