Canadian HR Reporter Weekly

3 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2018 May 9, 2018 flag them to search engines and other third-party platforms," she said. "Our goal is to surface the highest quality and most relevant information to our users." For HR professionals, the launch of Google for Jobs could mean a major spike in incoming resumés, said Pau. "Getting your jobs found is obviously important, and that's what all these aggregator sites do. ey allow your jobs to be found," she said. "It's probably going to increase the quantity of resumés that companies will get for a job posting, but it will not increase the quality, and that's always been our issue." e vast majority of applications through random postings are unqualified, said Pau. "I find it's just very, very easy for jobseekers to submit a resumé without really looking at the qualifications, without seeing if they're qualified, without customizing their application," she said. "at's kind of inefficient… Somebody's going to be wasting their time screening through unqualified applicants." Once considered critical to the job application process, many submitted resumés are now rushed or incomplete, according to Pau. "I don't think it makes it easier for the recruiter, the person hiring, because now you get these generic resumés that are not at all custom to your vacancy, and the quality of these applications over the years, I've noticed, has declined significantly." How to get noticed Clean information is essential if you want a job posting to get noticed, according to Payne. "Organizations — whether on the board or not on the board — need to have really good, clean information on their job ads," she said. "at'll help them get peak reach for sure." To begin, postings should not include internal nomenclature, excessive punctuation or unnecessary special characters, said Payne. Additionally, all online job postings should now include: the full street address of the workplace; a detailed description of job responsibilities and qualifications; work hours; pay ranges; the date of the job posting; and the precise job title. Promotion of brand and culture is also important, as is the inclusion of questions to ensure applications actually read the entire posting, said Pau. "ose questions could be industry-specific, or could be just general," she said, noting they are simply intended to ensure some effort goes into each application. But the questions do not always work, as they may screen out quality applicants as well. Depending on the industry and volume of unqualified applicants, consideration of niche association websites or internal recruitment systems is also a worthy endeavour, said Pau. "If I were looking for an HR manager, does it make more sense for me to post on Indeed? Or should I maybe go to (an HR association), where you're focused?" "(An internal system) is cumbersome, it could turn people away," she said. "On the flipside, as an employer, that might be my way of saying, 'Who's actually serious? Who actually wants to do research around what my company does and who we are, before they submit an application?' It could be a good screening." Credit: Elijah Lovkoff / Shutterstock Google is donating $1 million to MaRS Discovery District (right), an innovation hub in Toronto, to design a futuristic job platform. ON THE COVER (Centre) Employees at Google offices in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., in 2016. Job platform of the future Google also announced it is donating $1 million to MaRS Discovery District — an innovation hub in Toronto — to design a futuristic job platform. The grant supports the development of MaRS' Employment Pathway Platform, an online tool meant to help Canadians successfully shift into future workplaces. It is expected to launch early next year. The platform will use labour market data and skills models to develop personalized transition plans for workers looking to make a career change, said Joe Greenwood, lead executive of data at MaRS. "As technology creates changes in workforce patterns, we need to find ways to create opportunities for all of us to adjust," he said. "The roles and skills that we require are shifting, and are shifting quite fast. People are going to have to continuously learn and adapt their skills as those roles move." The platform will provide a forward-looking view as to which roles are increasing in demand, as well as similar skill sets, said Greenwood. "More of us are having to make jumps than we've had to before, and it's not obvious." Those industries most susceptible to automation's effects will be addressed first, including manufacturing, retail, hospitality, and financial services. The first phase of the project will focus on citizens most vulnerable to labour market shifts, including youth and Indigenous workers, said Greenwood.

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