4 things you should stop doing on our job search process

For those who have are new to my Linkedin profile, let me quickly introduce myself. I am not an HR recruiter neither a certified coach. I'm a professional marketer, a newcomer who has been living in Canada for almost four years. When I moved here I was able to land a job in my field and industry with the help of many mentors. Through this career journey, I learned that many professionals, regardless of their background, were struggling and making the same mistakes while looking for jobs so I decided to volunteer and help them.

That's why I'm listing the most common mistakes most job seekers are doing based on what I have experienced or seen from my mentees, friends and network. I hope this article inspires you in changing the way you conduct your job search to make the process more effective.

Mistake 1: Focusing only on the career plan and forgetting the "Canada Plan"

This point is specifically for immigrants (if you are not one, skip to "mistake 2"). I often meet newcomers that are applying for jobs and when they share their goals I realize that they are focusing too much on the job search and forgetting that the path they are pursuing might not lead them to stay permanently in Canada.

What do I mean by that? For those who are not immigrants, the Immigration process in Canada is quite complex and there are many ways to get a Permanent Residency: it is affected by your work experience in Canada and abroad, your age, your language skills, education, etc and all those aspects affect your chances of immigrating permanently. And what I realize is that even though a lot of professionals want to stay in Canada, they take this for granted, focusing on their career and when they realize they don't have enough points to become a PR, having to get back home.

My advice: start your career plan with the first question: do I want to stay in Canada or am I looking to have a professional experience here and get back home? If you want to continue to live in Canada, learn about the PR process, make sure the jobs you are planning to take will help you get there.

I also strongly recommend working with an Immigration Consulting Office. They can not only support you with applications and the legal part, but they are even more valuable at the beginning of your search, through their "consulting appointments". You can book an appointment to discuss your situation, what are your options and what do you need to do to become a Permanent Resident. If you are looking for a trusted office, I suggest reaching out to INGWE Immigration, a Canadian company that helped more than +310 international cases and has an impressive 5-star rating on Google Reviews. The company is founded by a newcomer like myself and have a multicultural team (a dedicated Brazilian professional as well!), with experts from different backgrounds that will help you in this journey. Through their website (www.ingwe.ca/loja), they even offer consultations with up to 60% discount so definitely check them out. (use LAURA50 code to access the discount)

Mistake 2: Looking for job opportunities without specifying the positions and showing what value you can add

I bet many of you have seen on Linkedin things like that: Linkedin headline: "#ONO, "Open to new opportunities". Or have received messages like that:

"Hi, I'm currently looking for new opportunities. Could you please let me know if there are any suitable roles in your organization or elsewhere in your network?"

Why those examples above are not good approaches in my opinion? Firstly, none of them specify what kind of area and industry the person is looking for a job in. There are thousands of different jobs and I don't think as a professional you should look ever for "any job available". Based on your experience, the skills you bring on the plate, what you want for your career and how the market looks like in Canada, try to focus on two to three positions you will apply for. In the marketing field, for example, "marketing coordinator" and "marketing specialist" are great entry-level roles to start your career. I wrote an article about that here that might help you to figure it our your area by following those steps.

The second point is that those candidates did not mention how they are bringing value to the companies that potentially can hire them. Companies don't hire professionals, they hire problem solvers. If machines and robots could execute the job and solve the problem they have, they would hire them instead. So you need to not only understand "who you are" in terms of area and roles but what value are you bringing in to any organization that hires you. Examples: "increasing lead generation for companies", "providing an unforgettable customer service", etc.

Mistake 3: Using the same resume for all applications and only applying online

This one is kind of obvious and I have written a lot of articles and posts about that. In a competitive market like Canada, you can't expect to get a job by applying online with your same resume to over 100 jobs. Networking is key! Check those articles:

STEP BY STEP JOB SEARCH 3: Stop Applying Online

WHAT DID I LEARN FROM OVER 100 COFFEE CHATS:

Mistake 4: Thinking you cant add value as a job seeker

I think a lot of job seekers often experience frustration, low self-esteem and anxiety during the process. I know this because I have been there. Those feelings also lead to the thinking that while on the job search and networking process you will be a "taker", asking things to others without being able to return it back. I believe this is incorrect.

Everyone, regardless of its professional position, status or age, has something to teach and share with others. We can always learn and help each other. As a job seeker, see below some examples of how you can add value to your network and help others:

• Share your learnings from articles, podcasts, books. Have you attended a webinar? Write a post with your takeaways and spread the learnings with your network
• Have you seen great content on your Linkedin feed? Comment, engage, provide feedback/suggestions to the author. You have no idea the impact of a compliment on someone who is having a bad day
• Offer support and help without being asked: if you have seen someone posting about a challenge they are facing, why not offer support? Support can come in a form of words and incentive and sometimes this is all the other person needs
• Connect people: as you network, offer people to make introductions, connect your network

Those four mistakes are more common than you would expect and I bet you might be doing one of them. The good news is that they are super easy to "fix", it only depends on you and how you will continue to approach your job search process. I hope those learnings will help you on your journey! Would love to hear your thoughts about other mistakes or suggestions for improving the job seeker process.

Obs: Ingwe is organizing a webinar in Portuguese: "Plano Canadá:Trabalho, Negócios e Empreendedorismo". Register here