So you're prejudice against men ? sexist

Hmmm... my previous company seemed v. concerned with 'fitting in' but they were also very diverse. Canadian company too.

Really, I thought it was because the managers in these companies are so gutless that they cannot make a decision and do the job that they are hired to do. Also, they can share the blame when they end up hiring the wrong person.

Just like Toyota, teamwork, teamwork, teamwork, and not enough attention to the job in hand.

Wasn't it so much better in the old days, when some old white guy would just make a decision and everyone just hopped to it, the plebs that they were? Yeah *sighs wistfully*

I will arrive in Vancouver in two weeks, no less than that. This is a very interesting discussion.

I might get a transfer from my current employer (big multinational corporation), or I might find myself pursuing the jobsearch, will see.

I did a couple of interviews both with employers and with recruiting agencies between February and April 2009 -- the only interview I had this year (outside my current company) was with a company. The hiring manager placed sooo much emphasis on the fact that he would fire me, if I didn't perform (mentioned it at least five times during the first interview), that I thought there must be something wrong with his own performance, and he was preparing to blame that on someone else. Anyway -- I do get the hire and fire mentality, but naively thought as long as you got along both with your manager and your coworkers and performed in your job you were kind of safe?

I knew the laws behind firing in Canada were "weaker" than those in the UK but I didnt realise it could be so easy and quick to dump someone out the door.

Is this something found from businesses and companies of all sizes or does it tend to be the larger sized organisations that move along people they arent quite happy with?

What I will say though is that like George Clooney's character in Up In the Air, you should look at redundancy as an opportunity. Its a bit of a cheesey outlook I know but it comes from experience. My other half had huge debts when we met and was made redundant recently. Fortunately her package was huge, cleared her debts and allowed her to spend lots of time with the wee man. I know thats a rare result from redundancy but I bet a huge number of people who end up sacked will probably not have been enjoying their job and in a way it'll be doing them a favour long term.

Hmmmm I should really have read that over before posting it...

For those that want to buy into this corporate brainwashing and believe they are part of the corporate "family" then that is okay. But everyone is disposable when times get tough and the general atmosphere in the corporate World is not changing for the better, despite all of the philanphropic nonsense that is thrown around.

As Aviator points out, there are those employees who are a "pain in the arse" and those that fit in with the crowd. But to me, there is a third category, that is those who are competent at their jobs but do not want to be constantly selling themselves or it is not in their nature to sell themselves. Because the interviewing process is so subjective in Canada, these are the people who are often overlooked.

I have worked in Canada for just 3 months and every week someone is "fired".
No one bats an eyelid. It seems to be the norm.
One manager was fired because they had "philosophical differences" with the owner!! It doesnt seem to matter where on the hierarchy you are. Anyone is very dispensible.
My position was made into a permanent one last week which is good but I have never felt so insecure in any job before.
It is very different to the UK.

I think the UK used to be the same, before tight legislation was introduced.

I remember an ex-boss, back in the early 90s, bemoaning how hard it had become to fire people.

Spot on. Read Chris Hedges:Empire of Illusion. Then pass it on to the aviator.

Yes, even the Romans knew that they had to throw a good show when moral was low to keep the masses happy, just like the celebrity culture we have today.

adds to reading list.

Here is a review, quite interesting:

http://blogcritics.org/books/article...-illusion-the/