fina youre FIRST|JOB| In, Canada Authored by: ACCELERATOR.Canada is committed to invite 1.2Mn immigrants in 3 years, which is AWESOME! However, this also means that Canada will have to create more jobs for these 1.2MN new people who come here. Moreover, the job markets around the world have suffered massively from the pandemic, where Canada’s unemployment increased to all time highs in 2020 and beginning of 2021. As new immigrants, most of us leave our high paying, fancy jobs back home to come to Canada for a better lifestyle, only to find that the real struggle begins now, and getting a PR and landing here is only half the battle - the Canadian dream starts only when you find your FIRST JOB. If you have followed our journey on YouTube, you know that we landed just 4 days before the pandemic was announced and the world was shutting on us. There were no jobs, especially for non-IT folks and | wasn’t even getting a rejection email, leave aside a call from a recruiter. It took me 4 months to find my FIRST JOB. For the first 2 months, | blamed the pandemic for lack of calls, but then | realized that | am the problem. My approach was flawed and less relevant to the Canadian market and | went back to the drawing board starting with building my resume all over again. But this time, | was more focused! | had talked to enough recruiters to know what works for the Canadian market, | understood how to use LinkedIn to connect with prospective employers — and most importantly, | found my FIGJAM — what's FIGJAM you ask..? Read on © Once | found my FIGJAM (again, we will talk about this in a bit), | was able to get my DREAM JOB. within 2 months — yes, the pandemic was still there and yes, the job market still sucked!F*CK | AM GOOD, JUST ASK ME Shocked to find what it stands for.. Lol Remember | told you that it took me 4 months to get a job and you must be thinking — oh, maybe you weren’t good enough. That’s fair, but let me tell you about me © #self-praise-alert | have a B.Tech. degree followed by MBA in Marketing with 10 years of experience: v EXPERIENCE: 8 years working as a research consultant for top clients such as PepsiCo, Unilever, P&G, British American Tobacco, Walmart v TOP PERFORMER: | started as an analyst and moved up the ranks to become the youngest Director in my company at the age of 29 — | was also the lowest paying Director — turns out, getting promotions every year is not the best thing for your salary, especially in India! ;) v INTERNATIONAL EXPOSURE: For 4 years, | worked in Hong Kong leading client relationships across 18 countries in Asia Pacific & Middle East v TEAM MANAGEMENT: | was managing a team of 40 people working in these 18 countries — constantly hiring & moving best talent around And then | quit my job and started a company with my wife. In 3 years, we scaled the company from 2 employees to 15 and sold the company for a mid-six digits ;-) Because even with this profile, | wasn’t getting interview calls because | did not find my FIGJAMYou may have a stellar profile; however, companies hire you for what you bring to the table - that could either make or save them dollars. Have you ever been asked by a recruiter — “Why should we hire you?” If you want to get a job in Canada, you need an answer to this one question — This becomes your unfair advantage, and you start building your profile around it. Let me give you my example — With my extensive experience of working with clients around the world, it was obvious for me to highlight all that in my resume and Linkedin profile. However, then | found at least 10 other people who were just as good. | realized that | need to be different — | need to stand out of this crowd of new immigrants ,who are all as qualified and have been at top of their careers before coming to Canada | sat there in my basement thinking — what’s that ONE thing that | am good at? It took me a few hours to get there, but | finally got it - “| can turn any amount of information into 5 decisive slides — that’s all you need to succeed in business” BAM! Just like that.. | had my FIGJAM. It’s been 8 months since | joined my current company, and my manager still comes to me whenever she needs to condense any document into 3-5 crisp slides for the senior management. There are times, when | can’t get it under 6-7 slides, and my manager would (jokingly!) challenge me back saying — weren’t you the one who said that you can get anything down to S slides!? © Want a job in Canada? Take a pause and find your FIGJAM first.Finding your FIGJAM is the first BIG step towards getting your FIRST JOB in Canada. There are a few more which are equally important CHEATSHEET Find your FIGJAM Build a stellar profile Network using Linkedin THAW Nail your interview What's a profile? | asked this question to over 100 people during my research of building this accelerator program and 90% of them gave me the same answer — it’s your RESUME. Nope! There are 4 parts to your profile: 1. Your elevator pitch — Being able to explain your entire professional experience along with your FIGJAM in under 2 minutes. 