Specialized Recruitment and Consulting in Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

New Management Jobs at CMS - Regional Manager in the Wholesale Industry

The continued growth of our clients is evidenced by our new Executive & Management jobs at CMS.

Most notably is this one, a regional manager's position in the wholesale sector. Review the job opening and if you would like more information get in touch with us.

If this position is not a fit for you, review all of our current openings and be sure to follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Monday, December 20, 2010

More than 90% of C-Level Executives are Expecting Growth in 2011

Toronto based public opinion research firm The Gandalf Group has become a relied upon outlook on the Canadian economy since they began their C-Suite surveys in 2006. The quarterly surveys provide an indication of how Canadian C-Level executives are feeling about the economy. Today they’ve released their 2010 Q4 survey and you can look at it here. The study is great news to those of us following Canada’s expected growth – 92% of executives see growth in 2011.

As we noted in previous blog posts, this comes as no surprise to us at CMS. Our pages of current jobs are getting bigger as our clients are creating more new positions inside their company than they have since 2008. Stay in touch with us through our Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook sites for constant updates on new positions.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Big Growth is coming back to the manufacturing sector - who is prepared?

Yesterday a survey conducted by Canadian PLANT and Grant Thornton LLP said that most manufacturing executives are anticipating growth in the coming years and they have started preparing for it already. This preparation includes workforce planning (including hiring) and investment into process, facility and technological improvements.

The study is called 'Innovation Advantage' and you can read it in its entirety at this link.

At CMS we've seen a tremendous rebound in hiring in the manufacturing sector as evidenced by our current jobs. Most pointedly is an interesting Production Manager job that we are filling in the plastics sector in the interior of BC. Get in touch with us for more information on this or send us an email with your resume to be considered.

Here is a press release on the study;

Business growth ahead for manufacturers

Survey of plant execs reveals confidence moving forward

TORONTO, Dec. 16 /CNW/ - Canadian manufacturers see the economy picking up over the next three years and they are preparing for business expansion with plans to hire employees, invest in process improvements, facilities, technology, training and innovation, according to a survey of senior plant executives.

The 2011 Business Outlook "Innovation Advantage" survey conducted by Canadian PLANT with sponsors Grant Thornton LLP and the Italian Trade Commission, attracted 384 responses from mostly small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who are optimistic about the coming year and beyond.

Respondents are concerned about economic conditions, but 64% are expecting more orders next year, 63% say sales dollars will increase, 43% are counting in higher profits and 31% say their prices will go up.

Forty-four per cent of them intend to hire over the next three years, 33% are adding new lines of business, and 33% plan to enter new geographic markets. Forty-six per cent are investing in process improvement next year, 39% in training and 37% in machinery and equipment.

This year's survey looked at competitive issues, including manufacturers' efforts to innovate and improve productivity. Eighty-six per cent of respondents consider innovation to be an important part of their game plan, but when asked to identify their competitive advantages, quality was the top choice (24%) with innovation appearing well down the list (6%).

That's not to suggest manufacturers are not innovating. Spending on research, development and commercialization of new products is growing steadily, with a rate increase of about 10% expected for 2011, but 49% are not taking advantage of the SR&ED tax credit offered by the federal government.

"There is clearly a shared optimistic view amongst most Canadian manufacturers that the industry is in expansion mode," said Jim Menzies, national leader, manufacturing and distribution with Grant Thornton LLP in Toronto. "They also realize that they need to focus on longer term strategy and risk management, however many of them have been focused primarily on ensuring that the company continues to operate in the near term, hampering their ability to truly focus on their longer term objectives."

The survey was conducted in September and October. The margin of error is +/- 4.1% 18 times out of 20.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Which provinces are going to be the hottest in the next two years?

Today both TD and RBC released provincial economic studies pointing to hot growth in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland. Most notably, RBC sees Alberta's real GDP growth of 3.4 per cent this year, jumping to 4.3 per cent in 2011 - the fastest growth in the province since 2006. That would be second only to Saskatchewan's 5.3 per cent. TD goes on to say that Alberta will be the leading province by 2012.

In terms of jobs though, Alberta's got it made for the next few years - fuelled primarily by the province's energy sector. A 2.7% increase in jobs is predicted for 2011 - when put in contrast to 2010's paltry 0.5% increase this is good news for Albertans.

And what are the hottest jobs in the coming years? Well, check out our current job openings for a sense of what we're working on now and get in touch with us for more information on upcoming jobs.


Wednesday, December 15, 2010

New Jobs - Regional Operations Manager Role with a Leading National Distribution Company

CMS has just begun working on a senior level Operations Manager Role covering the Western Canadian territory of a nation-wide distributor.

