Top 3 reasons why you should work with COVID-19 Comms

I started my assignment at the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) at the end of March 2020. The advertising campaign had already started and everyone in Communications were in full-speed mode when I joined the Advertising unit in the Outreach team. At first I had doubts on my decision to have raised my hand to work on the COVID-19 campaign. Doubts didn’t last long, as I enjoyed every second of the experience. Here are the top three reasons why I recommend it.

1. Meet a new and improved professional self:
   In the day-to-day life, we don’t always realize how much we know, what we bring to the table. A new environment and a very fast pace of work in the context of a pandemic made me realize what I need to improve, and has put a spotlight on my strengths. I sometimes tend to second guess myself, but fortunately there was no time for that, and it allowed me to see that I could be more action-oriented than I thought. I think stepping outside of a comfort zone is key to professional growth.
2. Opportunities:
   I was lucky enough to work on cool advertising campaigns in my career. The COVID-19 campaign is by far the biggest one. TV, Radio, Digital, Social Media, Print, were all part of the great media strategy.
    
   I had the opportunity to attend some pretty amazing video shoots (through Zoom) and be able to comment and try to make the videos better, while learning a great deal from my PHAC and PCO colleagues’ comments and ideas.
    
   Being part of the discussions on media strategies, creatives and tactics on such a high level campaign was pretty fun, insightful and empowering at the same time.
3. The people:
   No matter how busy the Outreach team at PHAC is (including the very busy Director), the team will always take time to explain what you’re not familiar with. It is the case for all the departments I worked at, but I was surprised to see how friendly and attentive the PHAC team was, while dealing with a pandemic crisis and the impressive amount of work they were asked to deliver. Every morning, the A team (which humbly refers to the Advertising unit) would meet for a video call. Natalie Rieger (Team Lead) would make sure everyone’s workload was manageable, and made sure we all had a good and laid back chat before jumping into our busy days. That was very much appreciated as the confinement started very shortly after I joined the team so I hadn’t met many of the people and those daily calls helped create bonds with everyone.

So to sum up the five months I worked at PHAC in three words, I would use Growth, Opportunities and People. And at the end of my career, I think what I’ll remember the most is the great people I worked with. PHAC is very rich on that matter.

The Public Health Agency of Canada and Health Canada need additional communications talent to assist with what is clearly their number one priority—keeping Canadians safe during this pandemic.

For more information or to submit your résumé, contact the Communications Community Office.