Finding a job,
three words which can be stressful, especially when you don't have a job and
you are living on your savings in another country. And as these small savings
shrink even further, the stress levels keep shooting up. Sounds familiar? Read
along, this article might help, or least reassure you that you're on the right
track! I came to Australia without a job, got first hand experience of job hunting in this market, which I would like to share with everyone. I'm sure the experience of going to any part of the world
without a job would be as daunting if not more. I'm not an expert, just sharing
the valuable insights that I heard from a variety of people from either side of
the job hunting table.
Keeping an Open
Mind
Finding a job is
not just about how many applications you make sitting in front of your
computer, it's a lot more people focused. Because finally it's going to be a
person who will give you a job, not a company or its website. Hence it's
important to meet as many people as you can. Even a bartender could help you
refer your CV to someone important, but that'll happen only if you open up,
talk to people, share your need without sounding needy. Nothing works better
than references, try to build a network to reach out to those who can refer
you.
It's so
important to have an open mind - be open to learning the culture, speaking in a
way that could help you connect with them and being open to a new culture,
understanding their way of working and to the extent possible adapt to their
culture, than dragging your own culture into a new country. As wise men have
said, 'When in Rome, do what the Romans do.'
We all come to
this wonderful country (Australia in this case but could be any other country)
with a lot of baggage - lots of pride, having accumulated so many degrees and
having so much work experience (I can call it baggage now because I have a job
:P). When you try to find a job, you will always come across one major hurdle,
'Do you have Local Experience?' And it's stressful when everyone says the same
thing and denies you an opportunity. The pride of the qualifications and experience
can sink and can dishearten you. Remember, finding a job is like cold calling,
when you call 100 people, only 10 want to listen to you and only 1 person will
show interest in your product/service. Similarly, apply for 100 jobs and you
might get 1 interview! 'NO' simply means 'Next One'.
What if you
don't find job that you are looking for? Are you willing to swallow your pride
and take up any job just to keep your finances ticking, doing casual jobs
including call centre jobs, sales jobs, retail, hospitality jobs or even a
construction job? I know a lot of people who had to took up such jobs and there
is no shame in doing so, because even these jobs pay well enough to sustain and
maybe save some cash. When I came to Sydney, I had given myself a month to find
a job, else I would have had to start a casual job, fortunately I didn't have
to do that. I hope you don't have to as well, but you should be ready in case
you have to.
Cultural Fit
One key aspect
that employers will look at is whether you will be a the cultural fit into the
team. Which essentially means whether you 'll be able to assimilate,
communicate and collaborate within the team. This is more of a soft skill
assessment than a technical assessment and would apply for any non English
speaking person or an outsider. Asians, Indians are perceived to be good at
their jobs, but not essentially good at social/networking/communication skills.
It's important to break this stereotype throughout the hiring process. It's
more of an opinion which the employer will arrive at hence it can be difficult
to sure of this, but it's important to know that this is a critical parameter.
Doing your Prep
Work
Having a well
made CV, covering letter as well as a decent LinkedIn profile is the most
important pre-requisite to job hunting. There is heaps of material on the
internet on how to make CVs and covering letter, written by recruitment experts
which you should refer to. Some of the important aspects are as follows:
- Have a well summarised Profile Summary at the start of your CV because that is what hiring managers will read and decide whether they want to read further. It is said that your CV has 3 to 4 seconds to make the right first impression. Make sure that your CV looks good, reads well and connects with the employer as well as the role. Does a long CV hinder your chances to get an interview? May be, may be not. But a longer CV generally means too many words and hence not easy on the eye. I had a longish CV but I still got an interview, my interviewer actually said 'your CV is too lengthy'. In hindsight, I should have said 'sorry about that, it's just that am passionate about the work that I have done, hence it becomes difficult for me to remove few important things.' You have to be creative right? After all there are no rights or wrongs.
- Mention
critical aspects in the cover letter like your visa status, your contact
details including your current local address, local contact number and the
fact that you are 'available immediately'.
- Start
making applications from offshore before moving to Australia, indicating
in your cover letter that you will be landing in Australia by a certain
date or time of the month.
- Make
a list of the contacts that you should connect with before or at the time
of moving to Australia. Talk to people who have gone through this daunting
challenge, most of the things in this post are an aggregation of excellent
tips that I got from people I spoke with.
- Find
out about the recruiters in your city who you should connect with. These
are the most powerful people in the process of getting a job. Hence it's
important to connect with them. Send them LinkedIn Inmail or message
saying 'Hi, I am currently in this city, looking for this job, would like
to connect with you in this regard'. Once you have them as your
connection, call them and check with them if they can help you, be
respectful and courteous because your need is bigger than theirs. Plus
they talk to so many people everyday, you need to make an impression which
will last and they will remember you when an opportunity comes through.
- When
you send your CV to someone through email, make it a point to write a
summary paragraph about your situation in the body of the email, such as
your background, qualifications and experience, the jobs that you seek to
apply for and your visa status. It helps a recruiter to make a quick
linkage of your profile with the vacancies.
