Posted on 5 Apr 2014
Today I thought Ill write something about settling in Canada. Like many other immigrants I landed along with my family in Toronto on a sunny evening (yes evenings are sunny during long summers days) in May2012. My plan was a short stay of 3 weeks during which I had a list of things to complete. We stayed at a very close relatives house during this time and we are so thankful for their support during this initial days.
In the first couple of days it was so exciting, why not? We had long dreamed to come here and we were here finally. As the excitement of the first days started fading with the realities I started getting into action. I had come here with a plan, a target to complete certain things before we exit in 3 weeks time.
The things completed were...
-Applying for SIN cards
-Got a G-1 driving license
-Me and my wife both appeared for a CLB test and got a high scores ( this test is free for new immigrants, can be taken at YMCA.
-Activation of bank account
-The most important thing I achieved was getting registered for 4-week full time bridging program( IWES) for new immigrants. A pre-requisite of this program was CLB with a high score. It was good in a way that I got a chance to experience my first interview in Canada for admission into this program. Once confirmed I deferred it for six months as I had no plans to stay beyond three weeks.
-Took an appointment and visited a few recruiters who gave me a first cut feedback on my resume - I consider this to be very critical, as a new immigrant we don't know very well how well prepared our resumes are to focus on job market in Canada. Usually when you sit with a recruiter who will go through your resume and ask you a small questions about your skills and previous experience to build his understanding on how to project you with the employers. S/he may also suggest you to make changes to your resume. If they don't, never hesitate to politely ask them if they think that you should be making some changes to your resume? They will be happy to give you suggestions. And if they say to make changes and email it back to them, always make sure to thank them for their time and suggestions/feedback and send them back within agreed time which can be EOD, next day etc...
-I would suggest to visit YMCA as they have lots of information which can help us, just browsing through their shelf of brochures and picking up a few and giving random calls to a few recruiters to book appointment will help a lot.. These initial steps are small but will help you focus and those little interactions will boost your confidence by helping you with your communication skills.
To be contd...
Posted on 6 April'2014
I returned back to India as I was still working with a MNC so didn't wanted to be in a haste to quit, now that I had some experience of being in Canada and meeting people I wanted to carry it forward and started applying for jobs while I was in India. I applied for a lot of jobs and got many responses but as I mentioned that I was not in Canada so obviously and as expected I was out of the race. Later At the end of October I returned back alone seeing that the response was good and it was worth taking a risk by quitting my job.
In my first week after returning and starting from where I left I passed G-2 driving license road test and followed it up by joining the IWES bridging program where I was already accepted during my previous visit. To give a background about IWES program, it supports new immigrants by providing them first hand information about Canada. Topics such as Canadian work culture and a range of activities such as resume workshops, mock up interviews, encouraging participants to do presentations on different topics are covered. Successful immigrants are invited to share their success stories and practices they followed which was quite interesting, during one such interaction an HR executive from an organization was invited to provide information about Canadian labor laws and hiring process which was another interesting aspect of this program. As it was a full day program it gives a first hand opportunity of interacting with different people which is very helpful as we can share our experiences with each other and learn from others too. One activity which was outstanding I thought was mock up panel interviews which were video recorded and shared with the candidates. It gave a very good insight on our ability to project ourselves during an interview.
A key thing to learn about the interviews is to always keep in mind S.T.A.R - Situation, Task, Action, Result. Recall your previous successes stories at work and write your own small stories based on STAR. It will help you during interviews. Interviewers love it when you narrate your story against a question based on STAR. I would say write it as it will remain with you and will always help you to quickly go through it before an interview call.
Here, I must also add that some people with whom I discussed about this program gave a discouraging view saying things like "those programs are only a waste of time" or "it is just a way of showing that you are not left alone after arriving in Canada and it doesn't help at all". Listening to such views was quite disheartening but if you stay focused on your goals such talk should never bothers you, it didn't bother me at least as I knew I have to keep my eyes wide open and secondly learning anything new is never a waste of time.
More to come.... 8)
Posted on 20 April'2014
Meanwhile keeping myself busy with the program I had also started to extensively apply for jobs. My primary source was monster.ca and workopolis.ca as I started to apply I made sure that I created an excel sheet which keeps a record of what positions I applied? Date of applying, the email address I sent my resume to and my own rating level between 1-10 on how much I expect that it will turn into an opportunity. One other thing I did was created a folder on my laptop and under this folder I created different sub folders with each folder having a small description of the position I applied for with a copy of my resume and cover letter mailed along with a word document where I copy pasted the job description saved in it, just so that I don't lose track of things.
