Minto Roy - Career - Recruitment Blog

1. Corporate Downsizing by large multi-national companies. If you are a small company, this is the best time to pursue talent within your industry who have great contacts, experience, and competitive intelligence. Many well networked professionals who may have been unaffordable in the past are now looking beyond the corporate giants to entrepreneurial small businesses. Those with decent severance packages in hand can justify taking a salary cut and investing in your company’s growth plan and potential.

2. Large companies reducing staff run the risk of diminishing service quality to their clients. Reduced staff and fewer resources could mean that existing clients accustomed to premium service might be disappointed to learn that the representatives whom they always dealt with are gone. It’s a great time to pursue these clients who might now consider moving their business to your small business and deal directly with the owner.

3. Public support. In this era of corporate bailouts, outlandish corporate salaries and rollercoaster stock dips, the strength of small business and a customer’s access to the actual business owner is comforting to the public and consumer market. The public has far more trust in the mom and pop shop businesses than the corporate giants responsible for the plummeting stock market.

4. Small business is nimble and reactive. Corporate giants have thrown down their anchors in their attempts to ride the economic storm. Millions of “No More Spending Memos” have been sent across North America, corporate layoffs, salary rollback, no more travel, no more client lunches, dinners etc… Large corporations are making it harder for their sales staff to close new business. Small business can strategically target key clients traditionally held by the corporate giants. Small business can react and create innovative approaches, incentivise their sales reps to travel the red-eye and take advantage of every opportunity available to close new deals.

5. Global Thinking. Small business can initiate and launch into new markets, globally, where consumer markets want or need their products. Large corporations require significant re-structuring, re-tooling and significant capital to pursue new markets. Small business can decide tomorrow if they want to expand globally. No red tape required, small business comes with the freedom to hire an agent or a representative in China or India to sell their products via agent agreement and become international overnight.

So let the newspapers continue to grow their businesses and sell newspapers with negative stories of rampant layoffs, restructurings, large business contract cancellations and the decline of the corporate giants. It is all good news for small business.

Minto Roy / Partner
RevGen/www.revenuegeneration.ca
CareersToday Canada / www.careerstodaycanada.com

Posted by minto at 04:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

1. Make a commitment to really go after that great career!

Don’t grab the first low hanging offer that waves a few dollars at you. A committed job search requires focus, strategy and unrelenting dedication until the objective is achieved.

2. Drastically increase your career options by targeting opportunities in the SME Market.

Small to Medium Size Enterprises represent approx. 95% of companies in the economy, therefore, they do 95% of the hiring, but these companies are often ignored or unknown to most job seekers.

3. Create powerful skills and achievement narratives.

Narratives are exciting short-burst descriptions of your skills and achievements used in your resume and overall marketing campaign. Narratives must be compelling and unique to showcase your value to employers. Stay away from cliché’s and vague statements like, “I’m a people person, team player, honest and hardworking, loyal and looking for a challenge.”

4. Showcase your future not your past

Send hiring managers future-focused resumes not past-focused documents. Hiring managers are far more interested in what you can do for them in the future than what you have done in the past. But the only thing typical resumes talk about is…hmm, your past.

5. Work your job search strategy from the top down, not bottom up

Try networking or securing interviews two levels up from your income level. If you’re looking for a job at 50K, you better interview with people who make 80-100K. They are the ones who make the final decision to hire you. If you are looking for a job at 100K, it’s hard to believe the person in HR earning 50 K can make the decision to hire you.

6. Prepare for your interviews with the same intensity as you did for your University finals.

On average, most jobseekers spend 1-2 hours preparing for an interview that may change their lives, yet most spent days studying for their University final exams.

7. Network consistently and with sincere engagement

Never ask a company if they are hiring! Only by taking a sincere interest in a company’s goals and challenges will they then take a sincere interest in your career objectives.

8. Negotiate the entire package when you get an offer.

Salary, benefits, performance bonuses, stock options, paid vacations, review assessments, training allowances, flex hours, ++ Most jobseekers are either too scared to counter offer or don’t know all the perks available in this red-hot job market by employers hungry for talent.

