Today I have been initiatied on the working of the Yahoo! Honourary Canadian program. Yes, that's "honourary" and not "honorary".

This is something pretty cool, recognizing non-Canadians who contribute in some way to the Canadian business. They are recognized in a fun and cool ways. Details which I will leave up to the imagination, so as not to give away too many secrets! However, I'm sure there's some moose droppings in there somewhere.

We should have some new postings going up on the site in the next day or so. Check us out at canada.careers.yahoo.com

Internships & co-ops...

We have some. Development and Finance for sure, maybe others.

I think I have mentioned before, at Yahoo!, the interns do the work and the managers get the coffee. Well, managers do work too - but, I think you get the point. We will put you to work, in your field, doing things that are relevant - we get stuuf done, you learn a whole heap of things. Win/win.

Did I mention that we have a foozball table in the lunchroom? Helps keep the competitive saw sharpened.

Oh, let me share something else with you. Last Wednesday was "bring your Grade 9 to work day". A government initiatied program targetted at helping students begin to think about the work world as they start out on their high school journeys. I remember in Grade 9, thinking I would be a paramedic, pilot or something else. I really cannot remember what the last one was, but I had to do some research on all 3. Suffice to say, that I am none of the above. The exercise was good, but not realistic.

Why do I bring all of this up? Well, after an action packed day filled with some realistic insight to the culture, some great meals, some presentations and being put to work for a couple of hours - one of our students commented that she was so impressed she actually enjoyed the day, while most of her friends as school dubbed the day "drag your kid to work day". So, kudos to my HR counterpart for pulling off such an impressive feat, and actually being able to positively impact (and entertain) several high school students!

From an experienced hire side of things, we continue to work through year end business planning and expect some great opportunities to hit the pipes following the holidays. Check us out at canada.careers.yahoo.com to submit your resume, or track me down on Yahoo! IM with the username geofframey to chat first hand.

Had a great time at the Waterloo event. Rasmus was a great speaker - and hey, the guy invented PHP and all. I hear the Yahootinis were pretty good as well.

Focus at the event was on permanent engineering hires. Those looking for co-op or internship placements should watch for Yahoo! back on campus in January of 2008.

Speaking of events - tonight is the annual Yahoo! Client Party. Most of the office is buzzing about the event and either attending to hang with their clients or help out with the event (or both, for some people!) Sounds like clients are pretty pumped for it as well. Been a good week around here for most - some Halloween activities, fundraising for a good cause (using Halloween as a theme) and the client party.

Well, still no pictures from the last event. I'll have to work on that. I'm quite disappointed.

Tomorrow (Oct 24), Yahoo U.S. is sending folks up to visit the Waterloo campus. There will be a presentation on PHP5, by the guy who invented it - Rasmus Lerdorf, who happens to work for Yahoo! Later in the day there will be a reception to meet and greet the geeks at Yahoo! (Geek is chic!)

So, if you are a Waterloo Comp Sci or Engineering (Electrical, etc) student, come on out and join us.

Outside of those events, it looks like the rainy season is upon us - finally. Means its not so bad to be indoors, and therefore can find new ways to have fun around the office. Time to sharpen up on the gags, a few more trips to the establishment downstairs after work and just hangin' out. Gotta ward off the grey skies somehome.

Head on over to www.yahoo.ca and check out the Jobs link in the footer. We've got a couple internship postings on the go right now. We'd love to have you. In fact, our existing and past interns rave about the experience they get and the friends they make at Yahoo! Really... We don't have a formal structured internship program, but each person it given one on one attention and responsibilities by their manager - in most cases, treated like a permanent employee with similar work! What better way to learn your function!

As I said, check us out!