Networking
Networking is
perhaps the most important aspect of job hunting. Networking is crucial to get
yourself into any organisation. If you don't know people, you need to know
people who know a lot of people! I came to Sydney with a blank slate, not
knowing anyone. But I tried to meet or talk to as many people as I could just
to see if any connection leads to any opportunity. And I was surprised to find
out that a lot of people that I met were happy to help, although they were not
from your profession/industry. There is an app called 'Meetup' which is for
networking. You can select varied events which you can attend, most of these
events are free and help you to connect with people. I attended career
development events, toastmasters events as well as social meetups which helped
me connect with people and get to know people's stories (i.e. where they are
from, how many years they were here and what they do for a living).
Speak to people
who you know. I didn't have a lot of friends here but I connected with friends
of friends to get insights on how to approach the job hunt. And although most
of them will tell you similar points, there will be some things they mention
and others don't, making each person equally important.
Job Applications
You can use
LinkedIn, Seek, Jora, etc for searching for jobs but don't rely on just one,
since some of the smaller jobs might be advertised on smaller websites. Keep an
eye on government jobs as well, they are pretty lucrative if you can find one.
Each job is a
fresh application, hence it's important to tailor your CV and covering Letter
according to the job requirements, incorporating the key words mentioned in the
job description. Bigger companies use softwares to scan the application and if
the key word matches are low, your CV will get rejected. An indication of
software rejecting your CV is if you get rejected within 2 to 3 days of
submitting the application. Another aspect to bear in mind is that things take
time to move, hence applications made in Week 1 might start moving only in Week
3, since roles with bigger companies generally have a deadline for submitting
applications and they have tons of CVs to process.
Follow up
It is important to keep a tracker of the jobs you have applied for. I have gotten
calls from recruiters and I couldn't relate with the job she was talking about
since I had applied for multiple jobs in that company. This tracker shall help
in knowing the jobs you have applied, do mention the contact person for the job
in the tracker, if available so that you can connect with that person after 2-3
days to just check on the job your had applied for.
If you have
connected with a recruiter through LinkedIn or on call, ensure that you call
them atleast one every week, just to remind them of you and letting them know
that you are still looking out for a job. The more charming you are the more
you'll be remembered. Also, do register your profile on recruiters website as
well such as Huxley, Robert Half, etc. This will also help in getting the
contact details of the recruiter who hires people in your desired role.
Keep the Spirits
Up
Job hunting can
be depressing, because you are looking at a screen which doesn't respond, the
first week or two will be tough since nothing will seem to move. It's important
to remain positive, explore the new country that you are in. Because if you
aren't enjoying your time in the country, it will reflect in your attitude when
you go for interview. After all, what will differentiate you from your peers is
your enthusiasm, your passion and your energy. Make sure you posture these
attributes in the interview.
Preparing for
the Interview
Also prepare to
answer questions on strengths and weaknesses and 'Why have you migrated to
Australia?' The more positive these answers, the closer you are to the finish
line. Usually interview questions will not be technical, hence don't worry too
much about technical questions.
Interview
Preparation is
only fruitful if executed well. You have to be relaxed during the interview.
Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Go for the interview in your best
professional attire, it matters so much to leave a good first impression.
Reach the
premises atleast half an hour, but don't inform reception too early since it might
force the interviewer to disrupt his schedule to accommodate you. Your
interview will commence from the time you enter, how you speak to front desk,
how you greet and meet. I attended an interview where the conversation started
with small talk and casually eased into interview questions. It felt good that
I could hold a casual conversation and had things to to talk about, including
the Sydney weather, my experience so far and how excited I was to be here et
al. It left a positive impression and although I got rejected on experience, I
felt good about how I gave my interview. In another interview, I was
asked what I was upto and I said that I was helping a connection with business
development. Did it have an impact? One can never tell, but I felt good that I
could say I was upto something and not just job hunting.
Keep a few
sensible questions handy which you can ask at an opportune time such as team
structure, growth prospects, appraisal cycle, etc.
Alternate Job
Search
This is your
plan B. Although Plan A requires time and dedication, man needs to eat hey!
Plan B job search is finding casual jobs in retail stores, supermarkets,
departmental stores, hospitality (coffee shops, events, restaurants, food
delivery, etc). References work best even for such jobs, if you know someone
who works there then nothing like it. Otherwise you can go to the shop /outlet
and speak to the manager for any vacancies there.
You can also
prepare a separate CV for casual jobs which is uncluttered and doesn't make you
overqualified for the role.
In summary, job
hunting is like a relentless pursuit, keep pushing yourself, follow up and most
importantly, don't give up! You will find a job sooner than later! And if you
don't find a job which you wanted, take a lesser job so that your local
experience counter will begin and you can keep applying for your desired job on
side.
Wish
you the Best ! Happy Job Hunting!
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