Okay, guys, I’m going to be respectful of those that joined early. So we’ll start right now. But then, yeah, in the meantime, anybody that does miss it, or if you want to share this webinar later to somebody else that you might know that this could be beneficial to, we’ll be sending a recording at the end. So feel free to share it. Feel free to look back at this, if you have to leave early, anything like that, no pressure. But yes, thank you for joining us, you know, this afternoon. I know it’s really busy. So we’re really excited to continue these webinars. We’ve been doing them now for about, I think, three months now. It’s been, I can’t believe time flies.

Mhm.

And yeah, and just focusing a lot on more hands on concrete skills that you might need, things like that. So if you have any ideas, feel free to share them, email us. We’re both, Matt and I are always open to just sharing as much as we can. And yeah, with that, Matt, I don’t know if you want to quickly introduce yourself.

Absolutely. Thank you for the warm introduction. My name is Matthew. You might know me here at Magnus as an account manager. My official title is Manager of Strategic Healthcare Partnerships. However, I am a former recruiter. So when it comes to identifying what it takes to be a successful candidate for an agency contract, I have a wealth of knowledge, maybe not as much as our other recruiters currently. And I also know from the account side what clients look for when selecting a candidate. So here to answer as many questions as possible, as I would love to see everybody here successful plan-seeking opportunities for contract work.

Thanks, Matt. And everyone, I’m Jen. So it’s very nice to meet you all. Similar to Matt, I’m one of the account managers here as well. So always working on getting exciting new facilities on board for really cool opportunities. I’ve really been trying to expand into the digital health area. So keep your eyes open for that because there’s a lot of remote work growing right now and that’s become a big trend. But yeah, happy to host this webinar. And I think one of the major reasons why I kept pushing for this one in particular is because both Matt and I, we actually do go through the resumes when submitting them to our clients. And then we get the task of, you know, trying to dig for gold nuggets in the resumes to really put, you know, both your best foot forward. So this actually grew from a need from both of us where we see really outstanding resumes. And then we see some resumes that, you know, we need a little bit of TLC. So yeah, hopefully you find this good. So what we’ll do is I’m actually going to make this as concrete as possible, and we’ll pull out actually some of the best resumes that we have. And I’m going to actually ask Matt some questions about it, of what makes it good, what makes it bad, things like that, or how they can improve it. And then we’ll pull some examples of, you know, the resumes that need a bit of TLC. And then we’ll answer at the end the questions that were pre-submitted and leave it to any other questions that you may have live. So let me pull, let’s start with good. How do you feel about that?

Love it.

Yeah, all right, let’s do it good. All right, so I’m going to share my screen. Give me a minute. And actually, guys, this was really surprising for me when Matt gave me this particular example. Because here’s the thing, agency resumes are very different from what you would normally expect a resume to be. So everything that you’ve learned about, you know, this is how a resume should be. It should be concise. It should be one page, things like that. Throw it out all out of the window because contract work is very, very different. So in this specific example, I remember Matt, when we went over this one, this is how many pages?

I believe 10, 10 pages.

This is, yeah, this is 10 pages. So you could see it just keeps going on and on and on and on and on. And I had asked Matt, what do you think about this resume? And he’s like, this is one of the most outstanding resumes he’s seen. Okay, so Matt, if you want to kind of explain a little bit of why, what works with this resume and why this length.

Absolutely. So contrary to popular belief and a stigma that a lot of individuals come up against is, is my resume too long? And for the most part, when applying to permanent roles, you want to keep your resume between 1 to 2 pages. That’s usually the case. Reason being is when you are applying for a permanent job with a traditional HR manager, they are cycling through hundreds of resumes. So the quickest way for them to filter through is in resumes that are concise and speak to the points. There’s a difference when you apply to it with an agency for a job. There is a limited pool of candidates who usually want to go, as they’re mostly remote opportunities. So with that being said, HR managers read the entire resume. So you have an advantage with every single page of your resume being read. So you want to include as much detail as possible. Another reason why length is a good thing for an agency resume is because you’re there on assignment for a very limited period of time. So they are looking for individuals who have experience and skill sets that can impact the location right away. So with that being said, you want to put all of your experience. If you had a three month rotation in an ER unit, but you’re not necessarily a ER nurse now, you want to put that in the resume. If you have experience working in long-term care, although you’re a med surgeon nurse, you want to put that in. If you have experience in mental health, you want to put that in. You want to make sure that every faculty of your experience is put into a resume because that might be the difference maker between you getting selected and not selected.