9. Your career is where you spend the majority of your day! Hire a professional to help you land that great career.

Your friends and family may have the very best intentions but do they really have the time, market insight and resources to ensure that you get that great career? The right career expert will provide years of expertise, market insight and resources AND hold you accountable to help you land that great career. So, have a beer with your buddies, but do not rely on them to be your primary source of job search advice.

10. Finally, Just do it! What have you got to lose?

If you’re not happy with your current job, then take the chance to go after something better. If it doesn’t work out, you won’t have any problem finding a job that you don’t want, the market is full of them. In-fact, you don’t even need any of the last nine tips to get a job you don’t like!

Minto Roy
President
Careerstoday Canada
www.careerstodaycanada.com

Posted by minto at 06:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Employment World doesn’t need another boring resume.

Here are Top 5 Things Not to Do when creating a competitive resume to set yourself apart from your competition. But first a quick ‘Marketing 101 lesson for jobseekers,

“If you are trying to set yourself apart from other jobseekers in the marketplace, don’t market yourself with the exact same methodology as the rest of your competition and hope to stand out.”

Most jobseekers traditionally use a resume to showcase their value. The resume showcases their past accomplishments, past experiences and past education. However, after speaking with hundreds of hiring managers, I am reminded that these managers are far more interested in what a candidate can do for them in the future, not what they have done in the past.

However, only a fraction of the resume focuses on the jobseeker’s future. The “objective section”, usually the lead paragraph, is the only part of the resume that contains any information about the jobseeker’s future objective. But most objective statements are vague and contain never ending clichés.

Objective: “seasoned professional looking for a dynamic and challenging position with a growth oriented company. A great team player, willing to work hard, flexible, loyal, etc…”

In hopes of being unique most job seekers provide employers with identically formatted marketing documents and statements hoping to set themselves apart as being unique. So here are 5 Things Not to Do when trying to create a unique resume

Number One

Don’t be too general and say the same things as every other job seeker.
Employers assume that you are honest, loyal and a team player. No employer disqualifies you right away and says, “Hey, this guy didn’t say he was honest, hardworking and loyal in his resume, he’s out!”

Number Two

Don’t assume that your resume has to showcase every one of your experiences and accomplishments.

Including everything you’ve done in your career doesn’t increase your odds of getting the job or another job at the company. Don’t hope that employers might look deeper at your qualification and figure out that you are qualified for another opportunity within the company.

Number Three

Don’t use words that are long term or process oriented words when describing your achievements. Use a short term, action oriented bursts. Write dialogue to attract the reader’s interest and emotions.

Number Four

Don’t go back more than a decade with your experiences and achievements. Even that’s a long time. Respectfully, not many people care about what you did ten years ago…It’s over. Remember, keep the focus of your resume on what you can do in the future.

Number Five

Make the end of the resume count. Remember, most people remember what they read at the beginning and at the end. End uniquely, by creating an exciting explanation of your passions and interests outside of work.

The end of your resume should provide employers insight into your competitive drive, your creativity, your commitment to charity, volunteer work, how you might save the world!

Be bold, be creative, use the final part of your resume to compel the hiring manager to want to meet the professional and the personality behind the document.

Minto Roy
President
CareersToday Canada
www.careerstodaycanada.com
www.mintoroy.net

Listen to Minto on Careers Today Radio. Every week on The Buzz 1410 am Saturdays from 3-4 pm. Past shows available can be downloaded on the Careers Today website.

Posted by minto at 06:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you are fortunate enough to get in-the-door of the right company looking to hire someone with your professional skills and qualifications then you will have to deal with some difficult interview questions.

The typical job interview takes about one hour; Sixty minutes of time that determines where you will spend at least 8 hours of a day, a crucial meeting that solidifies your professional identity and future lifestyle for you and your family in Canada.

With my experience of assisting thousands of professional immigrants with their job search, the questions that cause most anxiety relate to the lack of Canadian work experience. It’s extremely important that new professionals handle this question with a solid response.
Most professional immigrants arrive in Canada with a great education, years of work experience, lots of talent and a commitment to hard work. Yet lack the understanding of how to effectively communicate their value during a job interview. It’s vital that newcomers showcase that they DO HAVE the drive, skills and experience to take on a professional job similar to that of their home country.

