SmartCity Blog

Career Prep Plays Pivotal Role

By Sasha Sears 

Landing that first job can be challenging for any new grad. Throw language and cultural differences into the mix and it can be especially nerve-wracking.

Working with international students in the Partnership’s Connector Program, we noticed that they tend to struggle with resume writing and interview skills - two must-haves for gaining employment – and we wanted to help.

Robin Nurse, Director of Career Services at Dalhousie University, proposed a career preparation workshop and we went from there. In eight short weeks we had a pilot project planned and off the ground. 

Over the month of March, the Connector team and Dalhousie Career Services offered a career prep workshop to 40 graduating students from the Master of Engineering in Internetworking program; their graduating classes are almost all international students.  The purpose was to equip participants with the skills and confidence needed to land their career jobs and succeed in the workplace.

Ore Okebukola said the workshop helped him build essential pre-employment skills and learn more about himself. “The Career Prep workshop played a pivotal role in my journey of self-discovery and capacity building.  It provided me with concrete tips on job interviews and networking strategies, enabling students to better interact with top industry professionals.”

Covering two full days, the sessions covered topics like self assessment and awareness, intercultural communication for the technical workplace, the importance of networking, resume review, and tips for acing those interviews. It ended with a focus on networking and interviewing. The students completed an interview practicum with volunteers from Cisco, IBM, Thinkwell Research and Internetworking Atlantic. Matt Whitman, Halifax Regional Municipality Councillor for District 13, also shared his experience and success with networking. Many of our volunteers also offered help and guidance after the workshop.

In our Connector Program, we believe wholeheartedly in the magic that happens through face-to-face meetings and targeted referrals, so we are very grateful to all those who provided their time and energy to help these students prepare for their careers. We hope to continue workshops like these to keep talented and skilled people here in our city.

If you are interested in the Partnership’s Connector Program or would like to learn more about this workshop, please email ddelong@greaterhalifax.com or call 490-6000.

 

Author: Sasha Sears

Sasha is the Project Coordinator for the Young and Emerging Talent stream of the Partnership's Connector Program.

 

 

 

 

 

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MagicLamp’s Wish to Expand Comes True

by Jennifer Cameron

With some of the best software engineers in Canada, MagicLamp is a leader in Enterprise Content Management (ECM)

Businesses have an ever-increasing need to manage escalating volumes of data and curb file storage costs.Yet most CEOs know that developing custom software is expensive and often fraught with challenges.

MagicLamp Software Solutions Inc. addresses these challenges by offering cost-effective, off-the-shelf applications that are customized to efficiently manage large amounts of information.

“Information is a company’s most valuable asset,” says Scott Power, partner at MagicLamp Software. “Our expertise allows us to help clients centralize large volumes of content, secure it, and make it more accessible and useful for their business.” He cites an example of automating accounts payable for clients and explains how this cuts processing time and improves control of cash flow.

With 12 employees, including some of the best software engineers in Canada, MagicLamp is a leader in Enterprise Content Management (ECM). Their core business revolves around the management of all enterprise content from paper documents to emails. MagicLamp is also the only IBM FileNet® certified business partner in Atlantic Canada.

After 10 successful years of providing consulting services and technology solutions, the company was looking to grow internationally. MagicLamp tapped into Greater Halifax Partnership’s SmartBusiness program to expand its global marketing efforts.

“Greater Halifax Partnership connected us to an NSBI funding program which enabled us to attend IBM’s Information on Demand conference and showcase our ECM products, services and expertise,” says Power.

During the international conference, MagicLamp captured the industry’s attention by showcasing its one-of-a-kind ECM WebServices print driver, a software add-on to the IBM FileNet platform. This innovative print driver allows users to add documents to their system in less than a minute. IBM will also be listing it in their partner catalogue, available worldwide. “We came out of the conference with solid leads and new partnerships,” says Power.

MagicLamp was started by founding partners Scott Power and Troy DesBarres. The Halifax-based company designs and develops enterprise content management (ECM) solutions across different platforms. This usually includes integrating core technologies such as IBM FileNet, SAP and Oracle. Most recently, IBM selected MagicLamp as its implementation partner for new business opportunities in Ontario and Quebec.

