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The role of public relations within GLAMs (galleries, libraries, archives and museums) during the COVID-19 lockdown – part 3
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Written by: Carolina Salinas, public relations and corporate communications graduate, Professional Development Inclusion & Equity Co-Chair, CPRS Toronto.

Not entirely certain about the role of public relations within archives? We bring you part 3 of our series “The Role of Public Relations within GLAMs during the COVID-19 lockdown.” This time, we interviewed the Archives of Ontario PR team! 

Archives of Ontario

Did you know that the Archives of Ontario is the largest provincial archive in Canada? These archives are also a primary source of information outlining the history of Ontario and its population. For more than 100 years, this institution has been collecting, preserving, and making publicly available the province’s longstanding heritage.

This memory institution has both physical and digital spaces for education, research and learning.  It offers innovative digital practices and also provides public access to unique and multi-faceted materials dating back to the 16th century. These include hand-written letters, books, maps, architectural drawings, photographs, artwork, films, sound recordings and electronic documents, among others.

PR’s role within the Archives of Ontario is crucial toward user engagement and story preservation. In an interview with Archives of Ontario’s Senior Manager of Strategic Stakeholder Development, Garima Sharma, and Manager of Outreach and Promotion, Mark Epp, both mentioned that their teams cover multiple functions.

“From a public perspective, we are always looking for ways to engage with our audiences, provide them free access to Archives resources, and create awareness through promotion of this Ontario resource that is available to all across the province and globally. One thing that we have noticed is that while people typically understand how libraries function, not everybody really understands how archives work,” said Sharma.

She added that the Archives of Ontario’s PR team helps people to understand how they can access their provincial records and documentary heritage.

According to Sharma, the Archives recognizes value of engaging with GLAM stakeholders. This means that there is a lot of collaboration, both inside and outside the government, to create synergistic approaches. For instance, there has been ongoing collaboration with the Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries, the City of Toronto, and the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM).

Mark Epp added that the Archives launched a GLAM Wiki page with five collections uploaded to it since last June. The page has received positive engagement in terms of views and responses. Some stakeholders have also reached out to connect on the project as a result

“Collaboration is the key to delivering public services. We try to do that not just when we talk about public outreach or communication. We have a strategy that requires working collaboratively with local and other archives, with other provinces and private records, private citizens and organizations. Our objectives have always been to make records accessible and readily available to people,” said Sharma. “For many years, we have been working in the background to deliver more digital services, despite the Archives collection being predominantly paper or analogue based,” said Sharma.

Additionally, the Outreach and Promotion team, led by Mark Epp, is always looking for ways to generate engagement and offer people different stories in its on-site and online exhibitions.

The most recent online exhibit is about the James Bay Treaty. Launched during the pandemic in August 2020 in collaboration with Mushkegowuk Council and Queen’s University Archives, the exhibit examines the historical significance of this treaty, its different interpretations, its impact on Indigenous communities and the treaty’s relevance today.

Since the Archives closed its in-person services, the Archives has focused on creatively developing online initiatives to engage with audiences.  For educators and students, the Archives designed and developed flashcards to support learning at home or in the classroom.  For genealogists, one of the Archives primary users, staff participated and delivered webinars as part of Ontario Ancestors monthly webinar series.  These webinars attracted as many as 500 participants in one online event – much more than previous in-person talks.  As well, the online webinars attracted wider participation from across Ontario and beyond.

“I think our experience during the pandemic has allowed us to explore different virtual options: flashcards, puzzles, quizzes, trivia nights, webinars. Even when we reopen, it will be important to continue and build on delivering these virtual options,” said Epp. “It has been good for the team to learn new skills and to adapt a more digital direction.”

The Archives of Ontario has also had success in the virtual world by attracting, connecting and engaging with its audiences on its website and various social media platforms. 

Engaging with the public in the virtual world will continue to be the focus of the Archives of Ontario in 2021 as it works towards offering more virtual services and adopting new technologies. 