Do you have what it takes to lead the operational elements of a large distributor? Are you ready to take the next step in your career with a company that can introduce executive advancement at both domestic & international levels?

If so, please review the job ad here and get in touch with us for any further information.

Monday, December 13, 2010

More than three-quarters of businesses are not prepared with succession planning.

A new study from BMO Financial Group says that 82% of business owners in Canada & the US have not selected a successor for their business. Interestingly, more than one-quarter (27%) of Canadian business owners said the recession has not led to any change in their exit plans compared to 63% of their U.S. counterparts. But U.S. business owners plan to exit their businesses later (68 years of age) compared to Canadian business owners (62 years of age).

While 88 per cent of 650 U.S. business owners surveyed described the U.S. economy as being in recession, 45 per cent of 650 Canadian business owners said their country is experiencing a period of growth.

How about your business? CMS has many different services to help you locate a successor - be that through our executive searches or management consulting, get in touch with us to discuss your future!

Friday, December 10, 2010

New Jobs - Check Out Our Newest Job Postings

As the year comes to a close CMS is getting busier and busier with new positions coming almost daily.

Take a look at our new positions in Finance & Insurance as well as Engineering & Environmental. We've also added new Executive & Management and Sales & Marketing jobs.

If you're interested in any of the jobs or you'd like to be considered for future opportunities, please get in touch with us to seend us your resume.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Employment by the sexes - If men are from Mars, Venus is getting bigger!

A study released today by StatsCan says that the economic downturn of '08 & '09 was less severe on women than men. The employment rate for males between '08 & '09 went down 2.9% whereas females lost barely 1% in this time period.

Here is an article in full by StatsCan depicting the employment market between the sexes



Women in Canada: Paid work



1976 to 2009

The employment rate for women with children has been steadily on the rise during the past three decades. In 2009, 72.9% of women with children under the age of 16 living at home were employed, nearly twice the rate of 39.1% recorded in 1976.

This analysis of paid work among women shows considerable change in their labour force activity during this period. In general, the employment rate for women has followed an upward trend since 1976, when it was 41.9%, although women are still less likely to be employed than men. In 2009, about 8.1 million women had a paid job in Canada. This represents an employment rate of 58.3% compared with 65.2% for men.

The employment rate for women with children under the age of 3 was 64.4% in 2009, more than double the proportion of 27.6% in 1976. Additionally, 11.9% of working women were self-employed in 2009, up from 8.6% in 1976.

While nearly three-quarters of employed women worked full time in 2009, women were more likely than men to work part time.

The majority of employed women continue to work in occupations in which they have been traditionally concentrated. However, they have increased their representation in several professional fields such as business and finance.

Economic downturn less severe on women

The impact of the recent economic downturn was less severe on women than on men.

Between 2008 and 2009, the employment rate for men fell 2.9 percentage points to 65.2%. This repeated a pattern set in the recessions of the early 1980s and 1990s.

Note to readers

This release is based on the first section in what will be the latest edition of the publication Women in Canada, published periodically by Statistics Canada.

This chapter analyzes developments in the labour force activity of women in Canada between 1976 and 2009, using data from the Labour Force Survey.

Later in December 2010, the chapter on the economic well-being of women will be released. Other chapters scheduled for release in 2011 will examine demographic, education, health and living arrangements. Chapters related to Aboriginal women, immigrant women, women with activity limitations and visible minority women will also be published.

In contrast, the employment rate for women declined by only one percentage point in 2009, after reaching an historic high of 59.3% in 2008.

In 2009, the number of unemployed women rose to 608,000, compared with 487,000 in 2008 and 476,000 in 2007. The unemployment rate for women increased to 7.0% in 2009, the highest since 2003. But among men, it reached 9.4%, the highest rate since 1996.

Men were hit harder by the downturn because the industries hardest hit by employment losses in 2009 were male-dominated. They included those in the goods-producing sector, mainly manufacturing, construction and natural resources.

In contrast, more women worked in service industries, such as health care and social assistance, and educational services, where employment continued to grow.

More employed mothers

The employment rate among women with children has risen sharply over the past three decades. However, they are still less likely to be employed than women without children.

In 2009, 72.9% of women with children under 16 living at home were part of the employed workforce, compared with 80.4% of women under the age of 55 without children.

There has been steady growth in labour force participation among women with young children. In 2009, 64.4% of women with children under the age of 3 were employed, more than double the proportion of 27.6% in 1976.

