You don't have Canadian experience..
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Posted on: 03-03-05 13:30:43
Quote:
Orginally posted by pratickm
I am only guessing, but could it be that this is a strategy adopted by recruiters/employers to drive down the salary?or in-person) if you are not going to hire them regardless of their skills.
That's what I would like to know from those who have had first hand experience.
For those who have been given this "no canadian experience" argument, was a salary offer made to them? Was it negotiated? I find it hard to believe that a desi coming in from India or wherever, with no job in hand would really be stupid enough to negotiate salary and risk losing the job altogether in the process. Somehow that doesn't seem likely.
I agree that a person with no Canadian experience may likely be offered a lower salary than his counterpart who has that experience, and with good reason too.
Quote:
Orginally posted by Smiley
This is more applicable to recruiters rather than employers . They ask you to send the resume and then call you for a face to face
I don't understand why a recruiter would discourage or say anything negative to a potential candidate. It is in his interest to find a job for the applicant. And doesn't the earlier point apply here too?
Also, do employers send rejection letters? I didn't receive any. If I was not on the interview short list I just didn't hear anything from them.
When I called to follow up, they just said that the position had been filled. Nor do I believe they are obliged to give reasons as to why they did not consider you suitable. Even if the candidate asks for reasons, IMO saying that it is because of lack of Canadian experience is not a very technically prudent answer. I am sure they would not like to field a possible retort from the candidate that "canadian experience" was not mentioned in the requirements! I mean really, why would they choose such a reason when not assigning any reason does not cost them anything!
Is it really a fact or only a hyped bogey or a myth created by people who have found it difficult to get jobs. It is certainly an attractive choice given the fact that assigning failure to this reason shifts the responsibility to someone else quite efficiently.
Just wondering! Any first hand experiences with details would be appreciated.
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Diogenes
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The Cynic
bump
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Diogenes
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The Cynic
I did face a similar question while being hired by my present employers – a question that’s quite relevant to my line of work. It wasn’t a statement (as in ‘You don’t have Canadian experience’), but rather a question asking me how I would handle my proposed responsibilities in a Canadian regulatory environment. In answering the question I combined some knowledge of the framework within which I would be (and am) operating as well as changing the topic a bit by talking about diversity and the fact that I had international experience dealing with different people, which I knew suited my employers profile. Admittedly that’s mumbo jumbo that may not always work.
I do believe that job applicants should be prepared to answer the question without getting flustered.
At the same time, I agree with the suggestion earlier in this thread that when employers cite Canadian experience as a reason for not hiring, its a polite way of telling an applicant that they have inadequate soft skills. Clearly, when they've had the chance to review a Resume, they wouldn't waste their time calling in a person for an interview, if they knew they weren't going to hire him / her. In a sense it is accurate since in such a case, the applicant may not have the experience to be able to interact and perform adequately in a Canadian workplace.
DtC, I’m not GiG – just in case you were wondering 
Quote:
Orginally posted by crenshaw
I did face a similar question while being hired by my present employers – a question that’s quite relevant to my line of work. It wasn’t a statement (as in ‘You don’t have Canadian experience’), but rather a question asking me how I would handle my proposed responsibilities in a Canadian regulatory environment.
That is alogether different than saying you do not have Canadian experience. The question is quite valid and the candidate should be prepared to answer such questions.
Quote:
Orginally posted by crenshaw
when employers cite Canadian experience as a reason for not hiring, its a polite way of telling an applicant that they have inadequate soft skills.
No..no...! That is what exactly is my question? It is a well established, standard and absolutely normal practice to end interviews without necessarily making a concrete offer. Most interviews, especially where a large number of candidates are involved, conclude noncommittaly. There is absolutely no need for the potential employer to forward reasons for any decision he makes. What then prompts the interviewer to actually give any reason for not offering the job. It is off the standard and accepted practice to give reasons for rejecting a candidate.
I have never been given any.
Have you? Any reason? Has anyone? I don't think so.
IMO it is actually pretty uncommon and unusual for applicants to be told the reason for their rejection. Which brings me to the suspicion that this whole "not getting job because of no Canadian experience" maybe nothing more than a myth, propagating and surviving for being able to provide refuge from responsibility of failure.
Quote:
Orginally posted by crenshaw
DtC, I’m not GiG – just in case you were wondering
What makes you think that I would think that you are GiG?
