winter 2012/2013

R.Johnson

stay safe withthat new year’s

resolution

getting themost out of your

recruiter

win rihanna tickets

introducing kimberly macmillan

success Stories

reinventing your career

unpleasantworkplace eating

habits

2

STAY SAFE WITH THAT NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION A MESSAGE FROM SLATER VECCHIO LLP

It’s January, a time when many of us dust off our running shoes and sign up for a new gym membership. Getting back into shape and staying healthy is a great New Year’s Resolution. Sign up with a friend or partner and help motivate each other to stay on track, even when it’s dark outside.

But it’s important to always be alert and observant when you’re at the gym. It isn’t uncommon for those who exercise to see the inside of an ER from time to time. Accidents aren’t just for those who play on an outdoor or team sport and can occur when you’re on treadmills, exercise balls, weight machines, or even in an aerobics class.

But how do many of these accidents happen? Sometimes it can be equipment malfunction, sometimes inattentiveness, other times over-crowdedness. I’m sure we’ve all seen someone slip and fall off the treadmill, hoping that we’re not next. But it’s important to always be aware of yoursurroundings. If you’re in an aerobics class, make sure you have plenty of room around you to avoid bumping into other people or equipment. Always make sure you know how to properly use the equipment you’re using – better to ask than risk injury.

To help, keep distractions to a minimum. Some fitness equipment comes with

built-in televisions, and users often bring a smartphone, iPod, and book as well, and balancing them all can be difficult. Stay focused on the one machine you’re on in order to get the best workout and avoid trouble. Make sure to always wait until a machine has come to a complete stop before getting off so you don’t get caught off guard with moving equipment. It’s also important to move carefully around the gym – machines and electrical wires and other exercisers can be tripping hazards.

So stick with that New Year’s Resolution, but make sure over training is the only injury you need to be concerned with.

Slater Vecchio LLP is a mid-size dynamic plaintiff personal injury law firm located in the heart of downtown. They represent individuals who have been injured in motor vehicle accidents as well as people harmed by hazardous or defective products, and unsafe premises.

For more information please visit them on the web: www.slatervecchio.com

REINVENTING YOUR CAREER

Sometimes you reach a point where you are no longer satisfied with your job. It could be because of the amount or type of work, the environment or even your commute. If you have been dragging yourself into work each day, perhaps it’s time for a change. Your skills are not static, and can likely be used to do different things.

Take a good look at yourself and your skills; experience et al, through a different set of eyes. Get a friend, colleague, or professional to talk you through your current resume. You may not necessarily want to start your career over, but rather transfer your knowledge, skills and experience to a new venue. Look for new ways to not only express but to use these skills.

Expand your mindset. An open mind–like a blank slate with no pre-conceived notion of what you can or cannot do–serves very well as you look for a career that’s new and different. Explore your options by reading about them and talking to people, try to just absorb everything instead of judging things right away. Don’t be afraid of trying something new or unconventional.

What do you love to do? Often running on autopilot, it is easy to forget what your interests are. However, this is a great time to take a step back and focus on your passions. The best way to reinvent your career is to first discover what you really want to do and then excel in it by becoming good at it. Do people come to you for advice automatically? Are you good at organizing things neatly and effectively and love working with people? There could be things you are already doing and enjoying, but you may not have paid

attention. Let your instincts guide you as you take this path of self-discovery.

Rebrand and refresh. Think of new ways to repackage your experience. You might have worked with a smaller company for a while where you gained all-round experience of business development. Make sure that all these skills and experiences are explained clearly, and repackaged in relevant ways for each application. Make sure you are learning new things and stay active in the job market. If you have time to spare, consider getting involved as a volunteer in a charity or non-profit foundation. Subscribe to interesting blogs, websites and other information sources that will help you gain knowledge and industry perspective.

Once you’ve identified your likely choices, then it’s time to take action. This can be frightening and often makes people freeze and stay in one place. You have to identify your fears – failure, the unknown, in order to be able to face them head on while moving forward.

Reinventing your career is really about your personal journey of self-discovery. Change and reinvention should be an exciting prospect as you are looking towards your bright future.

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GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR RECRUITER IN 2013

If you are an active job seeker, you’re likely ready and willing to pull out all of your resources to find a new job. While working with a recruiter is a useful tactic to employ in your job search, it can be difficult to understand how to best use recruiters to your advantage.

