My background:

Professional accountant in India and the US.

Substantial part of my life in the Middle East, including 5 years of work experience there. About 4 years of work experience in India.

Age group when I landed in Canada: 25 – 30

Been in Canada for 16 months

Profile prior to coming to Canada – a little over entry level management, top drawer multinational, but limited prospects of advancement on account of nationalization pressures

Profile after coming to Canada – entry level management (same profession / same industry function), prospects of significant advancement within the organization are more than likely

What was I aiming for?

Enjoy the North American way of life

Develop professionally

Meet certain asset creation goals within specific time frames

Have a western passport – (amongst other reasons) I’m an avid traveller and travelling on my Indian passport was becoming increasingly difficult………

What did I do?

Prior to landing:

Prepared extensively

Developed a very strong understanding of the positive attributes that I had, that would stand me in good stead in Canada. Talked to people
already in Canada – relatives / friends / ex-colleagues trying to understand what I could capitalize on.

Had my credentials evaluated by the licensing organization that I wanted to be a part of

Talked to the licensing organization at length about the licensing process and had the process initiated prior to landing

Got myself onto (e)mailing lists to get updates on the latest developments in my profession in North America

Posted my resume on 2 popular job search websites about 6 weeks prior to landing

Kept the Resume active by logging into it and refreshing it every day.
Started applying selectively to jobs on those websites

Where recruiters’ email addresses were available, sent follow up emails to them

On landing:

Made an exploratory visit (planned to be in Canada for 4 weeks)

Immediately after landing, attended a job search workshop at an HRDC funded organization

Had the consultant evaluate my Resume, also asked him to introduce me to his contacts

Talked to his contacts at length about the market, skills in demand, et al

Also talked to his contacts about ‘generic skills’ that could be used on any Resume in my industry

Brain stormed on my own for ‘specific skills’ that I had

Developed lists of potential employers from different sources

Prioritized the employers that I wanted to approach first, had a look at their websites, crafted my Resume using generic skills and specific skills that I possessed that I thought would match their requirements.

Developed 30 second – 1 minute summaries of my profile that I could used either in a telephone conversation or in an interview with potential recruiters.

Started sending out Resumes very aggressively, sent over 100, many were unsolicited

Received a number of regrets, especially for the unsolicited applications

Maintained a log of Resumes sent out, also noted down regrets, aimed to focus on people who were recruiting

Started receiving interview calls pretty soon, but was running out of time as I was nearing my scheduled departure date

Took up one job offer where the employer was willing to expedite the process while also accomodating the fact that I would be serving out a short notice period in the Middle East.

Accepted an employment offer received, position was a full time permanent position, within my own specialization.

Went back to the Middle East, returned to Canada after serving out my notice period.

Kept my Resume on job search websites. About 8 months after returning another job offer came up with a marginally higher salary structure and a more relaxed profile than my previous jobs in the Middle East and Canada. I accepted and have been with my new employer ever since.


Am I happy to be in Canada? – Yes

Have I achieved the goals (including asset creation) that I set for myself a time frame of 12 – 24 months? Certainly have.

Sorry there’s no exciting narrative of struggles, etc in this post.

Some of you may think that all of the above is just a theoretical / text-book way of doing things. Well, to each his own………this worked for me, may not necessarily work for everyone.