Female lone parents are less likely to be employed than mothers in two-parent families. In 2009, 68.9% of female lone parents with children under the age of 16 living at home were employed, compared with 73.8% of their counterparts in two-parent families.

This represents a major shift from the late 1970s, when female lone parents were more likely to be employed than mothers with partners.

Women more likely to work part time than men

Nearly 7 out of 10 part-time workers in 2009 were women, a proportion that has changed little over the past three decades.

In 2009, 2.2 million women worked part time, that is, fewer than 30 hours a week at their main job. The share of women working part time rose from 23.6% in 1976 to 26.9% in 2009. In comparison, the rate for men in 2009 was 11.9%, less than half that of women, although it more than doubled from 1976.

In addition, a growing number of women are self-employed. In 2009, nearly 1 million women, or 11.9% of all those with jobs, were self-employed, up from 8.6% in 1976.

Self-employment has increased about as fast among women as it has among men in the past two decades, although women are still less likely than men to be self-employed.

Women accounted for 35.5% of all self-employed workers in 2009, up from 31.2% in 1990 and 26.3% in 1976.

Women still concentrated in traditional female occupations

The majority of employed women continue to work in occupations in which they have been traditionally concentrated, although the proportion has declined slowly over the past two decades.

In 2009, 67.0% of employed women worked in teaching, nursing and related health occupations, clerical or other administrative positions, or sales and service occupations. In contrast, 31.0% of employed men worked in these fields.

At the same time, women have increased their representation in several professional fields. For example, they comprised 51.2% of business and financial professionals in 2009, up from 38.3% in 1987. The share of women employed has gone up in diagnostic and treating positions in medicine and related health professions.

Women made up 55.2% of doctors, dentists and other health occupations in 2009, as well as 72.5% of professionals employed in social sciences or religion.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3701.

The chapter "Paid work" is now available in Women in Canada: A Gender-based Statistical Report, 1976 to 2009, sixth edition (89-503-X, free), from the Key resource module of our website under Publications.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Client Services (613-951-5979; sasd-dssea@statcan.gc.ca), Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Almost half of Canadian companies are struck by employee fraud - is yours?

A study released today by SAS/Leger Marketing survey of more than 1,000 Canadian executives said that 47% of executives had been defrauded by their employees.

More than two thirds of fraudsters were tracked down after the fraud but only one in six cases were companies able to identify the activity and put a stop to it before it happened.

What can you do to avoid such activity? CMS' Management Consulting can assess your employees through retention studies and a myriad of other consulting services. Get in touch with us for more information on this and our other services.

Here's the study in full released by SAS Canada and Leger Marketing.


Half of large Canadian companies hit by employee fraud attempts, execs say: study

Mid-sized companies safer, but less successful at catching fraudsters

TORONTO, Dec. 8 /CNW/ - Forty-eight per cent of executives at large Canadian companies said that employees have attempted to defraud their organization, while only 35 per cent of mid-sized company execs said they, too, face internal fraud issues. Regardless of company size, employees who attempt fraud were very likely to be caught, according to the findings of a SAS/Leger Marketing survey of more than 1,000 Canadian executives conducted earlier this year.

Only four per cent of executives at large companies said employees who committed fraud escaped being caught, whereas ten per cent of those fraudsters at mid-sized companies eluded detection, according to executives. More than two-thirds of the fraudsters were tracked down after the fraud occurred (74 per cent and 69 per cent respectively for large and mid-sized companies). In approximately one in six cases (14 per cent at large companies, 16 per cent at mid-sized) the company identified the fraud attempt and stopped it before it could occur.

"There needs to be a paradigm shift where the focus is on catching fraud before it occurs rather than tracking it down after," said Wes Gill, Executive Lead of Enterprise Risk Management with SAS Canada. "While diligence and perseverance help, technology is the key. Business analytics software can identify fraud as it is evolving, helping companies identify it before it has actually occurred. Would you rather round up the horses after they've left the barn or prevent them leaving in the first place?"

Customer fraud a concern too
Customer fraud, which could include everything from insurance scams to credit card and mortgage fraud, was also a bigger concern for large companies, with 47 per cent of executives saying they had been affected, versus 30 per cent for mid-sized companies. At large companies, seven per cent of customer fraudsters were not caught versus 12 per cent at mid-sized companies, according to the executives.

The financial, food/retail, and government sectors were the biggest victims of customer fraud attempts, with 60 per cent of food and retail executives, 59 per cent of finance executives, and 44 per cent of government executives saying they have been impacted by customer fraud. The lowest incidences were in the professional consulting, real estate and legal professions, with 16 per cent saying they have faced customer fraud.

