While my posting of these workplace/workforce predictions isn’t that timely, it’s still relevant and interesting to see what futurists predict for this year. Myself, I predict that a flattening of the upward growth curve for the economy (particularly here in Alberta) will feel to some people like a catastrophy given that employment growth will slow down, cutbacks made, debts out of wack, etc. As well, a lot more folks will try the contract or self-employment route. So, work hard and clean up your personal finances for the coming rougher waters ahead. Then it’s back to clear sailing.

If you’re new to Workbytes you’ll notice that in the right column of the blog is a number of links you can click. In particular, there’s one heading called Useful Job Links with what seems like a million links under it. Okay, not quite a million but the start of a million. I have tons (is that correct English?) of work and job related links for you to click on from my own company Canada-First to ones like Job Central to government labour relations sites like Alberta Human Relations & Employment for example. These sites and hundreds more that I have that I’m culling through (from A to Z) will all be posted here. Eventually I’ll also organize them a little better for you as well. In the mean time if you’re looking for a job somewhere in Calgary or Vancouver or in Oil & Gas or Retail or Insurance, whatever - besides the usual “big job board” culprits - check out some of the Recruiters and smaller niche career sites. You just might find the new home (your new career or employer) you’re looking for without doing so much waiting around.

Employers...I’ve included links for you as well, so don’t be shy to check them out.

Anyone has any links they want to share that aren’t on the list, make sure you send them to me either by registering on the site (free & confidential) or by posting a comment with the link.

Happy job hunting!

PS: you’ll note that my mileage log down below hasn’t changed much since last Sunday. Why? Can you say “bad rash”, “much pain”? Note to self: Never run long distances again without my allergy pills and “Glide”!!!!

This is what a Dad looks like on Father’s Day after running a 10k race with serious “Runner’s Rash”! If you don’t know what that is, google it - it’s better than getting it. I still ran faster than any previous 10k I’ve run but still pathetic when compared to some folks who obviously were first timers, much younger and apparently in far better shape. Oh, well - did I say I was doing this to win the Olympics? No, I’m running for my health primarily and I quite enjoy participating.

Last blog entry I mentioned that I was going to go to the GPS or Global Petroleum Show; well I did. In the past these affairs have generally been rather boring and unfruitful. But this year seems to be different. I hadn’t been there five minutes when I ran into a candidate I had placed once before who introduced me to the Engineering Manager for a very large company who I had been looking to do some business with in the past; unsuccessfully. Now I’m not saying the guy gave me an order but now I know who the hiring Manager is (a key in my business). After that meeting, I went to meet a colleague of mine in the Round Up Centre; we met at another very large oil industry worldwide player’s booth. While we waited for the International Sales Manager to show up we chatted up a young sales engineer from Texas who filled us in on their product offerings, did a demo and let us know that he’d heard he could make more money in Canada right now than in the US market. Anyway, the point of telling you all this is that showing up at this show was a good thing. Let me explain.