When it comes to applying for jobs be open minded to relocating, I know it's hard and most of the immigrants including me land in Toronto expecting to only look for jobs in this city, it goes on to such an extent that they end up wasting a lot of time and missing out on opportunities elsewhere. There are plenty of 6; 12 months contract jobs in the market they give a real opportunity to jump start your career. The process of hiring in a contract position is shorter compared to full time positions, so never rule out contract positions.
I applied for more than 50 to 60 jobs online starting Nov until the third week of Dec'12 when I finally got a call from a reputed recruitment consultant about a contract position in Winnipeg, the recruiter told me to highlight some of my previous experience of working on projects and send him in a presentable format. It was more of why I should be hired for this position? I created a two slide presentation format and responded to him and bang! He got back to me saying that the employer is interested in an interview.
Most of the questions were to understand a candidate's behavioral response with questions such as "what was the toughest situation you faced in your career and what your response was?" as I mentioned earlier always remember STAR, be ready with your story (short to the point) and respond. The interview lasted for 45 minutes. The next day I got a call from the recruiter that I have been selected and have to join in a week’s time, it was the greatest news I have waited to hear for! For so many months I have been thinking about this getting my first job in Canada and here it was. The down side of it, I had to leave Toronto to Winnipeg all alone on my own. I was prepared to take this risk as I considered that waiting for another opportunity in Toronto May take forever, who knows it, may have taken at least another month, two months or more? Looking at the financial position it was worth taking this step.
I have missed something which I thought I must add, during my fourth week at IWES, this was the second week of Dec'12 a friend of mine referred me for a 3-week contract job in Mississauga. The job was a low paying $12/hour, I thought that since I am at the end of the IWES program and it was December time when usually hiring is considered to be at low, better to get busy with this job. This job as I discovered was very much demanding. Not only that I had to travel at least 2 hrs one way from my place of stay but the job was entirely done standing. I made a few friends here who I was shocked to know that were working here for the previous 5 years. During one of my discussions at lunch I told them that I don't think I'm going to continue there after 3-weeks, some of them said when we join we too thought and said what you are saying but look at us it's 5 years now and we are still here. Inside my head I smiled and said to myself I’m not going to continue here whatever people say?
I want to make a little suggestion here, if as a starter you get a similar low paying survival job then better look for one which is closer to your place of stay, these jobs are not worth spending travel time of 4 hours as I did. Save your time and energies for your main objectives of getting a full time or a contract position which commensurate with your skills. When I was at the start of third week at this workplace I got a call from a recruiter about which I have already mentioned earlier and got a job to move to Winnipeg. When I disclosed this and said good bye to my colleagues they couldn't believe it! Be ambitious, be determined, be risk taking, the initial time is the most testing time for any new immigrant, if you don't show your bone at this time then try a soft ball game! Never get deterred by people who suck you in with their de-motivating stories instead be determined to write your own successful story.
Move to Winnipeg
It was a rocking start to the year 2013, I got a 12-month contract job in one of the biggest insurance companies in Canada, I planned to move to Winnipeg and bought my air tickets. I thought that my relatives in Toronto wanted me to wait to have waited a little more time to get a job in Toronto instead of jumping on the first job but I had my own worries in my head and didn't wanted to wait.
Before moving I looked for apartments in Winnipeg, usually it's hard to rent an apartment if your are not in the city where you are looking for, although I got a few positive responses from people willing to share a room. I didn't finalize it and informed them that I'll be there and will take a look before confirming. I booked a hotel near the place of work on Portage Avenue which is in the downtown.
The day I landed in Winnipeg and took a cab to the hotel as I was on my way I could see snow piled up in heaps on both sides of the roads and the temperature was -15c, I got this weird feeling inside, did I make a mistake of moving here? It was too early to think about whether I really made a mistake as I was in the first hour after landing in Winnipeg but we all know that the first impressions are lasting impressions, this feeling remained throughout my stay in Winnipeg and made me to quickly chalk out my future, how to get out of this city? sounds funny but since I was on a contract which meant that I was not permanent pumped me up and lifted my spirits.
My story is not complete if I don't say anything about Winnipeg. The city is cold, no! It is the coldest among all the big cities in Canada. Welcome to cold weather, temperatures of -30c are normal during winters, if you are heading to this city be ready with extra warm clothing. Winters are long cold, the most depressing thing I thought about this city was heaps of rock hard snow piled up until end of April, the snow is so hard by this time that it takes over 2-3 weeks to melt.
