Tag Archives: hiring

Fiscal Year 2012: A ‘Social’ Year in Review

Posted on by
Reply

As the Fiscal year closes organizations often take time to look back and celebrate the success of the year that has past. One area that is often over-looked (and for good business reasons) is the social calendar.

After a Poll of Random Intelexians, here are what we think are the Top 6 Intelex Social Events of 2012:


  1. Holiday Party Retreat: After last year’s unbelievable weekend in Deerhurst, this could be the most anticipated event of Fiscal Year 2013!
  2. Vision Meeting Taking place each November Intelex’s Vision Meeting is an opportunity for our organization to gear up and focus on our Goals and strategic plans for the coming year. Below is a link for Vision Meeting 2011!
  3. User Conference: Every September we cherish the opportunity to connect and strengthen our bond with our customers. This is an event focused on best practices of our software, and showing some appreciation
… Read more...

7 Career-Defining Tips

Posted on by
Reply

Everyone has their own ideas when it comes to what it takes to have a successful career. That being said, you wouldn’t think it would take an Executive Coach to figure these out and that they would be considered common sense, but they are not!

In a recent Forbes article, an Executive Coach reveals “the best career advice ever” – advice that applies to any industry, any role and fits in nicely with Intelex’s Corporate Values: Leadership, Sustainability, Integrity, Respect for All Individuals, Teamwork & Trust, Stewardship, Hard Work, and Happiness.

1.      Recognize a diamond in the rough – you would be hard-pressed to find an organization that is perfect and of course everyone has their own definition of a “perfect organization”. It is also important to recognize that a career-defining moment can come from helping an organization get out of a tough situation.

2.      Be accountable – … Read more...

Are you over-preparing for your job interview?

Posted on by
Reply

When most people think of “HR interview questions”, a traditional set of questions come to mind. These questions are predictable, repeatable, and easy to prepare for. Candidates also come prepared to defend their experience and their resumes. They think any gaps in timeline will meticulously be scrutinized. Candidates can over-prepare to answer questions like, “what are your strenghts and weaknesses?” or “do you prefer to work on a team or on your own?” and my personal favourite “tell me about yourself”.

Typically, when these questions get asked, the overly prepared answers are delivered. Answers that can easily be found on the Internet. Candidates are representing not who they truly are, but who they feel the interviewer wants them to be. These questions might be able to secure individuals who can handle the everyday aspects of the roles they are in contention for. However, for companies concerned over their corporate culture, … Read more...

Training needs assessments help your organization’s training efforts

Posted on by
Reply

In many ways, Training Needs Assessments are the backbone of an organization’s development and transformational efforts. It may surprise you to learn that less than 50% of small to medium-sized organizations actually conduct official, robust Training Needs Analyses to gain insight into training requirements, and even fewer actually use the acquired data in any meaningful way.

Training isn’t about people sitting in a classroom; it’s about how effective those people can be once they are released into their respective roles. Training builds contributors; focused training builds focused contributors, and focused contributors provide an increased benefit to any organization. 

Get Started!

Training Needs Assessments begin with understanding your current state, and being able to identify the various requirements of your desired future state. The future state is highly dependent on a clearly defined set of corporate goals that serve to inform all supporting activities, such as training.

At Intelex, we are … Read more...

Decoding corporate culture: key questions to consider when evaluating that new job

Posted on by
Reply

As I’m sure everyone has been told, the interview process is not only a way for a company to assess your fit, but also your opportunity to interview the company. You need to ask yourself the question, ‘Is this somewhere I would like to come to everyday?’ We are told over and over again that we spend more time with the people we work with than we do with our families, a fact that makes it all the more important to ensure that there is a cultural fit.

Many companies (especially in the tech industry) are moving towards developing corporate cultures that  set them apart in order to foster employee engagement and thrive in a tight labour market. The problem is, a company’s corporate culture is not something that you can understand from looking at their mission statement or taking someone’s word for it – you need to experience it … Read more...

