FIRST JOB

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FIRST JOB
ACCELERATOR.
What worries me…
Canada is committed to invite 1.2Mn immigrants in 3 years, which is
AWESOME!

However, this also means that Canada will have to create more jobs for
these 1.2MN new people who come here. Moreover, the job markets
around the world have suffered massively from the pandemic, where
Canada’s unemployment increased to all time highs in 2020 and
beginning of 2021.

As new immigrants, most of us leave our high paying, fancy jobs back
home to come to Canada for a better lifestyle, only to find that the real
struggle begins now, and getting a PR and landing here is only half the
battle - the Canadian dream starts only when you find your FIRST JOB.

If you have followed our journey on YouTube, you know that we landed
just 4 days before the pandemic was announced and the world was
shutting on us. There were no jobs, especially for non-IT folks and I
wasn’t even getting a rejection email, leave aside a call from a recruiter.

It took me 4 months to find my FIRST JOB. For the first 2 months, I

blamed the pandemic for lack of calls, but then I realized that I am the
problem. My approach was flawed and less relevant to the Canadian
market and I went back to the drawing board starting with building my
resume all over again.

But this time, I was more focused! I had talked to enough recruiters to
know what works for the Canadian market, I understood how to use
LinkedIn to connect with prospective employers – and most importantly,
I found my FIGJAM – what’s FIGJAM you ask..? Read on J

Once I found my FIGJAM (again, we will talk about this in a bit), I was
able to get my DREAM JOB within 2 months – yes, the pandemic was
still there and yes, the job market still sucked!
F.I.G.J.A.M
F*CK I AM GOOD, JUST ASK ME

Shocked to find what it stands for.. Lol

Remember I told you that it took me 4 months to get a job and you must
be thinking – oh, maybe you weren’t good enough. That’s fair, but let me
tell you about me J #self-praise-alert

I have a [Link]. degree followed by MBA in Marketing with 10 years of

experience:

ü EXPERIENCE: 8 years working as a research consultant for top clients

such as PepsiCo, Unilever, P&G, British American Tobacco, Walmart
ü TOP PERFORMER: I started as an analyst and moved up the ranks to
become the youngest Director in my company at the age of 29 – I
was also the lowest paying Director – turns out, getting promotions
every year is not the best thing for your salary, especially in India! ;)
ü INTERNATIONAL EXPOSURE: For 4 years, I worked in Hong Kong
leading client relationships across 18 countries in Asia Pacific &
Middle East
ü TEAM MANAGEMENT: I was managing a team of 40 people working
in these 18 countries – constantly hiring & moving best talent around

And then I quit my job and started a company with my wife. In 3 years,
we scaled the company from 2 employees to 15 and sold the company
for a mid-six digits ;-)

Why am I telling you this?

Because even with this profile, I wasn’t getting interview calls because I
did not find my FIGJAM.
What exactly is F.I.G.J.A.M ?

You may have a stellar profile; however, companies hire you for what you
bring to the table - that could either make or save them dollars.

Have you ever been asked by a recruiter – “Why should we hire you?”
If you want to get a job in Canada, you need an answer to this one
question – This becomes your unfair advantage, and you start building
your profile around it.

Let me give you my example –

With my extensive experience of working with clients around the world,
it was obvious for me to highlight all that in my resume and LinkedIn
profile. However, then I found at least 10 other people who were just as
good. I realized that I need to be different – I need to stand out of this
crowd of new immigrants ,who are all as qualified and have been at top
of their careers before coming to Canada.

I sat there in my basement thinking – what’s that ONE thing that I am

good at? It took me a few hours to get there, but I finally got it -

“I can turn any amount of information into 5 decisive slides – that’s all
you need to succeed in business”

BAM! Just like that.. I had my FIGJAM. It’s been 8 months since I joined
my current company, and my manager still comes to me whenever she
needs to condense any document into 3-5 crisp slides for the senior
management. There are times, when I can’t get it under 6-7 slides, and
my manager would (jokingly!) challenge me back saying – weren’t you
the one who said that you can get anything down to 5 slides!? J

