The Year 1ne's

Social Media Assistant @ Ontario Parks with Sonia Dharni

Blair Smith

In her Year 1ne, Sonia works as a Social Media Assistant at Ontario Parks, in the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks for the Government of Ontario, where she’s your friendly neighbourhood squirrel…I’ll let her explain.🐿️
(yes, I know that's a chipmunk, there’s no squirrel emoji. 🤷)

Some of the highlights from Sonia and Blair’s chat include the process for doing social media marketing in a government organization, how to answer the “tell us why we should hire you for this job?” question; and, how the National Parks Service is hilarious…who knew!

In This Episode 🗣
Sonia’s Year 1ne @ Ontario Parks
1:45 | Introduction from Sonia
2:15 | Overview of Ontario Parks
3:20 | Working in social media marketing for a government organization
4:55 | The planning process for social content
7:40 | Doing community management
9:50 | Collaborating central-to-local with each provincial park team
12:00 | Being “your friendly neighbourhood squirrel”
14:25 | How marketing helps with conservation efforts
16:25 | How did previous work in conservation help with this job?
20:00 | Asking the question
21:25 | What’s on your mind in marketing right now?
23:00 | Attention…and long-form vs. short form content

Getting to Day 1ne: The Job Search
27:25 | Finding the “spark” in what you do
29:00 | Getting hired at Ontario Parks
30:00 | The “Tell us why we should hire you for this job?” question
32:50 | Hardest part of the job search
35:00 | Not playing the job application numbers game
37:00 | The “What’s your favourite brand?” question

Thing’s I’ve Learned in Year 1ne
39:00 | Mistake made on not speaking up when things get overwhelming
42:25 | Lesson learned on keeping the message “clear, concise and compelling”

The Hottest of Links and Resources 🔥
Connect with Sonia Dharni: LinkedIn | Website | Instagram | TikTok
Brands/organizations: George Brown College | Canadian Wildlife Federation | Ontario Parks (Website) | Ontario Parks (Instagram) | Ontario Parks (Twitter) | National Park Service (Website) | National Park Service (Instagram)
Marketing and media tools: Sprout Social | Microsoft Excel
Connect with The Year 1ne’s host Blair Smith: LinkedIn
Check out The Year 1ne’s show website for past episodes, show notes and more goodness