Jobpostings: A Story of Career Success
By Jordan Adams
What began as a student-run small business has grown into one of the biggest job hunting resources for Canadian students: jobpostings.ca. And it all started with a calendar.
While completing his bachelor of commerce at Dalhousie University, Nathan Laurie came up with an idea to connect advertisers to students. Along with his brother, Mark, Nathan produced a dry-erase calendar with a border of advertisements from companies that wanted to reach students, and the calendars were distributed free in the Dalhousie residence buildings. They were so successful that the brothers expanded to the University of Toronto and UWO the next year.
After graduation and a second prosperous year in the calendar business, Nathan took off to Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia for six months. During his travels, he received an email from Mark telling him he better come back—the company was getting even bigger. The brothers’ distribution grew to more schools with each passing year, eventually reaching the entire country. They are still distributing calendars to this day.
After the calendar business’s success, they had another idea—a magazine that would connect students to employers. “If you’re looking for a job, and if you went to the newspaper, all the jobs were for experienced hires. What about a magazine that would help students find jobs?” says Nathan.
And so jobpostings magazine was born in 1998. The pair had never produced a magazine, but found themselves quickly increasing the number of issues per year—it was a hit. jobpostings features articles that provide practical advice about education and careers. It is distributed in the campus career centres as well as the co-op offices of business, engineering and computer science departments of 105 universities and colleges, and is also available online.
Their website, jobpostings.ca, features both articles and job postings from around Canada. What sets jobpostings apart from other job boards like Monster and Workopolis is that it features only entry-level positions—which helps to make it one of the top job search website used by students across Canada. “I find the work very rewarding because we’re helping students launch their careers and find meaningful work at great companies,” says Nathan.
Meanwhile, the versatile Laurie brothers also run a business that links teachers with employers and streamlines the application process. Apply to Education is an online hiring resource for school boards that makes it easy and efficient for teachers to apply for jobs—just one application will reach over 210 Canadian school boards as well as 280 independent schools and teach abroad agencies. “It has given school boards a strong database that allows them to search for hard-to-sell positions, and keep track of all the candidates who want to work for their board. It’s a lot easier to do a search for a keyword than go through a stack of resumés,” says Nathan.
The Lauries’ three ventures—jobpostings, Apply to Education, and the calendars—all fall under the umbrella of Passion Inc., their Toronto-based company. They employ about 25 people and have seven student interns who work on four-month rotations. Nathan says internships are great for both students and small businesses. “It’s a win-win where we get really good work from them, and they get the experience to get a full-time job when they graduate,” he says. “But where you might save on the dollar value, it’s important that you give the interns your time and ensure that they’re doing meaningful work.”
There are several different internships available at jobpostings: social media, sales, campus relations, video production and editorial. Nathan says that students who do internships at a small business will probably get more out of the experience. “You learn a wider array of skills and you are more likely to get more hands-on experience quicker than you would at a larger company. At a big company, you have a role. It’s defined, and that’s what you do,” he says. “At smaller companies, there are usually opportunities to work outside that role and get your hands dirty in other things that are going on.”
Laurie says running a small business means he is close with all of his employees: “It still feels like a small family business and it has a personal feel versus a corporate feel.”
Jordan Adams is a Carleton University journalism graduate.
For more information, please visit: jobpostings.ca, applytoeducation.com, careeroptionsmagazine.com