OCRI (the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation), in association with working.com, Canada's national career network with a distinctly local focus, are pleased to announce an initiative to help Ottawa job seekers connect with local technology job opportunities.

OCRI JobFinder will give OCRI's 630 members from the education, business and technology sectors, a powerful tool for recruiting qualified employees and managing their own careers. Job postings on the co-branded site will be available free of charge to OCRI members for a six-month trial period, and discounts will be offered for advertising on the parent working.com site. The website will be accessible to the public.

With the Conference Board of Canada forecasting that Ottawa's economy will add 26,000 jobs in the next year while the economy grows by 3.2 per cent, Ottawa's hiring climate looks promising. The OCRI working.com website will be devoted to promotion of technology opportunities within Ottawa to connect qualified candidates with employers.

"Our members are telling us that the level of competition to attract and retain talented employees is tough," said Jeffrey Dale, President and CEO, OCRI. "With the projected demographic shift in Canada, we need to be proactive with regards to the recruitment needs of our members. working.com's job portal will help us achieve that by giving our members a helping hand to connect with a willing, targeted and qualified workforce."

Members can expect to find a multitude of advanced recruitment and HR services on the site including: industry links, career advisory information, advanced search features, a tracking ability to measure the effectiveness of each posting and the ability to personalize the presentation of each employment opportunity.

"working.com is pleased to partner with OCRI and power the new job site, so members can connect not only to job seekers familiar with OCRI in Ottawa, but also to the extensive CanWest media network that includes some of the country's most popular daily newspapers, television channels, and online properties," said Kim Peters, General Manager, working.com. "It's now easier than ever to reach the right tech prospects in Ottawa, across Canada and throughout North America."

The CanWest working.com network of local job sites is anchored by CanWest MediaWorks' publications including the National Post, Ottawa Citizen, Victoria Times Colonist, The Province, Vancouver Sun, Edmonton Journal, Calgary Herald, Regina Leader-Post, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Windsor Star, The Gazette and VANNET Newspapers.

Job seekers and recruiters can access the portal.

About OCRI:
OCRI (Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation), the city's economic development corporation, is leading the way for Ottawa. OCRI is the rallying point to bring business, education and research together to create the winning economic conditions that allow Ottawa's technology companies to thrive locally and compete globally. At OCRI we promote sustainable economic development to maintain our high quality of life.

About working.com:
working.com is 74 percent indirectly owned by CanWest Global Communications Corp,NYSE: CWG; TSX: CGS and CGS.A,and 26 percent indirectly owned by the CanWest MediaWorks Income Fund. CanWest Global Communications Corp., an international media company, is Canada's largest media company and largest publisher of daily newspapers. The Company also owns, operates and/or holds substantial interests in free-to-air and subscription-based television networks, out-of-home advertising, web sites, and radio stations and networks in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, the United States and the United Kingdom.