Forget Interview strategies for this column. Here are some real interview answers to get you through the number one toughest question your will face. Practice these answers, memorize them and use them. This type of professional language will help you understand and respond effectively to the dreaded Canadian experience question:

Employer Question:

Why should we hire you, over other candidates with greater Canadian experience?
To answer this question you will need a plan or a rehearsed script. Think about famous actors when they perform in a play or a movie. They do so only after massive preparation. Every word, every pause, every facial gesture has been practiced. In fact, professionals in every field recognize when called to perform at a competitive level they must be ready. They practice until their responses to an important situation becomes second nature.

Treat your response to questions or concerns related to your lack of Canadian experience with the same degree of practice and performance. Rather than taking a defensive position with your answer, go on the offense. Turn the question into an opportunity that mirrors commonly held business concepts.

Here’s a script to rehearse.

Answer:

“We’re in a dynamic global economy, I understand you are (or want to be) a global company. A company that thinks and acts beyond Canada’s borders. My work experience has many common traits that you are looking for.” (Give a clear example at this point that matches their requirements.) Write down your own experience example and rehearse it before the interview. Practice over and over again, memorize and make sure you provide examples of experiences that match the criteria for their job description.

Here’s more dialogue for you to memorize.

“I also hope to assist with your companies initiatives locally and globally. Many Canadian businesses are realizing that more than half of their products and services are being bought by new immigrants. I hope with my multi-language skills and cultural understanding that I can help service and grow your customer base in new markets that are growing each year with the increase in Canadian immigration.

These responses will be extremely attractive to companies that are targeting their products into immigrant market segments. Your competition will not be able to compete with your language and cultural insights that match social demographic changes to Canada’s population. If you’re interviewing with a progressive company, there may already be plans underway to move their products and services global or at least local plans to reach growing immigrant communities in Canada.

I know most of your realize that you must commit to improving your English skills and practice every day. But go beyond practice and pretend you are an actor in a movie learning a foreign accent. You’re not trying to be fake when job interviewing, your simply trying to present full value of your potential.

You shouldn’t be relegated to low level entry jobs in Canada. If you’re a professional take responsibility for preparing and presenting yourself until you can answer well enough to present your skills and experience. Practice interview answers until you can quote them perfectly. Memorize, practice and face questions about your lack of Canadian experience with confidence. Become dedicated to your interview performance, like actors in-front of paying audiences. Because when your interviewing for a job, you are performing in-front of a paying audience, your future employer.

Minto Roy
President / CEO
Careers Today Canada/RevGen
Vancouver, British Columbia
www.careerstodaycanada.com
www.revenuegeneration.ca
www.mintoroy.net

Posted by minto at 06:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HE SAID / SHE SAID
Featuring Career Development Experts, Minto Roy & Alanna Fero

March is the month of St. Patrick’s Day in Canada and the U.S. Brought to North America by Irish immigrants, this originally introspective and religious holiday in Ireland has evolved here into a much more secular celebration of luck and good fortune. The sight of so many people of every ethnic background wearing shamrock green and glittering gold and sidling up to a bar to tilt a pint o’Guiness beer is enough to get anyone thinking about luck, and getting us thinking about how you can create your own.

Alanna Says:

Luck, it turns out, is primarily about belief – in yourself and in the world. Research conducted by Dr. Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire in England suggests that lucky people think and act differently than unlucky people, and offers tips on how to replicate their thoughts and actions to change your luck for the better.

First of all, lucky people are more conscious of opportunity than unlucky ones. They routinely see things other people don’t, from prize draws to job postings. They are also very open to new experiences and they tend to enjoy community connection, often having two to three times as many contacts as their unlucky friends.

Part of why they see more opportunities is that lucky people are optimistic and simply expect good fortune. They believe the world has much to offer them so they are alert to and accepting of every offering. Lucky people also follow their intuition and make rewarding life decisions by following a gut feeling to take a calculated risk.

