jonclark

Hi everyone,

My family and I will be landing on Vancouver Island next March, and I am hoping to find work in the world of I.T.

Can anybody tell me what the best methods are for job hunting in this area?

I was thinking of finding companies on Google and then writing to them with my Resume. I imagine its better to send it rather than email?

The usual job search engines don't seem to show many jobs, especially on Vancouver Island. Do I.T. companies in Canada use newspapers to advertise in?

Any comments would be greatfully received?

Thanks!

Judy in Calgary

Please read the BE Wiki articles on Job Hunting in Canada. There are several articles in the series.

Many jobs in Canada exist in the "hidden" or "underground" market. That is, they are not advertised, but one hears about them through "networking." All of that is explained in the Wiki articles.

With that said, it's still worth searching conventional sources of information for jobs (newspaper ads, job websites, etc.). One of the Wiki articles on job hunting, the one on Finding Job Opportunities, has links to specialty job sites.

No, I do not believe that sending your resume by conventional mail is best. It is much better to phone a potential employer first. Canadian employers are into personal contact in a big way. This also is explained in the Wiki articles.

Victoria seems to be growing into a mini I.T. centre, so I think you have a reasonable chance of finding employment there.

Hope that helps.

jonclark

Thanks Judy!

I really appreciate your useful comments.

Judy in Calgary

You're welcome, jonclark.

There is a current thread in the main Canada forum that you may find useful. It is entitled How did you find your job?

I especially recommend Surrey Expat's post (that is, post #11).

You will note that Surrey Expat said that he preferred sending a hard copy resume in the mail and that, when he was hiring, he also preferred to receive hard copy resumes. There are different schools of thought when it comes to email versus conventional mail. However, I generally have found Surrey Expat's advice on job hunting to be excellent, and I would not like to contradict him out of hand.

One thing I will say, and I believe Surrey Expat would agree with me on this, is that it is far better to address your covering letter to a specific individual whom you have identified as one of the more appropriate people in the relevant organization and a person who has been primed (by way of a phone call or whatever) to expect your resume.

Surrey Expat ended that post with this sentence, "A hard copy in the hands of a few targeted employers would be the way I would go every time." Exactly. Targeted is the key word.

In my previous post, I already have mentioned the Wiki article on Finding Job Opportunities. I'm sure you'll find this out when you read that article, but it may speed things up for you if I point out to you the existence of the Canadian government's Company Capabilities website. It helps you to find out who the corporate players are in a given sector and in a given region.

calgary2006

I know Microsoft are opening a large site in Vancouver, might be worth looking at their website as their careers site is quite comprehensive.

I also know a corporate recruiter working for a Telecoms company in BC that look for IT people. PM your resume to me and I will pass it on.

Julie

Paul Wildy

If you are in IT I would email not post a hard-copy resume - employers in Canada in the IT industry might think that a little strange.

I also support the practice of calling first or at least following up with a phonecall after emailing. Personal contact and networking are the two main ways of finding jobs. Canadians are generally farily outgoing and dont have a problem with doing either of these and in order to compete we brits need to put asside some of our reservedness and follow suit. A phonecall in particular goes a long way toward convincing an emloyer that you are really serious about moving all the way to another country - they are bound to be skeptical.

MarkG

What format would you use, if they don't specify one? I'd normally send .pdf files but have no idea whether I should do that or send .rtf or whatever.

Or maybe I should send both .

Judy in Calgary

If the prospective employer does not specify the format, I would send it as a PDF file (formatted to print on North American letter sized paper). That makes it more difficult for the recipient to mess it up and goes some way towards ensuring that your resume will remain clean.

If I was sending it to an employment agency, I would send two versions, one PDF and one MS-Word. Agencies often print resumes on their own letterhead and according to their own preferred layout. If you provide them with an MS-Word file, they easily can manipulate the document and don't need to type it from scratch (a shortcut that they obviously appreciate).

live to ski

Straight to employer I would send PDF.

I posted my resume to engineering firms in Vancouver in the hope that an english stamp and "air mail" sticker would interest someone, and then phoned about 10 days to 2 weeks after posting to "check that they had received it" and hope that my cute english accent would make them off me a job!

Seriously - think of something to make me stand out from all the hundreds of the other resumes that probably end up unread in in-trays every week.

You have to work hard to get through reception / switch board to get to the decision maker, but I had a good patter going in the end.

Surrey Expat

I would agree entirely with Judy's suggestions. In the IT industry e-mail might be acceptable. However rather than sending a broadcast e-mail across the IT industry, call specific companies, get the correct contact (and find out how to spell their name). You can then ask if they would mind if you submit your resume and how they would prefer you send it, e-mail or regular mail and if an attachment is OK. A pdf is by far the best format to use, it is cross platform and maintains the integrity of the document. It would be unlikley that an IT company would not have at least Acrobat reader. If you use non standard fonts, be sure they are embedded in the document, otherwise the recipients computer will substitute.

Keep everything in one document, cover letter and resume, avoid sending several attachments. If their mail does not accept attachments, then perhaps an HTML format would be a suitable alternative.

acer rose

From the responses here and similar posts in the past (if you have done a search) you will find that details vary - what is successful for one is not necessarily going to be successful for all - but there is some good solid information around on the Wiki and elsewhere on the web to help.

That said, it can be down to the luck of the draw to some extent so play the odds (ie the more effort/time you put in the better your chances of success).

When I was starting to try to build a network everybody was polite but some people had more time available than others so be sensitive to timing (especially if your industry has specific deadlines eg accountants in tax filing season may have more pressing duties to deal with). Surprisingly (given the advice you find everywhere) you may also find that not everybody is receptive to networking approaches (in one case I had been referred to such a person by a helpful contact) . Remember that there are plonkers the world over and don't be put off. Networking can be intimidating when you start out knowing nobody but very satisfying if you are enthusiastic about your work and enjoy talking with like-minded people. It is likely to become a big part of your future so try to learn to love it.