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I'm about to send my cv out to a few companies but was wondering if there is anything they do differently with their cv's/resume's I should know about. I have my standard format one that has been relatively successful here, but you never know what they look for in other countries.
Well, as you say it's a Resumé not a CV. I might be tempted to run it through a US spellchecker too.
I had this a few months back, having to send my resume to Canadian firms. I basically rewrote what was quite a conservative CV (education in bullet points, wordy description of what I did in each job) into something more like what I'd read a resume should be. So I started with a summary ('experienced whatsit, done thingy for 10 years in several international roles, dooby doo, get in there'), then proceeded with job details, focussing on the achievements, and trying to miss out the boring stuff.
Apart from that, the usual - 2 pages max, drop in a couple of interesting other skills/ hobbies and so on. Plus I was exceedingly polite and friendly in my covering emails, and tried to explain concisely why I was moving.
It worked, cause I'm in Toronto now, at my desk pretending to work 🙂
Thanks Nicko: What you describe actually sounds pretty much like my cv anyway. How receptive were companies in general to employing someone from the UK? Any difficulties?
LOTS of useful info here: [url] http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Category:Job_Hunting-Canada [/url]
including some specifics here: [url] http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Resume-Canada [/url]
For whats it worth, I took my UK CV, changed the title to resume and just edited a few relevant details (dates in US format, a short note about being authorized to work in Canada). I got lucky, found a job very quickly but the job market here (Vancouver) has definitely tightened up since the recession.
Be prepared to not get any acknowledgement from job applications. They're not being rude, its the US/Canadian way. Employers only ever reply to candidates they're interested in and right now, if you don't have a work visa you'll be at the very bottom of the pile. The main difficulty is getting a work visa!
...but I can't get a work visa, until I get a job.
Therein lies the problem!
There's a lot of hassle involved for an employer to get approval for employing foreigners, so basically you need to be very much in demand for them to go through with it. My wife is a nurse in a specialist area, she got a job offer and work visa after 2 phone calls! Check the Expats forum and Canadian Immigration CIC website for details on job types. Otherwise, its either a 1yr BUNAC visa (<30 yrs old) or do it the hard way and apply for permanent residency from UK (multi-year process)
My best friend and his girlfriend arrived here earlier this year. She has a 1yr BUNAC visa (under 31) but my mate is well over 31 so is just here unemployed and living off his savings on a tourist visa. He's got a good CV (MSc, chartered structural engineer, 10yrs experience) and after 5months and about 30 applications has made precisely zero progress. He's now waiting & hoping that his girlfriend gets a Temporary Work Permit, which will allow him to get one too as her spouse. As soon as he gets a TWP, I bet the job interviews start rolling in.
Just found this: http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/personal-finance/article/yfinance/1826/the-10-commandments-of-resume-writing , if you've not already covered the resume-writing part.
My girlfriend had taken an internal transfer to Canada on the basis that I'd find a job and work permit. It took a while, but I was lucky to find a couple of external opportunities pretty quickly, and then just had to go through the slightly arduous process of interviews, legal hoops etc.
FWIW, I found that a bit of networking through existing contacts - asking them to get in touch with their Canadian counterparts - really helped; then it's just a case of working out what makes you worth the cost of getting a work permit. Multinational companies are definitely a better bet than one-market firms, as they have more experience of dealing with work permits, expats and so on. And certainly my current employer seemed happy enough to cover the legal costs of getting an LMO for me. It probably helped that I'm perhaps slightly overqualified for my role; plus I came out for face to face interviews in addition to the telephone ones.
I guess most of that's pretty obvious, but give me a shout if you want more info. Good luck!
Friends of mine emigrated last yr, mate a mental health nurse and got an assisted entry permit/visa via the hospital he got a job in. Saskatcheuan is in the middle of nowhere but he is only using it as a means to an end ie once he has got his citizenship paper(next yr)he plans to move to a better place.
Lots of work in this industry apparently;
http://www.mosaicco.com/
I think it may be wise to avoid any reference to age, marriage, religion etc. The Americans have strict rules about discrimination.