Hi

Do potential employees in BC look at Linkedin profiles?, we are moving out in June and I've been getting my recommendations on linkedin updated in the hope that I can refer interviewees to that as well as CV, references etc

I work in marketing so I've also been joining some Canadian Mkt groups on linked in and facebook to gain contacts, any others suggestions?

Juliet C

P.S What did people do before the internet!!!

Hello Juliet

I'm also in marketing/PR. LinkedIn is really useful - and used alot in Canada. Certainly, after swapping business cards, LinkedIn is the next question! It's one of those tools that's going to be more important down the line. I also think Canada is much more into it than the UK!

Have you looked at joining the BCAMA (American Marketing Association, BC). It's worth a look - they have really good meetings and speakers, as well as networking events. I've been to a couple when I've been in Canada and they're really good and I met loads of interesting people. I don't know whether it's relevant to you, but there's also the CPRS - Canadian Public Relations Society.

From what I can gather, and obviously we're not over yet, you need to network like there's no tomorrow, have a great and really positive resume and be findable online so people are reassured that you exist!

Good luck in the job hunting - and save me a job when you find one...

Thank you for your hints, I shall investigate the groups you mentioned as I think you are correct in that to a certain extent its not what you know but who you know!! Good luck!!

LinkedIn is a hugely powerful tool for job searching- especially in marketing. I actually have a link to my profile under my name at the top of my resume. Because you work in marketing it will show how your awareness of the growth of social media.

Last year via LinkedIn I got a job after a gentleman in San Francisco tracked me down via LinkedIn.

Nearly all my interviews in Canada have come from that website.

Basically what I am trying to say is LinkedIn is the the way forward for sales and marketing professionals in any job search.

Lastly and most importantly focus on the smaller marketing groups linked to specific cities as that is where you will find the strongest networks and jobs that are put up for that targeted minority. In Toronto we have lots of specific groups such as Toronto Digital Marketing, Toronto Marketeres etc.....I am sure Vancouver will have the same...........You can also tout yourself and your skills on these sites.

Thanks James, I shall get onto it!!

Hi Juliet,

Just wanted to confirm what others have said and recommend using Linked In. The secret is to USE it. That means looking for connections, asking for introductions and participating in the groups. And the best thing is you can start now and build up some solid connections before you get to Vancouver.

Warmly,

Frank

What's linked in like for other industries? My Oh is in industry (plc programming). We've just come across it and was wondering if it's still a good tool to use.
Lisa

Lisa,
Programming is definitely worth using Linked In for. I was first introduced to Linked In via two of my IT clients both in games industry. From my experience most industries are now using it to some degree.

Warmly,

Frank

Many thanks Frank, we'll certainly take a good look at setting it up.

Lisa

Thanks Frank, good luck Lisa!

If I can add my two cents in here I got my job in Canada via LinkedIn whilst I was in the UK

It's massive in most industries, especially games/tech/science/sales/marketing etc.

Best use of LinkedIn though is a HR bypass tool.

Search company you're interested in, search people that work there, you'll eventually find the names of potential hiring managers and someone that'll have their work email shown in their profile, sometimes HR, sometimes a head of a department.

With that, you've got the company email structure, whether it's initials@company or first.lastname@company etc, so switch it for that person you should be getting in touch with and contact them directly.

I guess it works up to a point. You would think that companies would be smart enough to vary their email structure for people they really don't want bothered by unsolicited emails.
Doesn't work with hospitals though, just because you've got the secretary's email, doesn't mean you can work out the doctor's email... (I've tried it).

It works more often than not though, if not directly, by someone having a blog or other website listed with their contact address which you can contact them with.