Professional recruitment consultants are experts in matching great people to great roles. They are an invaluable source of information on the job market. By establishing a relationship with a recruiter, you can tap into broad networks and industry expertise. Often, recruiters thoroughly understand the market and can help answer your questions. They know industry trends, salary levels for particular job titles, and which companies are growing and which ones are struggling — unique insight garnered from years of working directly with companies and their executives.

In addition, recruiters can help you prepare for interviews. Employers look for candidates who have abilities beyond those listed on the job description. A good recruiter will tell you how to stand out, which experiences and skills to highlight, and how to market yourself and your unique attributes. They can also provide advice on how to approach your preferred organisations and offer proactive recommendations in areas that might not have evenoccurred to you.

Your recruiter will want to meetwith you to clearly understand and define your goals and aspirations in order to help source your next opportunity.

Candidates should always be honest about all aspects of their professional background. Recruiters are not mind readers and therefore it is important to provide your recruiter with genuine information about what you do and don’t want and openly discuss your objectives and career history.

During your search, there’s a possibility that your criteria or availability might change. For example, you may consider other geographies or be open to industries that were initially not of any interest. Be sure to communicate this openly with your recruiter. Keeping your recruiter up-to-date will put you on the shortlist for opportunities best suited to your needs and qualifications.

Always conduct yourself in a professional manner. When you attend your recruiter interview, it is important you present yourself as if you were going to a top job interview, as this is indicative of how you will represent yourself with their clients. The better your agency interview, the more compelled your consultant will be to represent you on new opportunities. Be on time and prepared to discuss your experience in detail.

Kimberly brings more than a decade of experience in human resources management and has a solid understanding of the legal industry. Her career has consisted of working for law firms, real estate firms and high tech corporations in the lower mainland. Prior to changing her professional focus to human resources management in 2000, she worked as a paralegal for a large national law firm.

Kimberly is a member of HRMA and the BCLMA - of which she was the co-chair of the Small Firms Committee for two years. She holds a bachelor of arts degree, paralegal diploma, human resources management certificate, and is currently pursuing the CHRP designation.

OUR TEAM HAS CHANGED!

We are proud to introduce Kimberly MacMillan, the newest addition to the R.JOHNSON team.

As Director of Recruitment, Kimberly will be responsible for leading the full-cycle recruitment process and managing the day-to-day operations of the office. She will also develop and execute creative sourcing strategies that ensure effective talent acquisition of top-tier candidates. Serving as the main point of contact for clients, she, along with her team, will endeavor to facilitate a successful completion for every recruit.

Kimberly MacMillan

604.687.7555 x 102

Kimberly@rjohnsoncorp.com

4

UNPLEASANT WORKPLACE EATING HABITS: ARE YOU A VICTIM OR AN OFFENDER?

It’s lunchtime and the office kitchen is crowded with people using the microwave. The smells slowly begin to aggregate. Lean Cuisine here, leftover greasy food there. Then, before anyone can intervene, somebody commits the biggest offense of all: reheating last night’s salmon dinner.

Have you been a victim of smelly food? Or worse, are you the perpetrator -- the insensitive person, who burns the daylights out of microwave popcorn, allowing that artificial-butter-on-fire smell to permeate the office? If so, maybe it’s time for an intervention.

Stomach-churning food in the office

• Reheated seafood. Gross. • Burnt popcorn. Fastest way to lose microwave

privileges, forever. • Microwaved boiled cabbage. Can you not smell that?• Cooked broccoli. Save it for home, it’s too pungent

for the office. • Corn Nuts. When chewed, these sound like tiny, yet

very real, landmines of crunch that make people twitch. Plus, Corn Nut breath is highly offensive.

• Eggs. Let’s face it, they smell rotten.• Anything with onions and garlic. The lingering effects

will keep more than just vampires away.

Eating habits that drive your coworkers crazy

• Chewing with your mouth open, loud chewing, talking with your mouth full, or leaving crumbs everywhere.

• Eating loud, crunchy food such as apples or chips.• Double dipping at office potlucks. Manners, please.• Slurping. Whether you are drinking tea or enjoying

soup, do so quietly, without those sloppy sounds that make people sick.

• Meal Commenters: “That looks disgusting.” “How can you eat that?” And the worst, “That is so fattening!” Keep your opinions to yourself.