Yeah, and so with this particular resume, I know that’s the one big thing that they did here. When you look at through their experience, they literally list everything with every agency that they’ve worked with or even outside of that, as you can see, like Fitness Coach over here, things like that, because you never know. Especially with rural areas, and we’re talking about this, how you really do need to have like a very general broad and you never, or general skill set that’s very broad. But one of the things is you never really know what a client is looking for. And you’d be very surprised. Sometimes it’s, you know, the fact that you did work at a rural area, area. And there was maybe it was like a 12 bed home or something like that. And that’s exactly what they were wanted. So for this one, I’m just going to walk through the resume quickly. But I’m going to ask you, Matt, like, can you take me a little bit through some of it? So like, for example, profile over here. Is this something that’s important?

Yeah.

To, like, have.

It’s always good to have one or two lines. I would say this is a great example, maybe a little bit on the longer side, but just something to introduce yourself and your background in case the HR manager wants a quick glance and to understand what they’re going to find throughout the rest of your resume.

Yeah, and like, I think for me, when I’m writing, you know, a little blurb on my submissions to clients, I generally, I’m the one that’s actually working on doing this. So this is why it’s, again, I can’t, I cannot stress enough how important it is to put all your experience, because ultimately, I’m going to be the one that writes maybe like 3 sentences max about what makes you different from all the other candidates. So I wouldn’t put as much weight on this one, but I agree with you just like a one sentence or two sentence introduction about maybe where you want to be or what you’ve done. In terms of like highlights qualifications. I think, again, that’s a lot of the legwork that we do at the, you know, in terms of when we’re doing submissions ourselves. But I think I want to skip over this because I don’t think it’s dependent. Like we, yeah, if you want to say something about it, because I know that you said like, sometimes when we submit as well,

Ohh, if it’s…

There’ll be various opportunities. So it’s not just one opportunity that we might submit somebody for. It might be a couple of opportunities.

Definitely. And one thing to highlight on this particular resume that they did very, very well is I see a lot of contractors put the years of experience they have, very generalized, 14 years experience as a nurse, 14 years experience as an MRT, so on and so forth. What really sets you apart is differentiating that experience even further. So you can see this nurse mentioned 14 years experience as an ER and urgent care nurse. However, she actually broke that down even further based on geographic location. She put her hours and years as a nurse, as an LPN, as well as an RN. She talks about her experience in long-term care. So again, that level of detail is absolutely perfect. You don’t just want to be very generalized by saying, I have 14 years experience as a nurse. You want to go into the expertise you have as an ER nurse, med surg, geriatric, OBGYN, whatever that may be, because that might be the difference maker quit competing for.

And does… And Matt, does that change depending on, because right now we’re looking at it like in the RN resume. Would this look different for, let’s say, any contractor or anyone wanting to go into contracting and allied health?

Yeah. No, no. Every specialty, regardless of the role, always has unique experiences per designation. So being a sonographer is a great example where you could specialize in ultrasound. As an MRT, you could specialize in CT scans as opposed to regular scans. So there’s always ways to break down your experience level, especially if there’s areas you feel you operate very strongly in. And again, this is the place that would, you want to accentuate that ability.

Yeah, and that’s a really good point because I remember recently something in MLT and they had asked, is it core lab that they do, biology, that there was quite a bit of different breakdowns and they wanted one specifically for, you know, phlebotomy or things like that. So it’s very, yeah, I agree with you. Breaking down is incredibly valuable, even when we’re submitting or to make that fit just a lot better for the client. So then in terms of education, what would you say they did well here?

Yep. They listed all of their education. They put any courses they’re currently undergoing, which is fantastic. They included all of their certificates, even if it’s a one-day course. Please, please, please add that to your education. The only thing I would note that could be something that disqualifies you is using years. You don’t necessarily want to include the year that you either A, got a certification or the expiry date. Simply being, you want your resume to be multifaceted and to be able to be used for a multitude of roles. Sometimes it is a hassle, especially with certificates with expiry dates, to constantly go back and update them. It’s always best to just put the certificate that you have in. If you do need to update the certificate before starting a role, that’s something that you can do on your own after getting approved.

