Knightsbridge in the News

Canada's Passion Capitalists

May 12, 2012

Culture: So important, yet so elusive for many

By David R. Shaw - Financial Post

Leaders of organizations today agree that the right culture is critical to achieving success.Its importance is taught in business schools, pondered regularly in business periodicals, and has spawned an industry of organizational consultants, including Knightsbridge.

However, for all the talk about its importance, examples of truly great cultures such as WestJet Airlines Ltd. and Four Seasons Hotels Inc. are still too few and far between in Canada. As a professional services firm our culture is critical to delivering against our brand promise. One of the things that keep me awake at night as its chief executive is wondering whether we have the culture we need to take our company to the next level, and I’m amazed how many CEOs I speak with say the same thing.

Advice for Federal IT Workers Facing Layoffs

April 11, 2012

By Howard Solomon - IT World Canada

As federal departments slowly announce layoffs resulting from Ottawa’s recently released budget, federal IT workers are among those wondering if their positions will be in the 12,000 jobs the government plans to eliminate to erase its deficit.

But a human resources expert says they should be in good shape to find jobs in the private sector - if they are prepared.

“In an environment that has the strictest security requirements, the most complex network infrastructure, the broadest range of user clients you could imagine, they’ve got great skills for impressing employers", says Kelly McDougald, Managing Director for career solutions at Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions.

Making the Shift From Public to Private

April 06, 2012

By Wallace Immen - Globe and Mail

For the thousands of civil servants who face receiving a pink slip in Ottawa’s budget-driven downsizing, this week’s Statistics Canada numbers showing an accelerated pace of hiring couldn’t come at a better time.

With not only federal but also provincial and municipal governments facing cuts, many career public-sector workers may have to move into corporate and industry jobs that have a different culture and expectations than government work.

Career experts advise that even government employees who don’t expect the axe would be wise to reconsider how their skills could sell in the private sector.

Executive Pay Under Scrutiny

March 24, 2012

By Derek Sankey -The Calgary Herald

The global trend to adopt "say on pay" - giving shareholders the right to vote on executive compensation in publicly traded companies - continues to grow as Canada moves to develop its own rules on the practice.

There has been a lot of focus placed on executive pay in recent months and now that the U.K. and the U.S. have implemented their own rules, Canadian regulators are working to develop similar rules here, a move applauded by many shareholder activists who say it's long overdue.

Knightsbridge CFO Shares Insights with Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants

March 21, 2012

By Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants

The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) showcases the industry insights from Victoria Davies, CFO, Corporate Secretary at Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions.

"Be a great leader in everything you do. Be accountable. If a project isn’t going well, step up! Figure out the issues and develop a plan and communicate. Be Humble. Apologize if you are wrong, but have a plan in place to fix it. Put yourself in others shoes. Don’t take credit for other’s work."

Valuable Insights in Knightsbridge Study

March 06, 2012

By Brian Kreissl - HR Reporter

Increasingly, many senior executives feel HR is too focused on compliance. This is supported by some recent surveys, including a survey conducted by the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA) and Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions, last year.

While that survey, The Role and Future of HR: The CEO’s Perspective, was quite positive overall, it noted there is room for improvement in some areas.

read more ...

Downsizing With Less Stress

March 01, 2012

HR expertise can guide the planning, deicsion-making, execution and next steps of this tough process

By Melissa Campeau - HR Professional

Several turbulent economic years have forced the hands of many organizations, sometimes resulting in substantial cost-cutting measures including layoffs. HR expertise during downsizing is critical to ensure the right decisions are made, carried out ethically and the business is well positioned to move into its next stage of development.

Knightsbridge Requalifies for 2011 Canada’s Best Managed Companies

February 21, 2012

National Post

Share in the pride and excitement that companies experience when they are honoured by one of Canada's most prestigious business awards. Announcing Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies along with the Requalified, Gold Standard and Platinum Club winners!

Toronto's IT Job Market is Second Hottest in North America

February 13, 2012

ITBusiness.ca

Toronto's information technology sector is in the middle of a hiring boom that makes it the second best place to look for an IT job in North America, topping even high tech hubs like San Francisco, Boston and New York, according to a study released today.

But Toronto's IT hiring market is so hot it's putting competitive heat on local companies to hire talent from further afield and pay them higher and higher salaries, a local IT recruiting manager says. ...

Other areas of technology seeing strong hiring in Toronto are online digital, social media, software and virtualization, says Tim Hewat, a partner at Toronto-based Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions who leads the firm's technology executive search practice.

Knightsbridge Celebrates 10th Anniversary with House Warming for New Offices

February 04, 2012

By Bill Brooks - Calgary Herald

Celebration was the order of the evening recently as staff, clients and friends of Knightsbridge gathered in the firm’s stunning new offices to celebrate its 10th anniversary and to house-warm the new digs.

“Knightsbridge is Canada’s fastest growing human capital solutions organization, and it is so gratifying to be part of the Alberta and Prairies region where we have significantly grown,” said Glenn Tibbles, managing director of its Alberta and Prairies operation.

“We were thrilled by the effusive comments made by our guests about our new and larger premises, as well as our expanded professional team of consultants in the Calgary office.

Helping Employees to Take the Lead

February 03, 2012

By Neil Faba - Benefits Canada

At the turn of the 21st century, the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) was in the midst of a shift in its corporate strategy. The organization—a crown corporation created in 1944 to help connect Canadian entrepreneurs with financing and business advice—had begun decentralizing its business model and increasing the number of branches it operated in communities across Canada. The goal was to enable a closer relationship between the representatives of BDC and the clients whose needs they served.

Firms Look to Avoid Talent Crunch

December 31, 2011

By Derek Sankey - Calgary Herald

With Alberta and Saskatchewan forecast to lead Canadian economic performance across the country in 2012, there are whispers of the b-word - boom - entering back into conversations about recruitment for the year ahead.

It is putting employees back into the driver's seat and employers in both provinces are all too familiar with the headaches and challenges that trend can entail when it comes to supplying - and keeping - the labour needed to fuel the billions of dollars of projects on the books.

Older Women Lead Pack in Job Gains

December 11, 2011

By Tavia Grant - Globe and Mail

A curious pattern has emerged through Canada’s recession and rocky recovery: Employment levels have surged among older women.

A look behind Canada’s net employment gains shows how unevenly they have been distributed in the labour force. Virtually all the increases through and since the recession have been among workers aged 55 or older, particularly women.

Want Committed Employees? Then Offer to Pay For Their Families Tuition

December 07, 2011

By Gail Johnson - The Globe and Mail

Parents with grown kids often marvel at how fast the child-rearing years go by: One minute you’re watching your toddlers run around the playground, the next you’re sending them off to college – and writing hefty cheques for tuition.

For Dalhousie University’s associate director of international admissions, Terry Gallivan, taking the sting out of that latter proposition was a unique employee perk: a tuition waiver for his children.

Staffing Careers A Second Course for Many Professionals

November 12, 2011

By Denise Deveau - Calgary Herald

Barrie Carlyle didn't start out thinking about a staffing career. In fact, the director of operations for Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions in Toronto was a lawyer before transitioning to a staffing role.

"Like a lot of people who do recruiting, I got snapped up from a different career path," he says. "I saw an executive search recruiter about moving to a different area in law, and they asked if I was interested in doing legal recruiting. And I was."

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