 

SmartBusiness Program

Each year Greater Halifax Partnership’s SmartBusiness team helps hundreds of businesses grow by connecting them to government resources, ultimately driving economic growth in Halifax. There are more than 500 companies employing 15,000 people in the province’s information and communications technology (ICT), gaming and interactive media sector. With its educated workforce, competitive business costs, high quality of life, and government incentives, Halifax is a choice location for home-grown and international companies such as CGI, IBM and NTT Data. Whether you’re a small start-up looking to make connections and access resources, or a large business looking to develop a product or service, we can help your business grow and succeed in Halifax. 

For More Information contact: 

Jason Guidry
Account Executive, SmartBusiness
P: 902.490.6115 | E: jguidry@greaterhalifax.com
www.greaterhalifax.com/smartbusiness

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Brightest and Darkest Minds Coming to Halifax

Guest Post by Travis Barlow

Everyone keep their computers indoors this week because come March 21 and 22 Halifax is going to be flooded with hackers on their way to AtlSecCon at the World Trade and Convention center. 

As Eastern Canada’s premiere InfoSec conference AtlSecCon brings together some of the brightest and darkest minds together with one common goal – to expand the pool of IT Security knowledge beyond its typical confines.

Now in its third year, this conference has grown leaps and bounds doubling in attendance each year, with this year looking to be no different.  This growth is mostly due to the quality of content that the conference provides, which is timely and up to date information in the world of information security. 

Always wanting to raise the bar this year’s Keynote will be delivered by Richard Stiennon, author of Surviving Cyberwar (Rowman & Littlefield, 2010) and UP and to the RIGHT: Strategy and Tactics of Analyst Influence (IT-Harvest Press, 2012).  Stiennon is an industry analyst who not only covers the IT security space but has spent a lot of time investigating the technology research business. Stiennon was also named one of the "50 Most Powerful People in Networking" by Network World Magazine.

In addition to that, the conference is also making an international impact with speakers traveling in from as far away as Australia (Eldar Marcussen) and Argentina (Matias Katz).

So, come one come all and have a hackin’ good time with some really friendly folks who are trying to make your digital world just that much safer while trying to have some fun along the way.

Visit the AtlSecCon website for more information or to register for the conference.

 

Author: Travis Barlow

Travis Barlow has over 15 years of experience in the IT field, the majorly of it in the IT Security realm. He is the founder of the Atlantic Security Conference (AtlSecCon) and the Halifax Area Security Klatch (HASK) and has been recognized by Digital Nova Scotia as an Industry Leader

GIS Gives Businesses a Competitive Edge

GIS intelligence about customers, business locations and socioeconomic trends helps companies gain a competitive edge

 

Imagine knowing before launching a marketing campaign in a new neighbourhood that the profile of your customer is already there. Or being able to gain a first mover advantage by selecting a new business location in an up-and-coming neighbourhood based on the socioeconomic trends before your competition moves in driving up real estate values.

As business evolves, getting an edge in the marketplace can be very advantageous. Today, with new technologies popping up and data becoming more readily available, businesses can take advantage of both data and technology to gather valuable intelligence about their customers, business locations and socioeconomic trends.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) marries the art of cartography and strategic decision making by utilizing geo-referenced data (data with location markers attached, e.g. postal code, county, or neighbourhood). This specialized data has been long underutilized in strategic planning and decision making, mostly due to its unavailability. However, this trend is reversing.  Most of today’s demographic and social media data that is being collected is geo referenced. Google, Facebook, Twitter, Apple and Microsoft are just a handful of companies that have realized the potential of these specialized data sets.

The days of business leaders using subjective techniques to map key target market characteristics to strategic plans are dwindling.  By utilizing GIS and the most up-to-date quantitative datasets, businesses can take the guess work out of identifying existing and potential customers as well as competitors. In addition, depending on company owned source data, trending, regression and other analysis can be combined with geo referenced public data to provide further insight into your customer base and competition.  

Within the next ten years - because of the ship building contract, the off shore oil and natural gas exploration and the Muskrat Falls project - many businesses will be vying to find their place in Halifax. It is our belief that the businesses which will truly succeed within this expanding marketplace will be the ones that are most familiar with the city and its population. Today in our great city of Halifax the municipal government has been kind enough to open their data sets for anybody who wants them. One of the greatest things about HRM’s data is that much of it is geo referenced. Geo-dem will take full advantage of this data not just in displaying it but also data mining it to explore the true potential of it. 

Analyzing things such as real estate prices, population density, and neighbourhood profiling and general services can be very valuable to businesses at any stage of growth. These are only a few examples in a vast range of options when it comes to business intelligence and Geographic Information Systems.

