Xsmo.com advertises more GTA and T.O. job fairs than any other website. From the emails I receive, 20% of people attending a job fair advertised here receive a job offer.

Job fairs occur at the hiring company's address, at ERCs, or at locations rented by companies specializing in putting on job fairs. ERC and the latter job fairs may have multiple businesses attending.

Recently, many companies have been showing up at job fairs just to collect CVs.

This is unfair to applicants who have come prepared to be interviewed with their credentials and licenses and have paid public transit fare, parking costs, and possibly and entry fee into the job fair.

Companies wanting to collect CVs should post jobs on classified websites and quit wasting the valuable oney and time of serious job seekers.

Dress appropriately for and Find Transit Directions Brampton: 905 874 2999 Mississauga: 905 615 4636 TTC: 416 393 4636 Maps to interviews and job fairs.

Attend with

1-2 pieces of bought Gov't issued photo i.d. Canadian Citizenship CNIB Firearms License Nexus Ontario Driver's License Ontario Photo Card Passport Permanent Resident Security Certificate of Indian Status available at various costs through different levels of government with prices subject to change

Updated CV and be prepared to answer questions

Needed certificates and licenses. See "licenses" below

Previous work and any other references. See "previous employer references" below

Queries to ask & record answers to

Safety boots for labour jobs.

SIN to show eligibility to work in Canada. if your SIN starts with "9", you cannot work in Canada.

Void cheque or banking information for direct pay deposit. Otherwise, companies will pay by cheque weekly, biweekly, or monthly.

Many job fairs at the Ontario government owned, MTCC, have a $4.95 entry fee. Tell the premier at 416 325 1941 how you feel about the unemployed being charged fees to look for work.

Many companies, unbeknownst to applicants and knowing it is not illegal to do so, conduct credit checks to see if the applicant owes money to any financial insitution. Applicants with a history of not returning loans and who are labelled a credit risk will not be emplioyed

Near the bottom of Page 1 in their March 20, 2012, edition, the Toronto Star newspaper revealed many companies are asking applicants for their Facebook passwords before extending a job offer. There have been other similar reports across North America. Does this mean companies will not hire those without Facebook pages?

Companies obviously wish to use their employee Facebook pages to advertise the company's products and services. Beware Facebook terminates Facebook pages whose content Facebook dislikes or violates Facebook's posted contract terms and rules. Givng companies your Facebook password allows companies to promote their products and services to your accumulated Facebook friends who may "defriend" you if they find the company's practices objectionable. Facebook's contract clearly states as follows.

"you will not share your password, (or in the case of developers, your secret key), let anyone else access your account, or do anything else that might jeopardize the security of your account."

On March 24, 2012, Facebook, via press release, told companies it was an "invasion of privacy" to ask job applcants for passwords. Facebook also threatened lawsuits against companies asking applicants and employees for Facebook passwords.

Companies may also ask to see your Facebook page to judge your character via material you have posted on Facebook. One applicant claimed an interviewer asked to see the applicants' Facebook page to test for "gang affiliation" and negative rants against individuals. They can also judge if you are enough of a social butterfly for them if you have lots of friends the company can order you to promote their products and services to.

Please ask Google to remove your dwe4lling from "streetview" since companies are looking at applicant's homes, whether or not the applicant owns the home, to see if the applicant lives in a shaaby place.

Recently, Google has only been blurring images as opposed to removing them.Due to canada's weak privacy laws, Canada's privacy commisoner is unable to take any action against Google.

Canada's government, who allows businesses, incvluding American owned companies, to do anything they want, is not stiffening privacy laws allowing the privacy commisioner to assist Canadian job seekers by taking legal action against Google on behalf of Canadians whose privacy Google compromises by displaying their addresses against their will.

Businesses also check and don't hire people who live in "priority neighbourhoods".

Companies asking for emailed photographs with CVs are breaking Section 5.1 of the Ontario Human Rights Code (see "Police References" below for the Code's wording) by judging age, gender, and race, before granting applicants' interviews.

The following email from Ontario's government about company's asking for pictures where they can judge age, gender, and race, before granting a job interview showed Ontario's government disinterested in assisting job seekers wronged by employer discriminatory and illegal practices.

