Thursday, March 13, 2008

TOP 10 JOB SEARCH TIPS FOR PROFESSIONAL IMMIGRANTS

Top 10 Tips for Professional Immigrant Job Seekers

1. Make a commitment to really go after that great career in Canada.

Don’t grab and settle for the low hanging job off the Canadian Labor market tree. Make a commitment to overcome the majority of people that may tell you to “start at the bottom”. Getting a career at the right level of your expertise requires a strategy, focus, a positive environment filled with those that say “you can” and an unrelenting dedication until the objective is achieved.

2. Drastically increase your career options by targeting opportunities in the SME Market.

Small to Medium Size Enterprises or companies represent approx. 95% of companies in the economy, therefore, they do 95% of the hiring, but these companies are often ignored or unknown to most job seekers.

3. Create and memorize powerful skills and achievement narratives.

Narratives are exciting short-burst descriptions of your skills and achievements used in your resume and overall job search campaign. Narratives are short two to three line statements that you create that are compelling and unique about your skills and achievements. They showcase your value to employers. Stay away from cliché’s and vague statements like, “I’m a hard worker, team player, honest and hardworking, loyal and looking for a challenge and willing to start at the bottom.”

4. Showcase your future not your past

Send hiring managers future-focused resumes not past-focused resumes. Hiring managers are far more interested in what you can do for them in the future than what you have done in the past. But the only thing typical resumes talk about is…hmm, your past.

5. Work your job search strategy from the top down, not bottom up

Try networking or securing interviews two levels up from your targeted income level. If you’re looking for a job at 40K, you better interview or try and network with people who make 80K. They are the ones who make the final decision to hire you.
Think about it, executives looking for a job at 100K, do not try and validate their value with HR staff that earn 50 K.

6. Prepare for your interviews with the same intensity as you did for your University finals in your homeland.

On average from my experience most jobseekers spend only a few hours 1-2 preparing for an interview that may change their lives, yet most spent days studying for their University final exams. When immigrants practice and truly memorize the answers to the most asked interview questions, their interview skills and confidence skyrockets.


7. Network consistently and with sincere engagement

Here’s an important secret. Never ever ask a company if they are hiring when your networking or at a career fair. Only by taking a sincere interest in a company’s goals and challenges will they then take a sincere interest in your career objectives. Starting conversations about what you need will lead no-where or straight to the bottom of what the employer needs.


8. Negotiate the entire package when you get an offer.

If you strategy implement the above tips and get a offer. Make sure you think about negotiating. In this red-hot labor market Canadian companies are often open to negotiating things like; salary, benefits, performance bonuses, stock options, paid vacations, review assessments, training allowances, flex hours, ++ Most professional newcomers to Canada have very low career expectations and confidence and often are too scared to counter offer.

9. Your career is where you spend the majority of your day! Hire a professional to help you land that great career.

Your friends, family and respectfully some government sponsored job search services may have the very best intentions but do they really have the required time, market insight and resources to ensure that you get that great career? The right career expert will provide years of expertise, market insight and resources AND hold you accountable to help you land that great career. So, have a beer with your buddies, but do not rely on them to be your primary source of job search advice.

10. Finally, Just do it! What have you got to lose?

If you’re not happy with your current job, then take the chance to go after something better. If it doesn’t work out, you won’t have any problem finding a job that you don’t want, the market is full of them. In-fact, you don’t even need any of the last nine tips to get a job you don’t like!


Minto Roy
President

PCMG Executive/Careers Today Canada
www.pcmgcanada.com
www.careerstodaycanada.com
www.pcmgexecutive.com

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello. This post is likeable, and your blog is very interesting, congratulations :-). I will add in my blogroll =). If possible gives a last there on my blog, it is about the TV Digital, I hope you enjoy. The address is http://tv-digital-brasil.blogspot.com. A hug.

Anonymous said...

Hello. This post is likeable, and your blog is very interesting, congratulations :-). I will add in my blogroll =). If possible gives a last there on my blog, it is about the Servidor, I hope you enjoy. The address is http://servidor-brasil.blogspot.com. A hug.