After a hiatus of a year, I’m finally back on the job market. Here in Vancouver, now that it seems to be harder to obtain U.S. work visas, or at least that’s what we’ve been told by the media, there are plenty of opportunities in my field which is software development as U.S. companies are opening offices all around the city.
I began my preparations a couple of months in advance, I was shaping up my CV, working on some cover letters and check the pulse of the job market. It all looked promising. In my 8 years in the city, I have a small network of people I met or worked with. As I was refreshing my LinkedIn profile, I was approached by several people and there was some interest in hiring me. Very encouraging indeed.
But, me being me, I wanted something else than just slide right into any job opportunity. I wanted something meaningful, a change of technology, a small enough company I can make a difference. None of the leads on the table allowed me any of these, so I began hunting.
The first week was very positive. My LinkedIn profile filled quickly with many recruiters, usually several from the same firm, I had lots of coffee meetings and it felt I should land a new job within a week or two at most. I was wrong.
The first and major thing that held me back was interview experience. I held a solid position for more than 6 years before our big trip, where I had little need to interview and I lost the ‘art of interviewing’ — I forgot how to present myself, how to answer, what to ask. I even forgot basic principles.
The second week was the worst — after several interviews I failed miserably, my spirit was down and I came to realize it might not be as easy as I thought it would be. Then I decided to cast a wider net, and expanded my search beyond the requiters (who mostly didn’t provide opportunities at all) and my existing network. I started to send some cold invitations, applied to lower level developer positions, even resorted to Craigslist searches. I did get called to several interviews in which my self-confidence level grew with practice, but still got no answers. Between interviews, I was sitting down and refreshing my knowledge and learning some new things.
Eventually, after a month back home, I finally landed 3 good offers, each with its pros and cons, but very reasonable. One came through a recruiter and the other two were from my network. I eventually picked one, so I hope to get back working in the next week or so.
To conclude, I think it is a good practice to interview now and then, to keep in shape, be up to date, and to be ready. It expands one’s network, you get to know people and it may lead for future opportunities. Important to remember, this process also takes time, especially if one is picky as I am about location, company and meaning of life in general. It also helps to be more decisive than I am…
