When you decide to get a job, you need to have ready at least 2 things, the cover letter and the resumé. Everyone knows about the resumé but the cover letter was completely new for me and I always wrote 3 or 5 lines and sent the email or applied online.
Last week I had a discussion with Igor, how important is the cover letter? He had gotten a few interviews already and I had received nothing at all. So we decided to experiment, I copied his cover letter, adapted it to my area and on friday I started to use the new cover letter and an improved resumé, and decided to give it 15 days to see if it worked. The resumé had the same information as before, just more organized.
My big surprise was on monday (yes, just from friday to monday) when I received 3 calls for 3 different interviews! In fact, today I got 3 more calls for 3 more interviews, and yesterday I took one of the jobs!. My conclusion about the cover letter? VERY IMPORTANT!
About the job, I'm going to be a .NET Developer at Konverge and Know, I'm starting this monday from 9 to 5, and the money is enough to pay for the rent, the food, transportation, phones, cable and Internet! so we are pretty happy with the decision.
The interview was very stressfull! 5 people interviewed me and had to pass 3 tests!
I'm linking here my resumé so you can see the information it has and how is organized, and if you have questions about it, just ask!: Resume . That one is my general resumé, I also have one oriented to programming and one oriented to databases, where I just changed the order of a few things and stuff like that.
My cover letter? This one:
Aiglee Castillo
Phone:
email:
Address
Dear Hiring Manager
I am a Computer Scientist with extensive experience developing applications in Java and SQL databases. I have 5 years of experience in full life cycle of software design process, including web and stand-alone applications.
In each role I have had, I've been responsible for the analysis, design, development, testing and support of existing or proposed software in the company. Surpassed company expectations by designing and developing Java applications that increased productivity automating manual tasks; SIM renumbering was done in 2 days and now is done in 1 hour.
I feel that my easy and fast understanding of programming languages and databases on Linux and Windows environments, and my knowledge and skills of Java, MySQL, SQL Server and Linux would be an asset in this role.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I hope to have the opportunity to discuss the opening with you in person.
Sincerely,
Aiglee Castillo
8 comments:
Congratulations on your new job and on figuring out the Canadian way of doing things so quickly. :)
I hope all goes well for you. Have a great first day (and beyond)!
Thank you! :D
Congratulations on finding a new job. What a way to start the new year.
hurray!!!!!!!!!!!
You have 1 of the jobs now?
thats awsome, and also good to feel more home in canada!!!!
I am proud of you:)
Joann
Thank you girls :)
Hi Aiglee,
I am also planning to move to Canada. I have taken the Medical Exam and about to send out the rest of the required additional documents. I am also a senior Java Programmer. Did you say it is easy to find a job in Toronto?
Thanks!
Continuing my previous post..I am currently in the US. Would you suggest coming on a Tourist trip, finding a job and then Landing?
Hi Ananth, I would not say that finding a job is easy but for our area I wouldn't say is difficult either ;)
You just have to have a good cover letter and good resume and you'll be fine! Even more with US experience since they employers can call to verify your references (have at least 3 references ready at hand).
How long do you think is going to be until you have your visa? Do you have enough money to come to interviews? I guess coming here as a tourist first would depend in those answers, but I can tell you that if you have a good cover letter and resume you'll be getting calls the second week at the latest, so you have to be prepared to go to the interviews and to start when you both agree to start.
If you are not in a BIG hurry to get a job the first 2 weeks of your landing, I would recommend to wait until you do it. If you are in a hurry, yes, you could try finding a job while on a tourist visa and agree to start after your landing date (you should know it before the interviews ;))
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