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How non-profit and charity organizations have provided community support during COVID-19
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Written by: Carolina Salinas, public relations and corporate communications graduate

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about significant changes in the day-to-day
operations of companies across all various industries. In particular, non-profit and charity
organizations have faced new challenges and had to make significant adjustments
accordingly within their current mandates. Although Canadian news outlets continue to
report on how many organizations have faced unprecedented challenges while working to
stay afloat, others have found innovative ways to adapt and provide support within their
respective communities.

Here is a quick roundup of the most effective strategies that we’ve witnessed non-profit and
charity organizations implement throughout this pandemic:

1. Knowledge is power
Since the early days of COVID-19, The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
has been a comprehensive hub for mental health resources available to both the public and
health care providers. Creating and disseminating informative fact sheets, CAMH has
helped various groups of people manage their increased levels of stress, anxiety, fear and
uncertainty surrounding the pandemic.

Catering to a wide range of target audiences, these informational sheets have been tailored
to suit the needs of many diverse groups, including essential workers, marginalized youth,
those living in difficult housing situations, substance users and individuals with
developmental disabilities.

In addition, CAMH offers an online forum for facilitating peer-to-peer discussions.
Providing a virtual space for support and encouragement, participants have been able to
share their own personal experiences with managing setbacks related to the COVID-19
pandemic, as well as learn from other users’ tips and suggestions to cope with these
difficult times. Furthermore, a group of moderators are available on weekdays from 9 a.m.
to 5 p.m. within the group setting to provide information in response to general inquiries, as
well, as to help guide the use of CAMH’s resources.

2. Virtual care and friendly calls
The Canadian Red Cross has been operating a call centre on behalf of the City of Toronto
working to support all individuals who find themselves isolated and in vulnerable
situations. Through this virtual service, program users can call to put in an anonymous
request for assistance and receive food hampers delivered at their doorstep to help prevent
the spread of COVID-19.

Additionally, the Province of Ontario has been offering virtual care appointments easily
accessible over the phone, working to provide guidance and emotional support to those
seeking personal assistance throughout this isolation period.

3. Live online classes and activities
The YMCA of Greater Toronto recently launched a virtual gathering space known as The
Bright Spot, where older adults have been able to take online exercise classes together
despite physical distancing measures. Along with this, YMCA Toronto has also been
offering an array of other social activities, including mindfulness tutorials, small online
discussion groups and trivia nights, available to the public free of charge.

Through The Bright Spot and its wide range of live online classes and social activities,
older adults have been able to participate in routine exercise programs such as yoga and
dance, as well as engage in community initiatives like Bingo, trivia, virtual chats and
information sessions.

Collectively, these resources have provided crucial support to this target demographic in
spite of physical distance, helping to maintain their sense of routine and allowing them to
feel connected with others, from the comfort and safety of their own homes.

4. Educational webinars
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian Cancer Society has implemented
a new webinar series to provide support and information to both cancer patients and their
caregivers, including family and friends.

During each episode hosted through a virtual platform, an expert speaker guides the online
audience through a specific topic being presented and provides helpful information for how
to manage the unique needs of those living with cancer during COVID-19.

5. Reaching new audiences
For organizations where the distribution of physical goods remains at a core part of its
ongoing services, safety protocols implemented as a direct result of the COVID-19
pandemic has posed a significant challenge to overcome. For The Children’s Book Bank,
belief in the value of reading physical books over those available on a screen has motivated
their team to ensure this remains a reality even during these challenging times.

As a result, The Children’s Book Bank has partnered with Building Roots, a food security
agency, to make the distribution of books to families an essential service even amidst
current events. In response to the global health crisis, the books being handed out have been
sanitized and categorized by age for easy delivery through Toronto’s food bank system and
across other social service agencies. From all this, families picking up food or accessing
other health and educational services have been able to receive a curated selection of
age-appropriate books to share with their children.

As we can see, despite the new pressure faced to provide valuable services
under challenging circumstances, many Canadian non-profit and charitable organizations
have led their efforts with creativity and optimism to help successfully pave a future path
ahead. CPRS Toronto is proud to represent communicators across all domains and sectors,
and looks forward to continuing to monitor the timely and impactful solutions its members bring the community.

