Location: Hum aap ke dil me rehte h
Posted on: 14-09-04 11:59:40
Dear chandresh and others,
I am in accounting and have been able to successfully land in an accounting job in a month. In the last three and a half years I have been here, I changed job three times and currently I am in the fourth company. Note that I never worked as temp, always got hired by the company (of course, through employment agencies). I started off with 33K and am getting 60+right now.
The factors worked in my favour(I guess) are:-
• Attitude : I am an Indian CA (well..I was a CA rank holder)too,but, I don’t believe that being an Indian CA means someone who knows everything about accounting. I always thought that there are still things that I need to learn and improve upon. I concentrated more on to the business side and tried applying that knowledge into accounting/finance, rather than being a pure technical accountant (which a normal Indian CA is).
• Age: I was 29 when I first landed in Canada and that helped a lot.
• Specialization : My experience was very focused . One of the differences that I noticed in Canada is that the accounting is a lot about specialization in Canada. I am a kind of a specialist in Cost accounting. This definitely helped me a lot in Canada.
I chose to do CMA as I came to Canada. One of the major reasons for that is the fact that most of the Indian degrees don’t teach you stuff like getting into work as a group, making presentations, doing group works etc and I thought doing CMA will definitely help in improving my communication and presentation skills and it did help me a lot in making myself presentable to potential employers. And with CMA merging with CA, I will be becoming a CA instead of CMA in a couple of months.
I don’t know whether these point help anyone. But some thought which came into my mind while reading this post. My advice to anyone would be start with a clean canvass and choose your colors carefully
Thanks for reading this
Vada Sambar
Hey Chandresh...
As you can se am an IT Guy......still if u think i can be of any help to you, please send me ur resume.
Atleast i can tell you whether its impressive .....
and dont worry dear.... the whole canada (desi.com) is with you. I am sure u will get a decent job soon...
waiting for your resume,
take care
Sunny
Quote:
Orginally posted by Vadasambar
I don’t know whether these point help anyone. But some thought which came into my mind while reading this post. My advice to anyone would be start with a clean canvass and choose your colors carefully
Thanks for reading this
Vada Sambar
Thanks for your contribution Vadasambar (the dish I like most in south indian food!), and I fully agree with what you say.
And yes, whatever you have done does help in getting the right break in Canada. I tried to do the same last year by first passing my CPA in one go (which I never believed I could - sitting in an exam after 20 years!) hoping to be able to do CGA based on exemptions - but as luck would have it, CGA changed the rules before the results were out.
Young age - that definitely helps. I have some friends who are between 30 and 35 and they have good jobs in Canada - while I have few friends above 40, who with all their qualifications (CA, CGA, CPA, CS etc.) are either struggling to keep their 40-50k jobs, or have been retrenched a few times.
I myself have been to various employment agencies, and though they appreciate my knowledge, experience and confidence, they also know that I am above 45, and believe it or not, in today's world (not only in Canada but in most places, including India), getting into a new thing at that age is, if not impossible, extremely difficult. No, the agency does not tell that to you on face, but with 20 years of professional experience, one can understand their body language. They earn their bread and butter out of their corporate clients (in today's scenario - which might or might not change in a few years), and it is very difficult for them to push an \"old guy\" with lots of international experience but no Canadian experience. And here, the canadian experience does not mean experience in accounting and finance, but something that relates to soft skills, interest in hockey/bars, style of working, etc. - things which the employers would feel aged people like me will find difficult to change/adopt.
And when you have a family to support, with teenage children, and a wife who never worked before coming to canada (but fortunately, today my wife is a professional teacher), to be able to start with a new canvass is extremely difficult, both financially, but also from your own physical and mental sharpness point of view.
But as I agreed with you earlier - one has to change attitude when one changes a country, and adapt to the new requirements, rather than expecting the new environment to adapt to one's abilities. AND CONSTANTLY UPGRADE!
Chandresh
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Chandresh
Advice is free – lessons I charge for!!
