We are thrilled to have partnered with the Vancouver Economic Commission (VEC) and BC Tech Jobs in an initiative to highlight Vancouver as the place to grow a successful career in technology to some of Canada’s top tech talent: U of Waterloo’s students and alumni. We didn’t do this on our own – we had help from seven of Vancouver’s best companies!

On May 30, we visited Waterloo to host two unique branding and recruitment events. During a Vancouver info session at U of Waterloo, Sean Elbe from VEC spoke about the benefits of growing a career in Vancouver. This was followed by lightning pitches and an employer panel that was moderated by our representatives to showcase Vancouver companies and discuss employment opportunities. Companies presentincluded SAP, Microsoft, MDA, ACL, D-Wave, BuildDirect, and Fortinet. All companies had a chance to meet and chat with candidates one-on-one during the event.

In the evening we all headed to YVRTech Meetup, co-hosted by VEC and SAP Vancouver. Each of the seven Vancouver companies in attendance had a booth to display their technology and chat with attendees, while the BC Tech Association and BC Tech Jobs helped candidates leverage BCTechJobs.ca to look for job opportunities in Vancouver. Attendees mingled and chatted with each prospective company over great food and drinks.

Over 170 students and professionals were able to explore opportunities in Vancouver’s tech sector through these events. Companies were very satisfied with the turnout and hopeful that connections made will turn into great hires. We are looking forward to continuing such initiatives and bringing the local tech community together many more times to come to promote our beautiful (and full of tech jobs) city to tech talent everywhere.

A big thank you to the Vancouver Economic Commission for spearheading this initiative and putting Vancouver in the spotlight with the local media. Here are a few articles from CBC News, Waterloo Chronicle, 570 News, and Betakit.

If you’d like to participate in future out-of-province branding and recruitment initiatives, please email talent@wearebctech.com and indicate your interest.