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Spotlighting Paolo Zinatelli, Educator of the Year
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Written by: Jasneet Singh

The CPRS Toronto Educator of the Year award went to Paolo Zinatelli, a professor at Centennial College. 

Mubashira Nusrat Farooqi, a graduate student at Centennial College said, “This is not only because he makes the material he is teaching both engaging and relevant to our careers, but because he also treats us like peers, rather than subordinates.” She added, “Please be aware that it is not just a colleague and two former students of Paolo’s that are nominating him. It is also the entire graduate class of 2020.” 

For Paolo to receive this award, and to be recognized by an entire class of graduates, is a tremendous honour. It also highlights how much he values his students. 

The greatest thing about teaching for Paolo, apart from his students, are the interactions and discussions he has with them. He strongly believes that teaching is a two-way street and that teachers and students need to learn together. Along with teaching and inspiring students, Paolo is a copywriter in the marketing and digital strategy division of Cabinet Office in the Ontario Public Service. In this role, he has worked on several marketing campaigns, including recently COVID-19 and flu shots. Prior to this role with the provincial government, he was a journalist at the Toronto Star, and before that was at the National Post for over eight years as an editor and art director. Paolo has more than enough experience in the industry to lead students in the right direction.

Challenges arise when a personable teacher like Paolo has to shift to strictly teaching online. With COVID-19, all classes have been moved online and the biggest challenge he is facing, aside from technology, is getting to know his students on a more personal level. For the summer term that began this past May, he hadn’t met any of the students in-person before the start of class and wasn’t able to put faces to names. He eventually got to know them better, but it wasn’t the same as being in the classroom. He said it’s incredibly important to recognize teachers and that teachers had a huge impact on him and his career. He now recognizes how much planning, effort and dedication his teachers put into lessons. When asked specifically about teaching public relations, he said that people often think about communications as a soft skill and that it doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. 

Paolo said the best advice he’s been given is not to ‘BS’ the students. Blunt but true. “Don’t pretend as a teacher that you have all the answers and you know everything. Because you don’t. You’re also human,” Paolo said. He believes that if a student asks a question and you don’t know the answer, admit it and learn about it together with your students. Try to create as many teachable moments as possible with your students. 

Lastly, when I asked him to give advice to public relations professionals who are looking to teach, he made it clear that you should only do so for the right reasons. Don’t do it to pad your resume or your bank account. Public relations professionals should teach because they have loads of valuable knowledge and insight to share with the next generation. 

Teaching is a job that, if done right, can help mold and inspire students to change the world and their respective industries. Paolo Zinatelli does exactly that and is rightfully so the CPRS Toronto Educator of the Year.

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Spotlighting Danielle Kelly, Volunteer of the Year
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Written by: Tatiana Ilunga

Danielle achieved her APR designation in 2010 and has since been a visible proponent of the program. She has been a great advocate for the APR designation, often vouching for qualified applicants to cull them into the family of APR designates. As CPRS Toronto’s Accreditation Chair, Danielle demonstrated an authentic belief that accreditation was an important step toward enhancing the profession of public relations as a whole and she imparted this upon her 2018-2019 cohort. 

The job of Accreditation Chair goes beyond organizing meetings and providing resources. It also includes hours of marking numerous test exams, reviewing work samples and crafting questions to guide study sessions on topics such as ethics, media relations, social media and stakeholder relations, to name a few.

Danielle is an advocate for volunteering in a field of interest to learn the ropes on that industry. Her journey began with a short conversation with a CPRS member who encouraged and invited her to her first board meeting where she appreciated the energy of the people and how inclusive the team was. She acknowledges that volunteering gave her experience that wasn’t always available in her other positions and it opened up a network that allowed her to get referrals for certain jobs.

Danielle mentions that volunteering should not interfere with your fulltime job. It is important to inform your organization about your personal involvement and how you propose to be most efficient at work in order to keep your employer pleased too. CPRS has a number of individuals connected in any formal discipline you might be interested in from government to non-profits that can point you in the right direction.

