Dear Friends,
I have been following the CD forums for a while now and posted few thoughts of mine. Here is my story of immigration and the achievement of more than 150% growth in employment.

I chose Canada as my destination for immigration in the year of 1999. I was inspired by my uncle, who is a retired professor. He came to Canada in 1969 and he had to suffer a lot to get due recognition. Anyway, back in India, I had the experience in manufacturing technology and I had the opportunity to design machines, tools and auto parts to meet both European and North American standards. Once I have decided to immigrate to Canada, I started looking for the right launching platform that would let me use my skills as a design engineer in the manufacturing industry and would also let me to get a strong footing in Canada. In order to get the same job in Canada, I would require a Master's degree there. So I started browsing the net and found my platform. I joined a private training institution in Hyderabad to learn SAP R/3 as a specialist in Materials Management and Production Planning, control. Most of my colleagues left to USA for green bucks on H1B. I have continued my journey to get experience in SAP and have landed contracts with GMIL and Aravind Mills.

Then I was confident enough to use my skills in Canada. I landed here in June,1999 and within a month had four offers in hand. Finally I decided to join one big corp in Toronto. I have promised to my interviewers then that I would get a big raise in my basic before I leave them. I started with them at $62k basic. I lived up to their Promise. Within two years of my employment with them, I received four raises and left the company happily with about $77k basic and a consistent performance bonus of 12% and cash rewards worth $8k over those two years. I joined a company in Montreal as their senior most SAP specialist with a basic of around $ 85k and was their world wide manager in Six months for SAP implementation with a basic of $92k. I was chosen as the successor for their Director and left them after more than three years with a basic of $110k with a bonus of 22%. Now I am back in Ontario with a raising star company with a basic of more than $130k and a bonus of 32% variable, as their world wide SAP implementation Manager.

The above story may be talking about figures. The summary is that you need a driving vision and enablers to reach that. Once you have it, the locations and companies are trivial matters. What matters is that do you have the self-confidence in you to challenge the President of a Fortune 100 company and can you say that what they do sucks? That confidence comes out of your practical experience. So I don't necessarily agree with anybody who talks about luck for landing jobs. If you are looking for a job, you may get it. If you came here for a career, you better prepare for it. I have managed more than 450 people in a company for a project here. Luck has no meaning there in that situation. You just need to live upto your own expectations, before living upto somebody else's expectations. Thanks.
Regards
Jay

Wow! Congrats, Jay! That really is incredible.

Some questions

1) What age group do you belong to?
2) Did you apply for Jobs after coming here or did you apply right from India? What was the response you got? I know you got 4 offers in the first week so must've been terrific. What tips do you have for others to accelerate their job search?

Please reply when you get a chance.

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Hi
Please find the answers below.
1) 1) What age group do you belong to?
When I came to Canada, I was 30 years of age and now I am 35years old.
2)2) Did you apply for Jobs after coming here or did you apply right from India? What was the response you got? I know you got 4 offers in the first week so must've been terrific. What tips do you have for others to accelerate their job search?

I did lot of research on the job demand in SAP before coming to Canada. I have applied for jobs only after coming here. I think, I have posted some tips in the jobs category for job hunting and resume building. If you can't find it, let me know.

Thanks
Regards,
Jay

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Orginally posted by BlueLobster

Wow! Congrats, Jay! That really is incredible.

Some questions

1) What age group do you belong to?
2) Did you apply for Jobs after coming here or did you apply right from India? What was the response you got? I know you got 4 offers in the first week so must've been terrific. What tips do you have for others to accelerate their job search?

Please reply when you get a chance.

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Hi
Please search in the charcha by my user name in the jobs section. You will see the interview tips posting. Thanks
Regards,
Srinivas

Quote:

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Orginally posted by knockout_Jay

Hi
Please find the answers below.
1) 1) What age group do you belong to?
When I came to Canada, I was 30 years of age and now I am 35years old.
2)2) Did you apply for Jobs after coming here or did you apply right from India? What was the response you got? I know you got 4 offers in the first week so must've been terrific. What tips do you have for others to accelerate their job search?

I did lot of research on the job demand in SAP before coming to Canada. I have applied for jobs only after coming here. I think, I have posted some tips in the jobs category for job hunting and resume building. If you can't find it, let me know.