I joined my place of work and was lucky to get a shared apartment on the very next day. The work place was a relaxed atmosphere with a large team of mostly senior people. It was a 40-hour per week job, the first couple of months I did almost nothing and was getting frustrated and I was even thinking why do they have to hire when there was not work at all? Later as I started getting familiar with people and environment my work load gradually increased but still I thought it was a lot lesser than when compared my previous workplaces outside Canada. The work culture was very organized, systematic with clear procedures and guidelines and above all stress free. People appreciated even when I completed a small task. I found that almost all my team mates were working here for over 20 years, my team lead was working in this organization for 35 years, I was looking like a small kid with just 10 years of experience
This was my first experience of Canadian workplace and every small thing was learning, when I say learning, it's mostly the Canadian work culture, knowing people and interacting with them. I should say that Canadians love to say stories and hear your stories too, so even if it is a small story like "you were coming to work this morning and the driver of the bus accidentally took a wrong turn and had to be reminded by passengers" small stories like this breaks the ice so whenever you get a chance speak about weather, news (not political I would suggest) but can be gossip related or even a ice hockey game, if you don't know ice hockey start picking up as it the most popular sport in Canada. At least be familiar with the names of hockey teams of favourite of your city like it is "Winnipeg Jets" in case of Winnipeg.
As I was in the month of June 2013 I knew that I had to start applying again as my contract period of 12-month was 6 months away but too me it looked as if it was very close. I updated my resume with my latest work experience and uploaded it on monster, within a few days I started getting calls. In one such call if I could remember it was from Ottawa the recruiter had to say "how did you ended up in Winnipeg"? And she was laughing. Here I would like to add a caveat "my views about Winnipeg must not necessarily be taken as negative, it's my own opinion based on a few observations (mostly cold weather) and others may have a lot many reasons to like this city"
By the end of June I had two interviews lined up for full time jobs one in Toronto and the other in Calgary, I was very inclined towards the job in Toronto as it will take me back to this city but unfortunately things didn't work out, the other interview was quiet successful, after three rounds of interview I got selected for a full time job in Calgary, by mid of July It was time to say good bye and start planning ahead for moving to Calgary.
story doesn't end here...more to come
Today I thought Ill write something about settling in Canada. Like many other immigrants I landed along with my family in Toronto on a sunny evening (yes evenings are sunny during long summers days) in May2012. My plan was a short stay of 3 weeks during which I had a list of things to complete. We stayed at a very close relatives house during this time and we are so thankful for their support during this initial days.
In the first couple of days it was so exciting, why not? We had long dreamed to come here and we were here finally. As the excitement of the first days started fading with the realities I started getting into action. I had come here with a plan, a target to complete certain things before we exit in 3 weeks time.
The things completed were...
-Applying for SIN cards
-Got a G-1 driving license
-Me and my wife both appeared for a CLB test and got a high scores ( this test is free for new immigrants, can be taken at YMCA.
-Activation of bank account
-The most important thing I achieved was getting registered for 4-week full time bridging program( IWES) for new immigrants. A pre-requisite of this program was CLB with a high score. It was good in a way that I got a chance to experience my first interview in Canada for admission into this program. Once confirmed I deferred it for six months as I had no plans to stay beyond three weeks.
-Took an appointment and visited a few recruiters who gave me a first cut feedback on my resume - I consider this to be very critical, as a new immigrant we don't know very well how well prepared our resumes are to focus on job market in Canada. Usually when you sit with a recruiter who will go through your resume and ask you a small questions about your skills and previous experience to build his understanding on how to project you with the employers. S/he may also suggest you to make changes to your resume. If they don't, never hesitate to politely ask them if they think that you should be making some changes to your resume? They will be happy to give you suggestions. And if they say to make changes and email it back to them, always make sure to thank them for their time and suggestions/feedback and send them back within agreed time which can be EOD, next day etc...
-I would suggest to visit YMCA as they have lots of information which can help us, just browsing through their shelf of brochures and picking up a few and giving random calls to a few recruiters to book appointment will help a lot.. These initial steps are small but will help you focus and those little interactions will boost your confidence by helping you with your communication skills.
To be contd...
Posted on 6 April'2014
I returned back to India as I was still working with a MNC so didn't wanted to be in a haste to quit, now that I had some experience of being in Canada and meeting people I wanted to carry it forward and started applying for jobs while I was in India. I applied for a lot of jobs and got many responses but as I mentioned that I was not in Canada so obviously and as expected I was out of the race. Later At the end of October I returned back alone seeing that the response was good and it was worth taking a risk by quitting my job.
