An advertising message suggesting homesick Maritimers in Alberta return home has resulted in thousands of inquiries about East Coast jobs.

About 300,000 copies of a glossy insert titled Come Home went out with Alberta newspapers two weeks ago. The supplement profiled Maritimers who returned for jobs in skilled trades, health care and IT.

Since then, publisher Jean Nadeau estimates he's received close to 3,000 inquiries through his job recruitment website.

"The traffic for the same period last year is up 43 per cent," said Nadeau, general manager of CareerBeacon.com.

The health authorities in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, the Atlantic Lottery Corp., and Research in Motion are among the advertisers in the 40-page supplement.

Another advertiser, J.D. Irving, urges job hunters to consider quality of life and cheaper housing in Atlantic Canada.

Nadeau expects it will be months before he can determine whether the promotion was effective in attracting people for the 2,600 positions advertised.

He says he has received some negative feedback from Maritimers living out west who are earning much more than they did back home.

"These are probably people who don't have skills that match the shortage of labour we have here," Nadeau said.

The message has also attracted the attention of some Albertans who have never been to the Maritimes, something Nadeau didn't expect.

"They're considering to move here, because their lifestyle has changed so much they don't recognize themselves," he said.

The Nova Scotia government is hoping to capitalize on that.

Faced with a shortage of skilled workers and a tightening labour pool, the government has launched a marketing campaign targeting Nova Scotians living in Calgary.

The campaign includes newspaper ads and billboards with slogans like "Buy a home or two" and "Calgary is a nice place to visit."