Bridging the Skills Gap: The Job Hunter's Career Handbook of Top Employers

Louise Karch is a career consultant with Carswell Partners in London, Ontario.

Published by the Canadian Employment Youth Alliance (CEYA) Group, this
reference text of Canada’s largest employers is based on the responses
of 2800 companies that were asked to complete a research package. The
goal of the book, as the title suggests, is to help people develop those
job skills for which there is the greatest demand. A section entitled
“Academic Programs Table of Contents” provides a list of companies
that will hire graduates of particular programs. Another section is
devoted to company profiles and includes such information as Web site
locations, recommended computer skills, benefits, entry-level
requirements, and career opportunities.

What’s missing is a career-planning framework and an acknowledgment
that, in recent years, the majority of jobs have been coming out of
small businesses. Much of the book is marred by platitudes and by the
author’s tendency to state the obvious. To sum up: good idea, poor
execution.