As unemployment continues to rise in Canada, so too is the acceptable length of time a senior manager can be out of work, according to a recent survey by Robert Half International.
The survey found that, on average, Canadian executives said a senior manager could be out of work for nine months before his or her career prospects became adversely affected.
Given the synchronized recession hitting the global economy, hiring managers know that many exceptional candidates are unemployed, said David King, executive vice-president of Robert Half Management Resources.
He said professionals can minimize the impact of their employment gap by pursuing short-term contract work, volunteer or take courses to sharpen their skills.
Statistics Canada reported Thursday that unemployment rose to 8% in March from 7.7% in February. Another 61,300 jobs were shed last month following the 82,600 jobs that were lost in February.
B.C. suffered the largest decline in employment with 22,600 jobs lost in March. About 10,000 were full-time jobs and 12,800 were part-time. StatsCan said since the downturn began, most of B.C.'s job losses have been in the construction and manufacturing sectors.