IT job market - My experience

[ankit_20]

Guys I started this thread as I am getting lot of question on Job market prospects in Canada. I am no expert to comment on job prospects but I can share my experiences. This is what I want to share in this article

How to analyze Job market in your field
How to approach the Job Market
       Home work before you start from your home country
       After you arrive in Canada
Preparation for Interviews
Some basic etiquettes for job search
Finally what it takes
Some mistakes to avoid

Most of this is well written on forum and understood by many so I apologize if I sound repetitive. I will start with the ``Analyzing the job market``  in this post and write about others in following posts

The below mentioned information is my personal opinion and experience only. Using this strategy I was able to find jobs within 15 days of my landing.

How to analyze Job market in your field

List down all your skill sets in one place and make out the key words from them. For e.g someone who is a programmer in AS/400 from India can search for following
Technology: AS/400, RPG etc
Functional area like retail, banking, insurance
Process Skill set like CMMI, ISO, ITIL etc
BA or QA skill set like testing requirement analysis
Tools like sharepoint, Synon etc
Additional skill set like offshore team management, managing vendors in India etc
This is just an example you can do a lot more with your own skills. BTW I am not an AS/400 programmer

Then search for the jobs with combination of your skill sets on all websites that you can like
Workopolis, indeed, monster, sapphire etc
Go to each company`s website that works in your field search for the jobs  like for some on in retail domain go and upload your resume at Hudson bay, sears, walmart, costco, zellers and whichever retail chain you find. Go to the news article and see which companies are expanding, which are investing etc and search for jobs in these companies.

If you search right you will get to see the jobs. And if you have 10-15 new jobs in a week,  matching any of your skill sets, then I would say market is good.

[PG]

Ankit,

Many people write about generalized information collected. Hardly very few share the real life experience after stepping their real life in Canada about themselves.

I would highly welcome your experiences/strategies even if it sounds repetitive. Go on buddy.

Do you now escape Regina (if I remember correct!)?

[anumatri]

good job ankit

[imran7799]

Hi Ankit,

How are you doing? Great post again. Thanks for sharing.

I have some questions for you. I am planning to land in July 15th In Toronto. (BTW where are you ?). I have started applying for the job in my field (i.e Sharepoint). But I am not getting responces as I would expected. I did got few responses from few recruitment firms saying that please contact us when u reach here and we would try to do something for u.

Would you like to give any suggestion to me ? also if you can please share the market prospect for Sharepoint developer.

[ankit_20]

Hi Imran

Hope u r doing well. I am in Toronto right now.

When you are applying jobs have your resume should be very specific to the job to get responses and apply for it on company websites directly also

For Job prospects, I will not be able to tell you but follow the guidelines that I mentioned in my thread and see if it helps you discover the job market.

I have PM you my contact info

Take care, all the best

[lekamle]

Guys I started this thread as I am getting lot of question on Job market prospects in Canada. I am no expert to comment on job prospects but I can share my experiences. This is what I want to share in this article

How to analyze Job market in your field
How to approach the Job Market
       Home work before you start from your home country
       After you arrive in Canada
Preparation for Interviews
Some basic etiquettes for job search
Finally what it takes
Some mistakes to avoid

Most of this is well written on forum and understood by many so I apologize if I sound repetitive. I will start with the ``Analyzing the job market``  in this post and write about others in following posts

The below mentioned information is my personal opinion and experience only. Using this strategy I was able to find jobs within 15 days of my landing.

How to analyze Job market in your field

List down all your skill sets in one place and make out the key words from them. For e.g someone who is a programmer in AS/400 from India can search for following
Technology: AS/400, RPG etc
Functional area like retail, banking, insurance
Process Skill set like CMMI, ISO, ITIL etc
BA or QA skill set like testing requirement analysis
Tools like sharepoint, Synon etc
Additional skill set like offshore team management, managing vendors in India etc
This is just an example you can do a lot more with your own skills. BTW I am not an AS/400 programmer

Then search for the jobs with combination of your skill sets on all websites that you can like
Workopolis, indeed, monster, sapphire etc
Go to each company`s website that works in your field search for the jobs  like for some on in retail domain go and upload your resume at Hudson bay, sears, walmart, costco, zellers and whichever retail chain you find. Go to the news article and see which companies are expanding, which are investing etc and search for jobs in these companies.