Advice to students and recent graduates:

“You are a novice to the field of public relations, for which volunteering brings an opportunity to show potential employers that you have dedication and perspective on the industry you are interested in. Even though you are not earning from it, you are learning the real-time issues and how to handle them alongside building relationships that will give you benefit in the future.”

In closing, Danielle states you get what you put in and also the opportunity to make friends who can guide you on your career path too. Choose organizations and industries that interest you and start building from there.

Learn more about the annual ACE Awards program and submission requirements.

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Black Lives Matter and the corporate response
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Written by: Gail Strachan, Director of Professional Development, Chair, Inclusion & Equity, CPRS Toronto, Organizational Transformation, Accenture Canada

These opinions are Gail’s alone. No copyright infringement is intended. 

2020 is the year of action – empathetic, intentional, and necessary regarding anti-black racism. Even in corporate Canada.

More than ever, we are discussing the effects of anti-black racism, systemic racism, and the global response to #blacklivesmatter protests. Dialogue, however, cannot be a veil to the measurable action that must be up-front and centre with the corporate statements being made. Trusted advisors in or outside of communication teams have a critical role to play.

Regardless of where we sit (the C-suite, marketing, communications, or human resources), we have an enterprise role that speaks for our internal and external stakeholders. When plugged into these various groups, our corporate listening allows us to prepare thoughtful, swift, and measurable responses.

We know that crafting a response takes time and that responses need to be validated, approved, and signed off. However, making recommendations about ongoing anti-black racism issues that have continuously taken place in corporate Canada means that some volumes were not turned on.

Anti-black racism has historically not been a source of dialogue at the highest levels of corporate Canada. This sentiment was bravely articulated by now Dr. Hadiya Roderique in 2017, and yet this conversation continues to be on the table.

Understanding stakeholder sentiment means that communication teams can reframe the anti-black racism narrative in corporate Canada.

By now, we have read some of these statements which I have segmented as those who:

  1. Stand against racism of any form
  2. Are anti-racist, or
  3. Are affecting anti-black racism change

There has been study after study discussing the changes required across disparities in socio-economic issues, marketing of products and services, racial profiling, and the social determinants of health. Anti-black racism dialogue in Canada is not new. The corporate tone with respect to anti-black racism should by now be rooted in the culture of every organization and not a part of “crisis” communications.

If a delayed response is currently being managed, communication teams and agencies should ask why anti-black racism has not been at the corporate table until now.

These employee moments that matter will inevitably become the external corporate narrative that will play out over the next 30-60-90 days and year-to-year until what is necessary for change is implemented and measures are put in place to remove the systems of racism.

Let that change include intentional systemic organizational transformation that expands space for black employees at all levels of the organization, from the Board of Directors to hiring practices.

When a corporate statement is being developed, some specific questions need to be asked including:

  • How is the Board segmented to include black professionals?
  • What is the plan to bring qualified employees (current or new) into leadership roles?
  • What is the corporate budget for anti-black racism training?
  • What are the indicators being measured at exit interviews specific to black employees leaving the organization?
  • Do you have a Black Employee Resource Group? Do they have active and supportive Executive Sponsor?
  • How is the budget allocated for Employee Resource Groups?

These actions can be measured as a critical success factor through dialogue which is:

  1. Empathetic in acknowledgment
  2. Intentional about learning about anti-black racism
  3. Inclusive regarding the opportunity to discuss, and most importantly,
  4. Includes non-black employees as well.

I have built my career on the utmost respect for the power of dialogue and its force to build bridges. Dialogue without meaningful and measurable action, with individuals in the room who have taken responsibility for their position in the dialogue, however, is why we are where we are today.

Corporate Canada has some catching up to do with respect to anti-black racism. Working with your trusted advisors inside and outside of communication teams is the way forward.

Gail is a strategic advisor and communications professional who began her career on Bay Street as a corporate law clerk and moved on to corporate recruiting and communication roles. Now in consulting, Gail is a transformative leader and culture disruptor. She is works with clients to design a workforce culture that will impact employee relations and future transformations. She is completing her accreditation in public relations with the Canadian Public Relations Society and lives in Toronto. These opinions are Gail’s alone. No copyright infringement is intended. 

