dbd33

There's lots of discussion here about applying for jobs in Canada and, of course, one's experience will vary according to one's desirability and the nature of the specific job. That said, I've interviewed a hundred immigrant white collar workers in the past month and have a queue of fifty more to consider. My experience is of IT, a field in which there are more bums than seats, but it may be of broader interest. Note that we didn't specifically exclude anyone from our search, there just aren't very many non-immigrant candidates.

Some points:

Turn the camera on. The interviewers are expecting a ringer and want to be able to check that the person who turns up on day one is the person interviewed.

Dress as if attending an office. In this industry "dress shirt, no tie" is the look. "Overdressed like Trudeau visiting India" and "grubby sweats" miss the mark. French manicures are divisive, best not.

Pay attention to the small questions "where are you today?" is geared to the feasibility of you appearing on site. "In my bedroom" or "in Canada", unqualified, are not helpful answers. "Hotel. I've only been in Canada three weeks so I could just as well live near your office" was a great answer.

If you don't have an array of sparkly qualifications go for a contract. HR cares about seeing MBA, PMP, CS , line managers less so. Someone who does not have lots of paper but does have experience needs to bypass the HR filters. Contracts can always be converted to permanent positions if everything works out. The downside of a contract, from the candidate's perspective, is the need to get off to a flying start; it's no loss to the client if they dump a contractor after two weeks. If they're hiring 10, they're expecting to throw 2 back.

Where people applying for permanent positions survive the HR qualifications filter and get as far as a pre-interview the most common reason for rejection is "unintelligible". Tone down your accent, avoid use of colloquialisms, test your microphone.

Master the use of WebEx and Zoom. There are hundreds of other people who want that job, someone on the interview panel will say "Next!" if you keep pressing the wrong button.

Qualities to project are confidence and competence. One to avoid is arrogance. A fine line. Maybe practise with a peer before the real thing. When asked a question, do not read out a prepared answer somewhere near the question asked, you're not looking to join the Johnson cabinet and the panel will assume you don't know enough English words to be able to create your own answer. They may also drop your pimp for "excessive coaching" but that's not your problem.

Many candidates send emails of thanks for their interview. That's tricky to do without seeming smarmy or to be following a template, probably better not to.

If you are stoned, and you may choose not to be on this occasion, try to keep Kung Fu Panda out of your head.

There, practical stuff makes all the difference. If you can convincingly convey your expertise in the matter at hand no one cares if you gained that expertise in Toronto, NYC or 500 miles up the Limpopo. If you present as clean and professional and speak fluently, staying on topic and seeming candid, no one cares what you look like or that your name contains special characters.

Oh, and remember the interviewers have access to google, facebook, instagram, etc. Consider your postings, especially the geography of them. If you're claiming to be able to be in an office in Hamilton twice a week, maybe remove the post about your new house in Oshawa (this last bit mainly applies to contactors, of course, full time employees are not likely to be buying houses).

mrbanks

As a counterpoint to this, my company is also hiring a lot of developers...

We don't care if you have a strong accent, because 90+% of our communication is via Github issues, chat or email.
We don't judge your ability to write code based on how shabby your clothes look. This can discriminate against people from poorer backgrounds, which we actively seek to avoid.
We never insist that anyone appears on camera - it has no bearing on your ability to code, and we feel it can be somewhat discriminatory, especially for women and trans candidates.
Working remotely is fine - we don't insist that you regularly come to an office.
We don't expect developers to exude confidence - that's a sales skill. We love competent coders who are quiet and shy.
We don't check your social media accounts. Your personal life is your own business.

We do however have high standards - if your work doesn't measure up during the probationary period you'll be quickly let go.

dbd33

How then do you deal with the ringer issue?

mrbanks

We've only seen a couple so far, but they very quickly became obvious during the probationary period, and were rapidly ejected.

dbd33

Fair enough. I prefer to have contract staff so as to avoid any complexity in disposal but probation also works.

CanadaJimmy

First I've heard of this whole "ringer" thing, what is that all about?

JamesM

I left the two in question because I was turned down by one job for wearing a t-shirt to meet with the CEO of a tech firm in Kelowna who also happened to be in a t-shirt. What are your views on pandemic hair or the growing beard trend?

