Offering Invaluable Services

Zag Dutton, the President & Founder of Career Connections Canada Inc., has been instrumental in connecting great people with great companies. Recently, she was named in the Top 100 magazine Innovators and Entrepreneurs, one of her many milestones that have been directly connected to her brilliant work ethic and dedication. With a track record spanning over 12 years, Zag and her team of experts have consistently delivered exceptional results in recruitment and employment services.

Zag's team has played a pivotal role in the growth of several companies. The caliber of candidates presented is far above exceptional, including that elusive "needle in a haystack." Their rigorous screening ensures the right fit for businesses. Zag Dutton and Career Connections have been hailed as true partners in the industry, leaving no detail unturned and consistently delivering outstanding results. Zag and her team provided diligent, dedicated support. They coached the Marketing Managers on success, offering timely updates and informing them of developments. The partnership with Career Connections has been invaluable, demonstrating their commitment to connecting great people with great companies.

The Temporary Associates expressed sincere gratitude for Zag's assistance and support throughout their collaboration. Her commitment to excellence and her ability to bridge talent and opportunity have made Career Connections a trusted name in professional recruitment. Whether permanent, contract, or temporary employment, they continue to provide valuable benefits to clients and candidates alike.

Zag believes in consistently placing the human factor first, “our product and our client are people which makes it difficult to make decisions strictly on statistics or bottom-line numbers and I strive to always put people first for that reason,” she says. “The people in question can be the client, her internal staff, candidates who Career Connections is representing to client companies for direct hire, or the temporary associates who work at client sites.”

The pioneering leader has been mentoring and inspiring young leaders for tomorrow. However, she acknowledges that it takes a great deal of patience and constant coaching as each challenge presented really requires an individual plan to resolve the core of the challenge. “I always tell my team to listen carefully to decipher what the real issue is and then decide on how to proceed. I also always tell them that you can only decide based on the facts at hand,” explains Zag. “No decision is always perfect, but all decisions and actions can be revised to fix anything that did not yield the optimal result as long as you are clear about why you came to the decision that you did and that you continue to be open to discussion as the situation evolves. All mistakes can be fixed but you must be ready to take a risk and make a decision.”

Zag has been very lucky to have had success all the way along as she has surrounded herself with great people and partners who have been able to help guide her along the way as the business grew and evolved. That does not mean it has always been easy; there have been lots of sleepless nights and uneasy conversations and situations over time. Still, she does believe that nothing worth pursuing is ever a straightforward, easy path. As a woman, sadly, it is still a struggle to be embraced, accepted, and given a seat at the table. “Having said that some of my best current supporters are those who I had to work extra hard to earn their trust and their respect,” she elucidates. “I really believe that, for the most part, deep down everyone believes in equity but there are many obstacles that over time get in the way of being open enough to follow through and be accepting that no one person’s success is at the cost of someone else’s success and that when one person (male or female) succeeds it is, or should be, a success for everyone.” With this brilliant mindset, Zag has taken the company to new heights.

The mission of Career Connections is to provide the best, most transparent service offering to both the client companies and the candidates. Far too often, it is heard that the client does not hear from their recruiter, or the candidate has yet to hear one way or the other if they are still a candidate for a particular role or if the client has decided in favor of someone else. The news will not always be good news, but everyone deserves to know so they can move on with their other options. “We are always working towards bettering our service offerings, increasing our client base while not compromising our personalized service and maintaining our ability to listen, understand and engage with our clients and our candidates,” states Zag, who recently won Best Boutique Recruitment Firm 2024 in Ontario, Canada from Corporate Vision which is a testament to the entire team for the hard work they do every day and their dedication to excellence. In the near future, the company wants to enhance its services and help as many clients as possible to build a great industry.