🎩 Answer the hardest questions easily

• Why should we hire you?

• Tell me about a time you failed.

• What was the last project you worked on?

These questions throw everyone off. But there's a solution that can help you answer even the most difficult interview questions with ease: the STAR method. The key to the STAR method is establishing a STRUCTURE to your answer and telling a captivating story.

Here's what STAR stands for:

• Situation: Describe the context.

• Task: Explain the task at hand.

• Action: Detail the actions you took.

• Result: Share the outcomes.

Following this format makes your answers concise and impactful.

Example:

Question: Tell me about a time you dealt with a conflict. How did you handle it?

✨ STAR Response:

• Situation: In my previous role, two team members clashed over the direction of a major campaign.

• Task: I needed for our team to make a decision quickly while keeping everyone motivated and excited.

• Action: I met with each team member individually, worked through understanding their reasoning and beliefs. Turned out, there was a big misunderstanding, and lack of shared context, so I organized a facilitated discussion to help everyone align.

• Result: The team members reached alignment, were still excited about the project, and completed the campaign on time.

See how clear and direct that was? It sets the stage with a situation, then explains what you had to do and how you accomplished it. In other words, you told a story, and people love hearing stories.

⚠️ Beware of job scams

Have you ever come across a job scam during your job search? Unfortunately, it is very likely you have. We' get scam recruiter messages, emails and calls every week and we respond to them just out of curiosity. Obviously, it simply eventually with ghosting/

Here’s how you’ll know it’s a job scam:

• bad grammar or strange syntax in communication

• the offer or job seems too good to be true

• they are asking for sensitive information before contract is signed

• they ask you to pay for something before you start or sign a contract

• you receive an offer without doing any interviews

• all email communication comes from a personal email address.

In general, use your best judgment and remember that it is OK to ask clarifying questions if something doesn’t feel right.

If it’s too good to be true, it’s probably not true.

Stay vigilant out there! 

🤩 How to ask for a raise

Do you feel like you deserve a higher pay? You most likely do, but asking for a raise is among the most terrifying things. Will you get fired? Will you get rejected? You likely won’t get fired, unless your boss is an asshole, but you may get rejected.

However, even if you do get rejected, asking for a raise will serve as a powerful signal to your manager that you know your worth. This signals to the boss that if they cannot keep you happy for too long, they may soon lose you, and as long as you’re a great asset to the team, they don’t want that - they will at least try to do what’s in their power to help you.

Here’s how to approach this conversation:

• Do Your Research:

  • Know market rates for your position and your level of experience.

• Measure your contribution:

  • Document your achievements with specific impact you’ve made on the team and company.

  • List new skills you’ve learned and additional responsibilities you’ve been taking on.

• Choose the Right Time:

  • Best time to ask for a raise is after you’ve successfully completed your assigned project

  • Annual reviews is a great time too

    • Avoid asking for a raise during layoffs or times of financial difficulty for the company

• Practice Your Pitch:

  • Speak confidently and keep your pitch concise.

  • Don’t over justify yourself

• Be Professional:

  • Maintain a positive attitude and be prepared for a 'no'.

  • Always ask what you can do to achieve a raise in the future.

    • This puts pressure on the manager to meet your demand in the future, if it’s a no today.

• Negotiate:

  • Discuss other benefits if a salary increase isn’t possible, asking for extra vacation time is oftentimes easier to get than a raise

Featured

👝Unemployment among recent newcomers to Canada is 12.5%. This number is double than that of residents born in Canada, but is around the same as levels of youth unemployment in Canada. This summer has been tough for job-seekers across the board. (Globe & Mail)

💹Canada ranks 3rd in global household debt. It is just behind Switzerland and Australia. Housing debt is the primary reason for high debt levels in Canada. (Global News)

💵While most Canadians feel worse-off financially, IMF predicts Canada will be the fastest growing economy among G7 in 2025. (Financial Post)

⛑️BC is investing $15M in AI in healthcare and aims to build an AI doctor to improve patient engagement in the province. (CBC)

🎥Ontario’s film industry is booming, so if you’re in movie production, Toronto is the place to be in (Mobile Syrup)

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 What is going on with immigration to Canada? Here’s a look at numbers (CTV News)

😷 Canada doubles down on the caregiver immigration program, plans to bring 15,000 caregiver workers.(canada.ca)

📺️ New video is out on YouTube!

💳️ No matter how old you are, chances are, you likely don’t fully understand how credit cards work. In our latest video we do a deep dive explaining credit cards and how to make the best out of using them.

Watch here.

🍰 Money bits

👖 Need new pair of jeans? Levi’s has a 50% off sale.

☎️ If you haven’t negotiated your phone plan in the last year, do it now. Phone plan prices are lowest they’ve ever been, but you have to ask for it if you’ve had a plan for a while.

💴 How to save money and pay less tax (hint: TFSA & RRSP)

🏢 This might be the best time to buy a condo in Toronto, because the sales are the worst they’ve been since the 90s. (BNN)

🤑31 creative ways to save more money. Our personal favorite is generic brands! (Forbes)

⚡️ Your energy bill may get lower soon thanks to a few initiatives the federal government is launching this summer (BlogTO)

💼 Job Highlights

📍Crowdriff, a marketing and content management platform, is hiring for bizdev, software and product roles.

📍Tecsys, a Canadian supply chain technology company, has 10+ positions open in software development, devops, finance, and database mgmt.

📍Aspect Biosystems, has recently raised over $60M from the government to advance research in 3D printing live tissue implants, and are actively hiring for various bioscience and quality control positions.

📍D2L, Canada’s largest EdTech, has multiple positions open in customer & community support, training, marketing, operations and dev.

📍 Powell Contracting, a general contractor firm based in Ontario, is hiring for several remote roles in logistics, finance and sales.

Which industries do you want to see more job postings for? Respond to this email to let us know.

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