The thank you email is smarmy. The worst thing is in my industry (tech sales) I've had several recruiters encourage me to do it. I think it adds very little and can be as insincere as the automated rejection emails that companies send out.

scrubbedexpat091

The thank you email after an interview seems tricky, often job search programs tell you to do it, but eh 9/10 I don't even have the email of anyone, just apply@whatevercompanyhere. whatever

I hate zoom interviews though, nowhere to go in a 500sq foot apartment with a spouse and a dog, and screaming neighbors and non-stop noise basically all day from the landscaping, and construction.

dbd33

It's like cheating on an exam, you pay someone who knows the job to take the interview for you in the hope that no one will notice that wasn't you who interviewed. It's not new, I had a contract to "shadow" a "mis-hire" for years after someone got caught and didn't want to admit it, but it is more common with remote interviews.

dbd33

I don't trust anyone with well trimmed facial hair. I just don't want to deal with that level of vanity. If someone can show that they just rowed the Atlantic then a beard and wild hair is fine with the expectation that they fix it before they're dry.

I generally agree but confess to hiring someone on the basis of that email. Two candidates were equal. One wrote a "thank you" email that covered all the usual points but managed to be fresh and original.

dbd33

Everyone else has some or all of that. If you're selling yourself as an adaptable person who can work through difficult circumstances then having a dog wander in and out doesn't hurt you, unless you kick it.

scrubbedexpat091

I think it depends on company, my wife had an interview and amazon happened to stop by and rang the doorbell, dog barked at the doorbell, interview lady, well she found it unacceptable that the dog barked and door bell rang during the interview, good thing they didn't my wife, if they were that upset over household things, you want office quiet, do the interviews in the office.

Paul_Shepherd

Totally agree with this, its something I never did in the UK, and is still alien to me now... but have done it because it appears to be the North American culture and is expected. However I find it so phoney and insincere, and those are two things I am definitely not!

I mean when you think about it, its a pretty damn pathetic.... bowing and scraping like Oliver Twist! The company called you for an interview, you went, gave it your best shot, openly portrayed knowledge, experience, enthusiasm and sincerity, whats the point of smarmy "thankyou so much sir" email after that?... the ball is in the court of the employer following the interview, you have done your part. It is something that really goes against the grain of how I operate I hate phoniness! , but what choice do we have...

dbd33

Offices for computer people are set up like sewing sweatshops, long rows of "Agile workstations", which are a piece of whiteboard with a computer on it. They tilt and go up and down. People are packed in elbow-to-elbow, some sitting, some standing. All calls have background sounds of other people presenting on unrelated stuff and, if the camera's on, there's usually a backdrop of people hitting someone's workstation to try and make it tilt or drop or whatever. There are areas with no desks "break out spaces" in which people gather for "ceremonies" which are rituals ending in hand slapping and obligatory cheering. All of this is audible to people on the phone with workers at the benches.

The expectation is that people can work no matter how unsuitable their circumstances may have been made by the management. No one should be flustered by a dog or a delivery.

JamesM

Typically when I turn up for an interview I've done some research on the companies products, market fit and competitors. I've also spent some time on LinkedIn to get a handle on organization structure and tenures and Glassdoor for salaries and culture (less reliable these days).

I then having invested an hour researching invest another hour interviewing which more often than not involves me going through a resume the hiring manager hasn't read or even looked at prior. Getting questions on things where the answers are written in simpleton English on the resume.

I've invested time and expertise at my own expense and am then asked to thank them?

It gets worse the further you go when they want you to spend a weekend preparing a 30 minute presentation etc again at your own expense of time.

They're generally tedious hoop jumps that don't really demonstrate the core skills needed in sales and with time you get more frustrated and less patient doing them.

Sending a thank you know when all the time and financial investment is primarily on my side just seems ludicrous.

The good news is Toronto finally has a competitive tech "ecosystem" so one can be a bit more picky.

My recent role they told me they were going to take their time and I pushed back and said if I don't here by next Friday I'm heading back to England. The offer arrived within 24 hours and for the first time in this city I wasn't lowballed. I don't have the patience for Toronto and it's "ecosystem" anymore.