Want to find a Job in Canada quickly? Focus on the Small!
When people decide that they want to start a new life in Canada they instantly think about finding a job. Of course this makes perfect sense, as the best partner to help you immigrate into Canada is an employer.
Unfortunately for most people, finding an employer to offer you a job in Canada is a long and tiring process. However, there is an approach that might make the process a little less frustrating, especially with respect to the job application process.
Over the last few years it has become clear that there is a growing divide between large and small companies in the process being used to hire international workers. It would probably take a whole research paper to describe how and why this is happening, but the end result for the international candidate is clear. In general, it takes much longer to get a job with a larger company than with a smaller one.
Some people have captured the emotion of this phenomenon as a complete lack of respect by large companies for the international candidates time and feelings. In reality, it is a simple matter of process.
First, with technology the interview process has become much longer as tests such as Myers-Briggs and Thomas-Kilmann can easily be distributed online and through third party software. This is especially important for companies looking to hire international candidates, as cultural uncertainties will drive employers to require more information about the personalities and conflict resolution capabilities of any potential international employee.
It is easy and cheap to require international candidates to take these tests, however the flip side is that it takes a very long time for companies to process this information. This is especially true for job positions that are more complex in nature or within large organizations where layers of decision makers or a stacked reporting structure requires multiple individuals to agree on who is the best fit for an organization.
Compare this to smaller organizations where there is a single decision maker or the owner operator still has the authority to do without these tests and rely on their own judgment, or can process the results from these tests much more quickly.
The result is that your chances of getting rapid feedback, either in the form of a request for interview or through an email letting you know that you did not get the job, is much greater with a small company than with a larger one.
The same can be said for the actual interview process itself. The need for group presentations, simulations, case studies and multiple interviews with different team members are a growing trend within larger companies to a vastly greater degree than with small or even mid-sized organizations.
In reality, no one is quite sure whether all of this additional process makes the hiring process any better for larger companies. However, this lengthy and uncertain process for the international candidate applying to a large company is here to stay considering that hiring managers and HR departments in larger companies covet processes that shield them from criticism when international candidates do not turn out to be successful hires.
So why does this all matter? Because the truth is that no international candidate has a limitless amount of time, energy and patience to look for a job abroad. Sadly, one of the main reasons why international candidates abandon their international job search is that they have reached the personal limits of frustration, rejection and emotional aggravation.
If you understand that everyone has a limited amount of patience and resiliency, than being strategic about where to focus your job search efforts could be the difference between finding a job in Canada and giving up your search in utter frustration. In fact, thinking small when it comes to employers in Canada may very well be the one thing that helps you avoid the pain that makes most people give up on their dreams of starting a new life in Canada.