In my first week after returning and starting from where I left I passed G-2 driving license road test and followed it up by joining the IWES bridging program where I was already accepted during my previous visit. To give a background about IWES program, it supports new immigrants by providing them first hand information about Canada. Topics such as Canadian work culture and a range of activities such as resume workshops, mock up interviews, encouraging participants to do presentations on different topics are covered. Successful immigrants are invited to share their success stories and practices they followed which was quite interesting, during one such interaction an HR executive from an organization was invited to provide information about Canadian labor laws and hiring process which was another interesting aspect of this program. As it was a full day program it gives a first hand opportunity of interacting with different people which is very helpful as we can share our experiences with each other and learn from others too. One activity which was outstanding I thought was mock up panel interviews which were video recorded and shared with the candidates. It gave a very good insight on our ability to project ourselves during an interview.
A key thing to learn about the interviews is to always keep in mind S.T.A.R - Situation, Task, Action, Result. Recall your previous successes stories at work and write your own small stories based on STAR. It will help you during interviews. Interviewers love it when you narrate your story against a question based on STAR. I would say write it as it will remain with you and will always help you to quickly go through it before an interview call.
Here, I must also add that some people with whom I discussed about this program gave a discouraging view saying things like "those programs are only a waste of time" or "it is just a way of showing that you are not left alone after arriving in Canada and it doesn't help at all". Listening to such views was quite disheartening but if you stay focused on your goals such talk should never bothers you, it didn't bother me at least as I knew I have to keep my eyes wide open and secondly learning anything new is never a waste of time.
More to come.... 8)
Posted on 20 April'2014
Meanwhile keeping myself busy with the program I had also started to extensively apply for jobs. My primary source was monster.ca and workopolis.ca as I started to apply I made sure that I created an excel sheet which keeps a record of what positions I applied? Date of applying, the email address I sent my resume to and my own rating level between 1-10 on how much I expect that it will turn into an opportunity. One other thing I did was created a folder on my laptop and under this folder I created different sub folders with each folder having a small description of the position I applied for with a copy of my resume and cover letter mailed along with a word document where I copy pasted the job description saved in it, just so that I don't lose track of things.
When it comes to applying for jobs be open minded to relocating, I know it's hard and most of the immigrants including me land in Toronto expecting to only look for jobs in this city, it goes on to such an extent that they end up wasting a lot of time and missing out on opportunities elsewhere. There are plenty of 6; 12 months contract jobs in the market they give a real opportunity to jump start your career. The process of hiring in a contract position is shorter compared to full time positions, so never rule out contract positions.
I applied for more than 50 to 60 jobs online starting Nov until the third week of Dec'12 when I finally got a call from a reputed recruitment consultant about a contract position in Winnipeg, the recruiter told me to highlight some of my previous experience of working on projects and send him in a presentable format. It was more of why I should be hired for this position? I created a two slide presentation format and responded to him and bang! He got back to me saying that the employer is interested in an interview.
Most of the questions were to understand a candidate's behavioral response with questions such as "what was the toughest situation you faced in your career and what your response was?" as I mentioned earlier always remember STAR, be ready with your story (short to the point) and respond. The interview lasted for 45 minutes. The next day I got a call from the recruiter that I have been selected and have to join in a week’s time, it was the greatest news I have waited to hear for! For so many months I have been thinking about this getting my first job in Canada and here it was. The down side of it, I had to leave Toronto to Winnipeg all alone on my own. I was prepared to take this risk as I considered that waiting for another opportunity in Toronto May take forever, who knows it, may have taken at least another month, two months or more? Looking at the financial position it was worth taking this step.
I have missed something which I thought I must add, during my fourth week at IWES, this was the second week of Dec'12 a friend of mine referred me for a 3-week contract job in Mississauga. The job was a low paying $12/hour, I thought that since I am at the end of the IWES program and it was December time when usually hiring is considered to be at low, better to get busy with this job. This job as I discovered was very much demanding. Not only that I had to travel at least 2 hrs one way from my place of stay but the job was entirely done standing. I made a few friends here who I was shocked to know that were working here for the previous 5 years. During one of my discussions at lunch I told them that I don't think I'm going to continue there after 3-weeks, some of them said when we join we too thought and said what you are saying but look at us it's 5 years now and we are still here. Inside my head I smiled and said to myself I’m not going to continue here whatever people say?