• Not cleaning up after yourself. You are a grownup. Please recycle, throw away your waste, and wash your dishes.

• Leaving your lunch in the fridge way past the expiration date. Grow your science experiments elsewhere.

• Failing to clean out the microwave after something explodes or extrudes food inside.

• Burping. A discreet burp here or there after a meal is understandable, but the long, loud, resonant burps some people conjure up, followed with a smile and glance around the room border on abuse.

• Flossing or picking your teeth at your desk. There is a time and a place.

• Eating food that isn’t yours from the communal fridge. Don’t be that person.

Hit us with your best shot:Photo contest!

Send us an original photograph of yourself enjoying your lunch at a unique location for a chance to win 2 tickets to see Rihanna perform live at Rogers Arena on April 1st, 2013.

The winning photograph will be featured in our next newsletter, as well as on the web. Entrants must own all rights to the photographs submitted. Photographs that have been previously published or that violate or infringe upon another person’s copyright are not eligible. Limit one entry per person. Photographs must be taken on your lunch break.

Entries are to be submitted electronically as JPEG files to: marketing@rjohnsoncorp.com by February 28th, 2013.

Say cheese! Remember, the more creative you are, the better.

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CONGRATULATIONS! A shout out to our recently placed candidates

H J E H S Q V R J E I N B W M V G S U I N QI Q V M I X O D A T D S C Z S D Q P Q R L IU N Y L E V E U N J O Y S U A A H C Z M M PV Y Z S E X E R H O T R I H A C G M P V Z HW C H I R C Y A D V A O L W E N I Y C R Q VV A H N R X N Q Z W R S G S L R B N O M Q QX R E N O B I T S I R K S I N B R B O F Z AS T J A X I S A C G W O A I R O Y Y Y R X VD Z N T A X K K L F W I Y I L N S I M N E EM C A R O L Y N N I D M T M Y E I I D Q L VF M Z K B W U K W A S T E G X N M C L R F IA Q K X X R T R N G A A X U H O F A E A W NE S I E M I I L I N Q K W I D T E I Y N N ET Y L R A C N K Y Z Y W C B O K I T H B R GA U G G L A J B P S V T P P G X L L T Z W WU A M A F A T S F T A S W G E U U I E Q W RG M N T A A E B D D P W Z P G Z J N T T A MA D M J Y I G F V M C O S C U F K H X M K TD L A D N I L P O S A B I N E M S A R A H JE J P L T H Q S U W E L M H G D L D A V J DB Y K E Q R A N I Z O R C S E N V L M I T SX H V H J B G A I L E G N A N A H S A N W B

We want to hear from you!If you have any story ideas or would like to have your

success story featured in our next newsletter please email: denisa@rjohnsoncorp.com

SUCCESS STORIES: NADIA SABA

Why did you decide to go through a recruitment agency?“I wanted to be able to consider a wide range of employment options and have access to great local knowledge and honest feedback.”

What advice would you give to current job seekers?“Be open-minded and consider options that may be a little different from pre-conceived expectations. It’s always worth looking at roles from different angles. For example, temporary roles may become permanent, a role may not be as well-remunerated initially but may have great opportunities for advancement, or you may come across an organization with fantastic benefits or great working conditions. “

What do you enjoy most about working in the legal industry?“I enjoy the variety of work available to me as well as the daily challenge of working across different areas of practice.”

How do you define success?“When you feel happy, satisfied and proud of your accomplishments, be it in a professional or personal

context. Whilst it is easy to judge success by commonly accepted standards, it is ultimately one’s own view of themselves that defines whether they are successful.”

To date, what has been the most important moment or biggest achievement in your career?“I didn’t really value it at the time but in retrospect I would say completing my Master of Laws whilst carrying on my full-time role as a lawyer and working as a sessional university tutor. It was a busy few years!”

Who or what inspires you? “In both my career and personal life I find my parents to be my greatest inspiration. Their commitment to both their family and their personal goals has always been a fantastic example of the success and happiness that can be achieved with a lot of hard work and a great sense of humour.”

What is your biggest fear? “At the moment my biggest fear is falling off the mountain because I haven’t yet figured out how to stop my snowboard from moving.”

Our Q&A forum is now live!Have all your career and work related questions answered

anonymously by your peers and legal industry HR professionals.

www.rjohnsoncorp.com/forums

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