Chandresh,

Can we please have ALL questions posted in the appropriate section? I understand you or MI are not able to post there, however the whole purpose of having a specific section is to keep all information there so that user's don't have to search parallel threads.

Please do not post any questions to GIG here. If anybody has any quetsions, send them to me or GG for now.

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Chandresh,

I expected this to happen. I shall try answering your questions as many as I can.

He has written he came from premier institutes - I would like to know which ones is he talking about - so that I will know that employers in Canada do know those institutes, and give due weightage to them?
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It does not matter. IITs do matter South of the border. That’s why I never mentioned my educational background in the first place. In Canada it is gada goda barabar. All what matters is how you portray yourself.
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2. What fields was/is he in which are a direct offshoot of his education? Like I have seen quite a few Mechanical engineers doing extremely well in the IT field, which was not their original education. This would have a direct link to the education and its recognition by employers here. In case the professional field he is in is not the same as his basic education, how could the employers make a connection between his premier institutes and his field of work?
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My work has a bit to do with engineering and management but not much. I am into Industrial selling.
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3. Does he have any special experience which is in shortage in Canada (like in Finance field, it is relatively much easy to get good jobs if one has implentation /functional
knowledge of Oracle 11i)?

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No.
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4. We all know (but I can't prove it with any statistics or newpaper articles) that it is very difficult, but not impossible, for any employee to get in direct touch with Presidents/CEOs of companies, more so for a new immigrant who is not even an emplyee. With over 15 years of experience of working directly with/under the Owners/Chairman/MDs of companies, I have found it easy to be able to talk to CEOs and Presidents of many companies - but at that time I was myself in good positions. I have not been able to do that here in Canada (not often, sometimes yes). My request to GiG is to share with us the methodology adopted by him which put him in direct contact with persons of that level and they also agreed to interview him directly, instead of thru the normal HR dept route. This perhaps can be a great lesson for all of us.
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There are no specific strategies for this step and not everything that was done can be penned because it would take a while. By the way, when did I say that I approached President directly?. Well, lets assume, even if I had to( for argument sake), one of the ways I would do was to contact companys’ distributors, retailers and find out who the president was, the job opportunities, and ask them if I could use them as reference. Then call up the organization, ask him by his name, use reference and there you are talking to the person whom you want to. You may not be lucky always but chances are fair. Secretary and the receptionist are filters and are meant to remove chaff from grain.

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5. As written earlier, is it possible to see his resume (he can remove all the proper nouns and addresses from there). This will give us an insight for a really attractive resume.
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As it has been close to a year, I do not have soft copies of the resume and the covering letter. So all I can do is mail you a hard copy by post. Remember the covering letter is equally important. Send me your postal address and I would have it mailed to you.
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6. It might sound funny, but did he send his resume by e-mail, fax or snail mail or by all three as some do. I have been told e-mail is easy to delete, faxes get lost in piles of paper and normal hard copy (of a resume) is usually sent to the HR dept by the secretary/mail opener even if addressed to the President of the organisation (or should I say, specially if addressed to the high management - not necessarily if it is addressed to middle management). Reply to this question will tell me what is the best method for putting forward your resume.
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There is a subject called as reliability engineering. If plan A fails, B must support it else C must take over etc…. in other words build as many channels as possible. More the number of channels more the reliability. When I sent my resume by email and then by fax the reliability of it been noticed goes almost twice up and if I call up and speak to the HR or the person concerned, I have lent a voice to the paper that has been faxed or emailed, plus I get to know who I am talking to. . Hence this method surely works better than just sending in an email alone. Snail mail does not work much here.
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7. A very important question for me personally - though may not apply to many others -Did GiG find it difficult to pen down his achievements and experience in just two pages as is hammered into you by any Canadian resume consultant, or did he not bother about it and went on for a longer resume describing his various accolades? I personally find it very difficult to squeeze in my experience and achievements in two pages since I have experience of more things than a normal accountant would have.
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Very important - Covering letter. Must be half a page to one page. Even more important - Resume - two pages. Remember the key word: Retain ones span and keep him / her excited. When I was called for an interview, I offered to leave behind an attachment which listed down the achievements and accolades I had in my academics as well as in my work life. Honestly no one reads through all the attachments.
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8. His reasons to migrate to Canada from two points of view:

a) the thought of even migrating - what could have prompted him to do it? More money, better lifestyle, freedom, pollution of India, family ties, to get away from family (yes, some do that too - thought they might have everything in India). The reason to ask this question is what really prompts such highly educated and intelligent, well to do professional to come out of India, a growing economy and hopefully a superpower of the next decade.

b) why Canada, and not say USA, Germany, UK, Australia or New Zealand?

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On 8a) above, I am flattered. Well, I did miss the boat some time back of getting into States. Did not want to lose now. Age is all encompassing and somewhere you have to make a beginning. First Canada and then States. It is for the money and a better lifestyle etc.

b) Canada was a better choice to UK, Australia and NZ. Did not hear good about them.
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9. Though not asking for his identity, because that would not help me in any manner whatsoever, his reasons to remain ananomous. May be we could learn something from his reasons.

10. And lastly, but most importantly, having reached such a senior status in his profession in Canada, is he willing to help other desis, ofcourse the deserving but not so lucky ones, in getting ahead in their careers? This could be done by mentoring, helping on resumes, recommanding to persons known to him etc. etc.
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Of course I am willing to help other desis as well. There are quite a few people on this CD forum who have benefited out of this. I can tell you that.

Ok,

I want nothing more here.

Any other questions must go through me or GG.

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Quote:

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Orginally posted by BlueLobster

Chandresh,

Can we please have ALL questions posted in the appropriate section? I understand you or MI are not able to post there, however the whole purpose of having a specific section is to keep all information there so that user's don't have to search parallel threads.

Please do not post any questions to GIG here. If anybody has any quetsions, send them to me or GG for now.

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Chandresh

Advice is free – lessons I charge for!!