Marketing & Creative Jobs in Canada Blog - Part 40

Get Your Early Bird Tickets to Call to Action Conference by Unbounce Coming to Vancouver September 12th

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Vancouverites and digital marketing people are in for a big treat! On September 12th Unbounce which is one of the biggest names in the internet marketing industry is bringing their first official Call To Action Conference to beautiful Vancouver, BC.

What you can expect:

“Inspired by some truly great conferences out there, like MozCon & Hero Conf, and also uninspired by some conferences that we could do without, we decided that we’d host a conference of our very own; one that will cover how landing pages fit into your marketing arsenal and how conversion optimization can help you improve your marketing experiences. That and we’re excited about the chance to bring people together, share what we’re learning, and create a stronger in-person community.”

4 Common but Tough Interview Questions – How to Answer Them

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So, your interview is going well. You are feeling comfortable, your personality is shining through and you are tailoring your experience to fit with the job duties. Everything is sailing along smoothly, and then— wham—the interviewer asks one of those questions that trips you up every time.

You know the ones; they are open-ended and a little sneaky, and generally make you draw a blank while you rack your brain for an answer. The key is to come ready with an answer to ace these commonly agonized-over queries. Let’s take a look at four tricky interview questions and how to tackle them, as discussed in 4 Interview Questions Everyone Agonizes Over by Lily Zhang.

Employers want to see how you handle setbacks and, most importantly, the lessons you learned.

1. Tell me more about yourself. Nothing like a completely open-ended question to leave you completely without words. Here’s the low-down: The interviewer only wants to know “more about yourself” in terms of how it relates to why you’re interested in the position. Focus on your experience and accomplishments that are relevant to the positions and employer.

“One way to structure this answer is to start with your present, go into your past, and finish off with your future. This approach covers all your bases by answering the question, giving you an opportunity to talk about your relevant skills, and getting to what the interviewer genuinely wants to know: How are you going to perform in this position?” writes Zhang.

2. What is your greatest weakness? What is the worst way to answer this question? By spinning it into a strength, such as saying procrastination has taught you how to work well under pressure.

“Responses like these tell me little about how a candidate faces challenges and immediately implies a lack of sincerity,” writes David Reese, VP of Human Resources at Medallia. “It doesn’t demonstrate to me how they think — beyond their ability to creatively avoid being honest or self-critical.” Continue reading →

Calgary Jobs, The Creative Scene, and Hot Dogs with Dan Bergeron of RFX Brand + Communications

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Today we have a small interview with Dan Bergeron of RFX Brand + Communications out of Calgary, AB. He tells us a bit more about the creative side of one of Canada’s fastest growing cities

First up introduce yourself to FreshGigs.ca
Our business is RFX Brand + Communications, an agency specializing in brand development and marketing strategies. We were founded in 1999 and have grown our business both in Alberta and around the world. We’ve worked with clients close to home and as far away as Australia. We primarily work with B2B business focused clients.

Calgary has a great economy, so opportunities aren’t hard to come by.

Tell us about the creative, marketing, and business scene in Calgary?
Calgary has creative work in nearly every industry, but what really dominates is Oil & Gas, Agriculture and Tourism. With a high concentration of Energy related head offices in Calgary, it’s a natural occurrence to do a lot of work for these kinds of companies. Of course, with the local economy in a seemingly endless ‘boom’ mode, there are a lot of opportunities than can spill out of all sectors such as real estate, finance, high-tech etc.

Calgary has a youthful vibe to it, and is a very active City. Despite the huge land spread that the city consumes, we have a vibrant business core, environmentally friendly attitude and genuinely friendly western culture.

Most creative firms are usually found in the core or in the ‘beltline’ area. Heritage buildings seem to be a popular choice for agencies and they tend to keep the atmosphere laid back but hip. We are located in a very cool remodeled Slaughter house Packing plant, which also happens to share space with a large Farmers Market year round.

Are there a lot of meet ups and events and networking going on in Calgary?
There are always networking opportunities in Calgary on an ongoing basis through CMA, Calgary Chamber and other business groups. Of course, the best place to meet up with like creative minds are at some of the favourite nightlife hotspots in town like the Ship & Anchor, Craft Beer Market, Local 510 and others.