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Supporting the Black Lives Matter movement
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At CPRS Toronto, we know there is important work to be done. As mentioned in our earlier blog post, we stand against racism and all forms of discrimination. We are listening, we are learning and we are committed to promoting equality. While we reflect internally on what we can do as an organization, we have compiled a list of learning resources to help educate our members and amplify Black voices.

Below, you’ll find a collection of resources to help develop your involvement with the Black Lives Matter movement.

Arefeh Ghane’s #BlackLivesMatter presentation:

Canadian publications:

From Rachel Cargle, American Historian and Archivist: 

Articles relating to influencer-relations:

Books

Other:

  • Films to understand black stories via Cineplex 
  • Black-owned fashion labels and clothing stores via GQ 

We understand that the list above is not comprehensive of all resources on this topic. If you have other articles and online resources to share, please email us at communications@cprstoronto.com.

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Black Lives Matter – CPRS Toronto stands against racism
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At CPRS Toronto, we used the last few weeks to better educate ourselves on the issues around us. Supporting Black Lives Matter and standing up against racism in Canada is an issue that we will be pursuing going forward through our advocacy work and professional development events within our chapter.

Racism and cultural bias, of any kind, has no place anywhere, including our immediate community, and the larger network of marketers, organizations and professionals we work to represent.

We would like to share resources that have helped us understand the history of the black movement within the context of working in communications.  We will also share additional resources as they become available via our social media channels. This is a movement that deserves our continued attention and action moving forward.

We are also encouraging our members to review the CPRS Code of Professional Standards and our Code of Ethics, which hold our members to a high standard. At our Annual General Meeting on June 22, we will make further comments about how we plan to educate ourselves and our community on race and discrimination.

As public relations and communications professionals it’s our duty to shape the news and influence opinions around us. We have an important role to do better in the future and give equal representation to people of colour in our community and beyond. The Black Lives Matter movement, which has seen protests across Toronto, calls for greater analysis of how our own bias can impact our responsibility as communicators.

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Event Recap: Can we code it? Yes, we can!
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Earlier this year, CPRS Toronto held a coding event at the Proof Toronto headquarters. The coding workshop was an opportunity for CPRS members to learn the basics of coding while making their own websites. The event was sponsored by Cision, Leger and Marketwire; and hosted by Danielle Kelly and Sarah Dinn with guest speaker Dr. Alex Sévigny.

Danielle, former CPRS Toronto President, began the event by giving a short speech on the importance of code within the public relations field. She spoke on how “not speaking HTML took away from [her] career.” Danielle attributed a large portion of her success to being able to open her mind towards her weaknesses and see them as opportunities instead of barriers. This shift in mindset caused her to focus on coding, which was something she had long avoided, and helped her advance in the field.

Following Danielle, Dr. Alex Sévigny, one of the directors for the Master of Communications management program at McMaster University, shared his thoughts on the development of code in the PR world. Alex pointed out how interconnected the communications, business and technological worlds are and how they continue to merge. He believes in the importance in defining PR and its value to the world as it is very difficult to fully analyze its impact. The benefit of learning how to code as a PR practitioner, or anyone for that matter, is being able to focus on the digital metrics and quantify the influence and work put into a campaign.

Leading the workshop was Sarah Dinn, a Tech Community Engagement Associate at RBC. Sarah sees herself as a liaison for people in the tech world to those on the outside. She encourages more PR professionals to expose themselves to the world of tech as she believes there is a gap between the two industries where there shouldn’t be. Sarah reminded the group that the majority of companies who started out in tech have now branched off into many fields that require representation. That, along with Toronto racing to overtake silicon valley as the tech capital demonstrates the need now more than ever to embrace code and create a competitive advantage.

