Promising Students Win Forest Industry Jobs Via Social Media Contest

Grand Prize Winner from Vancouver to Work in Grand Prairie Alberta

OTTAWA, April 18, 2013 /CNW/ - The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) has successfully used social media to recruit deserving students to work this summer at leading forest products companies.

The Green Dream internship social media contest invited students to apply for four month paid summer jobs by submitting a video application and soliciting on-line votes.  FPAC set up the contest to better inform students about the growing career opportunities in the dynamic forest products sector and to highlight the launch of theGreenestWorkforce.ca, a portal that helps connect students and others to career opportunities in the sector.

Dana Aljanaby of Vancouver has been chosen from the winning candidates to receive a grand prize of $5,000 based on her video application and on-line support.

"Under our ambitious Vision2020, we have set the goal of recruiting at least 60,000 new employees by the end of the decade," says the President and CEO of FPAC, David Lindsay.  "We realize the need to explore new approaches including social media to attract high quality talent as we build the forest products industry of the future."

Lindsay says the Green Dream internship contest was a huge success with about 16,500 votes cast during the contest, close to 180,000 page views on the GreenestWorkforce.ca website and 170,299 YouTube Views of the GreenestWorkforce videos.

All of the interns have also received an IPad mini and will be required to blog about their experience in the forest sector for the Greenestworkforce.ca website.

The chosen candidates:

Mark Pipher from Barrie, Ontario-engineering internship for West Fraser in Slave Lake, Alberta

Patrick Pickard from Whitecourt, Alberta- technical support for Millar Western in Whitecourt, Alberta

Kyle Waterman from Havelock, Ontario- forestry assistant for Millar Western in Whitecourt, Alberta

Dana Aljanaby from Vancouver, BC- timberland forester for Weyerhaeuser in Grande Prairie, Alberta

Jordan Auzam from Pickering, Ontario- engineer for Tembec in Temiscaming, Quebec

Andre Knight Lira of Ennismore Ontario - woodlands forestry for Daishowa-Marubeni International in Peace River, Alberta

Jeremy Woo of Vernon BC - human resources intern for Tolko Industries in Vernon, British Columbia

FPAC provides a voice for Canada's wood, pulp, and paper producers nationally and internationally in government, trade, and environmental affairs. The $57-billion-a-year forest products industry represents 2% of Canada's GDP and is one of Canada's largest employers operating in hundreds of communities and providing 230,000 direct jobs across the country.

For more on Vision2020 go to: http://www.fpac.ca/vision2020

SOURCE: FOREST PRODUCTS ASSOCIATION OF CANADA