Yeah, and there is a lot of that even with like VSCs, things like that. Actually, speaking of certificates, I don’t know, I think this one does have a specific section for that, which is really, really, really important, but I think it put at the end. So are you okay if I skip and just kind of go to the certificates? Okay.

Mm. Sure.

Let me find them over here. And then I’ll ask you later too about you know, structure, things like that, because that varies widely. I want to remember where we put there. Maybe they did a name. No, they must have put their certificates. I’m trying to see if I can find… Well… I guess they put it all in education.

Yep.

Yeah, so would you break that down knowing that? Would you say like, this is my education, this is my, like, these are the certificates? Because like, I’ll make one in submissions, I’ll list them all. Like, I’ll just make them. And again, I don’t include the dates, but would you suggest breaking down, you know, the education and certificates in different areas? Like, in terms of structure.

Absolutely. I think it just makes things cohesive and a lot easier to read. Most times, agencies actually submit your certification separately outside of your resume, but if you want to make the agency’s life easier, as well as the hiring manager’s life easier, you will just clearly kind of differentiate the education from the certifications.

Okay. So now this is the big one, work experience. So this is where it gets into like the nine pager over here. But do you want to tell me a little bit about, you know, there’s very different ways of doing this. And we had talked yesterday about how, you know, you can do it from, if you have agency work,

And. Mhm. Yeah. Huh? Yeah.

like list all the agencies you worked at and then the work that you did there? Or is it better to list, you know, the role that you were at? And then from there, list maybe where, what facilities you worked at? Like what would you think is best practice here?

Mm. Yeah. Alright. Usually, and this could be circumstantial, but nine times out of 10, it is encouraged to actually list your agency work along with the facility. Reason being, a lot of contractors usually do not put that they worked at a specific location with an agency. And what happens is when you look at the tenure of work with the facility, let’s just say I worked at an organization like Magnus, and I worked here as an agency contractor for three months. On my resume, it’ll just look like I came and quit my job relatively quickly. So it’s always in your best interest to list. But, hey, this was a three-month contract, however, I was working as an agency worker. That way, there’s no red flags that come into their head that you just come and leave organizations at your own will. Secondly, it’s good to show that you have some agency experience, specifically because it shows that you’re experienced in coming onto a team, onboarding relatively quickly and making an impact in a facility. The largest cost to an organization and why organizations don’t tend to lean towards agency work more is because they always worry about bringing somebody on board who takes a long time to warm up and get orientated. And by the time they get fully onboarded, they’re going to have to leave the contract. So showcasing that skill set, saying, hey, I’ve experienced coming onto a site, learning relatively quickly, and making a big impact. All is said simply by saying, I work as an agency contractor for.

Mhm.

this organization, this organization, and this organization. One other thing to point out that I’m not sure if this resume did, but a lot of people do, is if you’ve returned to a facility, it’s great to showcase that. If you worked at, let’s just say, a long-term care facility, Magnus Long-term Care, afterwards, you went to work at Toronto General, and then you came back to Magnus Long-Term Care. Showing that on your CV shows that, hey, this guy was so brilliant, he went to a location, onboarded quickly, worked, and then they called him back. That speaks volumes to your character.

Yeah, and we’ll actually get specific requests from our facilities of, you know, can we get somebody that’s worked here before in the past? That’s usually a big ask. So I think my follow up to that then is, would this experience change for someone just starting new?

Mhm. Mm. Mhm.

into contracting, because I know, especially with allied health, that’s becoming more and more like contracting in allied health is becoming more popular. And I would personally find it challenging to kind of say, okay, well, how do I then make myself stand out? Or if high adaptability is something that they’re looking for, like what can I do to

And. Yeah.

Put my best foot forward.

Oh, that’s a great question. One, just because you’re a new grad does not mean you do not have experience. Almost every designation through their education has clinical placement hours. That should always, always be put onto a CV. So if you had to do a three-month rotation as part of your certificate, in a given hospital or in a given field. Always make sure that’s included on your resume. When you are competing for roles that and you feel like you do not have a lot of experience, sometimes it’s not a bad thing. I would say you might have to accentuate your profile a little bit, talking about the eagerness to work. But organizations, especially ones that are looking for longer term tenures, mostly like four to six months, are okay taking somebody who has an eagerness and a positive attitude over somebody who’s more experienced, as long as they feel like that individual would fit the culture of the existing team. So definitely list all of your experience, but lean a little bit heavier into your personal profile, how eager you are, what you’re looking for in a job opportunity, and that might be the difference maker.

