Land Your Job In Your Neighbourhood

How many of us have dreamed about starting a workday by taking the time to wake up, have breakfast, and walk to work? Well, consider the old adage that “Time is money”, and a job that requires a 1 hour commute each way means you are working 2 extra hours without getting paid. Thinking this way, if two opportunities each offer you $30 per hour, you are gaining $60 per day just by selecting the job that is close to where you live!

But how can I be the lucky one?

My recent discovery of the Scott’s Directory on the Toronto Public Library’s website demonstrated itself a magic tool to be able to help you turn this fairy-tale into a reality. With simple clicks, you can access the details of all registered companies wherever you want to work, including their industry category, company size, capital, website and management. All of a sudden, your potential employers hiding in skyscrapers behind the security and receptionists are all available on your screen for you to choose from. Plus, this tool is totally open to the public and free. Isn’t that great?!

So let’s have a quick look at how it works.

Step 1. Access Scott’s Directory.

Get your library card ready and go to Toronto Public Library’s website. Search “Scott’s Directory” (or refer to the hyperlink above) and find Scott’s Business Directories Online and click “Access Online”.

You will be led to the Login page. Input your Library card login information and sign in.

Once signed in, click “Continue”.

Now you have landed on the main page for Scott’s Directory.

Step 2. Find my target companies.

In order to make the best use of the search criteria, you have to understand Area Codes, Postal Codes, and NAICS Codes. I acquired this knowledge from the job searching workshops at WoodGreen Community Services’ Employment Center. Once you understand the criteria, play around with different combinations to narrow your list of target companies. Note that the search criteria are cumulative and each change makes the results more specific to your search.

I’ll give an example by starting the search within my Postal Code.

I live at M2N in Ontario and I want to find jobs nearby. Under “Search Criteria” on the left side, I click “Postal Code” and select “Ontario”. Then I find “M2N” and click “Select”. I can add as many postal codes as I want but here I only use “M2N” as an example. I then click “Search”.

I found as many as 22 pages of results. But honestly I only want to work near Yonge Street. So I click “Street Name” on the Search Criteria and typed in “Yonge” and click “Search”.

Now I have 9 pages of results.

But 9 pages are still too much for me. I’d like to work for companies that are neither too big nor too small. So I click on “Number of employees” and put the size of company I want to work for.

Now I have 3 pages with 54 total results. Not bad. But I can continue to narrow down the scope with other search criteria until I’m satisfied.

Step 3. Get key information and start searching!

Click any company name on the list to view company information and follow their website to learn more about the company, location, and their current available positions. Some companies provide president or executives’ names or managers’ names in key departments with which you can find the actual persons on LinkedIn. You are able to spot hiring managers. How exciting is that?! I’m pretty sure you know the next step!

Have you tried this tool? Do you want to try it? Let me know how worked for you, or how it goes!

Good luck!

 

Guest Blogger, Elaine Li

Sales & Marketing Professional

Education Specialty