If your job has been downsized or even removed altogether, taking a decrease in pay isn’t a realistic option. Some businesses offer retraining in-house, or cover expenses for training programs elsewhere. But if not, you may find yourself looking for training on your own. Where do you start?

In Canada, Employment Insurance only goes so far. But if you qualify, at least you have an income while you are looking for work. While on EI, there are many free programs that offer help on finding work or finding retraining relevant to needs in the current job market. Availing yourself of these free programs is highly recommended.

In Ontario, the Second Career initiative is an option for those that qualify for EI. The Ontario Ministry  of Training, Colleges and Universities will pay for training that you need to get a better job. This program will help pay for tuition, travel, living expenses, books and even help support your dependants while taking courses. To find out if you qualify, you need to visit a Employment Ontario assessment center.

Retraining for a new career is something that many people are considering. Finding out how to do it is fairly easy. You must then decide, or get help on how to decide, what field you want to train in. Many of the free programs offered by Employment Ontario will help you find the career you want with jobs that are available in today’s job market.

5 tips to a successful job search:

1. Perform a self-assessment. This tip is applicable to both the new comers in job seeking and those looking to change jobs. This self assessment has a lot of benefits related to the way of being very objective with yourself reflecting as such a light on the salary needs along with the skills and experience. This will allow you to target the job that is right for you, enabling you to get a realistic perception of your life and job.
2. Do some research on the job market. This market will allow you to have the categories of jobs and later to see which one is at least 90% a match for you. In case the match is not on your favor try to look deeper into the matter and as such you will see that either your expectations were too high or the location didn’t match your preference. But once the problem is identified then yu can deal with it much realistically.
3. Selecting a career field. Though this fact is determined most of the times by your education you still need to make sure of the working field and as such being able to narrow the area of your job search. You have to consider whether there is space inside your working field to advance in you r career for the future times.
4. Improve your skills regarding the job search. In this respect there are the student advisers and HR advisers who can assess your skills guiding you to a right job search. You need to have a periodical update regarding the changes that have emerged on the job market. Apart form this consider the career workshops that can help in showing what the expectations of the employers are and how to handle in this new given circumstances.
5. The campaign of your job search should be run setting realistic goals in regard to job position, starting date, salary and location. If you set from the beginning smaller goals it will attract smaller salaries as well. Therefore you will need to pursue ads, to directly approach the employers and be as well enthusiastic and persistent.

Temp services can help anyone from a student straight out of school to someone whom just wants to try a new position or job. A temp service helps people looking for work by matching them with companies that have openings available. When we are trying to obtain work on our own it may seem as if there are no jobs available but a temp service has an on going list of people needing work and companies needing employees. Some of these positions are not even known to the general public so that gives them a heads up in helping the ones needing work.

Temp services and agencies offer jobs that are on a temporary base as well as jobs that are hiring long term. The jobs that are on a temporary base can turn into full time employment if the employer and the employee are compatible. When using a temp service it will be like having a contact in the company hiring because the temp service will have already reviewed your resume, talked to you, did any testing needed and gave the basic interview so the company that you may be chosen for will already have the heads up on your abilities.

Using a temp service can help you to obtain access to companies that you may not have had access to. The temp services can also help you obtain a job in the pay range you are looking for instead of you only finding the lower pay jobs in the news paper.

One thing to remember is that there are many temp agencies out there so make sure when choosing one it is legitimate. One way to do this is always know a temp service should never ask you for a fee for finding you a job. The fees are always paid by the company looking for the employees.

Working as a temp is an excellent way to earn without having to stick with just one business. For anyone who isn`t sure just what industry they want to work in, it can also be a good way to get some experience in a variety of industries. However, the majority of people will use temp agencies to find work while they are still searching for a full time job. If you`re between jobs, then temporary employment is a handy way to keep paying the bills while still searching for that perfect position.

Why Do Temporary Employment

Temporary employment tends to be very flexible, but there are plenty of other benefits besides being free to look for other work.

•    Build skills. Want your resume to look more impressive? You can do this by working for different Canadian companies for short periods of time, increasing your skill base.
•    Experience. While this might sound like the same thing as building skills, it really means you get a chance to check out various industries until you are ready to make a decision.
•    Choice. You get to say yes or no to job offers, so you`ll only be doing what you want to do.
If this is your first time using temp agencies, there are a few things you need to know.

Choosing a Temp Agency

Picking one out of dozens of temp agencies can be rather difficult unless you know what you`re looking for. Some are very successful at placing people, others are not. In general, you want a business that is going to be quite thorough about checking your background and references, since an agency that lets anyone in probably doesn`t have a good track record with employers.

Find out if the agency charges anything for finding you temporary employment. Some places take a small fee or percentage off your paycheck, while others will only charge the companies. There are several schools of thought on this, but you`ll find that the free ones are likely to be just as good as one that charges you.

Take a look at the history of the temp agency before you sign up with them. It`s a good idea to talk to others who have been placed by the company and find out what their success rate is. A company that has a good history of temporary employment placements (without having employees returned) is probably doing a thorough job of maintaining their reputation and checking the potential candidates very carefully.

What to Look For

Not all temp agencies are the same. They might all get you temporary employment, but what about benefits? Some places will actually give you benefits including dental, medical and even holidays. It`s worth taking the time to seek this type of placement agency. Even if you don`t intend to be a temp for long, things change and you may find that you are in this for longer than anticipated. You will be more than grateful for the benefits if the position of temp goes on for several months or even years.

Make sure you find out who is expected to pay for the benefits, since this sometimes comes out of your pay. If the company offers to pay for benefits, all the better. Check this when you do your interview.

Temporary employment is certainly an interesting way to go, whether you need to pay the bills while waiting for your dream job, or are just trying to improve your resume. Finding the right temp agencies is key to being a success as a temp, so take the time to find the right one.