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Looking for a job in St. John's? Try this.

Katie Breen/CBC
Katie Breen/CBC

The St. John's Board of Trade is running a contest for charismatic job hunters unafraid to veer away from the regular resumé.

Winners get the chance to pitch themselves in front of hundreds of potential bosses and split up to $3,000 in prizes.

In order to enter the Hire Me St. John's contest, candidates have to submit a video.

They have a less than a minute to market themselves.

"Really, it provides a way that people can show off their personality," said St. John's Board of Trade CEO, Nancy Healey.

"Oftentimes people have the skills and you can see that on paper — but it's the attitude and how they connect and resonate with people. And that's what a video helps to do."

Get your pitches ready

The submissions will be reviewed by a panel and the top 10 will be posted online for public voting.

The winning three job hunters will be invited on stage to pitch themselves at the organizations's biggest annual event — the Business Excellence Awards on Nov. 28.

"We tend to have about 600 or 700 business people in that room," Healey said, "Everybody from accounting firms, engineering firms, oil and gas companies."

There's no guaranteed job offer, but Healey said three people made pitches at an event last spring and they were all hired on the spot.

The contest is open to all — any industry, any job — but Healey said it's especially helpful for international applicants.

St. John's Board of Trade
St. John's Board of Trade

"Employers often will have difficulty if they see a name that they can't pronounce and maybe a university from another country that they haven't heard of," she said. "This helps them see what a person really is like."

The St. John's Board of Trade is also part of the Connector NL program, which matches employers with potential employees.

It's a networking program, but Healey emphasizes that it sometimes results in jobs. She said videos from the Hire Me contest could also be sent to employers as an introduction, if the candidate wants to participate in Connector NL.

She said a lot of the people in the connector program are newcomers, but anyone is eligible.

Hire Me St. John's videos are due on Oct. 18.

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