How I got a job offer in Canada
In this article, I’ll present the process I did to get the job offer through VanHack (versão em português).
If you have the same interest in working in another country, VanHack can be a great way. I hope this article can help you better understand how the event that I attended and give you a sense of the challenges and benefits.
First weeks in Toronto
I arrived on April 11, 2019, in Toronto and took the first weeks to get to know the city and get used to the new routine. In the meantime, I found out that VanHack was going to host a hiring event in June/2019 and was very excited. I had already tried to participate in the Sao Paulo event, but I was not selected because my level of English was not enough.
With that, I signed up again for the Premium plan, and went back to VanHack classes and reconciled English school classes with VanHack classes every day. VanHack offers several benefits such as:
- 3–4 daily lessons about English interviews, technical interviews in English, English and etc;
- All classes are online, people from various countries participate in the classes, and teachers encourage all students to participate. It’s an excellent opportunity to exercise your pronunciation and grammar in conversation with other students;
- Offers experts to improve the description on your LinkedIn, CV and Cover Letter;
- Because there are so many options for technology jobs open, through classes you learn to better identify which jobs best fit your profile.
Faced with so many benefits, when you compare the value per month of a Toronto English school against VanHack, you realize how cheap it is.
How to be selected for VanHack Leap?
Leap is the VanHack-hosted event that enables technology professionals to connect with companies that need to hire them, but to participate you need to do:
- Complete your VanHack profile;
- Take the English verification test. Try to reach the advanced or fluent level, so your chances increase;
- Take the code verification test, these are tests provided by HackerRank for you to prove your technical knowledge in the language or technology you have the most experience with.
I had tried once for a VanHack event in Sao Paulo but had not been selected because my English level was intermediate, after a few weeks of intensive study, I redid the verification test and managed to reach the advanced level.
I did the code verification tests and got a better score. I attended VanHack classes, introduced some VanHackers that I was in Toronto and was interested in attending the event. With this set, in my case, it was possible to be selected for the event.
Two important details: You don’t have to be in the event’s host city to be selected, you can be anywhere on the globe; Once selected, you can now receive contact from the companies that will participate and conduct the interviewing process remotely.
Preparation for the event
Once selected I had special classes offered by VanHack to better prepare for the event, such as:
- Explanation about each company, its values, its culture, its products and its possible challenges, so I was able to choose which companies and which vacancies attract me the most;
- How to recognize my soft skills and better describe them;
- How to sell my background and experience without seeming arrogant to the Canadian recruiter;
- LinkedIn, CV and Cover Letter review;
- Mock interview classes to simulate a presentation;
In addition, I received a list with all the companies that participated in the event and their vacancies. All content and classes are in English.
I tried to make the most of all the classes and exercises provided by them.
The event
The Leap I attended was two days, and on the day of the event the nervousness comes out 😐, but the VanHack team tries to reassure all participants and motivate us to do our best at the chats.
On the first day, occurs as if it were an informal event, has a buffet with various snacks, wine and beer at ease, to make the climate more favourable for people to feel more comfortable to introduce themselves to companies. Recruiters from each company are waiting for candidates to introduce themselves and tell a little about their story.
An important tip that VanHack has given us is to produce our own business card to offer to companies, this makes our presence more professional.
In addition, Ilya briefly introduced each candidate to the companies before starting the event.
At the event I attended, 20 to 30 Canadian companies from various segments must have participated. With that, I had to take advantage of the 2 hours of the event to contact the maximum of companies that converged with my goals or expectations.
On the second day, companies that liked my profile sent email invitations to the next stages, which are less informal interviews and depending on the company could be technical interview, pair programming, code analysis, behavioural, about the culture of company, varies a lot from company to company, so I had to keep calm so as not to get lost in English.
Interviews took place at WeWork’s Toronto office, where each company was booked into a room, interviews averaged 30 minutes to 1 hour. After each interview, I was looking forward to the next with another company. It was quite exhausting for me, as it was the first time I did several interviews in one day, all in English.
In the first two days, all candidates had the attention and care of the VanHack team to better organize each candidate for each company.
On the third day, for most candidates, it was a very happy and fulfilling day, as most received job offers 🚀, including me 😄! Then it was just a celebration 🎉.
Considerations
VanHack was fundamental in this achievement because when I moved to Canada, I moved LinkedIn to Toronto and started getting interview proposals, but all companies expect me to have a work visa, which was not my case. Because I had only a tourist visa.
At the event I attended, all the companies that attended were willing to sponsor the work visa and possibly relocation. At each event, VanHack is open to receiving feedback for improvement, I cannot guarantee that the Leap event you are attending will have the same steps as I attended.
The whole experience of trying a job at VanHack was exciting for my career because:
- I improved my LinkedIn, my CV, my English for interviews;
- I had classes on having emotional control in the interviews;
- I learned more about Canadian culture at work;
- I was able to meet exceptional professionals who participated with me on this journey;
- All the candidates self-motivating all the time, it was so beautiful to see this unity and companionship among the candidates, it was comforting;
- It’s a great way to practice English, learn to sell yourself, and learn more about the aspects I found weak in interviews and hone in on future opportunities;
- You don’t pay to attend the event when you are selected. If you come from another country you get a $ 500 allowance.
This achievement is the result of the help and support of many people, especially thanks to the VanHack team: Andreza Mendes, Aline Bicudo, Ana Lins, Guilherme Maniglia, Juliana, Garden, Stefanie Wessler, Scarlet Wood, Stephanie, Tatiane Cortez and Ilya Brotzky.
Thanks also to the friends I could meet during the event and their mutual support!
Also, thank my wife (Evilanne), Alejandro, Douglas, Daniel and Lívia for the support and motivation throughout this moment! 😃
If your dream is also to work in another country, try VanHack! If you have any questions, comment here or send me a DM on Twitter.
Thanks, Evilanne Brandão, Deia Saraiva and José Lins for revising the text 😄
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