Mm. Actually, that’s a really good, yeah, I feel like that’s a really good tip to put it in your profile. That’s where it would make sense. Okay, so I don’t want to take too much time on this particular resume because I do want to show, you know, a resume with some TLC.

Okay. Yeah.

that’s needed. Is there anything here in the other experience, like additional recognition, management experience, all of that, that you would feel, you know, would you say that’s necessary at all, or is it more heavily on experience and certifications?

Mm. Mainly education, experience and certifications. Volunteer work is always fantastic to put, just to show that you love giving back to your community. Outside of that, just making sure that it’s very clear and concise, that things are organized in a way that’s very easy to read, as well as, you know, font size and things of that nature in terms of organization that usually are pleasing to the eye.

Yeah, I would agree. And even with these, like, I’m finding that it might be helpful after this webinar to just kind of send like a, not just a template of a good resume, but also maybe some examples of structures that you can use to organize your experience. So we can work on that and send it out later, guys, if you’re interested, let us know.

OK.

And we can do that as well. I want to go ahead now and maybe look at, I think this was another good example now.

Yep.

Okay, is there anything you want to say on this before I move on to like the what not to do?

Yeah. Very, very quickly, because I know this contractor personally, one mistake they made is under languages, they put just English. However, they do speak a secondary language. Most of the times, people are discouraged from putting the second language that they speak because they feel like clients are only looking for English or French. That is not the case in today’s day and age. There is a plethora of opportunities looking for individuals that speak different languages outside of just English and French, specifically in long-term care. There’s a lot of communities that are looking for contractors who speak Cantonese, who speak Hindi. There’s A Greek long-term care home that are looking for individuals who could communicate with patients there. So do not ever feel like you have to shy away from putting your second language. It is always, always beneficial to put in your second language on your CV.

Okay, I see where they put that. Yeah. Okay, and then let’s say, oh, this is the classic one. All right, let’s take a look at what not to do. Okay, yeah, I know you have a lot to say on this one.

Definitely. I know we’re running short on time, but the number one piece of advice I could give any contractor who’s applying for a role, never, ever, ever use a template made by LinkedIn or especially Indeed. Just like when applying to a regular job, the number one thing you do not want to come across is that you didn’t care enough to write your own resume. I know that there’s tools like AI that’ll make format your resume for you. That is light years better than using Indeed or LinkedIn to form a resume. This would automatically get thrown into the trash. This was made by Indeed. Plus, there’s formatting issues, as you can see. They did not properly list their experience. Their skill sets are not really relevant to any job. So you can see oil and gas being one.

Cheers. Rolling gas, yeah. Mike.

I would not look twice at this resume. And I would not want you guys to be put in that position. Another thing to note when submitting a resume like this, it is a little bit upsetting to receive that a resume like this, which states you didn’t care enough to write your own, but you never want to burn a bridge with an agency. Agencies, for the most part, have relationships with a multitude of organizations and health authorities across Canada. You do not want to tarnish your reputation because you never know if this resume is going to make it to a client who might say, hey, this is kind of a bad candidate. I’m going to blacklist them from our organization. Doesn’t happen that often, but again, why take the chance? It doesn’t take too long to clean your resume up a little bit, just to put a little thought and care. So please, please, please never ever use an Indeed resume.

That’s good to know. And you’re right, because even from our perspective, like if I was going to try to submit this person, it’s pretty hard for me to even choose. Like I’m not even, yeah, I would have a hard time sending this over to a client as well. Okay, so I want to actually get to the real questions that we were asked. And if you find that this was, you know, beneficial or anything like that, or if you want a second webinar where we can go through some more examples, again, let us know. We’re open to feedback. We’re pretty flexible. And as long as it’s helping you guys out, we’re happy, more than happy to do these. So let me open up our questions, Matt, and I will ask you, I see that. Yes, Lola.

What?

