UCPBA

TALK TO YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT JOINING:

Let them know about the benefits of membership, the fun of being a member and the potential for community service.

NEWSLETTER &

MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY

MEMBER EVENTS

Speaker’s Dinners

Golf Tournament

Annual Barbeque

Christmas Dinner

Historical Walking Tours

Crafts Workshops &

More

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Yearly SCHOLARSHIPS: designed to assist undergraduates

IVAN FRANKO LECTURE:

Done in cooperation with the Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Ottawa, this annual lecture brings the best of academic research on Ukraine and Ukrainians in Canada to Ottawa.

THE RAMON HNATYSHYN MEMORIAL LECTURE:

Also run with the Chair, this occasional  series takes advantage of high-calibre academics, politicians and others passing through Ottawa.

DAVID BURLIUK EXHIBIT.

He was the founder of the Futurist Movement in art and literature in Eastern Europe before the First World War,  We have been working the Winnipeg Art Gallery to do the show

SO WHO ARE WE, REALLY?  We’re a service group, bringing together business persons & professionals with disparate political, religious and generational origins and viewpoints in the service of Ottawa’s Ukrainian-Canadian community.  We work hard, but also like to enjoy ourselves.  If you want to be part of the most dynamic group in the Ukrainian community of Ottawa, fill in the membership form and mail it in, along with your first year’s dues.

Find the membership form on:

http://www.infoukes.com/ucpbaott/docs/mem_appl.htm

BECOMING A PUBLIC SERVANT:

MAPPING YOUR ROUTE

Iris Bradley speaks at the forum on career change

Preamble

• The Ottawa-area is home to a large number of Ukrainian heritage, highly skilled, Canadian citizens and landed immigrants
• Given the retirement of the baby-boomers within the next five years, a shortage of public servants is predicted
• Mechanisms for matching the skills of available individuals and ‘needs’ of the public service can be complex and intimidating

The Workshop provided -

• Factual information on becoming a public servant
• ‘Tips' on how to navigate the system
• A forum for networking

Who should attend?

• Individuals interested in employment and career changes
• Individuals interested in knowing how to explore opportunities in the public service
• UCPBA-Ottawa members, current and former public servants, willing to share experiences about working in large, complex, public service organizations

EDITOR’S NOTE: Our April meeting was devoted to those who might be interested in joining the Public Service in mid-career. The quality of the presentations (by Iris Bradley, Floyd Pushelberg and OrestDykyj ) was such that they deserves a wider audience, one that includes those already within the Public Service. Even those looking for employment in the private sector will find useful hints.

     Iris Bradley (BradLei Associates, bradlei@magma.ca) formerly a program evaluation specialist with the Public Service and now a private consultant, reviewed the formal elements of getting a government job. There are vast and varied employment opportunities, with over 250,000 Canadians work in the core federal Public Service working in 20 departments and 180 regulatory and administrative agencies. In 2006, 42% of employees worked in the National Capital Region (NCR). An excellent site for obtaining a list of the federal departments and agencies is www.canada.gc.ca/depts/major A second valuable site is www.servicecanada.gc.ca .

     Prepare your job search by using the Public Service Commission tools at www.jobs.gc.ca . Start by creating an account on the Public Service Resourcing System (PSRS) – www.psjobs-emploisfp.psc-cfp.gc.ca/psr/applicant Check frequently and regularly to see what is available. Update your profile as required. But that’s not enough. Use the Listing of Federal Department and Agencies to identify departments and areas of interest, conduct research on where and how your skills may ‘fit’ and make arrangements for displaying your unique ‘added value’.

     The Public Service Commission – Recruitment Advertising Poster provides approximately 20 pieces of information. It is relatively easy to determine the ‘fit’ between the job and your qualifications. Additionally, there are some areas that merit special attention. The items are: Department Name, Location of Position, Classification, Salary, Closing Date, Reference Number, Department Number, Position Title, Employment tenure, Vacancies, Web Site of the Department, Citizenship, Language Proficiency, Education, Experience, Statement of Merit Criteria, Additional Requirements / Comments (e.g.: Conditions of Employment, Operational Requirements, Organizational Needs), Information to be provided and Important Messages.

     Statement of Merit Criteria is a critical document and the completion of it often determines whether one is screened in or out of a competition. On your application, respond to each one of the Essential Qualifications, provide an explanation, and, if warranted provide proof. Note that if you went to school outside of Canada, you must include proof of Canadian equivalency for your diplomas and / or certificates. Equivalencies can be obtained from www.cicic.ca.

     Preparing your Résumé for a Specific Position: Once the Statement of Merit has been drafted, you are ready to prepare the résumé. The Résumé is your primary marketing tool – it is the link between the requirements of the job and your experience and skills. Ensure that you: list your qualifications, work experience, skills, achievements, etc. as related to the position for which you are applying, include transferable and relevant work experience (eg: foreign employment, part-time or summer employment, sports and recreational activities, volunteer work, entrepreneurial experiences, extra-curricular activities, co-op placements and internships).

     What happens next? Initial screening of all applications is done by computer. If your application has met all of the Essential   Screening Qualifications, it will be sent electronically to the hiring department for further consideration. At the same time, the results will appear on your online candidate file. The hiring department then further evaluates your qualifications. This often entails a combination of assessment tools and methods: written tests or exercises, skill tests, presentations, situational questions, behaviour-based questions, role playing, simulations, work samples, reference checks and interviews.

