How to prepare for your first job search in a new country?

Just starting a study program at a College/University in a new country (Canada, Australia, the US, etc)? This article will show you some essential steps to kick start your career in a new country!

1. Explore the career options from your program.

Explore kind of roles you are eligible for after graduating from your program. You can start doing that by searching on the internet or talk to people who graduate from the same program. Another way is to connect with experienced professionals in the same field on LinkedIn to know which options maybe available to you, including their roles and the companies they have been working for.

2. Beside your study at the college/university, try to find part-time job related to your study and join as many extra-curricular activities as possible.

Join an internship/co-op program and/or working on a related part-time job is an essential step to kick start your career in a new country. Some graduates I know underestimated the competitiveness of the job market and decided to skip this step until they realized it was so challenging to get the first job without any local work experience and connections. At that time, they might go back to a classic question: Egg or Chicken, which one comes first?

Apart from working on part-time jobs related to your program, you should also join as many extra-curricular activities at the school as possible, including:

• Career fair, Employer events

• Student clubs based on your interests

• Volunteer for the school and/or the community

3. Reflection from your experience

If you ever ask me one of the most important thing I learn from my Master program, I would say without hesitation, is Reflection.

Doing the above activities to not only gain experience and connections, but also to give yourself opportunities to explore your career interest in a new environment. Reflection is key in shaping your perspectives and learnings from your experience. Don't forget to reflect regularly, ideally every month.

One of the reason why we need reflection is that there is no perfect job and career path in this world, it is just a right or wrong option for you, from a very personal perspective. That's why reflecting will help you shape your ideas in how an experience can relate to you and be meaningful to you in some ways.

This simple activity will help you add a lot of character, making you more and more unique and stand out from the crowd in the job competition.

4. Building relationship with industry professionals

If you are a hiring manager and receive 200-500 applications to a job, and at least half of them are qualified on paper, who would you select for interviews? The person who you have talked to and left a good impression at a career fair or some strangers who you don't know them in person?

If you have the answer for yourself, now you know what to do!

5. Be flexible and patient

While you are trying to grasp the best opportunities, don't wait for "the best" to come for too long, accept and try as many options available to you as possible, be flexible and realistic!

Although there are some exceptional cases, most people I know start very small and have been taking steps to reach their career goal. For example, I started by working at a private high school, to a private college and then to a public university, which took me 2 years in total.

Be patient building your steps and be strategic in heading into the direction that you want. Focus on the experience and skills you can gain from a job, regardless of how small your job is. There is no small or big task, building relevant experience is utmost important.

I hope these are helpful for your job search, start to make a plan for yourself from NOW!

Mai To

Career Coach

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