Finding jobs in Canada in IT Industry - What is the perfect age??

[teekayx]

Thanks for sharing that @CECMay. Agree that your case stands out a bit as gaming softwares, I think, are still considered a niche skillset.

 

[jamezmoran]

What CECMay says to a large extent applies no matter where you go in the west. Employers want to see skills. They want you to be eligible to work. They want to see code and expect you to be able to code in the interview. This will be the case everywhere you go, whether it's Canada, USA, Europe, or whatever.

Also it's true that like 90-95% of people who apply to a job get rejected, but that's normal and is literally the same everywhere in the west. Don't let it disparage you if you know you're capable for the job, to a large extent that 90-95% that get rejected really are numbskulls who fall over on the most basic computing questions (speaking as a software engineer who was involved in hiring programmers in London).

 

[Specterz]

Your case in no different that a regular IT person, who came from India, Pakistan, China or South America. IT Industry has so much competition in western world that normal recruiting won't suffice company's need. I have small experience in recruiting, specifically, recruiting Co-op and Internship students, every 4 months. So, that's why I'm writing my opinion. When I was helping my manager with recruiting, we only opened resume received from "Trusted" people only. "Trusted" means, referrals from current or ex employees, Co-op and Internship co-ordinators of schools, HR department and the last resort (Companies career@XYZ or jobs@XYZ mailbox). We never posted jobs on Indeed or Monster, or more specifically, never needed.

Recommendation from my experience:

- First of all, make a LinkedIn profile with your "normal" picture (doesn't has to a suit & tie picture, just be yourself). Be sure, they can see your public information, when they search you by your phone number, name, email id, twitter or Facebook. The reason being, they want to see what kind of person you are outside your resume. Do you like fishing, are you a foodie, swimmer, explorer. Trust me, If you keep all your stuff hidden, there is no way I can recommend you to my manager.

- Be truthful. I'm saying that because I see a lot of the resumes are filled with technical jargon, however on average people have little to no experience in 80% of the content. As somebody said, Quality over quantity.

- Apply for only those jobs, in which you have experience or related to your studies. Don't apply for Database Engineer of 90K/year, when you have experience in Web designing. You are wasting your time.

- (Important) Indicate a statement at the top of your resume, mentioning what you are? Are you a good professional network engineer who has X years of experience, or you are an experienced professional in Database Administration who has worked for multinational companies.

- Try visiting the office (If possible), instead of applying online. I know, the receptionist or the HR person going to tell you that Apply Online!. But at least, now they know you, who you are, how you look like, you made an effort coming to the office, you are interested in the job.

- Apply for level 1 jobs, if you are not having luck for good 3-4 months. Sometimes in life, you have to start from scratch, doesn't matter where you were. (This is my story)

- Never stop advancing yourself. Keep yourself up to date with technologies. What is happening in the world? Hiring Manager will try to ask this question to check what do you do in your spare time?

- English - Oh this is important one and bit discriminating one. I have seen very good and experienced people around me getting rejected, just because they never left Brampton or Scarborough, or their English doesn't sound local. The best advice in this case would be, try to speak as much English you can. No company want their clients to know that their employees sound foreigners.

Sorry for being blunt!

 

[jamezmoran]

Honestly yeah entry level jobs should be on people's consideration when they immigrate, even if they have X years of experience. Once you've got your foot in the door, if the company is good then they'll recognise your experience immediately and within 6 months you'll be flying up the ranks.

 

[thinkshady]

As long as you are skilled and smart, you should be able to fetch a job irrespective of where you are. In Canada, you will get IT jobs which is purely based on the skill set you are into. The downside of IT jobs in Canada is its not permanent most of the time which means you can get fired anytime. You have to be on top of the game and you should be ready to switch jobs anytime. I am not biased, just sharing the experience from many IT professionals I know here. Mostly you will end up with contractor job with stipulated timelines but you are sure to make some bucks.

I never come across with any recruiters or clients that have rejected folks just because you sound alien and you are a foreign national. That would sound blunt, Canada is known for its multi cultural values like nowhere in the globe. I know many PR folks who are working in different sectors never ever had experienced anything like that.

