Career Trends

Interesting article from the star.com discussing the raise in minimum wage in Ontario.

Discusses the trend of "hyper-connectivity" where the lines between work and home have become blurred and suggests that we need to establish socially acceptable guidelines in order to give ourselves a break.

This article by Charles Fishman echoes more of what Friedman calls 'Multiple Identity Disorder' in a flattening world. We as individuals are trying to sort out "the tensions among our identities as consumers, employees, citizens, taxpayers, and shareholders." This article pulls the covers off of Wal-Mart, revealing some of the business partnerships they have had with companies like Vlasic, Lovable, Levi Strauss, and MasterLock- and how those companies have lost huge profits, and in the case of Vlasic, gone bankrupt because of their partnership with Wal-Mart. But, says Fishman, for suppliers, "the only thing worse than doing business with Wal-Mart may be not doing business with Wal-Mart". In a flattened world where one company has so much power, suppliers have few options if they want to stay afloat. Wal-Mart is taking its business to foreign companies at an accelerated rate. And as consumers with lower incomes due to the off-shoring of jobs, we also feel that we have little choice: we have to buy the cheapest brand. Seems that the Flattened world has also flattened individual choice.

Convergence 1 - (pg 204 of 3.0 edition, Friedman) "The convergence of the ten flatteners had created a whole new platform. It is a global, Web-enabled platform for multiple forms of collaboration. This platform enables individuals, groups, companies and universities anywhere in the world to collaborate - for the purposes of innovation, production, education, research, entertainment, and, alas, war-making - like no creative platform ever before" This website offers courses from "top universities and organizations worldwide". It allows students to listen to lectures, take quizzes, submit assignments and receive peer feedback. These can be taken from anywhere in the world and are taken at your own pace in a blended learning environment.

Convergence 1 - (pg 204 of 3.0 edition, Friedman) "The convergence of the ten flatteners had created a whole new platform. It is a global, Web-enabled platform for multiple forms of collaboration. This platform enables individuals, groups, companies and universities anywhere in the world to collaborate - for the purposes of innovation, production, education, research, entertainment, and, alas, war-making - like no creative platform ever before" This website provides free online courses in a variety of topics. It collaborates with Universities, Libraries Museums, and Professional Associations across the world to provide these resources. It is really free learning, the only fee is if you want a Certification of Participation at the end. Otherwise it is a really great online set up for learning, that goes week by week (much like our D2L, or eConestoga) with activities, readings, articles, discussion boards, videos etc.

Times have immeasurably changed since the '50s and '60s, but is it for better or for worse? One of the major reasons for all the change in the world is the advances in technology. It is actually quite amazing how far technology has come since 1950, with technology nowadays we have the world at our fingertips. This opinion letter talks about how technology has changed the workplace, the way we learn and our lives in general. Have we become too dependent on technology?

TORONTO - Scotiabank warns that it's cutting the equivalent of 1,500 jobs company-wide - about two-thirds of them in Canada and one-third at its international operations - as a cost-reduction move. The bank is also recognizing a number of changes to estimates and taking additional provisions for credit losses.

Interesting article supported by Microsoft about the economic impact of cloud computing. I wanted to learn more about the Cloud following my review of "dropbox."

This week is National Career Week and I wanted to post this interesting tool for the class to use - it asks you a series of questions related to your own career development and then provides you with a point on a chart to show your own career management skill and will.

The China Price is still largely influential, but its impact and existence is slowly eroding, which may lead to its disappearance in the medium-term. That being said, the author of this article indicates that China still has and will continue to have long-term, cost saving advantages encouraging foreign investors to "off-shore" their manufacturing to China.

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.