Finally, lucky people make a habit of turning even bad luck into good, finding the learning experience or positive outcome in any situation, and quickly rebounding from setbacks to proactively move forward in a new direction. If that sounds like you, you’re lucky! And if that doesn’t sound like you… you’re still lucky because right here, right now, you are alert to opportunity, connecting to a positive message, and you can choose to make a change for the better.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Minto Roy Says:

I understand this luck research involved studying several hundred people who self-identified as either extremely lucky or extremely unlucky, monitoring their day-to-day lives and observing their responses to controlled experiments. Maybe the science is what will convince some of you, but not me. For me, it’s experience. I’ve always known that the more 14 hour days I put in grinding it out at the office, the luckier I get. The more I network and educate myself and do the right thing instead of the easy thing, the better my results turn out to be. You can call it luck if you want to. I call it a pattern of behaviour that, consistently implemented, has no choice but to succeed. You can’t do the right thing the right way in a consistent pattern and not get results. Hard work gets rewarded eventually.

As immigrants, sometimes you have to work harder than your Canadian-born counterparts and many people would say this is a hardship or an evidence of an uneven playing field. I think it’s actually lucky. Your hard work will give you drive and experience and new skills that people who have it easier will take much longer to develop – and they may never get there. I’m glad I started with next to nothing, growing up hard in a rough neighbourhood, hearing my parents slip out the door after putting us to bed to work graveyard shift in a factory. It made me hungry. It forced me to set goals and keep my commitments to myself even as a teenager. It continues to give meaning to what I am building every day.

If your life is hard right now, be glad. Bring it on! What you work for is so much richer than what is handed to you. That’s why immigrants are the luckiest people I know.

Posted by minto at 04:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HE SAID / SHE SAID
Featuring Career Development Experts, Minto Roy & Alanna Fero

We get calls every week from reporters and researchers looking for a quote or seeking some insight on business and career-related topics – more and more often, those queries relate to “workplace diversity” and “tapping into new Canadian talent.” Minto has been asked to speak to CEOs, Directors, MPs and MLAs on this topic, and their interest increases the more they learn. It’s a sign of the times – and a very good sign for today’s immigrants.

Minto Says:

We have seen a staggering rise by media and corporate Canada in discussing issues related immigrant workplace integration. Industries are screaming "we have jobs to fill." Provincial, Federal politicians regularly debate the best ways to assist professional immigrants. And Immigration Canada is increasing its immigration quotas more and more every year. This is not the flavour of the month. This is and will be a steadfast menu item on Canada’s table. Businesses are learning how they butter their bread, and hiring immigrants, it turns out, is profitable. The public volume is loud on this topic. Corporations have long been focused on how to strategically position themselves as a company of choice to attract immigrant consumers. It’s so exciting to see that they are now concerned with how to attract immigrant employees as well. It may be the most opportune time for new professional immigrants. Now, there is no magic pill or quick fix coming. People will still ask you about your Canadian experience and your English language skills are as important as ever. However, with the rise of media and spotlight will come a greater reception by companies to embrace talent. There is an obvious social benefit in helping newcomers but corporations have now felt some of the pain and consequence of ignoring such mass social change. And they’re responding. Companies cannot ignore that as much as half of their products and services are brought by consumers who came to Canada from another country. And best practices in marketing and branding have always advocated putting your consumer’s face in your marketing and sales. Companies now have figured out that they also need to put those faces – and those languages, and that intellectual capital – in their offices.

It’s a great day to be Canadian.

Alanna Says:

I never feel more proud to be Canadian than when I see examples of tolerance, community outreach, generosity of spirit, excellence of enterprise. When those things all happen together, so much the better.

The tide IS turning, and slowly-yet-suddenly, as these things often go, everyone is paying more attention. And as we write more on this subject and Minto gets asked to give more presentations on “diversity,” I’m noting an increase in questions about what “other people say” about my sharing this column with Minto. The asker is somehow never asking for herself as she says, “You know, I mean, of course I think it’s fine, but do some people wonder about you, you know, writing for the immigrant paper, writing about diversity, you know because you, you know…” “What?” I ask as their voices trail off into a sheepish silence. “Because, you know, you’re… you’re… not an immigrant.”

