Career competencies in Canada - Availablity and Flexibility Peivand Pirouzi Ph.D. 2023

1. CAREER COMPETENCIES IN
CANADA
AVAILABILITY AND FLEXIBILITY
Prof. Peivand Pirouzi, 2023
Professor Peivand Pirouzi, PhD, MBA, CCPE, Cert. Psychiatry
2023

2. Universal Employability Skills
1. Leadership/Management Skills
2. Communication Skills
3. Teamwork Skills
4. Self-Motivated/Ability to work with little or no supervision
5. Problem-Solving/Decision-Making, Reasoning/Creativity skills
6. Dedication/Hardworking/Work Ethic
7. Planning/Organizing Skills
8. Dependability/Reliability/Responsibility
9. Adaptability
10. Availability/Flexibility
11. Honesty/Integrity/Morality - Character Counts!
12. Computer/Technical Skills
13. Interpersonal Abilities
Prof. Peivand Pirouzi, 2023

3. Universal Employability Skills
13. Self Presentation Skills
14. Multi-Tasking Skills
15. Positive Attitude/Motivation/Energetic
16. Self-Confidence
17. Leadership/Management Skills
18. Multicultural Sensitivity/Awareness
19. Loyalty
20. Professionalism
21. Willingness to Learn
22. Customer Service Skills
23. Common Sense
Prof. Peivand Pirouzi, 2023

4. Employability Characteristics
¨ 1. Positive Attitude - Do not criticize others.
¨ 2. Cooperative - Shows respect for employer.
¨ 3. Accepting and using Feedback - Shows you
want to learn and are willing to improve.
Prof. Peivand Pirouzi, 2023

5. ¨ 4. Flexibility - Accept change and adapt to new situation.
¨ 5. Life-long learning - Able to learn new skills (Regulations,
Administration, Registration, Communication).
¨ 6. Leadership - Able to make decisions and solve problems.
Shows others respect and people want to work with you.
Employability Characteristics
Prof. Peivand Pirouzi, 2023

6. How to Build Employability Skills?
¨ Conflict Resolution - Look for ways to reduce conflict
with peers and communicate more effectively with
them.
¨ Set Educational Goals - Create a plan to get
necessary certificates for becoming qualified to
apply for jobs.
¨ Be Active in networking – attend Events, Fairs, Team
sports, and more.
¨ Participate In Some Form of Community Service -
Dedicate your time and energy toward improving
the community.
Prof. Peivand Pirouzi, 2023

7. AVAILABILITY AND
FLEXIBILITY
Prof. Peivand Pirouzi, 2023
Flexibility: Accept change and adapt to
new situation.
Availability: The quality or state of being
available.
Example: Flexible for hours or work, and
Available for new challenges

8. When looking at Job Description,
check for the following:
¨ What are the responsibilities?
¨ What kind of education or training is required?
¨ What is the pay range?
¨ What is the work environment?
¨ Where is the job?
¨ What are they expecting from me?
¤ Flexibility
¤ Availabilities
Prof. Peivand Pirouzi, 2023

9. Availability and Flexibility:
7 Reasons Why Employees Don’t Work and What We
Can Do About It
¨Reason #1: Many employees
don’t know what’s expected of
them at work
¤ One of the primary reason employees don’t perform well is that they
aren’t aware of the work standards they should maintain. Managers
don’t help them set goals and thus there is no motivation to achieve
them. Without clear guidelines about the expectations, employees don’t
feel inclined to take initiative and perform at higher levels.
n Why? Flexibility to adapt to a new environment.
n What to do about it?
Ref: https://businesstown.com/7-reasons-why-employees-dont-work-and-what-
you-can-do-about-it/ Prof. Peivand Pirouzi, 2023

10. 7 Reasons Why Employees Don’t Work and
What We Can Do About It
¨Reason #2 Employees are
hesitant to share their problems
¨ The problem here is that most managers don’t understand how
employees think.
¨ Why? We don’t make ourselves available for discussions
¨ What to do about it? Manager may want to assign new
projects to everyone as per their potential and to show them
the work process while learning about each other
performances.
Prof. Peivand Pirouzi, 2023