 

Author: Charles McIlveen

Charles McIlveen is the CEO of GEO-DEM, a Halifax-based consulting company specializing in providing clients with demographic analysis and information needed for effective strategic decision-making. For more information visit www.geo-dem.com.

Recruiting New Grads: Canadian Trends and Practices

Guest post by Paul Smith

Recruiting new graduates offers access to untapped potential when it works, but it may also expose employers to significant risk and expense when it doesn’t. Clearly, you want to maximize the potential while diminishing the risk, but achieving the desired balance can be tricky.

Valid and reliable information can make a difference, so allow me to introduce The Canadian Association of Career Educators and Employers' (CACEE) Campus Recruitment and Benchmark Survey.

Since 2007 CACEE has produced an annual report on the new graduate recruitment practices of employers throughout Canada. The survey details the level of full-time and co-op/internship hiring, the average salaries paid to new graduates, and the anticipated change in starting salary levels for the coming recruiting season. Finally, the survey establishes a number of benchmarks for recruiting practices used by Canadian employers.

The 2012 Report was released in October, and featured a number of key findings. Here are a few highlights:

• At a time of unemployment and underemployment for post-secondary graduates, recruiters in a number of sectors again experienced difficulty meeting their hiring goals. Engineering positions once again take the top spot on this list, with 28.6% of positions unfilled. Banking in its various forms also experienced difficulty, combining to account for 18% of vacancies.
• The average wage for university new graduates recruits (the largest contingent of hires in the survey) in Canada in 2012 was $51,014, down 5% from the 2011 average of $53,717.
• The average acceptance rate for offers to new college recruits was approximately 81%, a significant increase over the level recorded in 2010.

There is a lot more information available; some of it is quite detailed and broken down by region. If you want to know what other employers are doing in their new grad hiring, you'll want to read this report. You can visit www.cacee.com for more information or to buy a copy.

And if you want to know more about the effective recruitment and retention of international students / new Canadians, please join us in Moncton on April 5^th for a conversation on “Building Atlantic Canada’s Workforce through International Recruitment.” You can contact me at Pauls@cacee.com for more info. 

Author: Paul Smith

Paul Smith is the Executive Director of The Canadian Association of Career Educators and Employers.

 

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Keep Austin Weird

by Nancy Phillips

We are just wrapping up our visit to Austin, Texas - home of the Texas Longhorns and some great tex mex. Austin, the state capital, is very different from Houston and Dallas. It has kept its original charm and small town feel.

Austin has grown from a population of 250,000 in the early 1980's to well over 1.3 million people today. They say it is the fastest growing city in the US. Austin is know as a City of Creativity and is home to Dell Computers. In fact, the world-famous South by South West Conference starts just after we leave; we're sorry we can't be here to participate.

In Austin they don't ask how fast is the "download speed" they ask how fast is the "upload speed". This is something to think about as we build and grow our creative community in Halifax. 

We're departing this morning for Denver, Colorado - trading the cowboy boots for snow boots!

 

Author: Nancy Phillips

Nancy Phillips, Director of Investment and Trade at the Greater Halifax Partnership and the Executive Director of the Halifax Gateway Council, is one of six Canadian women who are visiting the United States under the Women in Trade and Entrepreneurship, International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP).  

From February 25 to March 16, the Canadian delegation is visiting five U.S. cities – Washington, Kansas City, Austin, Denver and San Francisco - to learn about entrepreneurial efforts initiated by women in the U.S. and the influence of social, economic and political factors on U.S. private enterprises. 

 

 

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Busting the Myths and Misconceptions of Nova Scotia’s non-residential Building Sector

Guest post by Brad Smith

The non-residential building sector, which includes industrial and commercial construction, produces over 10% of Nova Scotia’s annual gross domestic product. Such a large contribution to our economy indicates the significant and positive impact professional trades make to our province.

In the next number of months, I intend on traveling throughout Nova Scotia to discuss just that and to debunk some of the myths and misperceptions that have been mistakenly associated with this sector

In Nova Scotia, the most prominent  myth is that there is a skills shortage in the province. Economic statistics paint a different story. Consider the following. We have all heard the stories, or experienced friends and family leaving the province to find work. In fact the province loses about 3,500 people each year to out-migration. Additionally we have an unemployment rate close to 10 percent and youth unemployment close to 20%. One of the founding principles of labour economics is people stay, or leave dependent upon the job opportunities available in an area. We see evidence of this everyday within Nova Scotia in the shrinking of rural communities. Many people want to live in rural communities but there are few who can do so without work. The same principle applies to us as a province as we see the loss of our best to other jurisdictions across Canada.

