The HRDC Job Bank and Hidden Jobs

The HRDC job bank contains many Winnipeg jobs and Manitoba jobs, but many professional job seekers find that too often, the job postings are for either entry level jobs, service jobs, or jobs that require little or no professional expertise.

How can you turn the HRDC job bank and its jobs into a tool that can help you uncover suitable unmet needs in an organization?

It's really a straight-forward process. If an organization is hiring any kind of employee, they are usually either in growth mode or crisis mode. If you are looking for a great job, you can benefit handsomely from both scenarios.


Using the HRDC Job Bank to find a company in Growth Mode:

Jobs are created throughout an organization when it is growing. If a company is hiring junior employees, for entry level jobs, and posts these positions to the HRDC job bank, they may also be posting professional jobs elsewhere.

Check the Websites of these employers to see if they have posted jobs for professional workers' jobs.

They may not have an immediate need to hire professionals, but companies that are growing will soon need to adopt new systems to track, train, monitor and manage new hires.

They may be uncovering new markets for their products and need help with exploring the export of their products and services to other countries.

They may have launched a new product line - and need research support to evaluate the effectiveness of their marketing and sales efforts.

Getting your foot in the door of a growing company is a great way to secure a long and profitable career! If you want more help than what the HRDC job bank provides, find out how we can help.


Using the HRDC Job Bank to find a company in Crisis Mode:

No one wants to hear about crisis, but often when a company is REACTING to changes in their market space; scrambling to fix management deficiencies; or trying to overcome financial hurdles, they will need to post positions on the HRDC job bank to find recruits in a hurry! Often seen as a quick-fix to a crisis.

In crisis mode, if a company has poor morale caused by ineffective management they may also have high turnover, causing them to post jobs at HRDC.

Management is not the only cause of crisis though, a large customer may have switched suppliers, and the supplier has recruited some of the vendor's staff. So the staff need to be replaced quickly and cheaply. In this situation, the HRDC job bank is great for the company - it's fast and free. But not so good for you as an unemployed professional.

But by doing some research, you may uncover some of the root causes for the company's crisis. A perfect situation for you to show off your skills. Here's what you do:


Your Action Plan for a challenging Career

Contact the professional association associated with these companies. For example, if the company is an engineering firm, call the Professional Engineers Association for information about the situation of the company, and of the industry as a whole. Ask about emerging trends and business cycles. If up and positive, growth is likely the path; if down and negative, crisis may be their mode of operation.

Then market yourself as the Problem Solver. Depending on your skills, you may "transform" your self into a consultant, ready to pop in fix the issue, and pop out.

Or if your qualifications are not quite so grand, you brand yourself as a knowledgeable, eager, keen worker with initiative and a refined understanding of the industry so you know what needs to be done to help management. Like a high level assistant, you take the burden off management and help them tackle the projects they should be doing to solve the problems, but just don't have the time or in-house expertise to allocate.

In all these situations, the company may not be aware that they are going to need help in any of these key areas - but they will!

So, do some research, talk to your contacts and business people in your network to see what they know about the company. Read the Winnipeg Free Press Business Section to see any recent news about the company. Martin Cash writes great insider columns about Winnipeg businesses. Find out whether the situation is Growth or Crisis.

And ask for a meeting or an interview. Once you've put the Problem Solver idea in the manager's head, it will be hard to say "no" to you.

So that's the quick overview of how to use the HRDC Job Bank to access the hidden job market in Winnipeg. We are your roadmap to Winnipeg's hidden job market!