11. 7 Reasons Why Employees Don’t Work and
What We Can Do About It
¨Reason #3 Employees don’t
know what’s in it for them
¤ One of the primary reason employees don’t perform well is that they
aren’t following the work standards they should maintain.
¤ Why? Lack of flexibility for adjusting with new rules
¤ What to do about it? Giving workers the choice to pursue a
project that they are passionate about. Not only will they
know what they are going to do, but also have a stake in
what the final results of their work .
Prof. Peivand Pirouzi, 2023

12. 7 Reasons Why Employees Don’t Work and
What We Can Do About It
¨Reason #4 Employees lack the
skills needed for the job
¤ Human resources did hire a recent graduate without the
necessary qualifications.
¤ What to do about it? Make sure that your HR get the right
employees with the required skillset for a certain position.
¤ Offer on-the-job training
Prof. Peivand Pirouzi, 2023

13. 7 Reasons Why Employees Don’t Work and
What We Can Do About It
¨Reason #5 Employees not
willing to work
¤ Your employee may simply lack the will to do the work that is assigned.
There is no simple solution to this problem. One reason behind
employees being unwilling to perform at their job could be rapid
changes in the work environment. (Flexibility)
¤ What to do about it? Make the effort to help employees in making the
transition with the business. This will prevent disruptions and hopefully
employees make positive contributions to the success of the organization.
Prof. Peivand Pirouzi, 2023

14. 7 Reasons Why Employees Don’t Work and
What We Can Do About It
¨Reason #6 The work
environment does not support
team effort
¤ It is often the case that while managers don’t encourage individual work
load, they don’t encourage team work either. When this happens, any
efforts made by employees to form teams result in conflict.
¤ What to do about it? A liaison may be appointed to facilitate messages
and resources between workers and the manager to ensure the workers
feel supported and are able to cooperate amongst themselves.
Prof. Peivand Pirouzi, 2023

15. 7 Reasons Why Employees Don’t Work and
What We Can Do About It
¨Reason #7 Directives don’t line
up with their level of capability
¤ If an employee feels that their level of competency is far above that
which is required of them, they either think that they are underestimated
as subordinates, or that their managers are not up to the mark.
¤ What to do about it? Create a collaborative environment to work in, so
that employees’ motivation levels will stay at the optimum.
Prof. Peivand Pirouzi, 2023

16. Examples of Flexibility interview
questions I
¨ How do you adjust to changes you have no control
over? (e.g. A person from your team decides to
quit.)
¨ If your coworkers had a “this is how we do it”
attitude to learning something new, how would you
try to convince them to follow a different, more
effective method of working?
Prof. Peivand Pirouzi, 2023

17. Examples of Flexibility interview
questions II
¨ What are the biggest challenges you’re facing
when starting a new job?
¨ You have been working on a client’s project for a
while, when your manager informs you that the
project’s requirements changed suddenly. What
would you do?
Prof. Peivand Pirouzi, 2023

18. Examples of Flexibility interview
questions III
¨ How do you re-adjust your schedule when your
manager asks you to prepare a report within an
hour? How do you make sure you don’t fall behind
your regular tasks?
Prof. Peivand Pirouzi, 2023

19. Group Exercise I
¨ Ask this interview question from your class partner
who will then respond to you:
¨ Tell me about a time you had to learn how to use a
new tool at work. How long did it take you to
understand its features use it daily?
Prof. Peivand Pirouzi, 2023

20. Group Exercise II
¨ Ask this interview question from your class partner
who will then respond to you:
¨ Describe a time you were assigned new tasks (e.g.
due to job enrichment or promotion.) How did you
adapt?
Prof. Peivand Pirouzi, 2023

21. Conclusion
¨ What did you learn today from the lecture and the
group exercise?
¨ Do you have availability and flexibility examples?
Prof. Peivand Pirouzi, 2023

22. Thank you.