Good Neighbor Podcast: Mississauga

From Agency Veteran To Founder: Why Ethical Recruiting Still Matters

• Alanja Simmons

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Ever wonder what truly separates a great recruiting partner from a resume mill? We sit down with founder Zag Dutton of Career Connections Canada to unpack how a boutique firm delivers consistent results for pharmaceutical manufacturing and third‑party logistics teams and why trust, clarity, and relentless questions are the real edge.

Zag traces her journey from launching branches at a national agency to building her own company for greater autonomy and higher standards. We explore the crucial differences between permanent recruitment and temporary staffing, including the day-to-day realities of serving as employer of record, handling sick calls and time issues, and designing systems that keep operations compliant and smooth. Her process starts with defining outcomes: why the role exists, what must improve in 90 days, and what team dynamics shape success. With precise inputs, sourcing shifts from keyword matching to culture and performance fit, boosting retention and saving hiring managers time.

We also take on industry myths that mislead candidates. Agencies can’t “manufacture” jobs; they fill specific roles that clients request. And candidates should never pay an agency fees belong on the employer side, full stop. Zag shares how her team coaches candidates on resumes and interviews, helps them tell measurable stories, and encourages thoughtful questions that reveal whether the work is right for them. On the client front, she highlights why pharma and 3PL needs align, how referrals fuel growth, and how consistent delivery earns an invitation when leaders change companies.

If you’re hiring, expect better outcomes when you share honest constraints and answer your recruiter’s questions thoroughly. If you’re job seeking, protect your wallet, refine your narrative, and pursue roles where you can deliver impact. Subscribe for more candid conversations with local leaders, and if this helped, share it with a friend and leave a review to support the show.

Zag Dutton

Career Connections Canada Inc.

+19052813538

https://www.careerconnectionsinc.com

Connecting Great People with Great Companies Since 1995
At Career Connections Canada Inc., we specialize in permanent, contract, and temporary recruitment solutions that drive organizational success. For over 30 years, we’ve built a reputation for excellence—delivering top-tier candidates and personalized service that sets us apart.
Our mission goes beyond filling positions. We identify professionals who not only meet your immediate needs but also become long-term contributors to your growth. With deep industry expertise and a commitment to quality, Career Connections is your trusted partner in building strong, sustainable teams.
Discover the difference. Let’s connect today.

Intro:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Alanja Simmons.

Alanja Simmons :

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a recruiting company? One might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbour, Zag Dutton, with Career Connections Canada Inc. Zag, how's it going?

Zag Dutton:

Great, thank you. How are you?

Alanja Simmons :

I'm doing great. Thanks for asking. Zag, we're excited to learn about your business and you. Tell us about your company, Career Connections Canada Inc.

Zag Dutton:

We are a recruiting company. We offer permanent contract and temporary hiring solutions to our clients. We work mainly with pharmaceutical manufacturing and third-party logistics companies. So that's our primary focus. We do have some clients that fall outside of those because many clients within those industries we worked with and built a strong relationship with have moved on to other organizations. They do like to take us with them, which is a point of pride for me because it means we did very well for them and they trust us. So we end up in an industry we were not necessarily familiar with, but we make it work. We learn quickly, we figure things out, we have lots of questions, but our clients typically know that even if we know the industry, we still need to know so much about what they need in that spot. We need to know who else is there, what they're going to be like to work with, what the challenges are, why they're looking. So there's always a ton of questions. So they're used to a ton of questions. And as long as we get answers that are complete to our questions, I find that we can make any industry work.

Alanja Simmons :

Got it. So how did you get into this business?

Zag Dutton:

I started out working for a national agency, and I was with them for almost 10 years. I was very proud of what I did with them. I started two new branches for them from scratch, and I took over a third one that was having some challenges. After almost 10 years, I gave birth to my daughter, and by the time she was two years old, I realized I was never going to see the major milestones in her life because I was almost never home during her waking hours. So I thought, well, if I can do this for someone else twice over, I should be able to do it at least once for myself. So I decided to strike out on my own. The rest is history. I started off strictly offering permanent recruiting solutions only because it was manageable for me, because temp needs a lot of attention. Every day there's something different. With permanent recruitment, you know what you're looking for, you find those people, you present them to your client, your client gets to do the next steps, and then they make a decision as to how they want to proceed and who they want to proceed with. With temporaries, it's like having employees who just are not working for you at your site. So all the sick calls, all the calls for I'm gonna be late or I need to leave early come to you. So you are now responsible for these people as though they were your employees. In fact, as the agency that offers temporary placement or temporary hiring solutions, we are essentially the employer of record for all of the people who are working for our clients as temporary. So we're responsible for everything that does happen, could happen, things you can't imagine would happen, all lands in our laps. I made the choice to strictly start with permanent recruitment, and I did that for probably about three years, and then clients were asking me to expand that because they trusted me. So I did expand that and we took on the temporary side, which is a whole other animal. It does have a whole other area of focus that you need to be prepared for. That's how we grew. That was back in 1995, so we are 30 years in now.