I want to make a little suggestion here, if as a starter you get a similar low paying survival job then better look for one which is closer to your place of stay, these jobs are not worth spending travel time of 4 hours as I did. Save your time and energies for your main objectives of getting a full time or a contract position which commensurate with your skills. When I was at the start of third week at this workplace I got a call from a recruiter about which I have already mentioned earlier and got a job to move to Winnipeg. When I disclosed this and said good bye to my colleagues they couldn't believe it! Be ambitious, be determined, be risk taking, the initial time is the most testing time for any new immigrant, if you don't show your bone at this time then try a soft ball game! Never get deterred by people who suck you in with their de-motivating stories instead be determined to write your own successful story.
Move to Winnipeg
It was a rocking start to the year 2013, I got a 12-month contract job in one of the biggest insurance companies in Canada, I planned to move to Winnipeg and bought my air tickets. I thought that my relatives in Toronto wanted me to wait to have waited a little more time to get a job in Toronto instead of jumping on the first job but I had my own worries in my head and didn't wanted to wait.
Before moving I looked for apartments in Winnipeg, usually it's hard to rent an apartment if your are not in the city where you are looking for, although I got a few positive responses from people willing to share a room. I didn't finalize it and informed them that I'll be there and will take a look before confirming. I booked a hotel near the place of work on Portage Avenue which is in the downtown.
The day I landed in Winnipeg and took a cab to the hotel as I was on my way I could see snow piled up in heaps on both sides of the roads and the temperature was -15c, I got this weird feeling inside, did I make a mistake of moving here? It was too early to think about whether I really made a mistake as I was in the first hour after landing in Winnipeg but we all know that the first impressions are lasting impressions, this feeling remained throughout my stay in Winnipeg and made me to quickly chalk out my future, how to get out of this city?
sounds funny but since I was on a contract which meant that I was not permanent pumped me up and lifted my spirits.My story is not complete if I don't say anything about Winnipeg. The city is cold, no! It is the coldest among all the big cities in Canada. Welcome to cold weather, temperatures of -30c are normal during winters, if you are heading to this city be ready with extra warm clothing. Winters are long cold, the most depressing thing I thought about this city was heaps of rock hard snow piled up until end of April, the snow is so hard by this time that it takes over 2-3 weeks to melt.
I joined my place of work and was lucky to get a shared apartment on the very next day. The work place was a relaxed atmosphere with a large team of mostly senior people. It was a 40-hour per week job, the first couple of months I did almost nothing and was getting frustrated and I was even thinking why do they have to hire when there was not work at all? Later as I started getting familiar with people and environment my work load gradually increased but still I thought it was a lot lesser than when compared my previous workplaces outside Canada. The work culture was very organized, systematic with clear procedures and guidelines and above all stress free. People appreciated even when I completed a small task. I found that almost all my team mates were working here for over 20 years, my team lead was working in this organization for 35 years, I was looking like a small kid with just 10 years of experience
This was my first experience of Canadian workplace and every small thing was learning, when I say learning, it's mostly the Canadian work culture, knowing people and interacting with them. I should say that Canadians love to say stories and hear your stories too, so even if it is a small story like "you were coming to work this morning and the driver of the bus accidentally took a wrong turn and had to be reminded by passengers" small stories like this breaks the ice so whenever you get a chance speak about weather, news (not political I would suggest) but can be gossip related or even a ice hockey game, if you don't know ice hockey start picking up as it the most popular sport in Canada. At least be familiar with the names of hockey teams of favourite of your city like it is "Winnipeg Jets" in case of Winnipeg.
As I was in the month of June 2013 I knew that I had to start applying again as my contract period of 12-month was 6 months away but too me it looked as if it was very close. I updated my resume with my latest work experience and uploaded it on monster, within a few days I started getting calls. In one such call if I could remember it was from Ottawa the recruiter had to say "how did you ended up in Winnipeg"? And she was laughing. Here I would like to add a caveat "my views about Winnipeg must not necessarily be taken as negative, it's my own opinion based on a few observations (mostly cold weather) and others may have a lot many reasons to like this city"
By the end of June I had two interviews lined up for full time jobs one in Toronto and the other in Calgary, I was very inclined towards the job in Toronto as it will take me back to this city but unfortunately things didn't work out, the other interview was quiet successful, after three rounds of interview I got selected for a full time job in Calgary, by mid of July It was time to say good bye and start planning ahead for moving to Calgary.
story doesn't end here...more to come