I’m glad that you’re finding this helpful. I’m sorry, I’m grabbing them right now. Um, if you, I don’t know.

And feel free if you guys have questions in the chat.

Yeah, if you have any questions right now, too, that would be… I’m just trying to get this to open. Okay. So one page, it’s going back to that, what we said earlier today. They want to know, this one person asked, is one page good enough? Would you prefer it to be concise or longer and detailed? And which one’s better?

We answered it pretty early, but longer. The longer the better. You never want to omit any details from your resume, because again, most HR managers are going to look through the entirety of it, as opposed to regular jobs where they only look at the first two pages.

So if we had to say what is a must on your resume, maybe a profile with one or two sentences, that’s a blurb, your education, all your certifications. It doesn’t matter when you did them. Just put them on there. It doesn’t matter if they’re expired. We can figure that out afterwards. And then experience breaking down every experience, regardless of how short it was and what you did there. And then, again, we’ll send some structure as well in terms of ways that you could organize that experience and languages. Languages, Point Click Care, things that really make you stand out to certain communities like Indigenous, you know, if you’ve had any cultural experiences, things like that, that does help too with LTC. So that’s what it sounds like. Okay, I want to actually answer the one that we just got sent over. So Matt, can you, do you mind?

No worries. I cannot see the question.

I think as many organizations use this AI, how do you out, how do you stand out basically using AI? Yeah.

How? Oh. With resonance. So funny enough, we do get that question quite a bit. So far, specifically with applying for contract travel roles, AI is not being used. Because there’s such a limited pool of candidates for any given role, HR managers go through everything by hand. The vetting process is usually done by the agencies, so that would be myself and Jen. So the best thing you could do is keep it clear and concise. The use of AI is not looked down on or frowned upon. I can say confidently here at Magnus, but across the board in most agencies. But honestly, keep it clean and concise. You don’t have to worry that if somebody catches that he used AI, then they’ll be disqualified from a position. Position as of right now in the market, it is totally, totally okay.

Okay, and I know that we’re getting to the 3 P.m. time here, EST. So for those of you that has to go, you’re more than welcome. Just know that it is getting recorded. So if you want a copy, you will be sent that out. You can share it and finish it off later at a later time. But for those that want to stay and continue to ask us questions, I’m going to I still think these are really good questions that we were asked. So if you’re okay, Matt, just going over a couple of minutes as well, because I do want to get to them and make sure that everyone, all the answers get, or all the questions get answered. Okay, so this was a really interesting one and I’m going to go ahead and answer and you can add what you want to it.

Yeah. Yeah.

Is there any contracts right now in Ontario for telehealth, you know, med search nurses? And that’s something that we’re actively working towards getting because as I had mentioned earlier, it’s a huge, huge, huge area that’s growing specifically for NPs. NPs, dietitians, RNs, but with very specific skill sets. So this is why it’s so important to highlight that because I’ve been seeing like RNs specifically for weight loss, RNs specifically for hormonal treatments, things like that. So if that is something that you’re interested in, let us know. Again, you can send me an email because I’m actively working on that. I don’t know if there’s anything that you would want to add to that, Matt.

Yep, perfect answer.

Yeah, I know. They’re exciting because they’re remote. I get it. I do be all over that too. Okay, so one of the live questions was, how is salary determined and what’s the scope of negotiation?

Usually there is a paid bandwidth. However, a lot of the times your interview determines the end rate that you’re going to get. Never, ever discuss salary before you interview. It is often a waste of time and it could get you disqualified early. Always go in, even if you know what the bandwidth is, and you’re not necessarily happy with it, interview first. Do the best that you can, because that might be the difference maker between you getting a $5 to $10 increase. So never negotiate prior. Never negotiate with the client, especially if you’re applying through an agency. Always let the agency negotiate on your behalf, and just interview to the best of your ability and that is the best way to negotiate.

Actually, I think it’s really important maybe to mention too, you had said yesterday in terms of the interview process, it’s a lot quicker for, you know, than the traditional path to like a perm role. Do you want to say anything on that as well? Because I thought that was a really neat point.