Specifically in the building trades there is further evidence to debunk the skill shortage myth, specifically the professional skilled tradespeople. In Nova Scotia, about 15 percent of the Building Trades skilled tradespeople are commuters, meaning they travel outside NS to go to work and return on bi-weekly or monthly rotations. They don’t do this because they want to spend extended time away from their family. They do so out of economic necessity. Is there further data to explain why this is happening? In a province with one of the highest costs of living, Nova Scotia has the second lowest average weekly wages in Canada. And if you break down the statistics even further you find that the construction sector’s weekly wages in Nova Scotia is 24 percent less than the national average.

So what’s the real challenge here? Is it a skills shortage, or a shortage of good-paying jobs?

This province has a highly skilled sought after workforce. But they are leaving for other, better paying opportunities. If we want to retain our skilled workers, we don’t have to match wages, but we must close the gap. In a global competitive market we have to compete for capital, we have to compete for business, and we need to provide a sufficient income and benefits to attract and retain skilled professionals. Retaining our skilled professionals means more people in this province will be supported by salaries, health benefits and pensions and will give back to our community.

 

About the Author:

Brad Smith is the Executive Director of the Mainland Nova Scotia Building and Construction Trades Council which provides highly-skilled professional tradespeople for contractors and owners, promotes and develops business for its members, and provides a united, powerful voice to issues affecting the trades.   

Women in Trade and Entrepreneurship Exchange

by Krista Hall

Nancy Phillips, Director of Investment and Trade at the Greater Halifax Partnership and the Executive Director of the Halifax Gateway Council, is one of six Canadian women who are visiting the United States under the Women in Trade and Entrepreneurship, International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP).

IVLP participants are current and emerging leaders from across the world who are nominated and selected annually by the staff at U.S. embassies. Phillips was invited by the United States Ambassador to Canada, David Jacobson, to participate in the 21-day professional exchange program aimed at deepening understanding and ties between Americans and citizens of other countries.  

The Greater Halifax Partnership team and  the Halifax Gateway Council are delighted that Nancy has been selected for such a prestigious program promoting cultural exchange and collaboration between the United States and Canada.

"Given her experience and leadership of the Halifax Gateway Council and the Partnership’s investment and trade efforts, it’s natural that she would be asked to participate in a project focused on women in trade and entrepreneurship," shared Paul Kent, Partnership President and CEO.

From February 25 to March 16, the Canadian delegation will visit five U.S. cities – Washington, Kansas City, Austin, Denver and San Francisco - to learn about entrepreneurial efforts initiated by women in the U.S. and the influence of social, economic and political factors on U.S. private enterprises. 

Joyce Carter, Chairperson of the Halifax Gateway Council, says this is "a tremendous opportunity to cultivate lasting relationships with our principal trading partner."

"Nancy is an outstanding ambassador for Halifax," says Joyce. "She will add immense perspective and value to the exchange.” 

Nancy is sharing her experiences during the trip. Here are photos and updates from her visit to Washington. Stay tuned for more. 

February 25: Today we did some sightseeing with a fabulous historian who's great-grandfather painted the frescoes in the Capital Building. The sites included the White House, the Capitol Building, the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial. In the afternoon we went to the Holocaust Museum.

February 27: Our days are filled with meetings including officials at the State Department and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and our program coordinators and sponsors. As well, we had a meeting inside the House of Representatives yesterday - what a busy place with all the lobbyists running around! We also visited the beautiful campus of Georgtown University and George Washington University. Today, we are packing up to leave Washington for our next stop Kansas City, MO.

Raised Media Attracts Top Talent

by Jennifer Cameron

Raised Media helps clients enhance conversations about their brand through enriched audience engagements.

Halifax is home to a cluster of ICT, gaming and interactive media companies that are generating worldwide interest.Raised Media is one such company.

Using social creativity, mobile apps and online technology, Raised Media helps clients enhance and transform conversations about their brand through enriched audience engagements. U.S. giant, Little Debbie’s Snacks turned to Raised Media to increase its level of social engagement. Within a very short time, they broke the million Facebook fan mark, dwarfing competitors such as Hostess Twinkies and Entenmann’s.

Raised Media’s business continues to grow. Their drive and creativity is winning them recognition but as a small business without an HR department, they faced the challenge of recruiting top talent. 