Thank you for your online correspondence regarding potential discrimination in job postings. I appreciate the time you have taken to write to the Ministry of Labour.

The Ministry of Labour's role is to advance safe, fair and stable workplace practices that are essential to the social and economic well-being of the people of Ontario. The ministry’s mandate is to set, communicate and enforce workplace standards in the areas of occupational health and safety, employment rights and responsibilities, and labour relations.

The Ministry of Labour enforces the Employment Standards Act, 2000, which sets out the minimum standards that most employers and employees in Ontario must follow. The ministry’s responsibility is generally limited to existing employment relationships. The ministry does not address issues that arise before an employment relationship is formed.

Ontario’s Human Rights Code protects people in the province against discrimination in employment situations. If you feel that a prospective employer's hiring practices are discriminatory, you may wish to contact Ontario's Human Rights Legal Support Centre to inquire whether this situation falls under one of the prohibitive grounds listed under the code. Ontario's Human Rights Legal Support Centre can be reached by telephone at 416-314-6266 or 1-866-625-5179 toll-free.

Thank you again for writing.

Yours truly,

[Original signed by]

Ann Kerr

Manager, Correspondence Unit

c: Ms. Cara Martin, Ministry of Labour

The above email says to contact 1 866 625 5179 for help. But this telephone number and 416 314 6266 rarely answers. Reached by fax, the Ontario Human Rights Legal Support Centre refused to grant a face to face interview or any legal advice even though their website says that is what they are supposed to do.

Many companies, including employment agencies and the YMCA, ask job applicants for a criminal background check before hiring. By Ontario law, children's aid societies are required to see a foster parent applicant's criminal background check before allowing any children into the foster parent's care.

Click here to read the reasons, listed in numbered point form, under which Toronto Police will conduct a requested reference check. To prevent job seekers to constantly have to pay for police reference checks, Toronto police will only conduct the police reference check when an employer has shown interest in hiring the job seeker and the employer, by asking for the check is not in violation of the Ontario Human Rights Code. T.O. employers may no longer ask candidates to bring a police reference check with them to interviews and job fairs.

Employers ask for police reference checks to see if an applicant has any convictions or charges pending before the courts. Applicants with such situations usually don't earn employment with companies even though Section 5.1 of the Ontario Human Rights Code, (transcribed below), says applicants with past criminal convictions cannot be denied employment.

Every person has a right to equal treatment with respect to employment without discrimination because of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, age, record of offences, marital status, family status or disability. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19, s. 5 (1); 1999, c. 6, s. 28 (5); 2001, c. 32, s. 27 (1); 2005, c. 5, s. 32 (5).

Ask if a criminal background check is needed when making an appointment for a job interview because many applicants are surprised when interviewers ask for the criminal background check during the interview. Companies are supposed to pre-qualify you for a job before requesting the check as Toronto Police policies describe, but many companies get away with asking for a criminal background check upfront.

Some companies are willing to pay for criminal background checks. Others, deduct the cost of the check from employee's pay. But many ask employees to pay upfront in cash for the check.

GTA companies comtemplating hiring a Toronto resident, must follow Toronto Police procedures on reference checks.

RCMP

The RCMP needs fingerprints before releasing any criminal background information about you. Scroll down Toronto Police's website to read procedures to follow on this.

Toronto police and the RCMP took action with new rules on providing police reference checks because as the following examples show, Ontario's government does little to protect those wronged by unfair employer practices.

Know what previous employers are saying about you since many applicants lose jobs due to bad references. Often companies hang up on those making reference checks or say they have never heard of an ex-employee simply because the people who the ex-employee used to work with have left.

To solve the above problems, obtain letters of recommendation if you are amicably leaving an employer.

Section 5.1 of the Ontario Human Rights Code quoted above in "police references" says a person cannot be denied employment due to race or skin color. Racism is the number one reason for unemployment. There are no employment programs to assist victims of racism.

If a company has refused to hire you or dismisses you after viewing your police reference check, you can file a complaint against the company with the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

You can also file a claim (meaning lawsuit) with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal which should be handled by a lawyer specializing in human rights claims.

Click here and look on the right side for contact information for the commission and tribunal. If you call, beware these people might keep you on hold for a tonne of time. They answer their toll free numbers quicker than their 416 numbers.