Applying jobs online not working...or just only me?

[tery1461]

I moved to Toronto 8 months ago. I have applied for about 15 jobs online (mainly from the banks' career websites)....but never get a response.
I have 10 years if credit risk management experience in multinational banks in Hong Kong and educated in UK. I have a feeling that online applications and resumes are ignored. Has anyone ever gotten a response from applying online?Do they even bother to review your resumes or applications?

I must have submitted over 200 applications which resulted in 20 interviews before I landed my 1st job 1 year later, it was very frustrating at times but I never gave up...

 

[tery1461]

Yes, as said before, 15 is nothing. An average job hunt takes 4-6 months, and you should aim for a minimum of 2 customized CVs and cover letters per day. See that the resume and cover is tailored to Canadian expectations, hire a professional if necessary. Too many CVs that I've seen from immigrants don't catch my attention. An interviewer has little interest if you have an MBA from XYZ university, they want to see what skills you have and what you have accomplished.

Read up on keywords. Large employers electronically scan resumes by software - the software then selects the resumes to be reviewed by humans, so you need to be flagged by the software first. There are lots of websites that will teach you how to do that.

Good luck!

my 1st 50 applications yielded zero replies then I had my resume redone by a professional (this time with a cover letter and resume). soon after enquiries, question, and interviews were being requested. Cover letter, format, and presentation made a big difference.

 

[tery1461]

I found a very well paying corporate job in my field 16 months after coming to Canada and doing low-level survival jobs with no contact in industry. And I found it by applying online. So Yes, it is possible to find a job online but you must be very lucky to encounter the following factors at the same time:
1. The most important! The recruiter must be an open minded person who is free from prejudice that immigrants are morons (this is extremely rare!).
2. There must be some requirement in your position that very few local candidates will satisfy (in my case, position demanded fluency in a language that almost nobody speaks here).
3. It must be in a location where there is shortage of skilled labour (in my case, I moved well up to the North).
4. There must be a real vacancy, which means someone has just left the job and the company really needs a replacement (you will notice that many vacancies advertised do not even exist).
5. All internal candidates (those who already work for the company and applied for this job) failed the interview.
6. You must have at least one canadian reference (yes, it does not matter much if it is a CEO of BMO or a local Tim Horton's manager), a nice supervisor who will give you his mobile phone to be contacted by referees and will praise you to them.

Well, it took me 16 months of exhausting humiliating survival jobs and over 1000 applications before my resume reached the desk of a fair and open minded recruiter who evaluates candidates based on professional credentials and not his ethnicity and gave me this great chance in life. So finding a real job is a real struggle that undermines mental and physical health.

Agree 100%, all applicable in my case.

 

[Alirezasajjadi]

thanks! with oversupply of university graduates job search depends on luck more and more. and the only way to win lottery is to try, overcome the defeat and try again.

Agree 100%, all applicable in my case.

 

[lolade]

Yes, as said before, 15 is nothing. An average job hunt takes 4-6 months, and you should aim for a minimum of 2 customized CVs and cover letters per day. See that the resume and cover is tailored to Canadian expectations, hire a professional if necessary. Too many CVs that I've seen from immigrants don't catch my attention. An interviewer has little interest if you have an MBA from XYZ university, they want to see what skills you have and what you have accomplished.

Read up on keywords. Large employers electronically scan resumes by software - the software then selects the resumes to be reviewed by humans, so you need to be flagged by the software first. There are lots of websites that will teach you how to do that.

Good luck!

thank u so much i would like to know how one can get job in canada am prresently in nigeria and have apply for menial jobs in canada that suit my qualification but they have not get back to me

 

[jazibkg]

I moved to Toronto 8 months ago. I have applied for about 15 jobs online (mainly from the banks' career websites)....but never get a response.
I have 10 years if credit risk management experience in multinational banks in Hong Kong and educated in UK. I have a feeling that online applications and resumes are ignored. Has anyone ever gotten a response from applying online?Do they even bother to review your resumes or applications?

Your volume of applications is low. That said, I have been applying online myself (in Vancouver) for about a month now and have attended at least 5 face-to-face interviews with different companies up till now, and have 2 upcoming interviews next week as well.

I only have 1.5 years banking experience from the UK. What's more, I was once directly contacted by an HSBC personnel for a job I didn't even apply for...so I don't know you may not be approaching the job-hunt the correct way. Try to get some help with a professional settlement agency (as I did). If someone with such less experience like me can attain at least interviews (and that too in Vancouver where there are lower volume of vacancies compared to Toronto), I don't know why someone with 10 years experience with credit risk cannot do the same.

My first advice will be to start looking for job outside the banking sector. HSBC has been the only one who telephone interviewed me. Canadian banks have been lackluster, no response.

 

[emamabd]

Your volume of applications is low. That said, I have been applying online myself (in Vancouver) for about a month now and have attended at least 5 face-to-face interviews with different companies up till now, and have 2 upcoming interviews next week as well.

sounds like you will be getting some offers soon, good luck!

 

[jazibkg]

sounds like you will be getting some offers soon, good luck!

Thank you Emamabd! After a relentless job search, I was offered a role yesterday. You were the first person to anticipate that, God bless.