How to hire a great product manager

Posted on by
Reply

After writing my last two posts about great product managers and career paths to become great product managers, I thought I should write a post for all the employers (like myself) that are looking to hire great product managers. Probably more so than any other role, identifying and hiring a great product manager is very challenging. Since the job requires a breadth of knowledge to be successful, the interview process requires a breadth of questions to be asked to get feel for whether or not the candidate will be successful.

So what specifically do I focus on trying to understand when I interview a product management candidate? There are a few key items, and I’ve outlined them below.

Are They Wicked Smart?

To me this is the most important thing. If they’re not wicked smart, I won’t even consider them.  Since product managers are faced with an endless amount of … Read more...

Intelexians help Becel Ride for Heart raise $5 million for heart and stroke research

Posted on by
Reply

This past Sunday June 3, Intelexians joined over 13,000 cyclists celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Heart and Stroke’s Becel Ride for Heart and raising nearly $5 million for heart and stroke research, the highest ever for a ride.

Team Intelex continued its participation in the ride, raising $3,560. The rain and wind that was forecasted for the day held off and cyclists were treated to spectacular views of the Toronto skyline from Toronto’s Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway, views typically only available from an automobile.

Each of the 13,000 cyclists had their own motivations for being in the ride, whether it was a personal connection to the disease, participating in a good cause or a chance to flex their leg muscles.

For some like Gary Kao (pictured below), the ride represented a personal goal. “Although this is my second time around, it was a completely different experience,” … Read more...

The value of soft skills training

Posted on by
1

A Brave New World

What is it about the term “Soft Skills Training” that sends Accounting Departments and C-Level Execs running for the exits? Perhaps it is an unwillingness to allocate training budgets to courses that many consider to be window dressing, or just nice-to-have learning. Perhaps it stems from an inability to properly calculate and ascribe ROI to such activities; after all, Product or Process training is so much more measurable, visible, and valuable, is it not? There is even a case to be made that the term “Soft Skills” lacks the punch one might expect from serious learning initiatives.

Regardless of what excuses you come up with for avoiding Soft Skills Training, they end up being just that: excuses.

The reality is that no matter how proficient a particular employee is within their job discipline, whether Sales, Development, or what have you, if they cannot interact effectively with their … Read more...

Intelexians lace up for first ever Biggest Loser Challenge

Posted on by
Reply

Intelexians have been participating in an internal biggest loser competition over the past month and participants held their first Biggest Loser Challenge last week.

In order to complete the challenge each participant first had to complete 10 pushups, 10 crunches and 10 burpees. From there they were instructed to head down the seven flights of stairs from the top of the building to the main floor to be greeted with a nutrition-based, skill-testing question. If the question was answered correctly they were to head back up the same flight of stairs. If they got it wrong, however, they were slapped with a penalty of running around the outside of the Intelex building before going heading back up the stairs to the seventh floor. 

Team “Weapons of Mass Reduction” came out on top with this challenge and saw the same results during the mid-point weigh-in, with Rob Calquhoun leading the way … Read more...

Over 40 Intelexians vie for top spot in 2nd annual Intelex Spring Classic

Posted on by
Reply

After a beautiful day at Deer Creek Golf and Country Club, the Second Annual Intelex Spring Classic is in the books. This year more than 40 golfers entered the tournament vying for the top spot. Top honours go to the Team of Frank Friesen, Melanie Cook, Kellie Hart and Steve Buffett who came first with a score of 70. 

The 5,759-yard, par-70 track was made up of Deer Creek’s Ruby Course and Diamond course. This obviously did not pose a threat to the Intelex golfers as there was a second team that went low with a score of 70 but because of a tie-breaker they came in second. This team was Greg Bilous, Bryan Humphries, Matt Turczyn and Mitch Doyle, and they now have the experience to lead their team to victory next year.

The day was not all about going low but also about some individual achievement. Kristy Sadler … Read more...