In four easy steps you can create a personal profile on our Employment Opportunities website.  This will enable you to apply for posted positions at the BC Public Service.

 If you are not currently a BC Public Service employee start by selecting “Not a BC Public Service Employee” from our home page.

1. Select “Submit Resume” to begin.
2. Complete the next page with as much detail as possible.  Fields in red are required in order to submit your profile.
3. Upload your resume – there are two ways to do this:

a)      If you have a resume in electronic format such as PDF or MS Word, you can upload it to our Recruitment System by selecting “Upload your Resume”.

b)      Or, you can also copy text from an existing document and paste into the “Your Resume” field in your online profile.  You can also type a summary of your employment history, job skills, qualifications and education in the “Resume” field in your resume profile.

     4.    Before completing your online profile, tell us if you would like to be considered for other career opportunities which match your qualifications.  Also, please click “I Accept”      after reading the “Statement of Understanding”.

You will receive an email notification to confirm your profile creation detailing your username and password.

 If you are a BC Public Service employee, your base profile has been created on the Employment Opportunities site, and will require you to complete the required fields (in red) and upload your resume if you would like to apply for posted position.

1. Through the “Employee Portal” click on “Employee Access”.
2. Click on “Edit my Internal Profile”.
3. Fill in the red fields and add your resume to the “Your Resume” field
4. Be sure to tell us if you would like to be considered for other career opportunities (bottom of page) and also to click “I Accept” after reading the “Statement of Understanding”.  Click on the “Save” button.

You will receive a message in red at the top of the next page that says “Success!  Your internal profile has been updated”.

 If you have any questions regarding this process, please call one of the Career Advisors at 1-888-944-3327, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., or email us at TM.Mailbox.Talk.to.us@gov.bc.ca.

It’s getting near that time of year when we begin to post opportunities for co-op positions within the BC Public Service. The most popular questions I receive are: “When and where are the jobs posted?” and “How many will there be?”

The first question is easy: Starting now and continuing into February, co-op jobs will be posted on our Employment Opportunities Website along with all the other government jobs. You can find them by searching under the “Student” job category in the Quick Job Search page. The posting will list all the pertinent application and qualification details and state which faculty(ies), if any, you must be registered in to apply for the job.

There will likely be a fair amount of response to these postings so be sure to take the time necessary to ensure your application looks its best. As to the “How many?” question, there is no way of knowing. Each ministry oversees its own co-op opportunities based on its present staffing and budgetary needs, so quite literally, what you see is what we have.

Co-op jobs are an outstanding way for students to gain exposure to a professional government work environment, make great contacts and populate your resume with some valuable experience. If you have further questions give me a call, or post a question right here on the blog by clicking on the title above.

Many of you have called with concerns over populating the resume portion of your online profile. Your online profile is the only means by which you can apply to a BC Public Service job, so you will want to keep a couple of points in mind:

1. The profile you have when you apply to a job is the profile we receive for that job. In other words, once you’ve applied you cannot revise your resume for that specific job. Trying to remove yourself from consideration because you submitted the wrong resume won’t work either because once you’ve retracted your application you cannot reapply for it. This is why it is so important to craft your resume first, make sure it is targeted for the position you are applying for, and then hit the “apply” button. After that you are welcome to revise your resume for another position as many times as you wish.
2. On the subject of crafting that resume profile, a lot of callers have had this experience: They write their resume up in Microsoft Word, then cut and paste into the field in their online profile. However, instead of a nice formatted resume they get a bunch of HTML formatting code that looks like the dog chased the cat across your keyboard. Understandably the caller gets concerned that their resume will look awful and it will cost them the job they’re applying for. Rest easy, this isn’t the case. Despite what you may see, from our end things normally look just fine, and if a few stray lines of code appear it will not influence how we evaluate your resume. A tip to avoid the HTML code appearing however would be to cut your resume out of Microsoft Word, then paste it into a simple text application like Notepad on the PC or TextEdit on your Mac to strip out the HTML coding. Copying the text from that simpletext application into the online profile should remove all that unsightly code.

Hope that answers some of your questions, and please keep those calls and letters coming.

Cheers,

Pat

“When a posting lists its closing date, when is the last possible time that I can submit my resume?”

The short answer is at 11:59pm the day the posting is due to be closed. However, some postings do require that you apply by a certain time. It is important to read the posting in its entirety and see if there is a different deadline. If a different deadline is requested, it is essential to follow it exactly as indicated.

Some postings may ask that you email your resume and/or cover letter directly to the hiring manager. Again, this will be stated in the posting along with the contact information and it is important to read the entire posting in order to follow the specified directions.

It’s best to apply 24-48 hours earlier than the deadline as some of the postings may require you to fill out a short questionnaire. At times, these questionnaires may need to be emailed to you separately, or they may pop up in a separate window to be filled out on the spot once you submit your resume and/or cover letter.

For more tips and information on our hiring process, visit our website at www.employment.gov.bc.ca.