  • 30 per cent of finance companies often use business analytics software to help detect fraud
  • 25 per cent of retail and food companies often use business analytics software to help detect fraud
  • Only eight per cent of government executives said their organization often uses business analytics software to help detect fraud

"As the survey results indicate, certain industries are more affected by fraudulent activities than others," Gill said. "Though many organizations can benefit from the use of business analytics to detect fraud, the one concern I have from these results is that government, third highest in terms of customer fraud attempts and second highest in terms of employee fraud attempts, is not a big user of technology designed to detect fraud."

While there was not a lot of variance nationally when it came to customer fraud attempts (the national average was 39 per cent), Alberta was quite a bit higher than Quebec (48 per cent versus 36 per cent). When it came to internal fraud attempts, B.C. and Quebec were above Ontario, with 49 and 46 per cent respectively saying they had been impacted by employee fraud versus 37 per cent for Ontario. The national average was 42 per cent.

Stats at a glance
The survey also revealed that:

  • 51 per cent of mid-sized companies tracked down the occurrence of customer fraud after it occurred
  • 47 per cent at large companies tracked down the occurrence customer fraud after it occurred
  • 31 per cent of all customer fraud was identified before it could occur (the same for both large and mid-sized companies)
  • 55 per cent of food and retails executives said an employee had attempted to defraud their company
  • 46 per cent of both government and finance executives said they had been hit by employee fraud attempts
  • The lowest for employee fraud were the professional consulting, real estate and legal professions, with 23 per cent saying they had been victim of employee fraud attempts

About the Survey
This online comprehensive national executive survey was conducted for SAS Canada by Leger Marketing between March 3rd and March 26th, 2010, during National Fraud Prevention Month, with a representative sample of 1,022 senior-level business decision makers. This is the fourth and final installment based on the survey results. This method simulates a probability sample which would yield a maximum margin of error of +/-3.1%, 19 times out of 20.

About SAS
SAS is the leader in business analytics software and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. Through innovative solutions delivered within an integrated framework, SAS helps customers at more than 45,000 sites improve performance and deliver value by making better decisions faster. Since 1976 SAS has been giving customers around the world THE POWER TO KNOW®.

The Canadian subsidiary of SAS has been in operation for 22 years. Headquartered in Toronto, SAS employs 263 people across the country at its Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec City and Montréal offices. www.sas.com

Friday, December 3, 2010

The numbers are in and the numbers are good - Canada's Labour Force Survey for November

StatsCan released the monthly Labour Force Survey today and while we didn't quite reach Reuters' anticipated 18,000 new jobs, Canada did add about 15,000.

The number of youths participating in the employment market has lowered though which put the unemployment rate below Reuters' estimated 7.9% at 7.6%. This is the lowest unemployment rate in almost two years, since January 2009.

StatsCan also said that the number of part-time jobs has grown by 4% year-to-year since November '09 while full-time employment has risen by 1.4%.

Here is the article in full from the StatsCan website;




Labour Force Survey

November 2010 (Previous release)

Employment edged up by 15,000 in November. At the same time, there was a notable decline in the number of youths participating in the labour market. As a result, the unemployment rate fell 0.3 percentage points to 7.6%, the lowest since January 2009.

Employment

Since November 2009, employment has risen by 318,000 (+1.9%).

In November, part-time gains were partly offset by decreases in full time. Over the past year, part-time employment has grown by 4.0% (+127,000), a faster pace than the 1.4% growth in full time (+192,000).

November's employment gains in health care and social assistance; retail and wholesale trade; and accommodation and food services were mostly offset by declines in manufacturing as well as in finance, insurance, real estate and leasing.

Note to readers

Following the release of final population estimates from each census, a standard revision is applied to the Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates. The revised estimates are scheduled to be released on Friday, January 28, 2011, and will include the following:

LFS estimates are currently based on the 2001 Census population estimates. These data will be adjusted to reflect 2006 Census population estimates and will be revised back to 1996.

Industry estimates will be reclassified to the 2007 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) from the 2002 NAICS and revised back to 1987.

Geography boundaries will be updated to the 2006 Standard Geographical Classification (SGC) rather than the current 2001 SGC. With this change, six new census metropolitan areas (CMAs) will be added and the boundaries of seven existing CMAs will be modified. New CMA tables will be created based on the 2006 census boundaries and will date back to 1996.

Finally, the 2006 National Occupational Classification for Statistics (NOC-S) will replace the 2001 NOC-S. This change will not affect the LFS estimates as there were only minor changes to the description of the categories.

Please note that the changes to the estimates will be minor. Rates of unemployment, employment and participation are essentially unchanged, as are key labour market trends.

