The quite resolve

It has indeed been a while since I have written anything on here. Sometimes I think, I may be giving up on this blog, but I know I have not. It is just that right now I am taking in more information that I can process out, and sorting through most of the important information, I am keeping a single focus, to be able to do well at my current role. Talking about which I just wanted to share some of the key things I have picked up on my first job in Canada and a long unwinding search for it.

• Negativity is poison: I am known as a fairly cynical person among my close friends but I have seen that a major factor affecting me in my search is how much I avoid negativity. It sounds Machiavellian but in all honestly, we should avoid negative opinions and people all the time. This at times means stepping on somebodies shoes, but that is the cost we pay. The reason is simple, negativity demotivates us, and stops us from trying and then before we know it, we are caught in a cycle of not getting what we want because we are negative and being negative because we don’t get what we want.
• Coworker relationships is the most important thing: I am not saving that it only important to get along with your coworkers, however it is imperative to realize we should be getting along people. That is the very basic idea about being a human being anyways. However so often I come across situations where for one reason or the other, people ignore how important it is to get along with our coworkers. One major roadblock is that in big teams, like the one I am working on, people come from all walks of life. From different cultural background to different stages of life. It takes time and loads of patience.
• Good managers are worth their weight in gold: My managers will probably never read this blog, so I can safely say this is no form of flattery, but an actual fact. Find people who care about your personally, as managers. Work with them, for them and with trust. It always pays off, one way or another. Too often we lose focus on where we ought to be going because of lack of long term vision. This is where good managers guide us, coach us. This obviously isn’t new to Canada but very focused here. Especially with my employer.

There are obviously many more things I want to share on here, to document my journey, and I will. However before that I need to process even more information. It has been quite a journey so far, and looking forward to more adventures.

This summer of our discontent

I have finally received an offer with a bank I have always wanted to work with. Last week feels like 100 years and time seems to be flying. My days of uncertainty and confusion now seem like a distant memory. It is a strange feeling. I am not sure what I am most; happy, thankful or relieved.

So now that I have that out of the way, let me write down thing I think helped me along my way. Last six months have been quite a journey, with learning new skills, making new plan and remaking them yet again!

But like everybody around me assured that it only was only a matter of time, so I kept at it. That I believe is the key. Many people and things have helped me immensely in my job search which I would like to mention here:

• Mentorship: I cannot express how important a Mentor can be, somebody you can trust and discuss things professionally and somebody who can guide you. Not just job hunting, wise and experienced teachers around you in your life can only make it better. I cannot thank Adrian (my mentor) enough for everything he did for me. TRIEC has a great mentoring program that newcomers to Canada can join, with registration from an employment consultant. More info here.

• Networking: I have already written about it but honestly, it is awefully important to speak to people within the industry. I used speed mentoring events, networking event and friends of friends. I always seek advice and have always received some great tips on my resume, cover letter and general job hunt. Networking I believe is not about asking for a job but making sure you are job ready.

• Access Employment: Those guys there are amazing. The workshops or the programs are not just about what you get to learn from them but also how to keep focus, how to use resources and basically share anything you may want to share confidentially and get feedback. Other than that, they worked with me. Any job hunter in Ontario must be connected to at least one of the employment consultants to share their journey.

• Friends: You know, attending programs at access helped me come across some of the best people I have met in my life. We are all in the same boat and yet we share job openings, recourses and just are there for each other. My current job was recommended by a friend first and before my interview I practiced behavior interview questions. Here is a link of 50 behavior questions I practiced with.

• Re-evaluation: I was very proud of my Resume and my cover letter until I came to Toronto and saw what was missing. I attended resume and cover letter workshops. Gave my resume to industry professional for feedback and critique. Took inputs from some very intelligent people who made it all so much better for me.

 

These things while doing may not feel like enough but collectively they make all the difference! Now that this summer of my discontent is over, I think I can look forward to a productive fall!