Mm. Yeah, definitely. So as opposed to a more permanent job opportunity where you’re going to have to go through three rounds of interviews. Usually for agency roles, it’s one interview, sometimes just a phone call. So your resume is going to speak a lot to your experience and then the phone call or interview is just checking well, I’m just doing a fact check on your resume to make sure you are who you say you are, as well as culturally seeing if you’re going to fit in with the facility, just making sure you’re okay with night shifts if it’s a job that requires you to do a lot of nights, or if you’re okay working exclusive dates or just on weekends. So the best thing you can do during the interview process is have a great, great attitude. You don’t need to lean too heavy into the skill sets that you might have because usually that decision is made simply based off the resume.

Okay, perfect. We’ve got a lot of questions with respect to fresh graduates and how to get contract jobs in that way. And I think that, you know, so one of them is just how do you get in when you’re a fresh grad into this kind of work. The other one is if you’re in a new grad program, do you hire basically from bridging programs that are international or INE?

Yes, so provided that you have the eligibility to work in Canada legally, you have your work visas lined up, you absolutely can work with an agency, specifically with Magnus. Is it more difficult as a new grad to get jobs? Yes and no. There is a smaller pool of jobs available for individuals that just graduated. However, that pool that exists is usually almost exclusive for new grads. There are a ton of clients who come to us and say, hey, we care mostly about culture. We have a younger team here, and we want somebody who’s new and malleable, who could kind of fit in with what we’re trying to build in our team. And so those types of roles would actually discriminate people who are more experienced, who do not, who have a little bit too much tenure, and opt to take on people who are, you know, maybe fresh out of school, who are willing to learn and are eager.

Yeah. Okay. So I have so much to say on this one. Someone’s wondering if they could travel as an MLT full time. What do you think?

The answer is yes, absolutely.

Absolutely. Yes, please, please come. I actually need an MRT right now. So if anybody knows, like, we need actually so much in allied health right now. It is exclusively one of the main things that we keep getting asked for. And it could anything under the sun, basically, social work, spiritual care. Oh God, yesterday we were seeing something for, I believe it was like music therapist. So yeah, MLT full time. Yes, that is absolutely growing and we will take you, and we will find you something quickly. So yes, if there’s any other roles you’re interested in, let me know. I think the last question we had was about experience in LTC and if we can get into telehealth from there. So I would need to know a little bit more about

Mhm.

what that question means. Like, are you wondering if telehealth remote work in LTC or if you want to transition from LTC into telehealth? Is that, thank you, I can see. is writing for us. Thanks for clarifying. Actually, in this, I would love to know if you all feel comfortable on camera, because this is something that we’ve been testing as well. We don’t know if we should just open up the floor or not like that. But yeah, again, thoughts, comments, feedback, super appreciated. LTC to telehealth. Okay, so I would say that that is, again, something that I’m currently like spearheading and working towards getting those facilities. My main advice is if you’re interested in something like that, we can connect you to one of our recruiters that can help you with all of that. The recruiter, our recruitment team is pretty big and they’re very, very good at, you know, just leading you and guiding your career. And you can ask all those career related questions. Matt, do you have any specifics on what to say in terms of that as well?

No, I would echo the same points. Always, always feel free to communicate with your recruiter because at the end of the day, they serve you. So don’t be shy. We have an amazing team here who have a plethora of years of experience attaching contractors to their dream roles. So I would really urge you to contact as soon as possible.

What is the average salary for a full-time travel MLT?

There is no average because we work coast to coast in Canada. There’s so many different factors that could take effect, be it the geographic location, the level of experience you have, what the client is looking for. So I would say, again, contact a recruiter to get the most up-to-date information. And I think that will be the last question.

Perfect. Okay, well, guys, I am so thankful for your time. Thank you for coming and just attending this. And then just staying over as well, the extra time there. Again, if you find this super helpful, if there’s more questions that you have, let us know our contact information. We’re going to provide it there at see in the chat. So feel free to reach out to us personally. We can connect you to the right people. And on top of that, if there’s any topics that you’re itching to know more about, we can always schedule these in flexibly. So please, feedback, feedback, feedback. Love to know how you feel about this. Love to know what you would have loved to maybe anything that you feel that would help you, let us know. We’re here to help and we’re happy to do that. So yeah, thanks for your time. And I hope everybody has a good time watching the soccer game today.

Alright, great meeting everybody. Take care.

Perfect. Thank you, everyone. Have a good day.

Bye.