Thanks
Regards,
Jay

Quote:

---

Orginally posted by BlueLobster

Wow! Congrats, Jay! That really is incredible.

Some questions

1) What age group do you belong to?
2) Did you apply for Jobs after coming here or did you apply right from India? What was the response you got? I know you got 4 offers in the first week so must've been terrific. What tips do you have for others to accelerate their job search?

Please reply when you get a chance.

---

---

Thanks KJ. I have picked those up from the other thread and put them here. Thanks very much for your time and I'll post more questions as and when people send them to me.


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Job interview tips by Knockout_Jay
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Job interview tips
Hi
I started to visit this interesting site recently and thought that I can share some tips from my experience as an interviewer. I am working for a corporation in Montreal as an IT manager. Recently, I was interviewing potential candidates for some available positions with us. As part of the interview process, we ask the applicants to fill out a technical skills self-rating template. This provides us an idea on the applicants level of skills. Anyways, three of the seven applicants, I interviewed, were from Indian origin. Either they are recently immigrated from India or looking for a change of job(second one since landing). Usually, I start with scanning the areas, where the applicant says, he/she provided most complicated solutions. Interestingly enough, most of these complicated areas rated by our desi friends are least complicated. You can imagine the outcome of the interview after reviewing such things. Beware, in North America, people like myself are in middle to senior/executive management levels. Some of our desi friends even quoted boldly very well known desi institutes to show their consulting experience. This system used to work probably when the demand exceeded the supply in 90's. Please do not blame Canada for not getting jobs. There is no point in discussing my own track record here, unless it provides some body with inspiration. If you are confident in your skills, you can get a nice career. Please find below some of the important tips for finding jobs or for attending the interviews from my own perspective as an interviewer and also from my own experience as a landed immigrant.

1. Every Employer is unique. Do not send generic resumes to all.
1a. When you find a position interesting, note all the details about the job description, specific skills requirements,contact person, numbers,mail etc.
1b. Create a database in excel/Access to record these details. Don't apply to more people than you can remember in a day. Some times, you may get a call within a day.
1c. If you don't recognize the person calling you over the phone, the chance are that you are leaving a 'No-interest' impression on the potential recruiter.
1d. Modify your resume highlighting the skill areas of interest to the specific position.
1e. Create a cover letter emphasizing how your skills can help the organization in the available position and what makes you a unique applicant for the position.

2. If any employer asks you to rate your skills and highlight the areas of application of your skills (refer to my example above), make sure to fill the same with careful consideration.
2a. If you made a mistake in the resume or in the skills form, admit the same and provide an explanation.
2b. Keep track of the versions of your resume. In the database you might have created as suggested in 1b, enter the version number of the resume submitted.

3. When the employer calls you on phone, make effort to talk slowly and coherently.
3a. As the employer would have called you before to setup an appointment with you, he/she would expect you to be ready at that time.
3b. Make sure you have a hard copy of the CORRECT version of the resume submitted to the CURRENT position.
3c. If the employer asks you to tell them about your background, don't start right from your school days.
3d. Be specific and position centric. Explain to the employer about your last assignment with as much technical details(or the appropriate skills) as possible.
3e. Be ready to provide real examples of your work. Some times, employers like myself, can get too deep into the subject.
3f. As an example to 3e, I asked recently one of the candidates, what he would do to reduce the inventory and also to reduce MRP exception scenarios. He was completely taken aback and tried to provide technical solutions not related to the question.
3g. Don't apply for a position that is not for you.

4. Usually, one of the HR personnel will call you on the phone to know your soft skills. In IT sector, you can expect your immediate supervisor to call you directly. Be ready to be tested either way. As an example, in my company, I conduct both technical and soft skills interviews at the same time.
5. Some body was mentioning in the forum about a question from the employer. This is what happened to myself. I was asked whether I had any previous Canadian experience. I did not answer a NO. My answer was that I did not have Canadian experience, but I would like to know the relevancy of the question. Then my Director told me about his worry about my inexperience with North American business processes. My answer or rather the question to him was whether his organization creates a purchase order before a requisition.

More tips at a later date. Best of luck.

With Best Regards,
Jay

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