Networking

Networking is the key to any job hunt or in fact any or most careers. We all have networked, irrespective of where we came from but we may not have thought about it like that. Because we have such a strong social connections in a place where we spend years of our life, we hardly “think” while networking. It’s a natural thing to call out to a friend who works in a company you want to work for. So the problem in my mind isn’t networking as such but networking while you do not have a ready network available. It is to network while building connections all over again, doing so consciously, that needs time energy and effort.  A lot of effort.

So what are some things we can all do to network better, in a new land? Here is yet another list of networking activities I do.

• Networking events at employment consultancies: I will forever have a pro Access bias for all the workshops and programs I have done with them. Here is the best way to contact them in your area.
• Family and Friends: I try to speak to as many people as I can that are currently in my circle. Facebook and LinkedIn help me stay in touch with everyone I have come across all my life. Soctia Bank has a beautiful theme, “you are richer than you are”. I think this also applies to our network. We actually do have a wider network than we think we do.
• Follow up: I email everybody I meet. Try to have a conversation. Some people reply, some don’t. Those who do, I rely on their advice and try to show them that I am not just wasting their time.
• Send messages to people on LinkedIn: that has not yet worked wonderfully for me but I have only tried it with people in roles and companies I want to be in. I still have faith in the process. However I am totally not in favor of spamming people, even with a “personalized” message unless I best see we have at least a contact or a group in common.

However there is a major personal issue I have to address here. It is this doubt we all have. A question I frequently ask of myself, why would anybody want to help me? Or what if I would be cheated?

If reading this there is one thing I ought to say out loud, it is that we should trust people, unless they give us a reason otherwise. Approach everybody new with mistrust should not be the way to go, despite our past experiences. It will greatly change the personal relationships we will have on people we meet on a day to day basis and in the end that is all networking is all about. Reaching out to people, without malice and with trust.

Ernest Hemingway said, “The best way to find out if you can trust someone is to trust them.”  We would all  do well if we listen to the master!

Day dream of my father

I was talking to my father recently about the banking sector in Canada and my father, who started his career at then government owned bank (it is now a listed company but government is a major shareholder) in India at the age of 19 is still with the same bank. Then he asks me if his experience would translate into a banking job here. I was a little taken back and didn’t know what to say. I mean at the age of 60 he should not even be thinking about finding work in a new country. He should be planning for retirement as he actually is. I abruptly and awkwardly said no and I said that’s because banks would want Canadian experience here.

After hanging up I felt like really foolish. I felt like I crushed a little day dream my father was indulging himself, a little flight of fantasy, as he was speaking to me. AND I was shocked at the reason I gave him.

Did I just say Canadian experience? I mean, isn’t that my point! That in a global context, where cultural and physical boundaries are merging faster than before, any experience globally, can be translated into a role in most of the countries as long as there is relevance and substance to the person doing it.

But in that conversation I realized what employers may mean by Canadian experience or the fit. They are not talking about knowledge, for I would really struggle to find anybody in the industry who knows more about retail banking than my father. He has worked for over 40 years in the industry, served millions of customer and has faced any and every challenge a banker can face, anywhere.

So if we were to analyze the trouble my father will have finding say a banking role in Canada, we can maybe find some of the aspects of “the fit”

1. Culture:  Effectively culture is how you live your life. Therefore, corporate culture is how you live your work life. How you behave with your clients and your co-worker. And obviously a lot of that is influenced by culture you live in. For somebody who has had worked for so many years in India, it would be hard to understand and accept the different way things are done in Canada. For e.g. how team work is regarded, how duties and tasks are delegated and who owns the responsibility for it all.

2. Language:  Not what you say but how you say. The style of delivery, the message that needs to be said. Part of culture yes, but important enough to warrant a discussion. Mostly Canadians avoid negative feedback or mostly sandwich is with two positive feedback. I like this approach as it lets the receiver get the message but avoids any negative reaction. Also for the sender, it keeps things in prospective because then the sender also look at the good things somebody did. Not to stereotype but living in India, Australia and now Canada, I can see stark difference between how message is delivered.

3. Products and policies:  Although I don’t think my father needs a lot of effort to understand new products, it can be quite a challenge for a new comer to understand certain products of their industry in a new country because they can be fundamentally different. That puts you in a disadvantage because then you are not job ready and if you are seeking, mid-management positions or higher, it can be quite a challenge.