2. Your Linkedin profile — Probably the most neglected asset, but it is the most important one — If you don’t have a Linkedin profile, make one today — you won't get a job without it. 3. Your Resume — no points for guessing, however you need 2 different formats of resume that we will discuss on the next page 4. Cover letter — Most jobs have an option of submitting a cover letter — it’s optional, however this is your chance to shine and tell them about your FIGJAM that makes you a perfect fit for the role.In my experience, you need 2 types of resumes 1. The boring one — It needs to be plain, without any tables, no designs, no funky formatting. That’s because many companies use ATS to screen resume. It’s a software that matches keywords in hundreds of resumes they get, to the job description and screens the top few that fit well. Most ATS are not able to read tables and designs on the resume and you might miss out on the opportunity to get interviewed, even when you had all the keywords in your resume 2. The good-looking one — This is the one you send to recruiters 1-2-1 or via references. And this is where you can be more creative in your formatting and make it look good. Real people go through this resume, and real people like stuff that looks good © - | shared my own resume at the end of this document for reference. During my research, | talked to numerous recruiters (well, | talked to 7), and asked them about the 3 most common mistakes that they see while screening resumes, and some of them are quite shocking! Spelling mistakes — Now, that is plain stupid! A massive turn-off that tells the recruiter that you aren’t serious about the role. If you aren’t careful about something as basic as this in your resume, there are chances that you won’t be as good at your job. One resume for all jobs — That’s a mistake. | used to spend 2 hours preparing my resume for every job, making sure it has all the right keywords. One resume can’t fit all roles — just makes you look lazy © It’s long & tiring - Recruiters go through hundreds of resumes a day and they spend an average of 2-3 minutes on 1 resume. Make yourself standout on your resume by keeping it short, to the point with clear impact that you made in your past role.A lot of people ask me — what's the best platform to apply for jobs. And | have just 1 word for them — LINKEDIN. That’s the only job search platform which allows you to not only apply to jobs, but also contact the person who posted the job or find people who are in the company to refer you. But there is a catch © | have 1,364 connection requests on LinkedIn because of my social presence on YouTube. | haven’t accepted any of these. It’s not that | am being rude, it’s because these people did not even care to introduce themselves in their connection request. That’s exactly what happens with most recruiters — because of the nature of their job, they get hundreds of connection requests on LinkedIn everyday and if you don’t let them know your intention to connect, it’s very likely that you won’t hear back from them There are certain connection requests that have a message with it, however, they straightaway ask for a job! Now, there is nothing wrong in getting straight to the point — but they don’t know you, so how can they refer you? Instead, why not ask for guidance? Tell them what you are looking for, provide some context about why you are reaching out to them. Of- course they know that you are looking for a job, but trust me when | say this, no one likes to be ambushed and no one likes messages that sound way too desperate. What most people would like is to have a human connection, that usually involves asking for guidance and mentorship. Once they know you, they would themselves offer to refer you to a role in their company or connect you with someone in their network — that’s how you build your network, one person at a time.Now that you found your FIGJAM, built a stellar profile and got an interview call — it’s time for your interview © Trust me when | say this, nailing an interview is the easiest part of the entire process — it’s the journey to the interview that is frustrating and takes time. Now, this part of job search varies a lot depending on your role and profile. A developer would have multiple technical rounds where you will be asked to CODE, but for a marketing professional such as myself, they are likely to test my team skills, attitude or going deeper into my previous experience. Now, | am assuming you will be able to handle the technical stuff really well, however what would make you stand out is when you are prepared for the generic questions like: Tell us about yourself What are your top 3 strengths? What's your biggest weakness? Why should we hire you? Do you have any questions for us? ve wNp Everyone | ever asked this question has more or less the same answer. You know what | said when my current employer asked me about my biggest strength? It wasn’t my people skills or my 10 years experience of working across 18 countries — it was my FIGJAM - “I can turn any amount of information into 5 decisive slides” and then | cited 2 examples supporting my FIGJAM. Recruiters do this day after day after day — and most people they interview will have generic answers to these questions. And then there is you, who knows their shit and speaks with clarity - who do you think they are more likely to offer the job to?| am so glad if you did. | also acknowledge that every person has a different story and there is no “one size that fits all’. That’s why we created FIRST JOB ACCELERATOR. This is a 2-day accelerator program which includes 6 hours of LIVE learning with me and 4 other fellow job seekers along with 10 hours of homework between 2 days [FULL SCHEDULE HERE] | obviously can’t give you your first job in Canada, however in this 2-day workshop, | will make sure you find your FIGJAM, have the best profile that stands out and get down / dirty with LinkedIn, where | take you through my routine of how | network with recruiters and improve my chances of getting more calls. It took me 4 months to figure this out and get my first job in Canada. And it was not because of the pandemic that | wasn’t getting a job, it was because | was not approaching the job market