Ottawa GoGeomatics Career Seminar for GIS on April 28th: Sneak Preview

It’s only a short time until the April 28th Ottawa GIS Career Seminar. In preparation for the seminar this weekend I’ve updated it with everything I’ve learned over the past year. Most recently I’ve traveled from Calgary to Newfoundland and everywhere in-between talking to GIS hiring managers and recruiters about the job market. The new seminar is going to reflect that. You might be surprised with some of the changes taking place in Canadian geomatics the job market.

The focus on the fundamentals is still there; creating a resume and cover letter that are tailored for our industry are still front and centre. A geomatics resume is not a regular resume. It’s got a technical component that has to expressed. Cover letter is similar in that respect. Forget what your parents told told you or your buddy who works in HR. If they are not in geomatics, they are not going to be able to help you like this seminar can.

Since I’ve updated so much of the seminar and don’t give it very often (Last time was 2011) I thought I had better let everybody know a little more about what’s new. There’s a lot of new.

From what we’ve seen the jobs situation in Canada has shifted. I’ll get you up to date on where the areas of growth are and the best way to tap into them. As well the way that recruiters and hiring managers are picking candidates is shifting as well. There are some excellent pockets of growth, but there are also vast wastelands where we are not seeing many jobs opening up.

I’m going to spend some more time during this seminar on GIS certifications as well as professional associations. This is a new component. I’ll let you know which ones are going to be the most useful to you and which are the paper tigers you should avoid wasting your money and time on.

I’ve always championed the use of portfolios for geomatics I’m going to take that a step further with some more concrete paths forward for job seekers and new graduates. This is a path to jobs if done correctly.

Some new features will be the Youtube Resumes discussion and Linkedin. Get this right and it can really help you with landing that job in another city or country. Get it wrong and you might have yourself an embarrassing internet video for the rest of your life.

As always I will be focusing on strategies that get results. Strategies that no one else is using that will help you tap into the jobs that are not being advertised as job postings anywhere.

For those of you not in Ottawa. GoGeomatics Canada will be coming to Vancouver and Halifax in the next couple of months. Send me an email to get on the waiting list for Nova Scotia and British Columbia for the GoGeomatics career Seminar. jmurphy@gogeomatics.ca

Tonight at 6pm (Weds April 24th) is the GoGeomatics Canada Ottawa Social at the Fox and Feather 283 Elgin downtown in the upstairs bar. If you have questions about the seminar please come out to the event I will be there.

Ottawa GoGeomatics Career Seminar
Location: Ottawa Main Library
Basement Meeting Room (Go down the stairs after entering the library)
Date: Sunday April 28th, 2012
Starting Time: This half day seminar begins at 1 pm and will run till 5pm
120 Metcalfe Ottawa K1P 5M2
Cost: $90