It’s true – I’m not. I’m second generation. But the people inquiring don’t know that. They have an idea of what an immigrant looks like or sounds like, and I don’t seem to them to fit. Not so different, really, from “other” people who have an idea in their head of what a Canadian looks like or sounds like, huh?

Asking me whether “some people wonder…” begs so many deeper, likely unconscious, questions on the diversity question. Whom do we ask? Who is allowed to speak? Who is supposed to care? Who is expected to act?

So today, as we note the sweeping changes made and coming in business views on the importance of integrating immigrant talent, I add a special message to the many readers of this magazine who were born here, or who’s parents or grandparents were born here, and also to those readers whose companies, as far as they know right now, have no trouble attracting all the talent they need: Great news! Diversity means YOU, TOO!

Posted by minto at 04:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HE SAID / SHE SAID
Featuring Career Development Experts, Minto Roy & Alanna Fero

Canada Day, for many Canadians, is a day for barbecues and beach volleyball. But for immigrants and the professionals who are privileged to serve them, Canada Day can mean so much more.

Minto Roy Says:

I look forward to Canada Day every year. Like most immigrants, I experience Canada Day as a reflective time – not only reflecting on my experiences but those I have seen and heard through the eyes and voices of other newcomers to this great country.

I am reminded of how our family came to Canada and how I watched Canada Day celebrations with those close to me. As a child from India coming to Canada, my parents daily reiterated how fortunate we were to have sponsors providing us the opportunity to move. As textile labourers generally working late night shifts, my parents did not enjoy all of the advantages that attracted them to Canada, yet they were grateful every day, and they instilled that gratitude in me. Now I do enjoy everything that Canada has to offer, and I experience it not as a birthright but as a gift never to be taken for granted. A gift that keeps on giving to my children, and to my employees and clients.

I hope you all feel that way this Canada Day.

Alanna Says:

I don’t know if I looked forward to Canada Day as a kid, but I definitely experienced a range of intense emotions and enjoyed a well-rounded civic education each July 1st: my parents came through the Depression and the Second World War. Going to the parade and waving our flag is, I was taught, both a privilege and a responsibility – something handed down to me by those who had sacrificed so I might enjoy this day. Canadians are not typically effusive in their patriotism, but I knew better than to be embarrassed by my father’s bold displays of national pride – it was obvious how much it meant to him, as an Italian-Canadian, to have worn a Royal Canadian Navy uniform in “the Service,” as veterans to this day call military duty in any of the land, sea or air branches.

I was raised to believe that the good fortune being Canadian is something that must be shared. Though we didn’t have a lot, our holiday table was routinely filled by guests from all around the world, new to Canada, learning about Hallowe’en treats, Thanksgiving turkey and Christmas stockings, and teaching us about love, family and courage. My parents also tried to help people meet one another, make friends, find better jobs, move into new homes – no doubt playing a large part in how I came to do what I do today.

On Canada Day, I’m grateful to my grandparents, none more than 13 years old when they left their families behind to board a ship for this new land, each the first in his or her family to do so. I’m also thankful for my parents who worked every day at jobs that wore out their bodies and dampened their spirits so they could give me a better life. For me the fireworks celebrate my life in a place where compassion has a place in government, where education encourages young people to question, where people of different races and religions and now also sexual orientations have the same rights as others, and where, as the first person in my family to complete high school, I could earn a graduate degree and do the work I do.

There are many reasons to be grateful to be Canadian – for me the greatest of those is the intertwined opportunity and obligation to share. We’re all in the Service.

Posted by minto at 04:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HE SAID / SHE SAID
Featuring Career Development Experts, Minto Roy & Alanna Fero

Happy New Year! Many countries have far more community-driven and deeply held beliefs and traditions around the New Year than Canada does, but most Canadians have two things in common at this time of year. We make wishes for what we would like life to bring to us, and resolutions for what we would like to bring more of to our lives.