During the revision, CANSIM data for the LFS will not be available from Friday, January 21 to Thursday, January 27, 2011. For further information on these changes, contact Client Services (toll-free 1-866-873-8788; 613-951-4090; labour@statcan.gc.ca).

LFS estimates are based on a sample, and are therefore subject to sampling variability. Estimates for smaller geographic areas or industries will have more variability. For an explanation of sampling variability of estimates, and how to use standard errors to assess this variability, consult the "Data quality" section of the publication Labour Force Information (71-001-X, free).

Unless otherwise stated, this release presents seasonally adjusted data, which facilitates comparisons by removing the effects of seasonal variations.

Ontario was the only province with a notable employment increase in November. Quebec and Manitoba had employment declines in the month, while the other provinces showed little change.

While employment for youths aged 15 to 24 was unchanged, their unemployment levels fell. This pushed the youth unemployment rate down 1.4 percentage points to 13.6%.

Unemployment rate

Gains in some service sectors, decline in manufacturing

In November, health care and social assistance employment rose by 28,000. This industry has seen gains of 120,000 (+6.1%) since November 2009, one of the highest rates of growth of all major industries.

Employment in wholesale and retail trade increased by 26,000. With this increase, employment in this industry is up 57,000 (+2.2%) compared with a year earlier.

Accommodation and food services employment was up 17,000 in November, following five months of little change.

Manufacturing employment fell by 29,000 in November, bringing employment in this industry to 1.73 million, or 47,000 (-2.6%) below its level of 12 months earlier.

With this decline, manufacturing's share of total employment continued its long-term downward trend, reaching 10% in November, the lowest since comparable data became available in 1976. This was down from 15% in the early 2000s and 19% in 1976.

Employment decreased by 23,000 in finance, insurance, real estate and leasing. Compared with November 2009, levels were down 43,000 (-3.8%).

Although construction was little changed in November, employment in this industry has been on an upward trend for more than a year, with gains of 89,000 (+7.5%) over the past 12 months. Employment growth in construction was the second fastest of all the major industry groups over the past year, behind natural resources (+7.9%).

While there was employment growth in the public sector in November, there was little change among private sector employees and the self-employed. Over the previous 12 months, employment growth in the public sector (+3.1% or 109,000) led that of the private sector (+2.5% or 266,000). Over the same period, self-employment fell by 2.1% (-56,000).

Employment gains in Ontario

Ontario's employment level rose by 31,000 in November, pushing the unemployment rate down 0.4 percentage points to 8.2%, the lowest since January 2009. With November's employment increase, the number of workers in Ontario grew by 2.1% (+140,000) from a year earlier, just above the national growth rate of 1.9%.

In November, employment in Quebec edged down by 14,000. Despite this decline, Quebec employment was up 78,000 (+2.0%) from a year earlier. The unemployment rate was 7.9% in November.

Manitoba's employment level fell by 3,000 in November, partly dampening its 12-month gain of 13,000 (+2.1%). The unemployment rate, at 5.1%, remained the lowest of all provinces.

While employment was unchanged in Alberta, a decline in the number of people looking for work pushed the unemployment rate down 0.4 percentage points to 5.6%.

Employment in British Columbia was little changed in November. With fewer people searching for work, the unemployment rate declined by 0.5 percentage points to 6.9%.

Fewer youths looking for work

While employment among youths was unchanged in November, there were fewer youths looking for work. As a result, their unemployment rate fell 1.4 percentage points to 13.6%. Since June, the youth participation rate has declined 2.1 percentage points to 63.2% in November, the lowest since August 1999.

Labour market conditions were little changed among other demographic groups in November.

Available on CANSIM: tables 282-0001 to 282-0042, 282-0047 to 282-0064 and 282-0069 to 282-0108.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3701.

A more detailed summary, Labour Force Information (71-001-X, free) is now available online for the week ending November 13. From the Key resource module of our website under Publications, choose All subjects, then Labour. LAN and bulk prices are available on request. The DVD-ROM Labour Force Historical Review, 2009 (71F0004X, $209), is now available. See How to order products.

Data tables are also now available online. From the Subject module of our website, choose Labour.

The next release of the Labour Force Survey will be on January 7.

For general information, or to order data, contact Client Services (toll-free 1-866-873-8788; 613-951-4090; labour@statcan.gc.ca). To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Jason Gilmore (613-951-7118; jason.gilmore@statcan.gc.ca) or Lahouaria Yssaad (613-951-0627; lahouaria.yssaad@statcan.gc.ca), Labour Statistics Division.