 

[cempjwi]

Your case in no different that a regular IT person, who came from India, Pakistan, China or South America. IT Industry has so much competition in western world that normal recruiting won't suffice company's need. I have small experience in recruiting, specifically, recruiting Co-op and Internship students, every 4 months. So, that's why I'm writing my opinion. When I was helping my manager with recruiting, we only opened resume received from "Trusted" people only. "Trusted" means, referrals from current or ex employees, Co-op and Internship co-ordinators of schools, HR department and the last resort (Companies career@XYZ or jobs@XYZ mailbox). We never posted jobs on Indeed or Monster, or more specifically, never needed.

Recommendation from my experience:

- First of all, make a LinkedIn profile with your "normal" picture (doesn't has to a suit & tie picture, just be yourself). Be sure, they can see your public information, when they search you by your phone number, name, email id, twitter or Facebook. The reason being, they want to see what kind of person you are outside your resume. Do you like fishing, are you a foodie, swimmer, explorer. Trust me, If you keep all your stuff hidden, there is no way I can recommend you to my manager.

- Be truthful. I'm saying that because I see a lot of the resumes are filled with technical jargon, however on average people have little to no experience in 80% of the content. As somebody said, Quality over quantity.

- Apply for only those jobs, in which you have experience or related to your studies. Don't apply for Database Engineer of 90K/year, when you have experience in Web designing. You are wasting your time.

- (Important) Indicate a statement at the top of your resume, mentioning what you are? Are you a good professional network engineer who has X years of experience, or you are an experienced professional in Database Administration who has worked for multinational companies.

- Try visiting the office (If possible), instead of applying online. I know, the receptionist or the HR person going to tell you that Apply Online!. But at least, now they know you, who you are, how you look like, you made an effort coming to the office, you are interested in the job.

- Apply for level 1 jobs, if you are not having luck for good 3-4 months. Sometimes in life, you have to start from scratch, doesn't matter where you were. (This is my story)

- Never stop advancing yourself. Keep yourself up to date with technologies. What is happening in the world? Hiring Manager will try to ask this question to check what do you do in your spare time?

- English - Oh this is important one and bit discriminating one. I have seen very good and experienced people around me getting rejected, just because they never left Brampton or Scarborough, or their English doesn't sound local. The best advice in this case would be, try to speak as much English you can. No company want their clients to know that their employees sound foreigners.

Sorry for being blunt!

"Oh this is important one and bit discriminating one", "No company want their clients to know that their employees sound foreigners." Are you willing to put that in writing? I would recommend you read about discrimination laws in Canada the HRC and The Tribunals. Your "trusted" scheme is also discriminatory as it excludes, in practice, from opportunity anyone that is new to Canada.

 

[kryt0n]

"Oh this is important one and bit discriminating one", "No company want their clients to know that their employees sound foreigners." Are you willing to put that in writing? I would recommend you read about discrimination laws in Canada the HRC and The Tribunals. Your "trusted" scheme is also discriminatory as it excludes, in practice, from opportunity anyone that is new to Canada.

I agree, however it is 100% true. So many westerners hear an Asian accent and INSTANTLY form an image of past experiences of calling help lines and struggling to explain situations or get matters resolved. This is not the fault of any individual and a lot of English speaking westerners only know English (myself included) and are just pig ignorant. There's no need to lose an accent completely, however you will go further. I agree this is against common sense, courtesy and laws, however it is the reality.

 

[ashu1710]

I agree, however it is 100% true. So many westerners hear an Asian accent and INSTANTLY form an image of past experiences of calling help lines and struggling to explain situations or get matters resolved. This is not the fault of any individual and a lot of English speaking westerners only know English (myself included) and are just pig ignorant. There's no need to lose an accent completely, however you will go further. I agree this is against common sense, courtesy and laws, however it is the reality.

Also, It can take years, if not decades to lose an accent entirely. Attempting to "fake" an American\Canadian accent would probably sound worse than your foreign accent.

 

[kryt0n]

Also, It can take years, if not decades to lose an accent entirely. Attempting to "fake" an American\Canadian accent would probably sound worse than you foreign accent.

Also agree here. I'm not saying any of this is right, but it is 'the way the world works'. No need to lose an accent entirely. Hey, I know this may not sound great but even as a Brit working in Canada I was faced with "You're obviously not Canadian - you wouldn't know".