Continue reading →

Secrets of the Best Job Hunters: It’s in Their Head

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It’s a jungle out there. Sometimes it feels like the job hunting world is survival of the fittest, and we all know some people at the top of the food chain. They are the ones that seem to nab positions before they are even posted, make amazing impressions in interviews and overall snag most jobs they apply for?

What is their secret? Honed psychological skills.

Within 200 seconds of a job being posted, the first resume will generally be submitted. In many corporate jobs, up to 250 resumes will be submitted for one position.

In 8 Secrets of the World’s Best Job Hunters, Jane Bianchi of LearnVest interviewed Bill Knaus, a psychologist who specializes in personnel selection, and Russell Grieger, a psychologist and organizational consultant, the authors of Fearless Job Hunting: Powerful Psychological Strategies for Getting the Job You Want. Here are some of the traits these authors found top job hunters to have.

They accentuate the positives.

It is not the end of the world when you get rejected for a dream job. Your worth is not dictated by your career. When you find yourself going to the “I’m a failure” dark side, take these steps, Greiger suggests:

  1. Ask yourself if what you are thinking is logical (If it has to do with being a failure, it’s not).
  2. Flip the script and tell yourself that you can do it; also, give yourself the permission to fail without labeling yourself a “screw-up.”
  3. Write down a list of your best qualities as a person, as well as an employee, and then read them aloud. Be your own cheerleader!

They know their hang-ups.

Job hunting is stressful, and it can get so stressful that you just put it off. Top job hunters understand what stresses them out the most (is it interviewing or a poor resume?) and confront those issues head on in order to move forward with a job search.

They are patient, persistent and resilient.

Top job seekers show what Grieger calls “high frustration tolerance.” They understand that looking for jobs is not just a one-time event. It’s a process … sometimes a long one. Consider some of these statistics next time you get antsy that one resume isn’t producing results. According to BeHiring, in 2013, over 400,000 new resumes were posted on the jobsite Monster.com each week. Within 200 seconds of a job being posted, the first resume will generally be submitted. In many corporate jobs, up to 250 resumes will be submitted for one position. Those stats aren’t meant to discourage job seekers, but they do show that your search may be more of a marathon than a sprint, and you can’t take it personally when you don’t hear back from each position you apply for.

In addition, the best job hunters just know how to go with the flow. Continue reading →

8 Lessons From the Digital Strategy Conference – How to Master Content Marketing

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We all know that the name of the marketing game has changed. In this day and age, marketers must also act as publishers and produce share-worthy blog posts, video, and multimedia content that shares a brand’s story.

According to research by MarketingProfs, just 42% of marketers say that their content is effective. This staggering statistic proves that as marketers, we’re not alone in this quest for better, more effective content marketing strategy.

The secret to creating content that others will share is to capture their attention and entertain them.

In this new world order, two brave strategists have risen above the ashes to inspire and lead marketers in their quest to master content marketing. Enter Andrea Hadley and Kelly Kubrick, co-founders of the Digital Strategy Conference, a multi-day event held in Ottawa and Vancouver. Featuring speakers and panelists from all over the world, Vancouver’s three-day conference gathered together marketers from all kinds of industries to share and inspire. Topics ranged from integrating mobile technology, mapping out a company’s digital maturity, and how to master paid, owned, and earned media.

The impressive roster of speakers included experts such as: Author of Content Rules and Chief Content Officer for MarkeingProfs, Ann Handley; Social Media Director for Sustainability at Coca-Cola, Tim Goudie; Author of Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy and CEO of the Rockley Group, Ann Rockley; CEO and Mr. Content Wrangler himself, Scott Abel; and many more.

Here are a few nuggets to that will help you master your master marketing plan:

1. The power of social media must never ever be underestimated. I’ve seen it in action, I’ve smelled the tear gas.” – Tim Goudie
Social purpose becomes the single more important factor in distinguishing you from your competitors. Use social media to deliver your sustainability model and build trust among your customers.

