August 6, 2018 Leave a Comment

Is it Worthwhile to Job Search During the Summer?

Summer is here. The days are long, the city is buzzing with events, and laid back chatter flows from outdoor patios. It’s getting harder to focus on the job search, even more so when employers seem to be posting less jobs and taking longer to reply to applications. It’s tempting to take a break and restart your job search in September. But is that a good idea?

Not necessarily.

One reason to continue job seeking is precisely because job seekers often opt out of the job search in summer: competition for jobs is reduced and you might be able to snag a good opportunities.

Another reason is that jobs do continue to be posted. Some employers simply need to hire regardless of the season. Often hiring is urgent and employers are quick to grab the next available candidate.

Sometimes, employers are even beginning to line up opportunities for the December holidays.

Another advantage of job searching in summer is that employers are often more relaxed and receptive to chatting about what the next year may bring. Use this opportunity to connect with your targeted employers to gather information about the company, upcoming job requirements. and their hiring process. Having this information before jobs are posted gives you an edge over other job seekers. You will know what jobs are coming up, when they are accepting applications, the hiring process, and who is doing the hiring. If you are lucky and resourceful, you may even secure someone on the inside who can pass your resume on for you. People have a little more time to chat and may be open to longer discussions on potential opportunities.

However, you don’t necessarily have to continue job search at the same pace. Everyone needs some time off to relax, regroup, and recharge. Just don’t stop. You may miss out on some great opportunities. So, use this time of year to your advantage. After all, this is your job search and you will get out of it what you put in.

July 16, 2018 Leave a Comment

Online Job Applications: How to win at the screening game in Canada

Did you know that many companies, large and small, use automated software for screening online applications and resumes? It is known as the Applicant Tracking System (ATS). To help figure out what you can do to ensure that your resume and cover letter will be seen by the recruiter or hiring manager on the ATS, CanPrep has assembled a panel of experts who share their advice on:

How to optimize resumes and job applications for online screening
How employers use Applicant Tracking systems (ATS) for selecting candidates
How to use platforms like Magnet – an online job search support and resource service – as an effective job search tool
How employers use Magnet to screen job seekers

We also feature CanPrep alumni, Eduardo Almeida, who shared his personal story on how he successfully used online platforms to gain employment in Canada

[Read more…]

July 5, 2018 1 Comment

A CanPrep Success Story: Archana and Vivek

Each year, the CanPrep pre-arrival program helps hundreds of newcomers start preparing for employment before they arrive in Canada. Through one-on-one support, e-learning modules, online mentoring and webinars, each participant builds a Canadian-style resume, learns how to conduct a job search in Canada, and connects with employers with the help of our highly trained Employment Specialists.

Archana and Vivek are two such participants.

The couple, from Bangalore, India, both had successful careers in IT and dreamed of moving to Canada. But without family here or a professional network, the task of finding meaningful employment seemed daunting. As part of their research into immigration, they found the CanPrep program.

With the guidance of a CanPrep Employment Specialist, the couple were able to identify and address the gaps in their resumes, understand how recruiters would screen their applications, and how to highlight their professional accomplishments in order to stand out among the competition.

Through the program they were connected online to mentors in Canada who taught them about the culture of the Canadian workplace, how to reach out to consultants and recruiters on Linkedin, and to implement practical job search strategies specifically relevant to jobs in Software Development and IT Management. Archana and Vivek finished the program well-prepared to find positions that fully utilized their skills and education.

The couple arrived in Canada in August of 2017 and, within a few months, both had found exciting new jobs in their industry and a sense of support from their new community.

The secret to their success? “Understand the job market. Start the online mentoring at the earliest and spend as much time as possible in the mentoring sessions. Have [your] resume modified to suit the Canadian market and apply for jobs before arriving,” advised Archana.

Vivek added, “The e-learning modules helped me understand the [Canadian] resume format and understand how to approach finding a job. Mentoring gave me confidence. Thanks for the support.”

CanPrep’s expert employment preparation program and personalized support can help you arrive to Canada job-ready. For more information and eligibility requirements, please visit our program page or contact canprepreferrals@jvstoronto.org

June 25, 2018 1 Comment

Spruce up Your LinkedIn Profile with these 5 Steps

Bank screen of laptop on wooden table with blur background of share space office cafe.

With a reported 11 million unique jobs posted on the site, LinkedIn has become a key source of opportunities for its over half a billion users. The social media platform provides users a myriad of ways to be noticed by recruiters and potential employers. And if you are going to be noticed, you need make sure that your LinkedIn profile is in as good a shape as possible, especially in these five key elements:

1. Career Headline

Your headline is the first line of text a potential employer reads on your profile. It plays a marketing role — it’s your opportunity to tell them what you want them to know about you, your professional skills and experience.

