If you are looking for a way to bring your team together, gain insight into what others are doing in the industry, raise the level of customer service in your business and get inspired about what you do, I have the solution for you. Get involved in your local service awards as a volunteer.



I know I have talked about this before – but I feel the need to bring it up again. I have spent 2 of the past 3 weeks as a volunteer for the Calgary White Hat Service Awards. I was fortunate enough… Continue

With a recovering market there must be a lot of “great candidates” on the market – right? I believe that due to some unfortunate circumstances there are some “great” people out there looking. So when you post your jobs on Hcareers or any other job board why aren’t they applying?



I am fond of saying that the great thing about the internet is that it makes it easy to apply for any job you like and the bad thing about the internet is that it makes it easy for you to apply for any job… Continue

I wanted to take this opportunity to share some of the information I am hearing these days and hopefully get some input into what you are hearing.



I have been talking to people in hotels, restaurants and in tourism and here are some of the things I have been hearing:



From the hotel sector:

January was good, February was the worst month ever but March, April, May and beyond are looking great.



From the restaurant sector:

The guys on Bay St. (Toronto)… Continue

If you ever want to renew your passion for our industry, all you have to do is get involved with one of your local service award committees.



This past Monday and Tuesday I spent the days working with the Calgary White Hat awards. The White Hats are awarded for service excellence in many various categories and you must be nominated (either by your employer, co-worker, guest or anyone whom you have had a positive impact on) to be eligible. I should also mention that this award is for… Continue

We have looked at two different angles of how accepting a counter offer can change or limit your relationship with your current employer. I am now going to try and explain the employer perspective.



So after you bring your new offer to your current employers and they frantically piece together a counter offer, here is how the next few weeks play out in their head.



Stage 1 – Relief

They are happy and relieved that they have averted losing one of their top people. Whoa,… Continue

So, my last post focused on the fact that making or accepting a counter offer is a bad idea. Now I want to attempt to explain some of the pitfalls of making and in this post, accepting a counter offer.



As a job seeker the absolute worst thing you can do is shop for a new job with the intent of taking it to your current employer in hope of getting a counter offer.



Most employers will spend a lot of time (which = money) and real dollars advertising, interviewing and… Continue

As the economy picks up and more jobs come available, people are going to start resigning. With that, employers are going to counter offer. I say – Don’t do it!



Here are the facts;



over 80% of people who accept a counter offer cease to remain at that company after 6 months. WOW

54% of your current staff are looking for a new job – seriously they are. As soon as the market gains some strength they are shopping their resume.



So get ready to start countering –… Continue

In an effort to bring you more information on a variety of topics, we have enlisted a few "guest bloggers."



I have spoken with a few managers out there and learned that workplace ergonomics was a topic of interest. I guess all managers and companies are in favour of finding ways to increase productivity while decreasing workplace accidents and sick days. So I give you Dr. Pete Moore - widely regarded in Ontario as a leading lecturer in workplace ergonomics and expert in his field. We… Continue