Feb. 26, 2018 "Help I'm well qualified but can't get even an interview for the jobs I want": Today I found this job advice column in the Globe and Mail. This is from a UK immigrant asking for help, however I find the job search advice really good and helpful:
THE QUESTION
I am an immigrant from the U.K. who arrived in Quebec during the last quarter of 2016 with a double major in English literature and psychology from a recognized university outside of Canada.
I have more than 40 years of international experience in teaching, mentoring, instructing, coaching and building in training centres (including recruitment of professionals. And I have been attending courses with MIDI since 2017 to polish my French language abilities and to be able to find a job matching my qualifications here.
Still, I cannot get an interview, even for clerical jobs. News reports say employers are struggling to find employees, and that there are opportunities in the gig economy. It seems no one is even looking at my résumé.
I have more than 40 years of international experience in teaching, mentoring, instructing, coaching and building in training centres (including recruitment of professionals. And I have been attending courses with MIDI since 2017 to polish my French language abilities and to be able to find a job matching my qualifications here.
Still, I cannot get an interview, even for clerical jobs. News reports say employers are struggling to find employees, and that there are opportunities in the gig economy. It seems no one is even looking at my résumé.
THE FIRST ANSWER
Bruce Sandy
Principal, Pathfinder Coaching and Consulting, Vancouver
You need to figure out why no one is contacting you for an interview. You will also want to increase your visibility in the job market and develop and expand your network in Canada. The following are suggestions to address these areas:
- Contact HR and hiring officials at companies/organizations where you have applied and ask for candid feedback on your résumés and cover letters by way of a telephone or an in-person meeting. Ask for specific changes they would recommend for you to land an interview at their companies. Make the necessary changes to your approach, preparation and documentation, thank the officials for their time and feedback, and ask them to keep you in mind for appropriate positions.
- The majority of positions in the private sector are usually filled by word of mouth. Use your professional and personal network contacts to find out about potential openings and ask these individuals if you can use their names to line up formal or informal information interviews. Attend meetings, workshops, conferences and job fairs. Join professional or industrial associations to expand your networks.
- Write blogs and articles that can be posted on professional and industrial websites, your own website and published online and in print. Also volunteer to make presentations at professional and business meetings on topics you are comfortable with, to increase your visibility.
- Be active on social media and business-networking groups such as LinkedIn. Make posts, share information and articles, and let recruiters know that you are open to job offers.
- Take a more active role in your job search through networking, being prepared and setting up information interviews. Be open and prepared to take on casual, part-time, project or consulting work to begin with. You will land a position much quicker this way.
THE SECOND ANSWER
Zuleika Sgro
VP, Retail & People Saje Natural Wellness, Vancouver
I can certainly understand your frustration and eagerness for action around your career and employment.
My advice is to look at your application process more holistically.
Applying for roles is one avenue. The most impactful way is to network;
get involved with community groups;
outplacement services in your region
and also look for opportunities to volunteer your skills.
get involved with community groups;
outplacement services in your region
and also look for opportunities to volunteer your skills.
Don't give up. Set a new goal for yourself each week of new people/groups to connect with.
LinkedIn is also a great avenue to join groups and find events in your industry.
It is also important to follow up on all your applications and ask for feedback.
While you may not always receive a response, follow-up is really important, especially if you have an internal connection from a group or volunteer connection.
While you may not always receive a response, follow-up is really important, especially if you have an internal connection from a group or volunteer connection.
Apr. 25, 2018 "At the beginning, focus on the job, not your career": Today I found this article by Roy Osing in the Globe and Mail:
Former executive vice-president of Telus, educator, adviser and author of Be Different or Be Dead.
Young professionals leave school with the intent of launching their career based on their study specialty; economics majors look for entry-level jobs where they can apply their knowledge of microeconomics and demand theory and lawyers migrate to law firms.
This may seem like a reasonable approach, but the reality is that when you begin your career journey you never really know where you will end up.
A career is an unclear destination with an unpredictable journey and a healthy dose of luck.
I graduated with a B.Sc in mathematics and computer science. I took a management-trainee job and ended up as an executive vice-president and chief marketing officer without any need to use differential equations to solve a business problem.
I arrived in the executive suite after many years of strategic meandering through the hierarchy of the organization doing many things. I developed and honed the skills needed to add as much value as I could to the company’s future direction, and to be positioned as the logical choice for an opportunity when it arose.
I began as a junior systems analyst where I was required to do time and motion studies to improve the productivity of various departments. It was a job; I needed it to pay back my school loans and it was with an organization that was poised to undergo massive market change. But it really didn’t make use of my academic background, and I had no idea if it would result in a meaningful career.
It turned out not to be my destination. It was a beginning and a learning point along the way.
When you are just starting your working life, you can’t with any degree of precision determine what your career will be.
I see too many young professionals unable to decide on whether to take a particular job or not. They agonize over whether it fits with their long-term career plan; they are paralyzed and can’t make a decision.
They search and they search for the opportunity they believe to be a perfect match with their career ambitions. As a result, they make no job choice and have no forward movement toward any career.
They search and they search for the opportunity they believe to be a perfect match with their career ambitions. As a result, they make no job choice and have no forward movement toward any career.
The thing is, if you don’t take a job, you will never know if it fits or not. Every job in every organization presents the opportunity to make it your own and craft it into something that satisfies your interests, which typically are aligned with what you aspire to be “when you grow up.”
Find your passion
Your top priority should not be to find a job that’s consistent with what you think your career should be, but rather to look for an organization that excites you in some way and allows you to express your passion.
This is the environmental factor. If the work environment stirs a passion inside you, it is likely to be rich with opportunities and potential. If it doesn’t, it’s unlikely to produce the new challenges that feed a successful career.
Choose an organization that has a culture and history of mobility
It is critical to target an organization that has a program of moving new employees around and exposing them to different roles and various learning opportunities. As a function of being a new hire from university, I was put in a management trainee program and placed in six different positions over a 24-month period.
This experience provided me an incomparable perspective on which areas were interesting and those that I would try to avoid.
Experiencing a variety of roles enabled me to architect my career path. I targeted specific roles to acquire within a certain time period and developed an action plan to get there.
My plan wasn’t all about getting promoted; sometimes it made sense to take a lateral move to acquire the added experience necessary to qualify for a promotion in the future.
My plan wasn’t all about getting promoted; sometimes it made sense to take a lateral move to acquire the added experience necessary to qualify for a promotion in the future.
Don’t fret over whether a job suits your long-term career goals. Look for an organization with a culture that gets your juices flowing and one that prides itself in providing different job opportunities to employees.
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