Repositioning Civiside

If you have been paying attention you will notice that civiside looks a little different today than it did yesterday (or even earlier this afternoon). We are repositioning our candidate pool in the minds of employers as the eminent online location where they will find professionally trained young leaders.

We decided to take this approach because many employers, while somewhat interested, were not committed to posting jobs on civiside. Clearly there was not enough incentive for them to even go through the minimal effort of sending us their job postings. In simple terms, they just weren't hungry enough for what we were offering.

In order to capture their hunger we need to offer the one quantifiable value proposition that a young reservist graduating from post-secondary uniquely offers, professional leadership and management training. There is no other employment organization that invests as heavily in young people before they graduate from post-secondary than the military. A UK study suggests that a Lieutenant's leadership and management training would cost an employer around $9000 CDN, while the leadership and instructional techniques training in PLQ would cost the employer over $3000. These are industry applicable qualifications that are most often ignored by employers while making employment decisions. Employers you find on civiside won't ignore your training and in fact are looking for exactly what you have to offer.

If you don't have PLQ or higher you will still find opportunities with many of the companies branding on civiside. However, I encourage you, if you are able, to take PLQ before you graduate. In this economic climate any professional skills upgrading you can get are of benefit. No matter what, you will gain industry skills that will give you advantages in the workplace, and may even be the very reason that you get your dream job right out of school.

As always, your feedback is welcome.