2. Take small steps to get it right. You don’t need to boil the ocean with clichés. – Brian Flanagan
When developing a mobile strategy, think about your business and how it makes sense for your customers who are not at their desks. Continue reading →

Tailor your Job Search Skills to Land a Job in a Startup

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Jobs come in all shapes and sizes these days. Gone are the days of being limited to office work or corporate gigs. Startups are everywhere, and they aren’t just limited to the IT sector, so it may be the way to go for you.

Startups require a lot of work, a lot of attention and a lot of love

So, how do you get a job in a startup? Because of their nature, it can pose a different set of challenges than job hunting in the traditional job market. Kathy Ver Eecke, author of Need a Job? 32 Top Entrepreneurs Tell you How to Get One in a Startup (& They’re Hiring), shares tips on how to tailor your job search to land your dream startup position.

Get the CEOs Attention

Startup CEOs and staff are some of the busiest people you will ever meet. There is no 8 to 5 for these people; they are working pretty much all day, every day. So, you need to get in front of them if you want to be seen.

Ver Eecke quotes Steven Sashen, CEO, Feel the World, Inc., as saying, “Keep beating down the door until they say YES. In fact, we won’t hire anyone unless they repeatedly ask to work for us. Begging is even better. And if you don’t fit what we’re looking for, we’ll find something for you … if you ask often enough. Enthusiasm is the most important job skill that we look for. Evangelism is an even better one.”

One of the best ways to get in front of the right people is to be where they are online. Follow them on social media sites. Interact with them via comments, blogs, etc. Then, go to some of the same events, send some emails with a link to your LinkedIn profile, send a request for coffee and so on. Many of these people don’t want to see a resume; they want to see who you are. The better relationship you build online and through networking, the better a chance you have to meet.

It’s Show not Tell

While we are on the subject of resumes, did we mention many of these folks don’t want to see your resume? They are interested in outside-of-the-box thinkers. Your resume may come into play at some point, but what they really want to see is what you can deliver for their company above all else.

“My favorite hiring story thus far was when someone signed up for our beta, used our product and then emailed us a list of feedback (positive AND negative), and then mentioned he was a web developer and would love to work with us. We responded with a request to interview him that day, and now he does most of our front-end work!” — Alex Schiff, Co-founder & CEO, Fetchnotes.

According to What Students Really Need to Learn to Get a Startup Job, to get your ideal startup job, you don’t work on your resume; you work on yourself. Article author Dan Woods came up with this list of what startups are after: Continue reading →

Cover Letter Tips to Take to the Bank

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The cover letter. It’s the two words that makes job seekers shudder, mostly because of the stress we feel putting together this not-so-simple one-page document. Somehow you should convey your strengths, your education, your experience, your desire to be hired and differentiate yourself from other candidates … and do it all without putting the reviewer to sleep.

No pressure.

Let’s take a look at some tips that will help you hone your cover letter writing skills to ensure it is making an impact.

In this tough economy, it’s fair to say that recruiters or HR professionals will be wading through possibly tens to hundreds of resumes for a position

Hints from a Real Recruiter

There are articles upon articles out there about how to write cover letters, but in the end, who better to learn from than the people who read them the most? In I’ve Read 500 Cover Letters for Entry-Level Media Jobs, author Katherine Goldstein discusses some of the lessons she would pass on to job seekers from her years of reading resumes and hiring employees.

  • Keep it short. “I’m going to give your letter maybe 30 seconds of my time … you should be able to tell me about yourself and why I should hire you in less than 200 words.”
  • Avoid awkward phrasing in an attempt to sound formal or more educational. It backfires every time — and the hiring professional will see through the tactic.
  • Leave out non-career related information. Goldstein relates she is not particularly interested in what you did before college or what you did in your life journeys (unless it can tell a story that ties to the job). Keep it strictly job focused, even if you are an entry-level employee without a lot of experience.
  • Follow the application instructions to a T. “I often give really specific instructions in the job posting, listing a word limit on cover letters, requesting exactly two writing samples and noting a firm deadline for when applications are due. This is my first test in how good you are at taking direction.”  Continue reading →

Stereotypes in Hiring: For Women, It Doesn’t Add Up

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Despite the efforts to break down gender stereotypes out there in the working world, many still exist. While we have come a long way, thankfully, from the “women answer phones; men are the boss” world, some stereotypes refuse to budge.