Alanja Simmons :

I totally get that. What are some myths or misconceptions in your industry?

Zag Dutton:

Most companies understand what we do and how we do it, but I think candidates don't necessarily understand how it works. That we can't manufacture jobs for them. So when they call us and I want to work here, and we say to them, Well, okay, but that particular client doesn't have any openings right now, it's foreign to them. They cannot seem to understand that that's a thing. That it they almost feel as though if I want to work there, you as an agency should be able to put me in there. The other misconception is that we are responsible for finding candidates a job. We will do everything we can to help them if their resume is terrible. We will help them if their interview skills are terrible, we will help them through that because many people are not comfortable being in front of someone else, maintaining eye contact, and doing everything needed in order to be successful in an interview. We can't manufacture anything for them. We're not manufacturers of jobs. We simply are asked to fill specific needs for our client companies. They tell us what they need, they tell us what education level they're looking for, they tell us what skill level they're looking for, and it's our responsibility to find a candidate that fits into that role. It doesn't work in reverse. We don't tell the client what they need, and when from a candidate standpoint, that's a misconception that it's our job to manufacture something for them. The other misconception, which unfortunately I thought by now would be gone, but it's not, and that is that many people still today are being asked to pay for the services of an agency. As a candidate, you do not owe any money to the agency. If they find you a job or they don't find you a job, you still do not owe them any money. The client companies are the ones who pay the agency fees. And if you are ever asked as a candidate to pay for whatever it is that the agency says they did for you, run. Definitely don't pay, but walk away with your money intact. It's already hard enough when you're looking for work. It's harder if somebody then comes to you and says, Well, I referred you to these interviews, and I'm sorry you didn't get a job, but you owe me money. It just doesn't work like that. And it's illegal. That is one of the reasons why the Ontario government has instituted licensing for agencies to control these misconceptions and misdeeds. I remember when I first started in the industry, I thought, that's crazy. Why would anybody do that? And still, all this time later, I'm still hearing that it still happens to people.

Alanja Simmons :

That was great insight. People rarely hear that side of it. We know marketing is at the heart of every business. Who are your target customers and how do you attract them?

Zag Dutton:

Our target customers are pharmaceutical manufacturing companies and third-party logistics. All of those work quite well together in terms of the kinds of candidates that we would be looking for for them. How we attract them is through our social media. Our various ways of outreach are through email, directly calling out to clients and getting referrals through our existing clients who trust us and know our work and can speak to it to anybody who asks. Trade shows, job fairs, all of those are small parts of the whole. So my baby is having a baby.

Alanja Simmons :

Congratulations.

Zag Dutton:

Thank you. So that seems to be keeping me busy. There's always an event, there's always something that I need to attend on that side of things. Prior to that, she kept me busy with her wedding and plans. It's been uh about two years of run, run, run, run. If you're not at the office, you're there. Here's what you're gonna be doing for me. So a lot of that. But I also enjoyed just getting out, getting exercise. I live in the country, so I love fresh air. I love golf. Not that I'm any good at it, but I love going out and hitting the ball in a space that has been the grass has been cut and groomed, and not by me.

Alanja Simmons :

Yeah, absolutely. On that note, please tell our listeners one thing that they should remember about Career Connections Canada Inc.

Zag Dutton:

I think if it's one thing, then it is that we connect great people with great companies.

Alanja Simmons :

How can our listeners learn more about Career Connections Canada Inc.?

Zag Dutton:

Our website is careerconnectionsinc.com. We are on LinkedIn as career connections Inc.com. We are on Facebook, Instagram, X, and just recently started TikTok.

Alanja Simmons :

Sag. That was perfectly said. And we really appreciate you being on the show, and we wish you and your business, Career Connections Canada Inc., all the best moving forward, and thank you for being a good neighbor.

Zag Dutton:

Thank you so much for your time.

Ontro:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpmississauga.com. gnpmississauga.com. Or call 365 363 9780.