Career Trends

Interesting article from CBC outlining the draw to outsourcing to lower costs for businesses and increase efficiency, yet the downside of loss of jobs.

Joseph (Joe) C. Shenker, one of the most decorated attorneys in the US market shares some lessons from an institution that has built one of the best brands in the business on the sturdy platform of stewardship - there is a great section in this interview on Globalization, Footprint & Client Service

The starting premise about Columbus in The World Is Flat bothered me a lot. There were many people who knew the world was round before him. Greek philosophers such as Pythagoras, Eratosthenes and Aristotle calculated and reasoned that the world was not flat - either round or at least a dome. Also, to anyone looking for a ship, the top of a mast appears first over a horizon, like something coming over a hill. It would make sense for people to assume that the world was round. In terms of who 'proved' the earth was round and that you could go all the way around and get back to the same point, Magellan's crew was the first to circumnavigate the globe in 1522, definitively 'proving' what many already believed. I've seen repeatedly that Columbus' actual argument was that the world was smaller than people thought, so he thought he could find a sea route from Europe across the Pacific to India. Instead, he ran into what later became the Americas. Hopefully, Friedman will address these issues and will see his viewpoint changed by his experiences in parallel with the Columbus story.

This article gives an opposite view of the world being flat seen by Pankaj Ghemawat's point of view.

TORONTO - Sears Canada is laying off 245 workers, the lion's share in its information technology department, with plans to replace them by partnering with companies that outsource to India and the Philippines, a senior spokesperson confirmed Tuesday.

I thought this article would be really interesting to post because I don't know about everyone else, but I have heard a lot of times over the past few years that Sears is facing financial issues. It can be seen then that Sears is trying to remedy their issue by cutting costs by outsourcing the IT positions to those in other countries such as India and the Philippines.

Written by Patrick Dixon Futurist Keynote Speaker: Posts, Slides, Videos - Future Emerging Markets, BRICS, Strategy Keynotes Growth of India and China, emerging markets threat and opportunities The truth about the speed, scale and unstoppable momentum of business process outsourcing and offshoring. What will be the net impact of outsourcing on American and European economies? What I found interesting was that the speaker/writer points out that the cost savings of outsourcing diminish constantly due to salary inflation, and companies will have to continue to look for cheaper labour (eg Pakistan). My question is what happens to the people and infrastructure created in one country when a company decides to move operation to another cheaper country? Will they be worse-off or better?

... there's a new trend going on in America: large companies wanting people to work for free. Actually, Versace wants you to pay her.

This is an interesting article in forbes detailing what social media trends are popular in 2014 and which social media trends are predicted to continue to be popular in the next few years.

This site is aimed at people who own/are interested in starting their own business. The "how to" section features some handy tips that are definitely worth exploring. As well, in the top left hand corner of the webpage, if you click on "latest" there are some interesting articles many written by business professionals.

This article explores how, although outsourcing has not reduced the number of jobs available in Canada as much as people once feared, it does however impact the wages available in Canada as companies now have stronger bargaining power.

Constant contact is an online marketing tool. It allows users to create professional looking emails with easy to use templates. It also provides many other tools to incorporate into your emails such as surveys, RSVP's for events, coupons, Facebook promotions and much more.

Advances in technology are causing job destruction at a rate quicker than ever before. Late last year, an essay called Oxford Martin Programme on the Impacts of Future Technology estimated that 45% of all current American jobs will be lost to technology within the next two decades.

An article reviewing the economic effects of outsourcing, measuring both goods and services, since 1963. It also discusses the impact on wages and the employment rate. I chose this article for this week based on the list of "Flatteners" Freidman described, both because they were included in his list and because it seems to me to be an important feature of globalization--that in the ruthless competition of capitalism, there will always be a value in inequality to create the cheapest sources of labour. This is something mentioned very early in the chapter (as related to the moderate poverty of the Soviet system) but I believe it's also important to think about when picturing a world that is increasingly connected and a playing field that seems equally leveled.

This article is part review and part thought-provoker in relation to education and Friedman's Flat world. The article primarily reviews the flattening forces, in very little detail, but throws a twist in at the end as it talks specifically about the education system. It is suggested that classrooms become "flat" as well so that everyone is given the same chance to be involved.

This journal article refutes Friedman's view by looking at how globalization creates a more uneven world and capitalism tends to develop unevenly geographically. It is an interesting refute to Friedman's perspective.

This article takes a very positive stance on Canada's current offshoring climate. Currently 50% of Canadian companies surveyed are outsourcing at least 10% of their work, creating an industry worth between $2.5 and $3 billion in Canada. But, according to the article, Canadian companies are offshoring not only because of cost efficiency and good productivity, but out of necessity. Apparently there are just not enough Canadians willing or able to fill all of the jobs that IT companies are offering. I have a hard time believing what this article says is true, since it is coming from the vice President of i-Gate Canada himself (one of the most successful outsourcing companies in Canada). I would like to see more research to support his words.

These sites (and also the below link) offer a great deal of advice for staying on top of social media. http://readwrite.com/

I found this to be a really informative site. On this page, we can find helpful guides to using popular social media tools like Linkedin, Pininterest, facebook, twitter and blogging all from a career counsellor perspective.

OpenSource.com focuses on how open sources (flattener #4) are applied to different areas in life including business, education, government, health, law, and more. They focus on real experiences and ways to solve problems in the open source way. Explore the webist via the tabs at the top of the page.