Minto Roy:

A new immigrant to Canada might dream up a wish list something like this one:

1. Foreign Credentials Recognized
For some of you it can happen – check out a credential evaluation service such as the one at BCIT www.bcit.ca/ices).

2. International Work Experience Accepted
Another tough one. But if you have been paying attention to some of our resume tips, you are learning how to communicate your record of achievement and transferable skills.

3. HRSDC Counsellors Are People Like You
Wouldn’t it be cool of the government hired people who had immigrated to Canada 7 – 15 years ago, secured stable private sector employment, been promoted and enjoyed the success you are seeking to advise you? Might be too much to hope for.

4. Global Banks Treat Credit Histories as Truly Global
How is it that we have multi-national companies and multi-currency accounts but an outstanding credit rating in almost any other country (even, believe it or not, Great Britain and the United States) is almost meaningless in Canada? Vancity has a better track record on this than some other companies – give them a call and maybe this wish can come true.

5. Corporate Commitment to Immigrant Recruitment
Companies are only too willing to target their marketing and sales efforts on various ethnic communities to attract immigrant dollars. I think it’s time they made a commitment to hiring the same fraction of employees from a culture as that culture represents in their customer demographics. If 3% of the buyers of X make of cars in Canada are from South Asia, then 3% of their employees should be South Asian.

Keep dreaming big and working hard. 2006 promises to be a great year.

Alanna:

A new immigrant’s resolution list should probably include some of these items:

1. Let go of whatever pre-conceived ideas you had about Canada before coming here and embrace the experience you are having. The majority of immigrants we meet and work with who succeed quickly do this intuitively. Those who encounter major disappointments and setbacks do so at least in part because they struggle so hard with the gap between their expectations and the reality of life in a new country.

2. As you choose new friends and communities in which to network, choose based not on similarity of experience but instead on positivity of attitude. Immigrants can support one another to learn and engage and move forward in their new land, and that kind of outreach is beautiful to see and productive to offer and accept. Too often, however, small immigrant groups who band together fail to support one another to get beyond culture shock and instead focus so much on their own hardship that they bring each other down and hold each other back. If people are telling you how hard things are, how bad they have it, how disappointed they feel, you must have compassion for them, of course. You must also move away from them to seek a more positive influence and improve your own state before you can help them. You do not pull your friend out of a hole by jumping in with him. You go get a rope.

3. Resolve to learn about Canadian work culture. Canada is often juxtaposed to the U.S. as a mosaic versus the American melting pot. The contrast holds with respect to food, drink, spiritual practice, weekend hobbies and the like. At work, however, there is a cultural literacy that you must demonstrate as a prerequisite to an employer’s willingness to consider your skills or experience. Seventh generation Canadians must demonstrate cultural fit; so must you.

Wishing you happier, healthier, wealthier lives in 2006.

Posted by minto at 03:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HE SAID / SHE SAID
Featuring Career Development Experts, Minto Roy & Alanna Fero

Happy New Year! Many countries have far more community-driven and deeply held beliefs and traditions around the New Year than Canada does, but most Canadians have one thing in common at this time of year. We make resolutions for what we would like to bring more of to our lives.

Alanna:

A new immigrant’s resolution list should probably include some of these items:

1. Let go of whatever pre-conceived ideas you had about Canada before coming here and embrace the experience you are having. The majority of immigrants we meet and work with who succeed quickly do this intuitively. Those who encounter major disappointments and setbacks do so at least in part because they struggle so hard with the gap between their expectations and the reality of life in a new country.

2. As you choose new friends and communities in which to network, choose based not on similarity of experience but instead on positivity of attitude. Immigrants can support one another to learn and engage and move forward in their new land, and that kind of outreach is beautiful to see and productive to offer and accept. Too often, however, small immigrant groups who band together fail to support one another to get beyond culture shock and instead focus so much on their own hardship that they bring each other down and hold each other back. If people are telling you how hard things are, how bad they have it, how disappointed they feel, you must have compassion for them, of course. You must also move away from them to seek a more positive influence and improve your own state before you can help them. You do not pull your friend out of a hole by jumping in with him. You go get a rope.