     A Final Review. It is up to you to manage your own career; at the same time seek out assistance of individuals and resources that are pertinent. Undertake a number of lines of action at the same time: first, register with the Public Service Commission – ensure that you are on the inventory, review and update your information and apply for the pertinent jobs; second- research potential hiring agencies and departments on-line and in person, contact and conduct information interviews with individuals in department and agencies in which you are interested, when offered, determine your ‘risk tolerance’, and accept positions (contract, short term) that keep you current and enhance your networks.

     Floyd Pushelberg (IT Director CIO at Industry Canada pushelberg.floyd@ic.gc.ca) presented his own history as a case study of how to switch from the private to public sectors in mid-career. Floyd had Twenty-six years experience in the telecommunications and high tech industry directing and managing large scale complex programs utilizing my skills at strategic planning, architecture, analyzing stakeholder, business and departmental objectives, to develop and bring to fruition innovative and future focused programs and services in a high energy multi disciplinary team environment (you could see, even now, he’s selling himself to his audience!).

     Having started working for De Havilland Aircraft in 1981, he switched to Bell Northern Research in 1982. This became Nortel Networks in 1994, where he eventually became Senior Product Design Manager, Design Interpretive. Laid off in the big cuts of 2001, Floyd became an entrepreneur, owning and operating a design user needs analysis consultancy. Quickly realizing this was not for him, Pushelberg began looking for a job in the public sector. By November of 2001 he was working with Industry Canada.

     As entrepreneur consultants, Floyd and his colleagues from Nortel use contacts to solicit contracts, including government ones. All the while, he continues to look for a job with the Government of Canada. A neighbour referred him to a Government of Canada CIO, which led to an information interview with the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Treasury Board Secretariat. This led to referrals to other heavy information technology users such as the Border Services Agency. In all of these, he was learning about how the government was facing its information technology (IT) problems, what they were, where new approaches were needed, how different departments functioned. Eventually, leveraging all this information at an interview, he received an offer of a term position. Keeping up the process eventually led him to a permanent position at Industry Canada. During it, he learned a number of lessons.

     First, it’s hard work. Finding a new career after Nortel was the hardest he ever worked in my life! Floyd learned a lot about myself. He lost confidence but in the end gained more of it back. He developed a new career, from private sector product development to public sector information technology.

     Second, it is all about contacts to open the door, and the next doors. Leverage your network of friends, family and neighbours. Use the telephone to arrange face to face meetings….avoid email. Most managers and directors are very open to a 20 minute information meeting. Ask for an information meeting, not an interview. After each one, ask if they have any contacts and leverage those for you next information meeting.

     Third: find someone with a problem and then presenting yourself as the solution. Mention a little about yourself but focus on them and their organization. Ask questions about the person you are meeting, remember this is not a job interview. Find out their problems and the things they like about their work. Present yourself as the solution to their problems. Be willing to modify your specialty, adapt to their needs or take a cut in pay/level.

     Fourth: forget about competitions or posted jobs. They don’t work in the public or private sector: too much risk for the hiring manager, low return on investment and bad for the moral.

     Fifth: the Government of Canada is good place to work. There are lots of good, interesting work and flexibility to change. You won’t get rich but you will be able to pay your bills.

     Last: persevere. Don’t give up, it takes time and luck.

     Orest Dykyj is Senior Communications Advisor with the Health Canada Strategic Communications Directorate. Many of the lessons brought out by Floyd Pushelberg were also highlighted by Orest, but from a very different perspective. He did not join the Public Service mid-career, but began his career there. As a journalism student, Orest accepted a summer student position with the Canadian Border Services Agency. Not exactly in his professional line, but it helped pay the tuition costs. It also helped him make a number of contacts that he maintained on returning to school in the Fall. These led to an offer to work, in his field, in the Federal Government on graduation. This Orest accepted. After a short period, he found a certain lack of job satisfaction. At the same time, there was an offer to take a term position working with news media in Ukraine. Taking the offer, he left the Public Service. However, Orest took great care to maintain contact with an impressive number of his former co-workers. He went regular e-mail reports on what he did and saw in Ukraine and otherwise kept in touch. These contacts led to a job offer on return to Canada. Foreign experience within his chosen field had led to a much better position. Orest emphasized the key lessons noted by Iris and Floyd: you have to work at getting a job. Not only that, you have to develop the appropriate contacts that will help you both get that job and develop your career once you’re working.

Public Service Commission Contact

If you need help with any aspect of seeking a job or preparing an application, ‘real live people’ are available to assist:

Public Service Commission of Canada
National Capital and Eastern Ontario Region
4th Floor
66 Slater Street
Ottawa, Ontario
Telephone: 1-800-645-5605
613-947-9757
Email: pscnceor@psc-cfp.gc.ca

TWO OTTAWANS (AND UCPBA(O) MEMBERS)
WIN INTERSHIPS

     The Ukrainian Canadian Congress has reinstituted its internship program on Parliament Hill. Working with various MPs will be, left to right: Oriana Masiuk (from Edmonton, studying in Ottawa and a member), Roman Dzioba (of Ottawa, son of members Yuri Dzioba and Nadia Kazymyra and member in his own right) and Oksana Zhovtulya (of Montreal).

     Prof. Plokhy (r- new holder of the Chair of Ukrainian History at Harvard), having just delivered the Franko Lecture on Ukraine’s Quest for Europe, is thanked by Borys Gengalo (l). The latter thus achieves another step in his goal of having his picture in every issue of this newsletter. Photo: Orest Reshitnyk