I was speaking to a group of college students recently about strategies to build up their resumes. I explained that in addition to their education, it was important to accumulate experience related to their stream. For example, if you are pursuing your social work degree part time, it is advantageous to also have a job related to that field. If you are unable to find a paying job, volunteering in a related role is your next best choice. Demonstrating your dedication to your profession by volunteering is an excellent way of building a focussed and successful resume. An additional advantage is that you are often given more opportunities to stretch or build your skill set as a volunteer than you may as a paid employee. The key is accumulating training, education and experience that can all be applied to your chosen field.

One of the students then asked an excellent question: “If volunteering is a great way to get your foot in the door, does the BC Public Service utilize volunteers?” OK, you got me on that one. For a number of reasons related to labour and liability issues, no we don’t offer any volunteer opportunities. Your best bet for an informed insight into working in the BC Public Service is the informational interview which I discussed in a previous post. Your volunteering options however remain almost endless as most volunteer bureaus partner with dozens (if not hundreds) of member agencies offering an enormous range of organizations to work with. Remember that building that career path means learning as much as you can about your stream, and yourself, and volunteering is a great way to do both.

I have had calls from people who have applied for a position (requisition) on our Employment Opportunities website, and afterwards wanted to revise or update the resume in their profile or cover letter they submitted to the position. So they decide to electronically “withdraw” from the requisition they applied to thinking they could make the revisions to their resume or cover letter and then reapply, only to find out that once you have withdrawn from a requisition you cannot reapply.

So – be sure before clicking on the “Submit Your Profile/Resume” button at the bottom of the requisition or the “Submit” button on the following page (where you would upload your cover letter), that you are satisfied with the documents you are submitting. Once you have clicked on these submit buttons, your documents will be attached to the requisition you are applying to and are final. Any changes you make after “submitting” will only be used for future applications.

See Career Advisor blog titled “Submitting different resumes for different online positions (requisitions)” below for information on how multiple resumes are stored and applied in your Employment Opportunities profile.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call our Career Advisor toll free line at 1 888-944-3327, Monday to Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.

 Sandy

Often when applying for different positions, one wants to “tweak” their resume specific to the position they are applying for. We receive many calls from people wondering how their resume will be seen by the Recruiter or Hiring Manager for the previous position they applied on, when they are now modifying the resume in their Employment Opportunities profile – will their previous resume vanish into thin air?

 You will only see the current version of your resume in your profile, but our recruitment system will show the version that was in your profile when you hit the submit button.

 Here is how it works.

 You can upload, cut and paste, or modify your existing resume in your profile and then save it.  When you apply for an online position (requisition) the resume currently in your profile will be electronically “attached” to the requisition you are applying for, and stored in that requisition’s electronic folder in our recruitment system. You can then go into your profile (click on Career Centre tab, and then the “Edit my Internal Profile” link), make changes to your resume, save it and this will then be the resume that will be applied to the next position you apply for.  This is the way you can “tweak” your resume to make it specific to each position you are applying to.

 I suggest that you keep a copy of the resume you submitted for each requisition you apply for, as you do not have access to the previous resumes in your profile.

 Sandy

If you haven’t heard, we’re hiring correctional officers at North Fraser Pretrial Centre in Port Coquitlam. We’ve received hundreds of applications along with many emails and phone calls from applicants.  We’re really interested in what applicants have to say, but with so many, it’s hard to get back to everyone. We thought we’d point out a resource available to you to answer your questions any time you want – our Correctional Officer recruitment site.

We’ve noticed most questions we get are already answered on this website. It’s filled with information about the work of correctional officers, the application and hiring process and even the training we provide.  It contains a checklist for your personal evaluation to help you determine your suitability for the role before applying. The How to Apply section of our website provides thorough descriptions of our hiring process and the documentation you’ll need to complete.

So put your best foot forward and consider a career as a correctional officer. North Fraser Pretrial Centre will be accepting applications until October 14.

Every job has its highlights and this was one of mine. I received a call recently from a gentleman working at a service station in the Lower Mainland. He was enquiring whether there were any job openings for someone with an auto mechanics background. I replied that it seemed unlikely, but I checked our employment opportunities web site by way of explaining how to find it. His chances seemed improbable, until I opened up a link for a Commercial Vehicle Inspector.

“You don’t have any experience with vehicle inspection do you?” I asked doubtfully.

 “Yes I do,” he replied, “I’m a licensed inspector.”

“Really? And you have your valid BC driver’s license?”

“Sure do, clean record.”

“How about your air brake ticket?”

“Got it.”

At this point I’m getting quite excited and reading further in the posting, bring it up a notch:

“Have you completed the Investigative and Enforcement Skills Certificate Program?”

“As a matter of fact I have, two years ago.”

Now the clincher. “Where are you calling from?”

“Burnaby.”

“Any chance you’d like to move up to Fort St. John?”

“Are you kidding? I’d love to! The wife has family in the Peace Country; we’ve always wanted to move up there!”

It doesn’t happen every day, but when it does I feel grateful for my role in linking an applicant to their ideal position within the BC Public Service.