3. Resolve to learn about Canadian work culture. Canada is often juxtaposed to the U.S. as a mosaic versus the American melting pot. The contrast holds with respect to food, drink, spiritual practice, weekend hobbies and the like. At work, however, there is a cultural literacy that you must demonstrate as a prerequisite to an employer’s willingness to consider your skills or experience. Even seventh generation Canadians must demonstrate cultural fit; you must do the same!

Wishing you happier, healthier, wealthier lives in 2006.

Minto Roy:

Some other useful resolutions would include:

4. Make a point of meeting successful immigrants who have secured new positions in their field of expertise, ideally people who have really integrated into Canadian society, not just people who have also arrived quite recently or who share your cultural or linguistic background. Your network will therefore be made up of role models who have a proven track record of career success from which you can learn and improve your own life.

5. Prepare to network by taking inventory of what you have done in your past and drawing comparisons to Canadian companies of similar industry and size. For example, if you worked for a telecom in India, then when asked what you do, say; "I am a telecom professional. I managed large wireless projects for South Asia Telecom for 3 years. They are a telecom solution provider much like Bell Canada. My projects involved supervising 20-30 staff and managing budgets exceeding 5 million dollars". Make it easier for people to relate to your skills and experience. Get ready to discuss your skills with Canadian conversions and analogies well practiced.

6. Get Help! Correction, get the right help. Too many new immigrants rely on family, friends and government to create job search strategies for them. Respectfully, these sources are not going to help most people secure professional level employment. You hired an immigration lawyer to help you get here. You will hire doctors, lawyers, and financial experts throughout your professional life – you also need an expert to help you launch that professional life in Canada. Don't wait until you are frustrated or desperate to get help. Working in partnership with expert professionals will save you time, money, frustration.

Make your number one resolution for the year to Just do it! and have a prosperous 2006.

Posted by minto at 03:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

HE SAID / SHE SAID
Featuring Career Development Experts, Minto Roy & Alanna Fero

February is the month of Valentine’s Day in Canada and the U.S. It’s kind of a funny holiday manufactured by flower shops and chocolatiers, no doubt, to help them rebound from the post-Christmas retail slowdown. But the mythology behind Valentine’s Day, the story of Cupid, is not just about romance; it’s about match-making. And that’s really what employers and jobseekers are trying to do, isn’t it? Make a good match.

Minto Roy:

A good plan for choosing an employer match is to select companies whose products and services sincerely interest you. By that I mean, regardless of where you work, you would be using their products or services and interested in business news about their organization. Think about activities you enjoy and subjects you love to talk about. Chances are, many of those things are represented by companies. And the leaders of those companies covet employees who share their interests and values and sincerely believe in their products and services.

For instance, if you love sports, invest time in learning about sports and fitness-related companies. With a little research, you can develop a list of 20-30 companies that directly match your interest. Personal identity linked to your professional identity provides the perfect foundation for an exciting career. Your career shouldn't be about what you do for your job, it should be a reflection of who you are as a person.

It's also critical to feel you have a match with the people who populate these companies. Remember you will be spending 8-10 hours of day with them. A popular metaphor asserts that we become the average of the 5 people with whom we spend the most time. If that’s even partly true, you need to be very careful about who those people are as they will directly influence who you become. If you don't know people at the company, do some research. Check news articles about their community activity. Pick-up the phone and call a department manager and ask him/her for 15 minutes of their time based on your interest in their products and services.

Invest in research and relationships and the right match for you is out there.

Alanna:

Making a good match also means making yourself attractive to the employer. You want the company you choose to choose you – and in the best case scenario, they should feel like it’s their idea. I’m not suggesting that you be manipulative – on the contrary, I think the most attractive qualities are virtually always the most authentic. But sometimes we have to take time to reflect and reconnect with what is authentic in ourselves, and also to do a bit of a polish to make sure we are seen by others in the best possible light.

Minto nailed the most attractive quality when he suggested you focus on employers in which you are genuinely interested. Companies are run by people, and people are subject to human nature. And we humans like nothing better than to know someone likes us. Don’t flatter or gush. Just take care to display the knowledge, experience, passions and values you have in common with decision-makers in the organizations to which you are drawn.

