Looking for a job in a new country with a different culture can be challenging. Canadians love using LinkedIn to expand their network and reach new opportunities.
All start with the right LinkedIn profile
If you want to perform a successful job hunt in Canada, having an active LinkedIn profile is essential to your strategy! Every recruiter has one, and uses it a lot to find the best fit! Most of them will check your background on it after reading your resume.
If you want to get our best tips about how building an efficient LinkedIn profile, check our 5 not to miss points article. If you’ve missed it, we strongly recommend you to read it first: some points of this article will require having previously followed our guidelines to be effective.
As a quick reminder, here’s the different exposed topics: Photo / Job titles / Summary / Location & language / Endorsement.
Building an effective LinkedIn network
As we mentioned before, Canadians love to see their network grow. Use it as an advantage. It’s quite common to ask for a LinkedIn connection during a networking event. If you have the opportunity to ask, don’t hesitate.
Try to keep in mind that for Canadians, each person they meet and add to their network could be a future colleague/employee/employer/supplier/client.
Having a LinkedIn connection gives you more information about them than just a business card or a phone number (and you can still contact your connection). You can also send a contact request after the event to someone you briefly saw, and you would like to learn more about it.
Ok, now you got one more valuable connection (having met the person makes a huge difference) in your LinkedIn account. Is that enough? Hmm not really.
If you want to take this connection to the next level and make them your job hunt ”ambassadors”, you will have to do a follow-up.
Create ambassadors
Follow-ups are an incredible way to open new doors and discover new opportunities. That’s quite easy as you already made the most laborious part by networking events and creating connections. All you have to do is send a LinkedIn message to your connection, asking if they would like to share a coffee (Canadians love coffee, and if you don’t, you’ll find something else to drink).
If you got a yes, set up a meeting, plan relevant questions about your interlocutor (company, job, experience). Don’t worry, at some point the conversation will come to your situation and then it will be your turn to shine.The primary purpose of follow-ups is to transform connections into team players that you can ask for referrals. So try to follow up and meet people you feel comfortable with, people that represent excellent opportunities for your job hunt.
Make opportunities
Now you have your network team ready to help you, make them help you!
One of the most under-exploited features of LinkedIn is the company page. On each company page, you can:
- Have access to the entire employees’ list
- Find jobs offers
- Follow the company “activities” (posts)
All information that you need is here, ready to be used. You’re just two clicks away from good opportunities. How to proceed? Follow every company that you want to work for or apply to. Just double-check from time to time if there are new job offers.
If you have already found a job offer on LinkedIn, Glassdoor or Indeed, check if one of your contacts works there or if one of your “ambassadors” is connected with an employee. Then all you have to do is ask for an introduction! It is something that we usually don’t do in Europe, but in North America, it’s quite common.
No pressure, just ask genuinely if your connection knows the person you want to reach and if they can introduce you to this person. If you got a “yes,” the rest is in your hands: set up an informal interview, a phone call or coffee (again) and add a new person to your ambassadors' team. It might lead to an excellent opportunity or even better, be a great opportunity!
Take all the help you get
Remember, never be afraid of asking for help and feedback during a job hunt especially when dealing with a new culture and a new job market. Many organizations like Canada Talents or Educacentre College, used to work with francophone speakers, can also give you tips about your job hunt.
At Canada Talents, we help Francophone newcomers settle in Canada. We lead a CONNECTWorking every month (an event to support and empower francophones from Europe on various topics: cultural mistakes, networking skills...) and some other events.
Want some more? Join us at Canada Talents! Our dedicated and experienced team will help YOU to get along with YOUR job search, providing some useful tips and connections.