Career Tips Archives - Poly Tech Talent

How Networking Can Change your Career and Your Life

We get it – “spend more time networking” doesn’t always make it to the top of people’s New Year’s resolution list. It can feel like a time sink, hard to quantify, real awkward at times and even dreadful if you’re an introvert who finds being around people draining. With a calendar already full with meetings […]

How to negotiate a higher salary

Confidence, preparation, and playing it cool are the keys to getting what you want I was interviewing for my second job after university, I really wanted (and needed) the position, and after a couple of preliminary sessions with HR, I had a ‘final’ interview with the president of the company, a self-made, wealthy man who […]

Didn’t get the job, but didn’t get feedback? Here’s how to handle it.

In dating or job-hunting, we all just need some closure. We’ve all been there: You make the shortlist for a particular job, and maybe even have a preliminary interview; you get psyched up about it, do your research, envision yourself working in a new environment, and check your voicemail and email 42 times a day […]

New job? Your first 4 weeks will determine long-term success – or failure.

When I started high school, my mother was at pains to impress the following advice on me: “It’s very important that you get a reputation as a first-class student right from the beginning. It’s about expectations: If teachers approach your work expecting it to be worthy of an A, they’ll be less critical; if they […]

How to get a raise (hint: it’s all about your ROI)

Getting a raise is a lot easier when you can demonstrate you’re making a positive difference to the bottom line One of the questions I get most often from junior and intermediate workers is this: “How do I get a raise? I’ve been working at this company for a year now, and they seem […]

You’ve received two job offers in one week. How do you decide?

It happens more often than you think: You’ve been looking for a new job for ages without success, and then suddenly you receive two job offers more or less simultaneously. Why does this happen? Well, it’s probably because as you’ve gone through the job-seeking process, you’ve gotten better at targeting the right opportunities for you, […]

Avoiding the Job Interview Overshare

The job interview is oftentimes the last barrier to entry that prospective employees face when attempting to land a new job. From the employer’s perspective, the job interview is meant to accomplish three major things. First, the employer is interested in making sure that you have the requisite skills to actually perform the tasks you’re […]

When to Decline a Job Offer

It’s flattering to get offered a job. That doesn’t mean you should accept. The only thing worse than being stuck in a job you hate for years on end is taking a job only to flee from it 3 months later. A company who invests time and money to onboard you only to lose you […]

Why Burning Employment Bridges is Never a Good Idea

The working world is smaller than you think. Leaving a bad impression can have long-term consequences. Last week I was out for dinner with a friend who related this story: Three years ago, she was working as the marketing director for a small-but-growing business, which needed a junior designer-slash-social media manager to support increased demand […]

Why you might love being a contractor

There are more opportunities for independent contractors than ever before. Here’s why it might be a perfect fit for you. One of the ways that many Canadian organizations have coped with the uncertain economy in the past few years is by increasing their reliance on contract workers: People who aren’t regular full-time employees, but who […]

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