[Admiral Beez]

I'm looking for a management level job in the downtown core. I'd love to ditch my car and cut my commute from Cabbagetown. I've looked on Workopolis, but there isn't a field for Downtown Toronto, just Toronto, which can be aware pretty much in the GTA.

My expertise and background is as follows:
- international sales (have managed 30+ global distributors)
- product development, especially in food industry, concentrating on global regulatory/label compliance
- international logistics, including specialized documentation, etc. started my career in freight, never stopped shipping by truck, train, plane and ship
- domestic sales, have directed retail sales in Eastern Canada, including presenting to the big chains
- procurement, have purchased and designed product components, etc.
- marketing and spin, brochures, websites, posters, banners and tradeshow booths, I've done them all
- consumer events, I've exhibited everywhere
- trade events, I've presented and trained staff and potential customers from Tel Aviv to Beijing.

So, I want a job downtown, paying in the $70-$80K and up range. I'm not in banking or law, nor a government or university type. I speak and write only in English, though have dabbled in Spanish in school. How to find jobs downtown?

 

[Mustapha]

You may NOT want to do as I did, but 15 years ago I walked from Yonge and Eg all the way down to the core and then all around the core checking the tenant directory of each large office building. I then contacted companies who I thought I might be a fit/like to work for.

You're welcome.

 

[PukeGreen]

Great call! My wife and I have done similar and it is worth the moderate hassle of limiting your geographic range in order to eliminate a commute.

On a larger scale, it's worth remembering is that by going car free and cutting your commute time you may be able to accept a job that pays slightly less and come out more or less even. For example, considering the cost of car ownership can average $7000-9000 per year, deduct that from your absolute minimum wage. Then take into account the quality of life aspect -- the idea of being at home, drink in hand, while the long distance commuters still have another hour on the 401 in front of them. Or waking up an hour later and enjoying a coffee before walking to work, instead of scrambling into your car in the darkness trying to beat rush hour.

I've yet to find an easy way to search on job sites for only downtown. Unfortunately, to most car-centric people, "Toronto" seems to mean anything from 1 Yonge St to Mississauga to Scarborough. I recently had a tech company in Oakville try to convince me that I should work for them, even though this would require buying a car and commuting from downtown to Oakville every day to work for them because it is "only a 20 minute drive from the CN Tower". Uh, right. At 3 am in a helicopter.

Google maps is your friend. When you see a job posting, google the company name and then google map the address. Not downtown or on the TTC? Scratch them. Also, since you know your field well, you should be able to make a list of likely employers and search from there. Yellowpages.ca lets you search for businesses by keyword and postal code.

In my field (web dev) craigslist has been a godsend for freelance and contract jobs, and I do see full time jobs though I'm not interested in them as a devout work-from homer. Craigslist seems to be more downtown-centric than the big corporate sites like Workopolis (which in my opinion seems to function mainly as a giant email scraper for clueless recruiters, crappy agencies and pyramid scammers these days). But craigslist does have more amateur posts than the others.

Good luck! If anyone has a tip about a job site that allows specific geographic ranges to be entered, I'd love to hear about it too.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Thanks guys, that's great advice. Mustapha, I'll follow your advice and walk downtown. I used to work at Yonge and Lawrence for the international sales division of Maple Leaf Foods and that was about the max travel I'd like to have.

Ideally, seeing that I'm in Cabbagetown, I'd like a job east of University, south of Bloor and west of the Don, within easy distance by streetcar or subway. I hate the bus, not sure why.

 

[urbandreamer]

I'd start here:

http://www.toronto.ca/invest-in-toronto/food.htm

Contact information
Food and Beverage Cluster Specialist
Michael Wolfson
Tel: 416-392-3830
Fax: 416-392-3374
mwolfso@toronto.ca

Then I'd use google and discover:
http://www.toronto.servpro.ca/listcompht/10011/Manufacturing-and-Wholesale.html

http://www.toronto.servpro.ca/listcompht/20154/Food-and-Beverage-.html


Which leads me to specific companies like....
http://www.the-iceman.com/contact.html
Address: 782 Adelaide W, Toronto, ON, M6J 1E4
Tel: 416-504-6615

A Pisces in the Fish/Ice biz? yeah I can totally see that....

 

[BuildTO]

Don't forget: when researching a company, or interviewing, try to find out if there is any discussion or any rumours about the company moving. I've heard about people getting "ideal" jobs, and settling in - only to suddenly find the company is moving from downtown to Markham, Mississauga, etc...

 

[Admiral Beez]

Good point, my friends and former co-workers at Maple Leaf Foods were moved from Yonge and Lawrence to Mel Lastman Square and then to deep Mississauga. Seems that they didn't care that a lot of the staff took the subway every day.

