flexsingh

Hey all.

So been in Brampton,ON for a good few weeks now. Looking for work yet not getting much luck with responses.

Based on peoples past experience could anyone advise on leads to take? I've joined agencies etc online, sent off resumes too, read the articles on the forum.

I graduated in BSc Hons Information Technology in the summer just gone from Wolves Uni UK, although it was IT degree it had a big mix of business and was more tailored towards Information Systems, business analysis, consultancy etc.. not really the programming route that most people think of automatically.

Prior to this completed an HND within Computing too. Work experience has been sales, managerial and analytical work for both private and public sector employer.

Is there any hope for me, lol?

iaink

Best advice is network like crazy. Talk to anyone and everyone, go door to door, use linkedin, put resumes on monster and workopolis etc etc ad nauseum.

JB0591

I agree with iaink, networking is key.

w.r.t to agencies, whilst you have submitted your resume online they will if interested get you to go into meet them. I am registered with 7 agencies and only one has not asked me to go into their office to complete the sign-up process. Have you had any response from them?

Does the Peter's New Jobs website/email cover your area?

Have you contacted a local employment centre? If so have you checked if there is one dedicated to High Tech? I was with a YMCA employment centre only to find another employment centre that was very close to the house which is tailored to High Tech. This new centre has been great, lots of meets and greets with High Tech companies and I am doing free computer based training to get myself ready for a CISCO exam.

Have you got involved in local job networking groups? I have just started to attend some groups and wished I had after I got to Ottawa.

The resume format/wording is a big thing out here, I have been reasonable successful with mine...in that a resume purpose is to get the company to contact you. I have been let down by companies at the interviews stage etc. If you want a second opinion please PM me.

Larger companies can take ages to start the recruitment process, I am just interviewing for a position I applied for at start of Feb. IMHO the smaller the company the quicker they respond.

Another tip, a lot of companies use recruiting software from TALEO, if you apply for a job online, scroll to the bottom and check for something like "Powered by Taleo". This software enables the recuiter to conduct a search on the resumes submitted for key words. If the key words are not in your resume then it wont pick your resume out. There are a number of ways to add key words to your resume. The one I like is to add an "Technical Environment: XXX, XXX, XXX, XXX" under each position and use that list some key words.

Cheers

JB

johnh009

Yes, I don't know about Canada but they say in the UK that the "hidden" job market accounts for almost 80% of jobs available. Considering that they have a workforce of more than 30 million, this would be a considerable amount of jobs. I often feel that when you apply for an advertised job, you are competing with the whole World in this job market. As you say, the way to access the hidden job market is to get as many resumes as possible. Also, many companies only use agencies for recruiting anyway.

JB0591

Another tip I learnt this week, if you have your resume on Workopolis or Monster, make sure you update it every two weeks to keep it current as recruiters can filter their searches by "date modified".

britishvixen21

Flex, I have a freind who is an IT Manager here in Toronto that could be hiring. PM Me your details and il give you his info.

flexsingh

Thanks for the suggestions/advice so far. Lets hope something comes along soon!

britishvixen21

I understand he wrote you back with some maybe promising possibilitiess? He liked your resume a lot said it was pretty good and hes pretty picky.

flexsingh

Hey all, so got offered a position last week doing something that I should enjoy and aligns to my education of IT Start on Monday!

Only headache i have had since is getting car insurance! Cheapest I been quoted is $6k for the year, and If i ask for the most basic coverage, some of the prices have been higher! lol Hoping Johnsons sort something out for me tmrw

JB0591

Congratulations on the job offer.

Car insurance is a pain, we initially did 6 months with State Farm at $2800/yr so around $220 a month. I have just moved us to TD at $1750/yr.... :-) ...I then moved our tenants insurance over to TD and saved another $100....so we are down to something like $134/mn.

It is wierd both me and the wife were pleased we got the insurance to nearly double our combined UK insurance costs.

fledermaus

Well done!

magnumpi

We are with johnsons. Still not cheap but with full no claims proof from uk we insc 2 older vehicles for 289 mth.

flexsingh

right now id be happy if i could get anything less then the $500 i will be paying per month if i go with TD...

and thanks for the replies!

mrsr0binson

Great news Many congrats on your new found employment

We were really lucky with insurance - house and 2 cars for $260 a month. We had DVLA history and both home and car insurance history with us when we applied to Johnson's. They were the best quote by miles... still double what we used to pay per month in the UK though