“Greater Halifax Partnership was critical in sourcing talented youth we could invite into our space.”

Company president, Mike Rizkalla, explained that as an untraditional agency, Raised Media offers its new recruits a chance to fast track their career into a role, “where you are responsible for doing amazing things.” 

With a fun, open and flexible corporate culture, Raised Media supported its growth by forging links with a steady stream of local graduates with the Partnership’s help.

“Greater Halifax Partnership was critical in sourcing talented youth we could invite into our space,” said Rizkalla.

The Partnership’s SmartBusiness team also worked with them to develop a recruitment package that profiled why Raised Media is a workplace of choice. The additional information from the Partnership helped Raised Media develop a more robust recruitment package that highlighted Halifax’s unique business, cultural and lifestyle advantages. 

Rizkalla noted, “I can explain why Halifax is a great choice for people from outside this region.”   

The company which started with 2 people 7 years ago has grown to 15 people, with plans to hire additional developers.

With a growing cluster of indie developers and media companies, Halifax is gaining momentum as a technology hotbed. All eyes are on small and medium size companies in this sector who are leading growth. The Partnership is helping these businesses remove roadblocks to growth – like talent attraction and retention – and become more globally competitive. 

SmartBusiness Program

Whether you’re a small start-up looking to make connections and access resources, or a large business looking to develop a product or service, we can help your business grow and succeed in Halifax. 

For More Information contact: 

Jason Guidry
Account Executive, SmartBusiness
P: 902.490.6115 | E: jguidry@greaterhalifax.com
www.greaterhalifax.com/smartbusiness

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Speed Interviewing, Round One: The Digital Industry

By Denise DeLong

The energy was palpable! For our first of four Speed Interviewing events funded by the RBC Foundation, nineteen diverse Digital Industry companies accepted our invitation to participate and filled the Almon room of the Halifax Club on February 1st.

Twenty eight internationally skilled professionals were, as they say in the UK, suited and booted. Some had a decade of experience and some were about to be newly minted graduates. Each participant had researched the companies, requested their top three choices for people they wanted to meet and we did our best to match them in the Speed Interviewing rounds. As was mentioned in the participant feedback evaluations, this event was seen as a, "good platform to get to know what Halifax has to offer as an IT destination!”

To warm everybody up, the event started with a digital industry panel featuring Jason Powell from Digital Nova Scotia, Patrick MacNeil from Deloitte, John Leahy from ImmediaC and Dennis Young from ABM. They shared their perspectives on diversity in the workplace, current and future trends in the digital and IT industry and a message of hope for professionals settling in Halifax. Their messages echoed private and publicly supported perspectives on diversity and labour market strategies from Glen Dormody, Regional Vice President of RBC, Beatrice Croxen, Program Officer for Labour Market and Advanced Education, and our own Paul Kent, who also moderated the panel.

In intense 7 minute intervals, the Speed Interviewing sessions followed with exchanges that covered relevant experience, theory and practice, and the all important ‘fit’ with the company culture and values.  On the one hand, seven minutes falls short of being able to really find out what you need to know to hire someone.

Yet, if we believe in HR research that confirms we tend to make the initial decision in the first five minutes, then this exchange is certainly enough to decide if you want to bring someone in for a follow up. One interviewer shared that the event provided, "an excellent opportunity to meet potential employment candidates". According to the interviewers and interviewees, follow ups have indeed been scheduled!

The event ended with a networking reception at the Halifax Club’s popular Friday afternoon Happy Hour which revealed piqued interest from employers and employees. Some said that the follow up requests for further discussion came from the interview while others were sparked from those participants who showed initiative and approached employers during the short breaks between rounds 5 and 6. To observe skilled and sincere networking in action was an absolute treat.

In our Connector Program, we believe wholeheartedly in the magic that happens through face to face meetings and targeted referrals. Noticeably, in the spirit of ‘connector’ generosity, employers were recommending other companies to us who could be approached for future Digital IT events. Even among competitors, it’s clear that the common thread is the idea that promoting business development and talent strategies in Halifax benefits everyone. 

Please contact us to discuss involvement in upcoming Speed Interviewing & Networking events featuring the Financial Sector, Life Sciences, Oceans, Aerospace and Defence/Manufacturing and Logistics by e-mailing ddelong@greaterhalifax.com or calling 490-6000.

The Connector Program is funded under the Canada-Nova Scotia Labour Market Agreement.

The Connector Program Speed Interviewing event series is funded by RBC Foundation.