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First Trip to NS all booked up!!!

First Trip to NS all booked up!!!

Old Mar 18th 2009, 9:48 pm
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Question First Trip to NS all booked up!!!

Just booked our flights to NS for September this year. So excited but equally daunted. The hard work starts now I guess, getting resumes together, making contacts, etc.

Resumes I can handle, housing I can handle, networking though is not my strong point. Just looking for tips from those experts out there that have been there and done it, as to some of the best ways to go about making contact with prospective employers, etc. Where did you look to find relevant companies? How willing are people to come out and meet you or agree to see you even though you've never met before in your life?

This may all sound pretty stupid but networking is just something I've never had to do. I was lucky enough to step straight out of University in to a job and have been there for 7yrs and I have a close group of friends I've known pretty much all my life so I haven't really had to step out my comfort zone.

Any tips would obviously be a great help. I know I need to step up to the plate but a bit of coaching never goes a miss!


Thanks
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Old Mar 18th 2009, 9:57 pm
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Default Re: First Trip to NS all booked up!!!

Hi Congrats on getting trip booked.

Re networking it definitely felt completely alien to me too when we were over on our trip and also prior to leaving.

I searched yell.ca for relevent companies and then made a list of email contacts and tel nos and did a large email drop of my resume. A couple responded before going. I took the list with us and literally spent a day driving round, stopping off at the office receptions and leaving the resume. A couple of people came out to say hi and show me round, another took me for a coffee

It is really weird, but face to face contact is definitely the way over there, people told us we were lucky to have got 2 replies to our emails. You just have to go with it, everyone is very friendly and they will go out of their way to help you.

Also, it is very much who knows who etc, a couple of people I arranged to meet on the pre tense of an informal chat about the industry were then able to put me in touch with other people, names and numbers etc. I was then able to call and say so on so gave me your details and they were "oh ok great".

Another bit of info we got from our trip, is that due to the nature of finding employment in a lot of instances over there is very much face to face etc that 80% of the job market is actually hidden, so its very much a case of doing the research, and then lots of drive and determination to see it through

Hope this helps, if nothing else I thought that even if people thought I was a wally walking in with my resume I would never see them again anyway

good luck
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Old Mar 18th 2009, 10:07 pm
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Default Re: First Trip to NS all booked up!!!

Thanks Nikki. Makes me feel a bit better knowing i'm not the only one that feels/felt like that.

I think, like you say, it's something that is really quite alien to the job market in the UK. Just walking up to a prospective employer, in the UK, and giving them your resume would end up with a closed door in your face the vast majority of the time. I guess thats really part of the reason we're looking at moving. The more generous, friendly nature (from what i've heard) of the people of NS is a real draw and I hope we have a real positive experience when we're there.

Thanks again for your advice, onwards and upwards!!
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Old Mar 18th 2009, 11:21 pm
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Default Re: First Trip to NS all booked up!!!

I'd echo what Nikki says, you really have to bite the bullet and speak to as many people as possible.

I'm in the print trade and spoke to as many people as I could get hold of in NS before we came out for a reccie in July last year. I really only wanted to let them know a bit about me and my plans to emmigrate and to ask if I could send them my resume. I also told them that I would be over in a month or so and would it be OK if I could pop in for a chat.

I more or less did this for most of the big printing companies in NS as well as some of the smaller ones. Some contacts were very enthusiastic, other less so. It does take perseverance. It took me around 12 phone calls to get hold of one HR person for a company I had read a lot about. I managed to eventually arrange an interview with them and was lucky enough to secure a job offer which turned into a TWP and the rest is history, we have been in NS since October!!

Another quick story, When we were on our reccie, I stumbled across a tiny printing company in the Colchester area. I went in and spoke to the receptionist who then introduced me to the owner. There was no job vacancies but they were very sociable and interested in what I had to say. I was just about to leave when the receptionist followed me out and told me to go and speak to a friend of hers that worked at the newspaper around the corner. He was very interested as well and while he didn't offer me a job as such, he did say that if I was struggling to find anything then to give him a shout when we landed for good (we were originally going via the CI stream at the time!). It turns out he was in charge of all the repro departments for a huge company that had several sites all over NS as well as Canada!!! A great contact to have!!

I guess what I'm trying to say after serious waffling is make as many contacts as you can, because it's not necessarily what you know, it's who you know.
Put the effort in and you'll reap the rewards.

Good Luck
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Old Mar 18th 2009, 11:56 pm
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Default Re: First Trip to NS all booked up!!!

Hey Big Stevo. Thanks for that. You may inadvertently have just become the first person I might pester!! I'm not in the printing trade as such but work for a company that manufactures and supplies image transfer products (printing blankets, etc), chemicals, inks, plates, etc to primarily lithographic printers. Through this I've learnt a reasonable amount about web presses & sheet fed presses.

If its not too much of a hassle could you PM me as i'd like to pick your brains a little about some of the companies you contacted, who was best to speak to, etc.

Thanks!!
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Old Mar 19th 2009, 12:40 am
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Default Re: First Trip to NS all booked up!!!

Originally Posted by Upupandaway
Hey Big Stevo. Thanks for that. You may inadvertently have just become the first person I might pester!! I'm not in the printing trade as such but work for a company that manufactures and supplies image transfer products (printing blankets, etc), chemicals, inks, plates, etc to primarily lithographic printers. Through this I've learnt a reasonable amount about web presses & sheet fed presses.

If its not too much of a hassle could you PM me as i'd like to pick your brains a little about some of the companies you contacted, who was best to speak to, etc.

Thanks!!
I've PMed you.
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Old Mar 19th 2009, 1:33 am
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Default Re: First Trip to NS all booked up!!!

Hey, we already have our quota of Dundonian printers up in Pictou County in the form of Mr Dignan (and I was ex-publications Aberdeen)

Welcome to BE Upupandaway. Start researching companies in your line of work now, and get in touch with them nearer your dates. Best of luck

I have to add that September is a lovely month to visit NS.
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Old Mar 19th 2009, 12:56 pm
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Default Re: First Trip to NS all booked up!!!

Thanks Yes-Can-Do. What are the main industries in NS? I'm not really tied down to companies that are print related as my job really involves looking at products and processes and working out how to improve them or make them more efficient, etc so I can really apply that to most manufacturing plants.

The only problem I have is that most vacancies are looking for industry specific experience i.e. oil and gas and the experience I have at the moment is in quite a niche market so I'm a bit concerned this could work against me.

Think the easy way to find out is just to phone companies and see what they've got to say.
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