Another attractive quality is generosity, even selflessness. That doesn’t mean you have no needs or interests, but it does mean that you are willing to first consider the company’s interests before communicating your own. There is nothing appealing about, “What’s in it for me?” and everything appealing about “What can I do for you?” Take time to learn what the companies needs are and to communicate how you will add value to meet those needs.

Also pay attention to the finer details of appearance and speech: understand the culture and etiquette of the organization and present yourself in how you dress, act and speak as one of them. Don’t tell them you are a fit: show them. In fact, BE THE FIT. Then you’ll have a career match which would make Cupid proud.

Posted by minto at 02:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HE SAID / SHE SAID
Featuring Career Development Experts, Minto Roy & Alanna Fero

When we were considering a holiday-themed column, we wondered which of our Canadian traditions would be most accessible to immigrants experiencing our holiday season for the first time. The internationally recognizable icon of Santa Claus, of course! And we got to thinking… WHAT IF SANTA IMMIGRATED TO CANADA? AND WHAT IF HE WANTED TO CHANGE CAREERS?

Minto Roy:

Though he was a successful entrepreneur with 1000s of elves working for him, Santa wouldn’t have enough points on his immigration application to enter Canada under the regular rules. (Paul Martin will avoid getting a lump of coal in his stocking by wisely making a special exception.)

As Santa arrives at Toronto’s Pearson Airport, its crisp winter air reminds him fondly of home. Fortunately, like so many talented immigrants, Santa fluently speaks 17 languages, English among them, so he will communicate easily.

Scanning the newspaper as he sits in the “landing” room reserved for immigrants waiting to be processed, he sees the real estate section and gets his first shock: his North Pole bungalow would be worth $5.3 million on Vancouver’s North Shore! His second shock comes a few days later in his settlement class where, although the room is full of many professionals, most with advanced degrees and extensive work experience like his own, again and again they are told it is a problem that they do not have Canadian experience. “But,” Santa protests, “I delivered presents from BC to Prince Edward Island! I worked all around the world! I have international experience!” His cries fall on deaf ears.

Seeing so many people in his group -- engineers and software developers, doctors and professors, even lawyers and bankers -- being encouraged to take the first available job in service or labour, Santa begins to wonder whether these classes teaching how to “settle” in his new country have more than one meaning. And he does not want to settle for a dead-end job.

Santa is like everyone else who comes to Canada: he has a big heart and a huge dream. Getting here, it turns out, is the easy part. Succeeding here takes strategic hard work.

Alanna:

Like every other immigrant, if Santa wants to enjoy a professional career in Canada, he needs an expert evaluation of his transferable skills followed by a translation of those skills into Canadian language which highlights their transferability.

For example, Santa has flown a sleigh pulled by 9 reindeer (all the usual suspects plus Rudolph and his shiny red nose up front) to deliver presents around the world. Re-languaged, it becomes a profile in leadership and team-building: “Harnessed drive of experienced transportation team to deliver top results. Gave leadership role to star performer and delegated balance of responsibilities to ensure every team member collaboratively pulled their weight. Navigated complex logistics processes across multiple borders and time zones to ensure goods delivered on time year after year.” On paper at least, Santa is a now man people would hire.

But the resume is not enough. Santa also needs to present himself professionally in person. His red velvet suit might have been perfect at the North Pole, but it won’t fit in here. Appearance is a language, too – one which speaks of cultural literacy. Santa’s new uniform should be a well-pressed dark suit with a crisp white shirt and a new tie. He’ll need a hair stylist, too. Grey hair around the temples is attractive in a job applicant; it may not be politically correct to say so, but a bushy head and long beard of white hair is just not. It’s time for colour as well as a cut and a shave if Santa wants to inspire confidence in a potential employer.

If Santa were my client, I would tell him to look around at the people who are in the jobs he admires and, while respecting his culture at the same time, try to emulate their speech, body language, and clothing. In short, take your advice from someone who is where you want to be.

Posted by minto at 02:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)