Sarah used the workshop to not only teach the CPRS members the difference between HTML, the body; and CSS, the clothes it’s wearing; but to emphasize the role tech plays in our lives. She made sure to speak on the importance of having a fully accessible website that is easy to understand and how bringing a PR perspective to tech may be exactly what the tech world needs. Sarah describes workshops like this as the “gateway drug to coding,” as it has allowed the group to look beyond what they first see on their computer screens. For those who wish to continue their coding journey, Sarah recommends Canada Learning Code, a non-profit community dedicated to providing beginner friendly lessons in code to anyone who is interested. CPRS Toronto hopes to hold similar events in the future and encourage the personal and  professional growth of all its members.

Written by: Aliyah Lindo-Coy, Volunteer, CPRS Toronto

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Staying on top: How The Canadian Press adapts to the digital mediascape
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Communications professionals, PR practitioners and marketers need to know how to deliver engaging, visual content to audiences across multiple platforms if they intend to stay relevant in today’s competitive digital landscape. 

CPRS Toronto sat down with Andrew Lundy, Vice President, Digital at The Canadian Press to try to understand how they’ve managed to successfully adapt and stay on top of the changing digital landscape for 100 years and counting. 

CPRS: Before the evolution of technology, what methods did CP use to amplify messages and reach wider audiences?

CP: In the early 1920s, CP began linking Canada coast to coast via telegraph lines. In 1952, CP’s Photo Network started transmitting photos via wire between Toronto and Montreal. After 25 years, laser transmitters were employed to send photos followed by delivering news via satellite in 1986. More recently, CP overhauled its corporate web site to create a more effective marketing platform for its which has paid off in new leads and new business.

The Canadian Press now offers professional copy writing, photography, videography & information design to marketing and PR clients through our custom content studio in the same way you would expect from an agency. It’s kind of an agency for agencies and the quality of work coming out of it is absolutely stunning.

 

Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Great Britain welcomes the Rt. Hon. W.L. Mackenzie King, Prime Minister of Canada, on the occasion of Mr. King’s visit to London in September, 1941. (CP PHOTO)

CPRS Toronto: How did The Canadian Press transition into adopting the new era of technology, and what services were first introduced?

CP: With the advent of computers, CP operated off a mainframe in its Toronto office as early as 1967, and we were the first in Canada to employ computers in the newsroom to an evolution we introduced in 1972. In 1997, we jumped on the internet to deliver news stories and photos and in 2015, the last of our clients shuttered their satellite dishes in favour of our faster and more effective online content delivery.

Today, we host custom infographics, animated graphics and information design tools produced by both our newsroom and our custom content studio. Our clients can pop the embed codes in their CMS and provide their audience with a rich, interactive experience at a fraction of what it would cost to produce a one-off.

 

Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien and United States President Bill Clinton (right) point to reporters during a joint news conference after meeting in Ottawa on Parliament Hill, Friday, October 8, 1999. (CP PHOTO/Fred Chartrand)

CPRS Toronto: What are your insights on using digital content/photography to strengthen messages? How much more or less effective is it?

CP: Today, digital content has the potential to reach audiences both widely and deeply. Online distribution via the internet and sharing platforms like social media can expand the reach of our content to levels only dreamed of 25 years ago. Digital also allows us to create and to employ more than just text and photos in delivering information. 

Photography itself is critical to creating engaging content. We know, for instance, that a tweet with a bold image will generate far more shares and likes than just a straight text tweet.

While text and photos remain the backbone of our service, we also use static and interactive graphics, audio and video to tell our stories in more compelling ways and users spend more time consuming that content. 

CP employs social platforms to reach both the public and our clients directly. We promote our top stories on our client sites via Twitter and Facebook. We showcase our best photography via our Instagram account. 

The content we produce through our custom content studio can be tailored to fit any format or platform our clients need, from social to video to blog and everywhere else.

 

 

How do you tackle ‘fake news’ that is shared across various digital media platforms? How is this monitored to ensure your clients’ best interests?

CP: Long before ‘fake news’ became a common term, CP led the way in Canada in ferreting out misinformation and ensuring our content was accurate and complete. Today we know many of our clients look to us to before they post one of their own, and few are willing to break news until CP has confirmed it via email alerts and tweets. We are the country’s seal of approval for news. 

