I could not find a thread on this but I wanted to post my experience of job search after landing on express entry so it can be helpful for those planning job search in Canada.
I will use acronyms where possible. Even though this is a true story although all resemblances are coincidental
Background: US educated BS/MS, 9 years experience of validation engineering in Telecom and auto industry in US and a 8 months unemployment gap having been not working since immigration issues in US and move to India. Have volunteered as resume reviewer and career guide for non-profits so have job search acumen in past.
july- PPR and COPR
late july - From India start applying for jobs that match my bg on LinkedIn, monster and specific companies I had targeted
August 1st week- receive couple of screening calls on Google voice I had setup for US number. W tells me I will have Skype technical interview a day before my flight for position in GTA. G call says will setup interview later for GTA positions.
August 2nd week- W leads Skype interview me, next day August 14 I take off from India land in Toronto with family of 5. After settling in hotel in 1 day I call G and come to know G will have major layoffs so unsure of hiring
August 3rd week- I continue applying and now apply for contracting positions. I come across a cross domain contracting Val engineer position in railway/subway @ T applied on fluke. Get call from T recruiter unsure I have match. Read up on T and call him again to show the overlap and get forwarded to hiring manager. No news from W on result email them with no response. Do my best application spending half a day for a position with B.
August 4th week - Find positions with a former contracting house A - Canadian version I had worked for and immediately apply get short listed, ace screening (familiarity helps) interview with F at their campus outskirts of GTA scheduled September 1st week. Another company C who had applied based on my past work schedules Skype technical round. More good news shortlisted by T for interview end of August.
End of Aug/Sepfirst week - The week of interviews T - Toronto proper interview not exactly my background try to highlight my ability to work on variety of platforms, adaptability, lead most of the interview only questioned have the time. Feel confident I did my best. Explain job gap well.
C - Ace the first part of the interview, get caught in the coding part and the interview last forever and they say find gaps which they must consider
A for F - Interview well, avoid leading or lagging, try not to be very assertive. Write decent code, find good fails, acknowledge when pointed mistakes. Feel I did my best and F did not push me hard.
Get calls for position in Sudbury but decide against applying hoping one of the 3 works out
September 2nd week- No news from anywhere. Phone calls and emails yield no response most going to voicemail. By the end of the week month 1 in Canada done thoughts start I need survival job. Apply more with no result. Start looking at local job fairs and expos. Change hotels as my hotel was sold out. W who I had been contacting tells me I was overlooked for the position.
September 3rd week - Get hold of C, T and A recruiters.
C - we will schedule a second interview at some point
T - Recruiter tells you probably did not get the position sometimes employers don't tell us if position filled
A - F likes you - you interviewed well but they are looking for a better fit if they don't find anyone else they will get back to you otherwise... Recruiter sympathizes with me and hopes for best
I visit job fairs most employers there are looking for sales reps, guidance counselor I talk to goes on philosophical rant - if you want to get help- help others. Meet with folks who haven't found job in their area for months. Meet tele who are hiring for technical support- $15/hr, apply and they say will send a exam. Meet Ontario Career services schedule an appointment. Job fairs make me disappointed. Towards end of week find a position in my former employers competitor in Ottawa through A that requires similar experience to what I used to do . Immediately call recruiter who worked with me last time. She finds the recruiter in charge. The position requires lots of coding and less of Val but I push my case and she tells she is get me in front of hiring manager. I get a call for Sudbury position and sign right to represent even though position in Inc by asking for very high payrate. Hotel bills seem to be piling so I am desperate to at least get survival job so apply bunch of tech support positions. Regret not doing tech support certifications during time in India. Complete tele assessment and they invite for interview.