 

[Observer Walt]

^ And I think they have all moved again, within Mississauga, from Hurontario and Eglinton out to Meadowvale. Milton here we come!

 

[wonderboy416]

Ditching your car is a huge income boost!
I wish you luck. As pointed out, not having a car will allow you to lower your salary expectations a bit to open up more opportunities.

I have a friend making $20k/year more than me but is saddled with an expensive monthly lease payment and insurance, and they pay extra for parking even though we live in the same area, at the end of the day, with my metro pass and lesser salary we come out about even once the tax man strikes, it's a wonderful thing... and I have someone to give me a lift when I need it ! ha

 

[PukeGreen]

Good point on companies moving. It happens a lot. I've mentioned it before on this board, but it's worth repeating: one of the worst corporate moves I'm aware of was the shifting of the IBM Lab from Don Mills & Eglinton, reasonably accessible from downtown by a number of buses, up to Warden & Highway 7 in Markham, which is horrendously difficult to access by transit.

What really irked me about this was that IBM received massive tax breaks and accolades from our various levels of governments when they opened the new complex. Why? Environmental reasons! It seems they build carefully around a small river and didn't pave over it, so this made them heroes. The fact that 2,500 people now *needed* to own cars to get to work every day was completely ignored. IBM spent money to build it's own private overpass from Warden into the parking lots, yet the nearest transit stop was an unpleasant 15 minute walk away on Highway 7. I think corporations should be punished for these sorts of irresponsible moves, not rewarded (this is not likely, I know, because jobs = votes). Of course most employees, especially the higher-ups, live in McMansions in Markham and outer burbs and drive gas guzzling SUVs or luxury cars, so they all thought it was great.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Ditching your car is a huge income boost!

Not everyone needs such as expensive car. My little compact is paid for, reliable, and costs $106 a month to insure. If my drive to work, say in Markham from Cabbagetown was 26 km each way, my monthly commute is 1,144 km, to which I burn 8 L per 100 km, or 91.5 litres of gas at $1.25 a litre for a total fuel bill per month of $114. So, my monthly car expense is $106 + $114 = $220 a month, or $2,640 a year. Add to that the cost of new tyres ($400 every 3-5 years) and the costs are certainly manageable.

Assuming one could get to Markham or a similiar 26 km distance in the city on the TTC, the Metropass Discount Plan is $100 a month, or $1,200 a year. So, by taking my car on the 26 km commute, I'm paying an extra $1,440 a year. Not bad really, as I probably spend more than that on telephone and cable/internet for my house.

 

[wonderboy416]

Good point Admiral.

I once had a Topaz that was rock solid for 4 years, insurance was $100/month (even as a 19 yr old), it sipped gas and was rock solid reliability wise, then it got hit by a school bus...

The Honda Accord that followed (I thought I'd treat myself to something better) was a ticking time bomb, hundreds (sometimes over $1000) got sucked out of my wallet without much notice, the Cutlass that followed wasn't too bad but those 2 cars swore me off older cars and into something new that at least at a warranty and I could price out the exact costs. A solid used car is an awesome bet, but you never know when the transmission will go costing you a small fortune.

 

[aiekon]

I'd look to using a management/executive-level head hunting/recruitment agency. Most mid-management/upper-management positions will not be posted on public sites such as monster or workopolis AND most of the companies in the downtown core work with outside recruiters to help them find the right people. Actually, I work as a marketing manager for a major bank downtown and everyone that I work with was head hunted out of their previous jobs, including myself.. as well as the company's own VP HR.

A good thing about using head hunters is that you can specify exactly what you're looking for, e.g. salary, location, etc. and let them do all the work for you.

 

[highlife]

i commend you for your decision. I chose not work anywhere that is not accessible by public transit as well.

the most effective ways for me to find a job downtown (or at any other place) are through networking/referrals and recruiters.

I suggest going through the business cards you collected over the years and contact the ones you are interested to work for.

In my field, most jobhunters are hired through headhunters. Boutique recruiters can find you exceptional positions because they are paid a fee by the employer. Although some may argue the client also pays indirectly but as long as you specify your desired salary, then it doesn't matter how much the recruiter costs. I apologize but i don't know of any that specialize in your area of expertise. Again, crack open your rolodex and see if your contacts may have a recommendation.

In the past I also found it effective by going to all the websites of the companies you want to work for and contact them directly by phone. Ask for HR or even Heads of the Departments and ask if they're hiring. The worst that can happen is they say no.

workopolis, monster, hotjobs, jobshark, etc may seem churn out only customer service related positions, but this does not mean you should not use these tools. they may post a hidden gem within the mass of postings. Short of giving a BJ, when it comes to looking for work, you'll have to look at every source, no matter how fruitless it may be.

 

[afransen]

I found my job on workopolis, which is an awesome opportunity (also in logistics). I had to sift through a lot of really terrible jobs, of course.