How to Get a Job Offer From a Canadian Employer?
Once you have already made an application - it's too late to do anything. The process begins with pre-application prospecting, networking, and analysis. By the time you reach the application process, you would have already laid the groundwork for bagging the job.
1. Understand the Canadian Job Market
First and foremost - make a spreadsheet. Add every single job portal that comes to your mind - LinkedIn, Monster, Indeed, ZipRecruiter, and other ones. Start indexing all the job titles you can find related to what you want to do in the long run. You will have to understand the different titles given to essentially the same job description.
For instance, a Customer Experience Associate, Financial Services Representative, or Client Advisor can often mean the same at different banks. You can create a Google alert on all these job postings. This will give you an idea of the demand for such roles.
As you see the job descriptions, keep an eye on the number of such jobs posted in a month, the required skills, and years of experience. Use LinkedIn to see the people bagging such roles and then check the salary benchmark on Glassdoor or FishBowl. At the end of this exercise, you will have a good idea of the job's demand, supply, and salary dynamics.
2. Build Your LinkedIn Network
By now, you have figured out that LinkedIn is the centerpiece of the job search and conversion strategy. But, that is only the beginning. LinkedIn can be the starting point of some of the most rewarding networking conversations you have with people.
Here is how you can approach this:
- Find people who are doing what you want to do.
- Locate the common areas between their profiles and yours. Reach out to them and schedule an informational interview.
- Towards the end of the interview, if all went well, ask them if they would be open to providing you with a recommendation.
The strategy will not always work. Even if people are not comfortable giving you a recommendation, you can use the person to get referrals to other professionals in the company. But, it has to work only a few times to yield positive results.
3. Use Internal Company Referrals
While job market analysis and LinkedIn networking are great, nothing will be as substantial as an internal company referral. If you are in one of the following companies, you are in a strong position:
- Global Companies with Presence in Multiple Countries: Big four accounting firms, major tech companies, and consumer goods companies.
- Internationally Expanding Companies: You will find companies like ICICI, SBI, TCS, and Infosys working in Canada.
- Related Entities in Different Countries: These companies are parts of significant conglomerates or holding groups.
You have to find the internal transfer process within your company and get some of your reporting managers to vouch for you. Since the company already knows you, it will be easier to get an internal transfer to a different location.
4. Create a Portfolio or Project Website
This might not work for specific industries but if your industry has the room for this, make sure you create a website with your name and add your portfolio. You can use your recent work, work from your college, and other freelancing work.
Get a domain name from namecheap.com and start building the website using WordPress, Wix, or a similar platform. This might look overkill, but it will help you learn how to position your past experiences and highlight the USPs of your profile.
The project website will help your future employers see your work and the efforts you are willing to push your work.
5. Get an Advanced Credential
If you believe an undergraduate degree and a few years of experience is enough to land a job in Canada while you are not even in the country, you might have to reassess your expectations.
Canadian employers already have access to applicants who went to schools the employer closely understands and recruits from. Hence, getting the minimum qualifications will not take you anywhere. If you have the time and resources, it might be worthwhile to get an advanced degree or relevant in your field but not common in Canada.
For instance, many Canadian professionals have a CFA. So, getting just a CFA will not help. But, if you have a CQF and want to build a career in quantitative finance, it might be a significant credential.
6. Think in Terms of Quarters and Years
This might not sound like obvious advice, but it opens doors for people. You cannot apply for a job today and expect to be sitting on a flight to Canada in a few months. Such processes take up a lot of time. And it can easily stretch to several months or even years.
When you take a long-term view of the same process, you will see room for improvement. You can network more, finish your advanced degree, and even network with more professionals from your target companies. All of this will only increase your probability of converting the interviews when the opportune time shows up.
7. Go with a Visitor Visa
One of the last options to maximize your chances of converting your job application is - to get on a visitor visa and plan a holiday to Canada. While you cannot work on this visa, nothing stops you from interviewing and networking. This is a high-risk and high-reward strategy, but it can do wonders for people who have the proper credentials, access to resources, and some time on their hands.
In Summary
So, all you have to do is - analyze the job market, network on LinkedIn, build a portfolio website, get an advanced degree, and physically visit Canada. While this might look like a lot of work alongside your current job, it can help you get an edge on the thousands of applicants who do nothing but apply and wait.
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