September 4th week - Go to tele and they do group interview and say if I can immediately start they have temp position till December. I almost sign up till I get courage to ask them for 1 week. On other front A says Comp wants assessment on coding skills so need to take impromptu coding assessment for a language I didn't use in job. I ask for day stay up most night setting up to do assessment. Finally take it just before deadline. It's similar to certification exams (CCNA) I have done before but for coding 48 questions 120 mins can have more than one correct answer. While I am half way through this tough assessment and each question has close to 2.5 minutes. My phone starts ringing and I ignore. It rings again and this time there is a voicemail. I ignore again as I have no time for this but a third time it rings my curiosity gets the better of me and I play voicemail as I take the test. It's a call from Ts recruiter says T has decided to offer me the position but they have one question for me. I am overcome with joy but this assessment I need to focus I complete the assessment attempt of the questions get 79%. Call back Ts recruiter and tentatively accept. A for Comp calls later in the day saying I did very well in assessment so they can schedule interview on Comp campus. I inform her of the job offer and now this interview I will take but have leverage to dictate terms. I do Comps interview anything they ask on surface I am able to answer but when they dig deep they find the loopholes. I can sense I will not get this position. The recruiter later tells me I have been internally referred for another position in Ottawa as some of the interviewers in Comp found me better fit for that but I thankfully decline and accept T as my new role.
Lessons learnt: 1. Applying - Even though apply targeted keep your options open during application process. Some of the best applications I did for industry leaders did not even get me a screening call while just putting my resume on monster got me several. Know the search engine your industry uses. FB and WhatsApp job groups did not even get acknowledgement that they received anything from me. Know what works and use it to the fullest.
2. Resume: Your resume is your chance to get in, so work on it, every time I did I got an interview and I interviewed almost every week during this 7 week struggle. There were several folks who had their photos in resume at job fair. At least try to get your resume in the correct format so that you can show your true face during interview.
3. Hustle - go to job fairs, make the calls, do your due diligence.
4. Feedback: Take advice but have feedback mechanism yourself to see what works and what doesn't. I did not follow most of the playbook career advisors told me for I know the industry I work in better than them
5. Prepare for interviews: try to answer the questions on Glassdoor etc for the employer they have asked previously. It will make life easy in interview and most often make to confident
6. Have patience: There is a reason Ircc wants us to show proof of funds for 6 months, Ontario Career services says it takes 8 weeks to get job. They were spot on in my case. If I had taken tele job and not waited one more week I would have missed out on a good T opportunity.
7. Finally - it's not easy to take rejections but keep going. Not getting a job doesn't make you the worst engineer and getting a job doesn't mean you are perfect. For employers don't define you - you define yourself. Learn to moderate. Be critical of yourself but learn to live for another day. Don't get depressed or bogged down for you miss every shot you don't take so take the three pointers one day you will make one that will be remembered for long...
I will use acronyms where possible. Even though this is a true story although all resemblances are coincidental
Background: US educated BS/MS, 9 years experience of validation engineering in Telecom and auto industry in US and a 8 months unemployment gap having been not working since immigration issues in US and move to India. Have volunteered as resume reviewer and career guide for non-profits so have job search acumen in past.
july- PPR and COPR
late july - From India start applying for jobs that match my bg on LinkedIn, monster and specific companies I had targeted
August 1st week- receive couple of screening calls on Google voice I had setup for US number. W tells me I will have Skype technical interview a day before my flight for position in GTA. G call says will setup interview later for GTA positions.
August 2nd week- W leads Skype interview me, next day August 14 I take off from India land in Toronto with family of 5. After settling in hotel in 1 day I call G and come to know G will have major layoffs so unsure of hiring
August 3rd week- I continue applying and now apply for contracting positions. I come across a cross domain contracting Val engineer position in railway/subway @ T applied on fluke. Get call from T recruiter unsure I have match. Read up on T and call him again to show the overlap and get forwarded to hiring manager. No news from W on result email them with no response. Do my best application spending half a day for a position with B.
August 4th week - Find positions with a former contracting house A - Canadian version I had worked for and immediately apply get short listed, ace screening (familiarity helps) interview with F at their campus outskirts of GTA scheduled September 1st week. Another company C who had applied based on my past work schedules Skype technical round. More good news shortlisted by T for interview end of August.
End of Aug/Sepfirst week - The week of interviews T - Toronto proper interview not exactly my background try to highlight my ability to work on variety of platforms, adaptability, lead most of the interview only questioned have the time. Feel confident I did my best. Explain job gap well.
C - Ace the first part of the interview, get caught in the coding part and the interview last forever and they say find gaps which they must consider
A for F - Interview well, avoid leading or lagging, try not to be very assertive. Write decent code, find good fails, acknowledge when pointed mistakes. Feel I did my best and F did not push me hard.
