Another suggestion based on my own experience:
If you know of one or two good companies you want to work for, then keep sending your resume every 3 to 4 weeks and a cover letter stating that you are still available.
In my case, I sent this one company about 10 resumes for engineer's position (they memorized my name and mentioned that during the interview). The reason is that companies do not keep resume in their file for long time. Whe job opens, whose resume is on hand gets considered. So, keep after a good company...Don't give up...It's matter of persistance.
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Posted on: 20-05-04 11:08:16
Shrek - Fabulous tips on job hunting.
I share your concerns on how and why everyone seems to pour into GTA and later gripe about the cost of living, unaffordability and of course jobs, or lack thereof.
I live in Windsor - a safe city with a decent cost of living and a fine proximity to the US, not to mention the casino. If you have an automotive engineering background (Mechanical, Industrial, Manufacturing, Production, Chemical, etc) with 3 to 6 years experience, opportunities, in my opinion, are decent.
Windsor and neighbouring areas (Tilbury, Lakeshore, Tecumseh, etc) have major automotive firms such as Meritor, Autoliv, Siemens, Textron, Valiant, Veltri, BASF, etc along with the big three - Chrysler Minivan assembly, GM transmission and Ford engine plants.
To complement Shrek's tips on communication, enunciation (speaking words clearly) in verbal communication is darn important irrespective of your accent. Indians tend to talk fast and interrupt others while talking. The key to clear communication is to enunciate and to listen completely before responding.
Personal odour is another key factor during an interview - too much perfume can knock the other person flat out. On the other extreme, wearing a suit that smells of aromatic spices will not help either.
Be interested during the ENTIRE interview process or at least pretend to be. Your body language will give you away if you begin to lose interest. Shifty eye movement generally will be perceived as a sign of nervousness or lack of interest. Maintain eye contact with the interviewer.
Interesting thread. Let us hear from more.
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Dimple2001
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
Excellent tips, Jay! Good stuff.
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Are you there?
Nice Jay!!!
Here's another bump to keep this thread at the top of the list.
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Per my personal experience Jay's TIPS are absolutely very much helpful
and one should follow those steps during preparation for Technical/HR interviews
Just want to add couple of things
(1)Applicant should answer in a relaxed manner during interview and based on the interviewer might need to add humour if required ...the concept of interview here is bit different than in India
(2)Resume should contain more technical stuff based on yout actual work/project experience and key thing about the resume is you should be able to explain not only in each of you skill areas that you mentioned in your resume but also any area related to you main skills .If you don't have any clue politely tell that you never worked in that area
(3)Before facing the interview check out that particular companies activities/product details /finanacial position via their website.At the fag end of the interview most of the interviewer ask if you have any question ...that time you could convey your idea about the company and also may ask any generic question regarding that particular position ...all these thing will convey one thing to the inteviewer that you gathered knowledege about companies activities and interested about that position .... this might be helpful during your interview with HR
(4)Use your soft skills like body language,eye contact properly
(5)During HR interview if interviewer ask about your expected salary
answer in a very diplomatic way .If they publish salary range in the advertisement itself stick to that one .Otherwise reply like " With my experience I am hoping to get in the range of 60s/70s/80s but am ready to accept per organisation pay structure for this position "
Pass cleverly your expectation keeping yourself flexible same time
Best of luck
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ani
