A regional hiring campaign is paid and organic reach for your job openings, aimed at the people who can realistically work for you. In British Columbia, "realistically" is the hard part. A radius drawn around your yard ignores ferries, bridges, the Coquihalla in January and the reality that some Northern roles have to attract people from hundreds of kilometres away. We plan reach around travel and relocation, not straight-line distance.
What it is
The direct answer: a monthly campaign across the channels your target candidates use, with a single landing point (your careers page), a fast reply process and a report that ties spend to applicants and hires.
A campaign has four parts:
- The audience. Trade, level and the travel or relocation zone, defined together with you.
- The message. Drawn from your employer brand so every ad says something specific.
- The channels. Job boards, paid social, search, and community or school channels where they fit.
- The landing point. A careers page or job page that loads fast on a phone and shows a phone number and text option, plus a route to apply.
Who it's for
- Employers whose message is clear but who need more of the right people to see it.
- Shops hiring in several BC regions at once, such as a Fraser Valley company with an Okanagan branch.
- Interior and Northern employers who need to reach candidates willing to move.
- Owners who have tried "post and pray" on a single board and want to know what actually produces hires.
What's included
- Campaign plan by role and region, with recommended spend stated separately.
- Ad copy and creative for each channel, with your pay range set out as the Province's job-posting pay guidance expects. The range is yours; we don't suggest pay.
- Tracking on every ad so each applicant is tagged by source.
- Monthly report and a short review call.
- Seasonal planning, so you start recruiting before your busy season rather than in the middle of it.
How we draw a BC hiring zone
| Situation | How we set the zone |
|---|---|
| Lower Mainland yard | Drive time in morning traffic, with bridges and tunnels counted honestly |
| Island employer | Communities on the same side of the water first; mainland candidates only for relocation roles |
| Okanagan or Kootenay shop | The valley corridor, plus relocation messaging for people in the Lower Mainland and Alberta |
| Northern BC role | Local first, then a province-wide and interprovincial relocation audience |
Matching the channel to the role
Experienced journeypersons are often not actively looking, so they're more likely to notice a well-aimed social ad or a referral than to search job boards. Apprentice candidates, and the parents and counsellors around them, search more actively and respond to school and program outreach. Lead hands and estimators sit somewhere between. We split budget by role for that reason.
Timeline
Planning and creative take about two weeks after the employer brand material is ready. Campaigns then run continuously, with budget shifted monthly towards whichever channel is producing qualified applicants. Most owners can judge whether a channel is working after six to eight weeks.
How results are measured
We report four numbers per role, every month:
- Cost per applicant: spend divided by applicants.
- Cost per qualified applicant: spend divided by applicants who meet your stated minimums.
- Cost per interview and cost per hire, once you tell us who you interviewed and hired.
For certified roles, you can confirm a candidate's credentials through SkilledTradesBC's certificate verification tool. We note which applicants claimed certification so your office can check quickly.
Mistakes to avoid
- Judging by clicks. Cheap clicks from the wrong region are expensive in the end.
- Running the same ad all year. Construction hiring has seasons; your message should too.
- Sending traffic to an application portal that doesn't work on a phone. Tradespeople apply from their trucks.
- Pausing as soon as one hire lands. Keep a low baseline running so the next vacancy isn't a scramble.
Campaigns work only if someone answers. Pair this with applicant response and tracking, and see the regional pages, such as Northern BC, for local detail.
Frequently asked questions
Which channels do you use?
Usually a mix of job boards, paid social, search ads on job-related terms, your own careers page and, where it fits, trade association and school channels. The mix depends on the role and the region; we write it into the plan.
Is ad spend included in the plan fee?
No. Ad spend and job-board fees are paid directly to the platforms on your own accounts. Your proposal states the recommended monthly spend separately from our fee.
Can you recruit from other provinces?
We can run campaigns that reach tradespeople elsewhere in Canada who might relocate, which is common for Northern and Interior roles. We don't advise on immigration; for workers from outside Canada, talk to a licensed immigration consultant or lawyer.
How quickly will we see applicants?
Campaigns usually start producing applicants within the first two weeks of launch. How many, and how good, depends on the role, the region and the strength of the offer, which is why we track quality as well as volume.