Get calls for position in Sudbury but decide against applying hoping one of the 3 works out
September 2nd week- No news from anywhere. Phone calls and emails yield no response most going to voicemail. By the end of the week month 1 in Canada done thoughts start I need survival job. Apply more with no result. Start looking at local job fairs and expos. Change hotels as my hotel was sold out. W who I had been contacting tells me I was overlooked for the position.
September 3rd week - Get hold of C, T and A recruiters.
C - we will schedule a second interview at some point
T - Recruiter tells you probably did not get the position sometimes employers don't tell us if position filled
A - F likes you - you interviewed well but they are looking for a better fit if they don't find anyone else they will get back to you otherwise... Recruiter sympathizes with me and hopes for best
I visit job fairs most employers there are looking for sales reps, guidance counselor I talk to goes on philosophical rant - if you want to get help- help others. Meet with folks who haven't found job in their area for months. Meet tele who are hiring for technical support- $15/hr, apply and they say will send a exam. Meet Ontario Career services schedule an appointment. Job fairs make me disappointed. Towards end of week find a position in my former employers competitor in Ottawa through A that requires similar experience to what I used to do . Immediately call recruiter who worked with me last time. She finds the recruiter in charge. The position requires lots of coding and less of Val but I push my case and she tells she is get me in front of hiring manager. I get a call for Sudbury position and sign right to represent even though position in Inc by asking for very high payrate. Hotel bills seem to be piling so I am desperate to at least get survival job so apply bunch of tech support positions. Regret not doing tech support certifications during time in India. Complete tele assessment and they invite for interview.
September 4th week - Go to tele and they do group interview and say if I can immediately start they have temp position till December. I almost sign up till I get courage to ask them for 1 week. On other front A says Comp wants assessment on coding skills so need to take impromptu coding assessment for a language I didn't use in job. I ask for day stay up most night setting up to do assessment. Finally take it just before deadline. It's similar to certification exams (CCNA) I have done before but for coding 48 questions 120 mins can have more than one correct answer. While I am half way through this tough assessment and each question has close to 2.5 minutes. My phone starts ringing and I ignore. It rings again and this time there is a voicemail. I ignore again as I have no time for this but a third time it rings my curiosity gets the better of me and I play voicemail as I take the test. It's a call from Ts recruiter says T has decided to offer me the position but they have one question for me. I am overcome with joy but this assessment I need to focus I complete the assessment attempt of the questions get 79%. Call back Ts recruiter and tentatively accept. A for Comp calls later in the day saying I did very well in assessment so they can schedule interview on Comp campus. I inform her of the job offer and now this interview I will take but have leverage to dictate terms. I do Comps interview anything they ask on surface I am able to answer but when they dig deep they find the loopholes. I can sense I will not get this position. The recruiter later tells me I have been internally referred for another position in Ottawa as some of the interviewers in Comp found me better fit for that but I thankfully decline and accept T as my new role.
Lessons learnt: 1. Applying - Even though apply targeted keep your options open during application process. Some of the best applications I did for industry leaders did not even get me a screening call while just putting my resume on monster got me several. Know the search engine your industry uses. FB and WhatsApp job groups did not even get acknowledgement that they received anything from me. Know what works and use it to the fullest.
2. Resume: Your resume is your chance to get in, so work on it, every time I did I got an interview and I interviewed almost every week during this 7 week struggle. There were several folks who had their photos in resume at job fair. At least try to get your resume in the correct format so that you can show your true face during interview.
3. Hustle - go to job fairs, make the calls, do your due diligence.
4. Feedback: Take advice but have feedback mechanism yourself to see what works and what doesn't. I did not follow most of the playbook career advisors told me for I know the industry I work in better than them
5. Prepare for interviews: try to answer the questions on Glassdoor etc for the employer they have asked previously. It will make life easy in interview and most often make to confident
6. Have patience: There is a reason Ircc wants us to show proof of funds for 6 months, Ontario Career services says it takes 8 weeks to get job. They were spot on in my case. If I had taken tele job and not waited one more week I would have missed out on a good T opportunity.
7. Finally - it's not easy to take rejections but keep going. Not getting a job doesn't make you the worst engineer and getting a job doesn't mean you are perfect. For employers don't define you - you define yourself. Learn to moderate. Be critical of yourself but learn to live for another day. Don't get depressed or bogged down for you miss every shot you don't take so take the three pointers one day you will make one that will be remembered for long...