If you search right you will get to see the jobs. And if you have 10-15 new jobs in a week,  matching any of your skill sets, then I would say market is good.

Grate input , nice summary. very helpful. Thanks a lot.

[ankit_20]

How to approach the Job Market
       Home work before you start from your home country
       After you arrive in Canada

Home work before you start from your home country

Resume
You should have a resume that clicks. Some improvements techniques to resume are ( Of course format is Canadian and you get it from Google)
1.) Slice and dice the information in your resume as per the job requirements.
Eg it is a BA job in banking for web development project and you feel you are good fit for job with your  past experience- this is how tailor ur resume -
Look for similar job on job portal and dig out 10-15 similar job - look at their requirements and create a resume that full fill the main common requirements of all these jobs. You can get the sentences for your career summary from these requirements.
2.) If you have doe QA/BA/PM roles in past, just focus on your BA qualities and forget your PM and QA qualities for this resume. If you focus on your PM qualities for this job your resume may not be best fit.
3.) Remove the mental block that I have submitted a different resume on a job portal what if they match the two. This is your career experience and you can present it in a way you like, the information should be correct but you have all the rights to highlight one thing for one job and other thing for other job.
4.) Identify the key words in Job description and all the key words should be in your resume, so that it becomes searchable
5.) Do not mention the location of your past jobs in resume
6.) If you create a resume for every job by slicing and dicing the same information eep a copy of it in your computer, so if get the interview call, you know which resume you need to use to prepare

It will take few cycles (15-20 days) to get a good resume in place because more time you spend on resume better are the prospects of finding improvement areas in it.

Canadian Address and Phone No.
1.) You should have a Canadian no. and address in your resume. For phone you can use skype, mydivert etc if you do not have a address of a family or friend do not mention one.
Start applying for the jobs only when you have a Canadian telephone no.

Apply now.
After you a good resume for the job in your field and you have done the job search about the job in your filed it is time to apply for jobs
Put up your resume on websites like monster, workopolis etc, all recruiters website, procom, roberhalf, sapphire, sisystems, teksystems, eagleonline etc, put your resume on all company websites that you have researched are in your job field.  Most companies here use a lengthy resume submission process and it takes 30 minutes or more to submit a resume.  Make sure while you are in India you can submit to as many companies a s you can. Out of 4 interviews that I gave in last 15 days, 3 were from direct companies.
Application is a full time job itself and you have to take it seriously.

After you arrive in Canada
After you arrive, you may have few threads open from your homework in your home country like some calls from recruiters, some from companies etc, let each one of them you have arrived and try to meet them.
Go to a LINC centre and take language assesment test
Go to any organization like Access Employment or Costi and register your self. Attend their programs and join the mentorship program. Mentor ship program is good and I have seen few people getting jobs because their mentors were hiring managers
Till you find the job, you may weant to join a co-op, volunteer program, JVS IWES program or career bridge program
If you want to study and bridge some gaps, you can join a college and use immigration loan for your study
Go to library and sit in a study corner and apply for jobs daily
Update your resume on Job website daily
Finally believe in your self, keep your self motivated and positive.
Give yourself 2-3 months to land the first job in your field.


Prepare for the interview.
Below is Bibile for Interview Preparation by Great Explorer101
http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/-t59921.0.html
If you feel that technically you are lacking, study in your home country it can be cheaper. Shoot for certifications. PMP, CPAB, CCNA, MCSE, OCP, JCP all are recognized here well

[imran7799]

Hi Imran

Hope u r doing well. I am in Toronto right now.

When you are applying jobs have your resume should be very specific to the job to get responses and apply for it on company websites directly also

For Job prospects, I will not be able to tell you but follow the guidelines that I mentioned in my thread and see if it helps you discover the job market.

I have PM you my contact info

Take care, all the best

Thanks for the replay Ankit

[waterloo09]

Thank you very much!

[Raj04]

Thanks Ankit for your valuable inputs..

It would be great if you can post the process how to obtain the Canadian phone no.?

Rgds,Raj.