In addition, we have discussed playing a role with some of the larger digital players to perform formal, regular fact checks to keep their platforms free from fake content. 

We use a variety of methods to achieve this goal including: 

  • Social media monitoring
  • Original reporting
  • Insisting on multiple sources and original data for stories

Any custom content we produce through our studio is white label and wholly separate from our newsroom. It belongs solely to the clients who own it and is not syndicated to our newsfeed clients.

From breaking regional, national and international stories to the biggest events in politics, sports, business, entertainment and lifestyle, The Canadian Press is there when it matters, delivering news about Canadians to Canadians, 24/7/365. CP gives Canadians an authentic, unbiased source, driven by truth, accuracy and timeliness. 

Agencies and brands such as Cossette, Aeroplan, Google and Staples have relied on our storytelling expertise to help them engage audiences via their blogs, emails and social channels and achieve their business, PR and content marketing goals, like driving awareness, engagement, loyalty, leads and sales. 

For more information, visit www.thecanadianpress.com. You can also sign up for our newsletter, a weekly digest of our latest news stories delivered right to your inbox every Monday.

Contributor: Sakina Adnan, volunteer, CPRS Toronto

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5 tips to help you land a PR job in Canada
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Photo credit: Batul Moosajee

Looking for a new job can be a full time job in itself. However, looking for a new job in a new country is a whole different task. Many people in the industry struggle with having the adequate years of experience for a position but it can become more challenging when the years of experience need to be Canadian based. A lot of our CPRS Toronto members are not originally from the city, and one of our out-of-country volunteers broke down five of her best tips and tricks to help you secure a PR job in Canada:

1. Job hunt as if it’s your full time job

When job hunting, start by ironing out your resume. Conduct research about the expectations of the industry you’d like to work in. Make sure to keep your resume to one page (maximum two pages) and include all the important aspects of your education, work experience, skills and volunteer work. Use job sites such as Indeed.ca or LinkedIn to find qualifying jobs, send out your resume and tailored cover letter to as many companies as possible. Keep in mind, there’s a one in 100 chance you’ll receive a response.

2. Reach out – don’t be shy

Connect with professionals via LinkedIn. Don’t limit yourself to people within your profession, reach out to individuals with different expertise to broaden your network. When you connect, make sure to send a personalized message request. Also, don’t be shy to request an informational interview over coffee with an expert in the industry. These meetings are a great network building asset as well as an opportunity to stay on top of current industry trends.

3. Network with like-minded professionals

Explore and attend as many networking events as possible. Use Eventbrite and the CPRS event page to find networking events nearby. Attending these events may be uncomfortable in the beginning but the best way to become at ease is to break the ice. Take the time to invest in some quality business cards as a way for people to remember you. They are a great opportunity to show personal style and also make lasting connections at networking events. After the event, connect with new colleagues on LinkedIn and include a personal anecdote about your conversation together.

4. Volunteer your time and skills

The most effective way to gain work experience in Canada is through volunteering. Sign up to volunteer for events related to your field of interest. Public relations professionals have lots of options for one-off volunteering events or a prolonged volunteer experience. Organizations such as TEDxToronto, TIFF and CPRS Toronto all offer volunteer opportunities related to the industry. Volunteering is a chance to connect with people from different backgrounds, while expanding your personal network and gaining invaluable experience. 

5. Work part-time 

Look for a part-time job in any industry. Working part-time while job hunting has multiple benefits although it may seem counter intuitive at first.  First and foremost, a part-time job keeps you afloat financially, but it can also teach you basic Canadian office politics. A part-time job is a great way to learn and expand on many transferable skills such as working under pressure, managing a team or problem solving. 

Although securing a job in a new country is not always easy, these five tips offer insight on how to tackle the situation and take advantage of new opportunities. Connecting with the right people and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone is always the best way to display your skills. Don’t forget, job hunting is a full-time job in itself! 

Written by: Sakina Adnan, Volunteer, CPRS Toronto

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