4. Focus of the industry: Two main drivers for Canadian banks are Sales and Customer Service. While in India, most of the time, adherence to policy and red-tape are given precedence. This is obviously changing, and rapidly at that but it is nowhere near. Again, this will put a job hunter at a grave disadvantage if the focus is not understood.

But then as they say, it is only a problem if there is a solution for it. Analyzing the situation is the best way, in my mind to overcoming these obstacles. To recognize that yes things are different, what those difference are, in my opinion is more than half the battle.

So what are these solutions? Well to be honest, each factor mentioned here and more I cannot think of right now needs a page of discussion each. I will come up with one soon and hopefully write about each with resources I use.

Hopefully unlike my father, most of our dreams are more close to reality than we think. Until then, keep dreaming.

Self doubt and quiet desperation

For a job hunter, especially one in a foreign land, self doubt and desperation can sneak up on you when you wait by your computer and phone all day or when you are out all day, trying to “network”. You start to doubt your plans and worst, your ability because results don’t seem to come by.

You were told over and over again, it takes time and you need to have patience. But we all know it’s easier said than done. You can fight anything in the world but when you fight yourself, it is even harder with this emptiness inside. This may sound corny but for me it as simple as not doing anything productive.

I have designed a strategy, a guide of sorts that I follow. Some of the practical things I do.

• If it’s the summer in Toronto (as it is now), walk around. See the city in all its glory. See why you decided to come here. Sometimes you need to remind yourself.

• Do something of interest. I like reading and photography. I can’t believe so many job seekers ignore that one fact. When we are busy with life, we always crave for time to do things we like. It also helps me to stay positive and avoid beating myself down.

• Have a Netflix account. Not TV! I don’t enjoy TV and all those annoying adverts. Netflix is $8 a month, Canadian Netflix doesn’t have as awesome collection as the one in USA but it does the job. It also has a lot of foreign films so people can catch up on movies from their country of origin (well almost). I love watching independent movies and local Canadian Cinema, and my personal favorite so far is Growing Ops

• Get out of the house. Seriously I cannot even count how many times I have felt better just stepping out of the god damn room I live in. It’s true. I have been visiting workshops, attending events and being part of a bridging program for finance professional. All this has kept me busy but obviously there so much of that you can do. Now I just go out to do anything. Even if that’s to go meet some friend and that brings me to one important things

• Keep in touch with friends. All of them. I keep in touch with my friends from India, from Australia, where I did my masters from or people I have just met here. Sometimes you need to talk to someone to realize what you mean. To say it out loud. Kind of like writing it down for yourself and posting it on a blog 😉

Importance of being friendly

The secret they say is small talk. Really, talk about the weather or the hockey game (yell go Leafs randomly too for maximum result) and people in Toronto will love you. That’s one piece of advice I have received over the last few months about building your network of friends and acquaintances.

I however have never been in favor of talking small to anyone. Small talk can loosely be defined as a random non-consequential exchange of dialogues. However as a job hunter or an active networker, you do have a consequence you wish to achieve ultimately and that’s what I think isn’t right about talking small.

While I was on a field trip of sorts to a bank as part of a bridging program I have just finished (more on education later) an assistant manager for the bank noted that they call it building rapport. That’s when I realized what my whole problem was. The issue here is not merely semantics but what the approach is. Building rapport with others by engaging in a conversation is an end in itself. It need not have another ulterior purpose and often it doesn’t lead to anything other than a fun conversation and that’s exactly how it should be.

On a personal level too, a newcomer in any city or place needs to start over again specially making friends. It can take forever to build a network of friends and all of a sudden you are left with a gap which many people that you knew and trusted filled over the years. The sad part is that you too leave a gap when you leave those behind to head for newer adventures.

So for newcomers it is even more important to be friendly, to not be judgmental and to not be so self-absorbed that when you meet someone, all you can do is talk about yourself and your experiences and how they are the fact or the only way- I mean you can always start a blog for that!

Toronto