If you never see a woman in math-related fields, your brain automatically links men with math, and women with other things, and that’s what perpetuates this effect

Among the most persistent: women are bad at math. Unfortunately for ladies, there is proof that this one is holding on strong.

“In an experiment on bias, women who aced math problems were more often overlooked in favor of male applicants who performed worse,” writes author Sydney Brownstone in the article Making Hiring Decisions, Men and Women Still Assume Women are Bad at Math.

The study was outlined in the Proceedings of the Academy of National Sciences. Here’s how it went down. Participants of both sexes were divided into either an employer group or a job candidate group. The candidate group was tasked with adding up sets of two-digit numbers in a four-minute test (which can be done equally well by both sexes).

Those in the employer group were asked to choose the best candidate for a math-based job based on how well he or she performed on the test. Employers had limited information to make a decision. In some cases, they only saw the candidate. In other cases, they based decisions on the candidate’s self-assessment of how well he or she anticipated doing on the test. And sometimes, the employers had a chance to change a decision after they were told how the candidates had actually performed on the test, according to John Bohannon, in Gender Bias Seems to Affects Men’s — and Women’s — Perception of Women’s Math Skills. At the end of the experiment, the employers took the Implicit Association Test, widely in social psychology research, which measures unconscious bias. Continue reading →

Hot Creative and Marketing Jobs in Canada – April 25th, 2014

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PR & Publicity Associate Director – Free The Children – Toronto 

Marketing Manager – Sago Sago – Toronto 

Senior Advisor, Communications – Suncor Energy Inc. – Calgary

Web Designer – Booking.com – Amsterdam (Full re-location package for Canadians)

Junior Interactive Designer – Engine Digital Inc. – Vancouver

Freelance Editorial Designer – Mediaplanet – Toronto

PR & Digital Media Marketing Specialist – SPIER & MACKAY – Mississauga

Sr. Interaction Designer – Sage Software Canada Ltd. – Richmond, BC

National Sales Manager – Leading Brands – Vancouver

Sr. Communications Advisor – Edmonton Regional Airport Authority – Edmonton

Account Executive, Indoor Advertising – Newad – Vancouver

 

Job Interview Tips, Tell a Story and Connect

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Storytelling is pretty much in our genes. We have been doing it for centuries as a way to hand down traditions, teach lessons, pass down language and so much more. We learn through a well-crafted, and most importantly, well-delivered, narrative.

It is important that you stay conversational and natural. You don’t want it to sound rehearsed – you aren’t giving a speech.

So, what better way to connect with an interviewer than to use storytelling? Its benefits are really two-fold. First, it obviously is a great way to discuss your background and how your skills fit a certain job.

“The purpose of telling stories is to get you to talk about your most memorable accomplishments, biggest challenges, the ways you deal with conflict, and how you recover from a stumble,” says author Marc Miller, in Add Storytelling to the Interview Process.

Second, it gives you a chance to showcase your personality. This is something that you can’t fake, and, according to recruiter Sandy Khan, in the end, recruiters are hiring on personality.

“You can’t fake this – there’s no point in even trying. The only thing you can do is to make sure that you’re authentic in your interview. Authenticity comes from being humble, so humility is a big leadership trait that we look for. If you are self-aware and know the areas where you need self-development, a lot of hiring managers will pick up on that. You cannot be a star from day one. They will also want to know that you will take ownership of your own career development,” she relates in How Storytelling can get you the Job you Want.

The best way to tell a story is to set it up in three simple steps, relates Miller.

  1. Clearly state the problem
  2. Describe how you solved the problem
  3. Describe the outcome

The best part is this easy equation can be applied to almost any question that an interviewer throws at you. Many interviewers come prepared with a set of questions, but there is a lot of room for you to put a storytelling spin on it. Let’s take a look at where Miller suggests getting good story material. Continue reading →