How to approach the Job Market
       Home work before you start from your home country
       After you arrive in Canada

Home work before you start from your home country

Resume
You should have a resume that clicks. Some improvements techniques to resume are ( Of course format is Canadian and you get it from Google)
1.) Slice and dice the information in your resume as per the job requirements.
Eg it is a BA job in banking for web development project and you feel you are good fit for job with your  past experience- this is how tailor ur resume -
Look for similar job on job portal and dig out 10-15 similar job - look at their requirements and create a resume that full fill the main common requirements of all these jobs. You can get the sentences for your career summary from these requirements.
2.) If you have doe QA/BA/PM roles in past, just focus on your BA qualities and forget your PM and QA qualities for this resume. If you focus on your PM qualities for this job your resume may not be best fit.
3.) Remove the mental block that I have submitted a different resume on a job portal what if they match the two. This is your career experience and you can present it in a way you like, the information should be correct but you have all the rights to highlight one thing for one job and other thing for other job.
4.) Identify the key words in Job description and all the key words should be in your resume, so that it becomes searchable
5.) Do not mention the location of your past jobs in resume
6.) If you create a resume for every job by slicing and dicing the same information eep a copy of it in your computer, so if get the interview call, you know which resume you need to use to prepare

It will take few cycles (15-20 days) to get a good resume in place because more time you spend on resume better are the prospects of finding improvement areas in it.

Canadian Address and Phone No.
1.) You should have a Canadian no. and address in your resume. For phone you can use skype, mydivert etc if you do not have a address of a family or friend do not mention one.
Start applying for the jobs only when you have a Canadian telephone no.

Apply now.
After you a good resume for the job in your field and you have done the job search about the job in your filed it is time to apply for jobs
Put up your resume on websites like monster, workopolis etc, all recruiters website, procom, roberhalf, sapphire, sisystems, teksystems, eagleonline etc, put your resume on all company websites that you have researched are in your job field.  Most companies here use a lengthy resume submission process and it takes 30 minutes or more to submit a resume.  Make sure while you are in India you can submit to as many companies a s you can. Out of 4 interviews that I gave in last 15 days, 3 were from direct companies.
Application is a full time job itself and you have to take it seriously.

Prepare for the interview.

[SATDXB]

Thanks Ankit for your valuable inputs..

It would be great if you can post the process how to obtain the Canadian phone no.?

Rgds,Raj.

Hi, i read one post of ANKIT , in which he had advised for mydivert.com to be used as CANADIAN phone number.



Cheers...

[Mezo2009]

Thanks Ankit.

I was wondering on the types of interviews? Have you had phone interviews first, then face-to-face ones, or the phone was only to notify you of the date/time of an actual face/face interview?

Thanks

[ankit_20]

Visit mydivert.com. If you have a credit card you will be all set

Thanks Ankit for your valuable inputs..

It would be great if you can post the process how to obtain the Canadian phone no.?

Rgds,Raj.

[ankit_20]

For One Job I first had  an interview with HR and they gave me time for interview with Hiring manager. Hiring managers took interview on phone, when I was in India, and they asked me the date of landing in Canada to schedule the 2nd round. After landing there was another telephonic round as company's office was in a different city.  I had to meet them in person after that, they covered all expenses, before they offered.

For Second Job, I had a call from Resource management group, followed by 2 in-person  Interviews same day one after another.


In my opinion it is very rare to make an offer on basis of phone interview in Canada as hiring is conservative

Thanks Ankit.

I was wondering on the types of interviews? Have you had phone interviews first, then face-to-face ones, or the phone was only to notify you of the date/time of an actual face/face interview?

Thanks

[Mezo2009]

Thanks indeed Ankit for the prompt thorough answer. Truly appreciated.

For One Job I had first an interview with HR and they gave me time for interview with Hiring manager. Hiring managers took inyterview on phone when I was in India and they asked me the date of landing in Canada to schedule the 2nd round. After landing there was another telephonic round as company's office was in a different city.  I had to meet them in person after that, they covered all expenses, before they offered.

For Second Job, I had a call from Resource management group, followed by in person 2 Interviews same day one after another.


In my opinion it is very rare to make an offer on basdis of phone interview in Canada as hiring is consertvative