Chandresh,
First, Congratulations on the new house !!
Looks like we now have a conclusion to the renting Vs buying debate 
, This is a major milestone and great success and wish you and your family the very best . I also hope to become a home owner one day , but that day seems far for now.
Coming to the topic of your resume, i dont know if I can really give any insight into it as you have more industry experience than me and probably most on this forum, since you have polished your resume so much i dont think it would need much help. But I do really think that if you develop some solid references and refresh the references you have in the industry , you might be able to get the break. How about calling the people you have worked with in the past and telling them that you are looking.
Given your solid professional background and overseas experience, i strongly feel that in one of these days we all will see a post from you , breaking the good news to all of us that you have got your dream break .... I dont know why , i havent met you in person , but after having so many pleasant and some not so pleasant interactions with you on CD ,
i strongly feel that your big break is not very far away . Just seek it agressively and i am positive that we will get that post from you, and we all will celebrate together!!!
Good luck my friend .
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What can be imagined, can be achieved.
pls send me your CV, chandresh.
i may be able to make comments on the presentation.
i also work at an accounting firm, so i think i know the parameters and requirements a CV should follow. i would be delighted to help you out.
Chandresh
Not sure if I could be of help here. As someone else suggested on an earlier post, a core specialization is very important.
I am also a US CPA, may be able to help you package your Resume, as well as provide you with some email addresses of people that are recruiting constantly.
On a slightly different note, try and keep up a positive attitude - as tough as it may be. Again reading this thread, I understand that you posted something to the effect that you got pink slipped after telling your CMA boss that you were a 'CA'. I don't mean to be critical, but take such notions out of your head. Respect the professionalism of the system here, and you will be respected in turn.
Once again, I could be in a position to help, feel free to ask.
Thanks crenshaw - I will send you an e-mail which you can reply to so that I get your e-mail address. I shall then send my resume as an attachment. Any help is appreciated.
My core specialization is confidential accounting of family businesses, international finance and Group company setups, and foreign exchange.
Speaking for positive attitude - though some of my postings might not suggest it, since I consider this forum where I would like to speak / convey the truth, people who have come in contact with me are surprised to see my positive attitude. Infact. some of my friends and relations are worried sick that I have been jobless for most part of last three years, but are amazed to see my enthusiasm towards life. If you were to meet me, you might wonder if I am jobless or actually in a very cushy job!
About that incident of me saying that I am a CA........No I was not pink slipped. I was on a temp assignment thru accountemps and they found my work very good. So after about 15 days the CFO walked into my office to thank me for doing a wonderful job, something which they were not expecting to be done at the fast pace that I was able to do. One of their assistant accountant had left and they were looking for one. When he offered me (casually though) the job, I told them that to hire me, I was morally committed to going thru Accountemps. In the next 10 minutes or so, I was able to convince him to pay the lump sum fee to accountemps and hire me since he liked my job. then we chit-chatted for a few moments and he suddenly sprung up the question 'by the way, what is your academic background' - and I simply replied ' I am a Chartered Accountant' and soon after having said that I could see the job offer slipping away. When he finally left my room his words were that he will have to rethink about the offer!
By that I did not mean that a CMA boss could not agree to take a CA under him. No, it was rather clear to him that a CA would not stay in the position of Assistant Accountant (30K p.a.) for long, and so it was no use hiring him. And at that moment, I too was sure that I would not stay there for long - so it was the right judgement on his part. Today it is a different thing for me - I would be ready to commit a 5 year stay starting with 35k - not because I need that money badly, but because now I need a balance between my job and personal life and 35 k would take care of all my needs, present and future.
I do respect the professionalism of the system, and if I have conveyed it otherwise, I am at fault. It is just that there are not enough jobs for professionals (immigrants) - the ratio of jobs requiring professionals to availability of professionals in this country is a bit lop-sided.
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Chandresh
Advice is free – lessons I charge for!!