And yes, incidentally, where is our great GiG anyways? Haven't seen him around for quite a while. Wonder what pinnacles of success he is achieving now. At the rate he blasted off from ground zero, I guess he must be a cool millionaire by now. And millionares do not spend time here, do they?
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Diogenes
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The Cynic
Quote:
Orginally posted by DiogenestheCynic
What makes you think that I would think that you are GiG?
And yes, incidentally, where is our great GiG anyways? Haven't seen him around for quite a while. Wonder what pinaccles of success he is achieving now. At the rate he blasted off from ground zero, I guess he must be a cool millionaire by now. And millionares do not spend time here, do they?
He has mutated.
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I once made a mistake, but I was wrong about it.
Just like there is a chicken and egg situation in 'lack of Canadian experience', there is a difficult situation that I am facing these days.
In the last two months I have been considered for more jobs by the recruiters than I was in last 3 years - however, now their question is: you have been here for three years - how come you have not worked in your field or you have not worked at the level your qualification and experience deserve?
How do I reply to that now?
(And by the way, now I have stopped writing on my resume that I had worked for Krispy kreme and Money Mart, and a company for two months doing bank reconciliations - Earlier they used to tell me to write all this, because working even as a labour or counter clerk added to my 'Canadian Experience' on my resume, but now someone has hinted that employers get put off it you tell them you have worked at those level in your initial years in Canada, and now, ARMED WITH 3 YEARS CANADIAN EXPERIENCE, I am on the look out for middle or senior jobs!)
Chandresh
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Chandresh
Advice is free – lessons I charge for!!
Not sure if this is related to the topic, but my thoughts and experiences on interviews so far..
I have attended 5 telephonic interviews so far. Haven't attended any in-person interviews in Canada yet. I'm still in New Jersey, US. Made a short trip to Toronto for the landing formalities last year. Coming to Canada for good on March 10th (this is final!).
Anyway, 3 of these interviews didn't go as expected. One, I thought I did well after 3 rounds, and even got an email asking if I was ready to receive an offer.. it's been 4 months since!!! I'm waiting on another one - fingers crossed.
A couple of them went well, and in one, the response was reasonable when I didn't get the offer. I didn't get the 'Canadian experience' pitch in any of these, but however, there was this one company in Calgary. There were 3 people who spoke with me over phone. I was armed and ready for all the technical questions they could pose (I'm in IT ), but to my disappointment, the call lasted less than 20 minutes.
The very first sentence they said was 'this won't take long' - I wanted it to be long! Was this an interrogation?? All their questions seemed to be loaded- 'do you have a residence in Calgary?' - initially I thought they meant the PR, but then they asked 'have you ever lived in Canada?'.. another person asked 'so, you came all the way from India to Canada, then went to US, and now you plan to come back to Canada??' I then explained that I came from India to US, applied for a Canadian PR and now intend to relocate to Canada.
'Did you look at the job requirement?' Of course I did, I said I thought it very well matched my skills and what I was doing. I then explained all that I have been doing, only to be asked if I had project management experience. I had just then mentioned all my work which included quite a bit of project management experience as well as all stages of project life cycles, all for a large company known very well in US & Canada.
Then they asked me if I had any questions. I asked them what exactly they were looking for (I was really pissed off at this stage) and what would be the role of the potential candidate since the requirement said Senior Systems Analyst, and had loads of technologies in the ad. Their reply - 'everything under the sun'!!
When asked when I could hear from them, she replied that they would get back to me one way or the other. Atleast they had the courtesy to reply after a month saying they tried to reach me over phone and left a message (which they didn't, since there was no message in my phone), and that they were looking for a qualification 'higher than what I had' -- their exact words. I felt that I was hardly tested in the 15-20 minute interview.
If they didn't believe that Canada is for me because I have never lived there, or that I wasn't qualified enough, why call me in the first place and waste my time (I took half a day off to attend this phone interview) and theirs?
OK, it has made me wiser now, and in retrospect, I may have answered some questions differently, but I doubt if that would have mattered in this particular interview.
Bottomline: It looks as if some (not all) employers do call up people even if they don't think the candidate won't fit. Why they do it, or , why go beyond step 6 as Diogenes mentioned, I have no clue! Just my 2 cents..
