Anna Chif, BCom’12, is the co-founder and COO of Dialogue, a Canadian telemedicine company that has seen a sharp increase in demand since the start of the pandemic.

Society

Telemedicine company inspires alumni hiring initiative

Anna Chif became interested in virtual healthcare after in-person trips to the doctor for prescription refills made caring for her ailing grandmother more difficult. Chif co-founded Dialogue, a Canadian telemedicine company, in 2016, only four years after graduating from McGill with a Bachelor of Commerce.

Story by Sarah Lebeau

May 2020

Anna Chif became interested in virtual healthcare after in-person trips to the doctor for prescription refills made caring for her ailing grandmother more difficult. Chif co-founded Dialogue, a Canadian telemedicine company, in 2016, only four years after graduating from McGill with a Bachelor of Commerce.

Telemedicine iPhone app

When the coronavirus outbreak reached Canada, it became clear that telemedicine would have to play an important role in reducing pressure on the healthcare system. “We’ve been preaching the benefits of telemedicine for years,” says Chif. “The current circumstances have really proven our thesis. ”Dialogue, which describes itself as a “walk-in clinic that fits in your pocket”, partners with Canadian companies to offer virtual medical services to employees and their families. In the last few months, the number of people with access to Dialogue’s platform has grown from around 400,000 to over five million.

“We never thought this level of scale-up would be possible,” Chif says. “Dialogue has seen truly exponential growth, scaling 10 times in four weeks. We had to add hundreds of new team members, which more than tripled the size of the team.”

And the company has been hiring more than just healthcare practitioners. Because its services can be accessed through an app, many of the opportunities are for software engineers and tech support, along with sales professionals, legal and financial specialists, and customer service representatives.

Chif and colleagues turned to McGill to help spread the word about its hiring spree. This inspired the University to launch an employment and resource-sharing initiative on its LinkedIn alumni group to support graduates struggling with the financial impact of the pandemic.

The more than 26,000 verified members of the group are encouraged to tag their posts with #McGillHires to promote employment opportunities during this historic economic downturn. Members can also use #McGillShares to exchange goods and services that may no longer be accessible during the lockdown.

Before this hiring blitz, Dialogue already had a sizable contingent of McGillians among its employees. Sharing its job openings on the LinkedIn group has helped the company add many more alumni to the team. At the last tally, it boasted over 120 McGill-educated staff members.

“It’s amazing to see more people from McGill joining us to develop the future of healthcare in Canada,” says Chif. “I’m very thankful for the help provided by McGill to respond to the growing need for virtual healthcare during the COVID-19 outbreak.”

Chif is proud of how her growing team has handled this unusual situation. “We built a team that was able to get through the peak of the crisis, and we’ve done it with a lot of eloquence. I think this was in big part thanks to the quality of the culture we’ve worked so hard to build.”

McGill companies and alumni join the discussion on LinkedIn

Since Dialogue’s initial outreach to McGill, others in the alumni community have joined the conversation on LinkedIn, using #McGillHires and #McGillShares. Like Dialogue, meal-kit delivery service Goodfood Market has seen an unprecedented surge in demand due to the pandemic. Co-founders Jonathan Ferrari, BCom’10, and Neil Cuggy, BCom’10, announced that they will be adding over 500 employees to boost their operations in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary.

Other alumni have been using the professional networking platform to offer services and share their expertise. Concerned about students and recent grads facing a bleak labour market, consultant Eric Schwartz, BCom’19, is offering to help with job applications and interview prep. Likewise, revenue manager Rohan Seth, BCom’17, is advertising free tutoring sessions on Excel, Google Sheets and SQL, and giving advice to those looking for analytical roles at startups.

All McGill alumni are welcome to join the LinkedIn group to access this growing network of hiring and information sharing opportunities.

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