How Street Markets are Critical to Finding a Job in Canada

Every major city in the world has a local street market.  Some of these markets are enormous.  What is even more surprising is that the largest and most successful markets are filled with people selling the exact same thing.  Whether it is flowers in Amsterdam or carpets in the Bazaar of Tabriz, one can only wonder how any market vendor can ever make a sale given that there are probably a thousand people selling the exact same thing, in the exact same place, at the exact same time.  Why not go into a mall, where only one flower store or carpet seller is allowed? 

The answer to this question has to do with knowing your customer and if you want to get an interview for a job position overseas you must know this one thing.

International employers shop in street market rather than malls.

What do we mean when we say international employers shop in street markets rather than malls?  Simple.  At Uniivaa, we have dealt with hundreds of international candidates and numerous employers.  Our experience is that it is much easier to get an employer to look at candidates when they are bunched in large groups rather than as individuals.  In fact, it is very difficult to make an employer look at any one candidate in isolation, regardless of the skills and experience of that individual candidate. 

There are likely thousands of reasons why this is the case.  We can and will speculate on a couple of possible reasons.  However, what we are telling you is that you are better off being in a pool of dozens of people who are all competing for the same job rather than being the only candidate sitting at the table.  At first this may seem counterintuitive.  But when it comes to international job offers, it is a reality that you must quickly come to terms with.

Part of the reason for this reality has to do with the unique dynamics of overseas recruiting.  The cost of international recruiting, both in time and money, is high.  Something as simple as language can cause an interview with a highly desirable candidate to be abandoned, leading to frustration and time-wasting.   These issues make employers very wary of looking at just one person at a time. 

Overseas employers are simply not going to take the chance that the one flower store in the mall does not have what they are looking for.  Instead they want to go to the flower market where they will find two very important elements: certainty and choice. 

Employers desire certainty because of the inherent inefficiencies and risk of the overseas job hiring process.  Employers simply need to know that they will ultimately be able to find the right candidate.  If not, there is a high risk of time wasting and low incentive to start the process by reading your profile or CV.  Street markets offer certainty, while malls do not.

Employers also need choice.  Not because they are picky, but rather because employers are searching in a foreign market, and the only real way to know if something is legitimate in a market that you don’t quite understand is by comparison.  This is the same reason why so many tourists shop at the flower market in Amsterdam or the Bazaar of Tabriz.

This is why we constantly strive to create large groups of candidates for overseas employers.   Employers love street markets, and if you want to successfully get a job overseas, or even a job interview, the key is to quickly connect with a similar group of international candidates and start selling your skills and experience together.