correctly — if | had known what | know now, | am sure | would have saved at least 2 months which amounts to over $10,000 in salary. Book your seat See full schedule @-@e a mir UVE online learning 1-2-1 zoom session with —_ Access to invite-only class with Navjot Nayjot for personalized + WhatsApp group with (group of 5) feedback / Q&A FIA alumniBINDRA CONTACT +1.999999999 y2@gmail.com LinkedIn Profile Mississauga, Ontario PROFILE ---- ‘A data nerd with education in Information Technology & Marketing Over 9 years of experience in building & marketing product services & data frameworks for the retail industry across 19 markets in Asia Pacific & Middle East for global giants like PepsiCo, British American Tobacco, Ikea, H&M. My Biggest strength is to turn ‘massive amount of information into 5 decision making slides, STRENGTHS © PRODUCT MANAGEMENT CONSUMER INSIGHTS [MARKET RESEARCH DATA ANALYTICS PRESENTATION SKILLS EXCELLENT COMMUNICATION STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT TEAM MANAGEMENT BEHAVIOURAL SELF-STARTER INFLUENCIAL DEPENDABLE PROBLEM SOLVER INTEGRITY RESULT ORIENTED LEADERSHIP TRAITS TEAM PLAYER EXPERIENCE ~~ DIRECTOR, PRODUCT MARKETING Oct 2018 — Feb 2020 Stamplet S HONG KONG Al-powered mobile application for shopping malls that uses location services and optical character recognition to. reward shoppers for all their purchases inside the shopping center. Consumers click a photo of their receipt in return for rewards such as free parking & discounts an their next visit his loyalty program feeds into shopping center's data engine that has formation about the demographics of people who shop with mall, what they buy and how often ~ millions of data points collected an a monthly basis. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES + Product development: From idea to execution, created a framework (on Tableau} to convert this raw loyalty data into user- friendly dashboards that were used by shopping malls & retailers (H&M, Zara, Adidas) to understand shopper behavior + Sales planning: Lead a team of business development executives to move prospective leads through the sales funnel. Grew client base from 2 clients in 2018 to 15 clients in 2020; Stamplet’s revenue grew by 7xin 2019-20. + lent Relationship Management: Enabling client's marketing team to make data driven decisions — data from the loyalty programs funneled into targeted marketing campaigns in order to prove customer footfall and shopper engagement. CLIENT BUSINESS PARTNER Jan 2011 —Oct 2018 Nielsen| HONG KONG & INDIA Nielsen is #1 marketing research company in the world that measure what consumers buy & watch. In this role, | worked as Consumer Insights consultant for 19 markets spanning North Asia, South East Asia, Australia & New Zealand for 3 of the lergest clients ~ PepsiCo, British American Tobacco & Dairy Farm International. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES * Data to decisions: Turning large data sets into meaningful and actionable insights for senior management that can have an impact on important aspects of client’s decisions including Sales, Product innovation, pricing, distribution & assortment. + Product Planning: Working with Nielsen’s product team to plan & launch analytical models & consumer studies that could help the client make faster innovation, pricing & distribution decisions. + Revenue Management: Handling 2 multi-million-dollar revenue stream for clients across 19 markets in Asia Pacific & Middle East. Grew the revenue by 25% for 3 consecutive years. + Team Management: Led a team of 40+ people working across 19 markets — all_working towards a common goal of turing consumer data and building frameworks to grow client’s business,TECHNICAL ADVANCED MS EXCEL DATA VISUALIZATION TOOLS SEO MARKETING GOOGLE ANALYTICS 360 BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT Stamplet was @ loss-making company on the brink of shutting down in 2018, Introduced a winning product for a niche customer base ~ grew the gross revenue to high 6 cigits in 18 months The company turned a profit by end of 2019 and got acquired by a multi-portfolio real-estate investor in 2020. PASSION TEACHING WAITING ‘TRAVELLING THE WORLD EDUCATION - MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 2009-2011 Specialized in Marketing BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY 2005-2009 Specialized in Information Technology WORK - YOUTUBE | love teaching and always wanted to start an educational YouTube channel, and so | did Via my YouTube channel, we crack-down on fraudulent immigration consultants, also known as ghost consultants; sharing experience and stories of how skilled workers can immigrate to Canada by doing the entire process on their own, without spending a dollar on any agency. In just over a year, have posted 140+ experiential & how-to videos. The channel has grown to over 130,000+ subscribers and over 9 MN views. ‘STARTUP MENTORING Building products is my passion and | do pro-bono consulting with multiple startups in Canada, India & Hong Kong. Have attended many startup events powered by TechStars ~ helping young entrepreneurs to streamline their product and the overall vision for their venture. REFERENCES ~ Reporting Manager | Nielsen, India Reporting Manager | Nielsen, Hong Kong EMAIL: XYZ@XYZ.com EMAIL: XYZ@XYZ.com Phone: +91 9999999999 Phone: +91 9999999999 Reporting Manager | Nielsen India _Reporting Manager | Nielsen Hong Kong EMAIL: XYZ@XYZ.com EMAIL: XYZ@XYZ.com Phone: +91 9999999999 Phone: +91 9999999999 CTO | Stamplet Solutions Startup Facilitator | TechStars EMAIL: XYZ@XYZ.com EMAIL: XYZ@XYZ.com Phone: +91 9999999999 Phone: +91 9999999999