Avoid simply using your job title as your headline, and don’t use the default LinkedIn one. Use this valuable opportunity attract attention and impress the reader. Try adding some relevant descriptive keywords to your job title. You can use multiple short terms to describe yourself, combining professional and personal terms: e.g.” Administrative Assistant | Microsoft Office | Customer Service | Committed to Excellence” or “Accounting Clerk | Bookkeeper | Advanced Excel | Detail-oriented”.

2. Profile photo

LinkedIn tells us that “great profile photo (…) can get you up to 21 times more profile views”. But profile views are not enough; to make an impactful and positive impression, a photo which communicates information about the your professionalism and confidence is best. There’s no need to pay someone to take a professional photo. LinkedIn offer some good tips on taking your own “work selfie”:

The LinkedIn Guide to the Perfect #WorkSelfie from LinkedIn

3. Summary/About

Your About section is an opportunity to further introduce yourself, explain your employment history, and give potential employers an opportunity to learn what makes you unique. It can be less formal and more wordy than a resume profile — just make sure that the tone is appropriate for your industry.

You can include in your profile:
– your professional title, years of experience and expertise, e.g. “Over 10 years’ progressive HR experience working in the non-profit sector”
– relevant educational achievements and/or professional designations, e.g. “University educated and a Certified Human Resource Professional (CHRP)”
– core skills and achievements, e.g. “Skilled negotiator, having successfully handled and resolved union disputes; knowledgeable on issues regarding payroll; designed and implemented professional staff development training”
– work values and principles, e.g. “Strong commitment to inclusive non-discrimination hiring practices”
– relevant personal characteristics, e.g. “Highly energetic, enthusiastic and confident”
– knowledge such as relevant languages and computer software

For ideas on what to include, read through job postings you are planning to apply for and identify the qualifications listed by the employers. Use them as your guide — try to echo the employers’ priorities.

4. Background photo

A background photo can brighten up a profile. It shows that you’ve made an extra effort to make the profile stand out.

The ideal photo would be of you at your workplace or job – even better if it’s one of you doing your job. Remember that regardless of what photo you use, you should have permission to use the photo. If you search for an image, make sure it is labelled free for re-use. Google offers clear advice on how to find such photos.

5. Media

One of the features that distinguishes a LinkedIn profile from a resume is the ability to add links or media, such as PDFs, videos and slide shows, Word documents or images, to the summary and to each job. Use this function to share video clips or photos of you at work, slideshows that you have produced, newsletters where you were mentioned, or samples of your work.

For ideas and inspiration to spruce up your resume, use the LinkedIn search bar to find profiles of fellow professionals in your field and review their profiles; find the ones that look impressive and look at their photo, headline, summary, media and background photo, and learn what you can from them. Try something new. Remember, you can always change things up if it doesn’t feel right — no one will judge you for trying new things. That’s the advantage of social media.

June 11, 2018 2 Comments

Get to know Google’s new Job Search Feature

Google has launched a job search feature to help users find job postings without having to leave the search engine. This function has the potential to be much more effective than using a specific website to find jobs, in that it scans for the job title throughout the internet, rather than being limited by known sources. You might even discover new, unknown sources of jobs in your field.

The best part of the function is how simple it is: just use the usual google search bar, by entering a job title and the word “job”.

Here’s how you use it:

1. Search:

Open your Google search page and enter the job title in the search. You can specify a location (e.g. “Toronto”) and/or a level (e.g. “entry level”). If you don’t specify location, it will search near your current location, within a range that you can specify. Google will searches multiple career sites such as Monster, ZipRecruiter, LinkedIn and Glassdoor, as well as agency sites and others.

2. Sort through the results:

Click on the blue box to open a full page and view the search results, and sort through all the jobs. Options are available to narrow the jobs by Title, Location, Date posted, Type (e.g. full time or contract), Company type (i.e. industry) and Employer.

3. Save jobs for future reference:

Next to the job title there is an option to save a job for future reference, and return to it at a later date. You will be able to do so only if you have a Google account and are logged into it.

4. Create an Alert:

If you find that the search results are useful, you can get set up an alert system to email you whenever jobs are posted that match your criteria. (Google Alerts are useful for any topic – you may use them to be alerted whenever their own name or a subject of interest is mentioned anywhere on the internet). Alerts can be edited or cancelled as needed.

5. Apply:

Google will direct you to sites where the job posted and you can take it from there, as you would usually when you find a job online.

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