Dbree

This is a bit of a weird one guys, but I'm positive one of you can help me out.

I recently came to Canada from Ireland with one of its greatest imports - its children! I now hold a 1 year Canadian work permit which I thought would be enough time to convince an employer to sponsor my permanent residency and keep me in Poutine for life. Well, 1.5 months here and a guesstimate of 70+ C.Vs sent and I haven't heard a whisper from any insurance companies.

In addition to underwriting jobs, I have been applying for sales, customer service & claims departments (with an added bonus that a claims adjuster role will net me almsot insta-residency!) and even some data entry positions. I'm realistic in that I would accept any entry level role right now, at min wage and be eternally grateful for it. I've had 2 phone interviews but they went cold and I'm getting really frustrated.

I've mainly been applying via email to job board postings, so I'm all ears if anyone has better tactics. I've recently minified my resume from two pages to one and I always try to tailor my cover letter to emphasise underwriting, sales or customer service when appropriate. They can be found here and I would appreciate any and all advice about the wording, layout or just general job hunting tips.

I'm starting to worry that Canadian employers really hate the Irish (joke!) or that my email address was broken (not a joke, I actually got a new one)

Thanks!

jericho

Where are you and what type of insurance experience?

Siouxie

Have you looked at the Wiki for "canadianising" your resume etc? It is very helpful

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Quick_...uctions-Canada

Linkedin seems to be popular networking site, are you a member?

If you say where you are I am sure others will be able to offer more useful information.

nikki dreaming

I am currently recruiting for a property examiner or BI examiner and there is also an APD adjuster entry role, all in claims, we are regularly recruiting all across canada, though I am based in NS we have offices in ON, AB and BC, I work for RSA and here is link to their career page

http://clients.njoyn.com/cl2/xweb/Xw...age=joblisting

not all of the roles are posted externally, but you can sign up and upload your resume

Have you enrolled for completing your CIP designation?

nikki dreaming

also, if you stick with claims and have this experience in your background, claims adjusters and examiners are currently on the list and would allow you to apply under the federal skilled worker route without a job offer, providing that you are able to meet the other requirements for skilled worker route, like others have said if you can say where you are currently and if you prepared to move that would help

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigra...tions.asp#list

nikki dreaming

Coming from "away" networking here is hugely important, if insurance is the field you want to be in enrolling for CIP and joining your local institute would be a great way of starting the networking connections, aswell as classes there are a number of social functions that take place where you would be able to mix with people in the know of opportunities, it is true what they say here that 80% of the job market is hidden.

christmasoompa

I know this is of no use to you now, but just for the future reference of anybody else doing the same thing - you can enter on a visitor visa and only activate your working holiday visa when you actually find a job, thereby giving you the maximum year allowed to work.

1.5 months isn't that long to be job hunting in the current economic climate unfortunately, so don't get too disheartened. Many forum members have searched for a lot longer than that. Best thing to do is read all of the Job Hunting section of the Wiki for hints and tips, and best of luck!

for you.

JB0591

I confirm what christmasoompa has said, 1.5 months is not very long in todays climate.

Have you been on any resume courses whilst you have been here? Have you looked into registering with an employment agency? Have you approached an employment centre for help? Are you in any job/career networking clubs?

All of the above helped me in my search but it still look months. My resume hit rate was high but I found recruitment very slow.

Resume length is not as important here as you might think it is. When uploading your resume to websites that say something like "powered by taleo" at the bottom of the website, this means the recruiter is using key word search techniques. The resumes to that website can be multiple pages long e.g. >3, as you need to be hitting the key words that recruiter is lookng for.

If you want a peer review of your resume let me know.

JB

Blendin

Just keep trying and network.

Believe it or not, but the big 5 banks in Canada receive more applications for a teller position or a call centre representative than for an entry level financial analyst or IT.
Only a high school diploma is required for such positions and many families in Canada have or know somebody working at one of the big 5 banks. I would imagine it to be the same for entry-level insurance.

The good news is these jobs have a high turnover.......university students going back to school, immigrants have completed their licensing exams etc.

JonboyE

You know the old advertising cliche, "you don't sell features, you sell benefits?" Well, it may be a cliche but it is true, and it applies to selling yourself just as much as it applies to selling vacuum cleaners.

Look at your cover letter. See how many times you use I. A potential employer does not care less about you and what you want. They have a problem that needs to be fixed and they are going to hire the person they think is best able to fix it. You have to find out what their problem is, or at least make an educated guess. Then your cover letter addresses their need and tells them how you are the best person to meet it.

Note that the cover letter is about their need, not yours. Although you do have some useful information for the employer towards the end of the second paragraph there is a good chance the reader will have given up before they get that far. Even if they did read it you spoil it all by starting the third paragraph all about your needs and wants again.

I think you have sufficient and useful work experience to make this the highlight of your resume rather than your education, so I would start with this. Skills first, job history second, then education.

In contrast to the cover letter your resume is more about you. In the cover letter you told the employer you can solve their problems and in your resume you back this up by showing how you solved other employer's problems. The language has to be very active. "Employment duties involved delivering telephone based support" is weak. Why not say I supported? Use the space freed up to give an example of a tangible benefit the company got as a result.