Want a job in Canada? Take a pause and find your FIGJAM first.
That’s it – is it ?
Finding your FIGJAM is the first BIG step towards getting your FIRST JOB
in Canada. There are a few more which are equally important

FIRST JOB CHEATSHEET

Find your FIGJAM

Build a stellar profile

Network using LinkedIn

Nail your interview

A stellar profile
What’s a profile? I asked this question to over 100 people during my
research of building this accelerator program and 90% of them gave me
the same answer – it’s your RESUME.
Nope! There are 4 parts to your profile:
1. Your elevator pitch – Being able to explain your entire professional
experience along with your FIGJAM in under 2 minutes.
2. Your LinkedIn profile – Probably the most neglected asset, but it is
the most important one – If you don’t have a LinkedIn profile, make
one today – you won’t get a job without it.
3. Your Resume – no points for guessing, however you need 2 different
formats of resume that we will discuss on the next page
4. Cover letter – Most jobs have an option of submitting a cover letter
– it’s optional, however this is your chance to shine and tell them
about your FIGJAM that makes you a perfect fit for the role.
A winning resume
In my experience, you need 2 types of resumes:
1. The boring one – It needs to be plain, without any tables, no
designs, no funky formatting. That’s because many companies use
ATS to screen resume. It’s a software that matches keywords in
hundreds of resumes they get, to the job description and screens
the top few that fit well. Most ATS are not able to read tables and
designs on the resume and you might miss out on the opportunity
to get interviewed, even when you had all the keywords in your
resume.
2. The good-looking one – This is the one you send to recruiters 1-2-1
or via references. And this is where you can be more creative in your
formatting and make it look good. Real people go through this
resume, and real people like stuff that looks good J - I shared my
own resume at the end of this document for reference.

Top mistakes
During my research, I talked to numerous recruiters (well, I talked to 7),
and asked them about the 3 most common mistakes that they see
while screening resumes, and some of them are quite shocking!
Spelling mistakes – Now, that is plain stupid! A massive turn-off that
tells the recruiter that you aren’t serious about the role. If you aren’t
careful about something as basic as this in your resume, there are
chances that you won’t be as good at your job.
One resume for all jobs – That’s a mistake. I used to spend 2 hours
preparing my resume for every job, making sure it has all the right
keywords. One resume can’t fit all roles – just makes you look lazy J
It’s long & tiring - Recruiters go through hundreds of resumes a day and
they spend an average of 2-3 minutes on 1 resume. Make yourself
standout on your resume by keeping it short, to the point with clear
impact that you made in your past role.
Building a network
A lot of people ask me – what’s the best platform to apply for jobs. And I
have just 1 word for them – LINKEDIN. That’s the only job search
platform which allows you to not only apply to jobs, but also contact the
person who posted the job or find people who are in the company to
refer you. But there is a catch J

I have 1,364 connection requests on LinkedIn because of my social

presence on YouTube. I haven’t accepted any of these. It’s not that I am
being rude, it’s because these people did not even care to introduce
themselves in their connection request.

That’s exactly what happens with most recruiters – because of the

nature of their job, they get hundreds of connection requests on
LinkedIn everyday and if you don’t let them know your intention to
connect, it’s very likely that you won’t hear back from them.

What not to do!

There are certain connection requests that have a message with it,
however, they straightaway ask for a job! Now, there is nothing wrong in
getting straight to the point – but they don’t know you, so how can they
refer you?

Instead, why not ask for guidance? Tell them what you are looking for,
provide some context about why you are reaching out to them. Of-
course they know that you are looking for a job, but trust me when I say
this, no one likes to be ambushed and no one likes messages that sound
way too desperate. What most people would like is to have a human
connection, that usually involves asking for guidance and mentorship.

Once they know you, they would themselves offer to refer you to a role
in their company or connect you with someone in their network – that’s
how you build your network, one person at a time.
Nailing an interview
Now that you found your FIGJAM, built a stellar profile and got an
interview call – it’s time for your interview J
Trust me when I say this, nailing an interview is the easiest part of the
entire process – it’s the journey to the interview that is frustrating and
takes time.
Now, this part of job search varies a lot depending on your role and
profile. A developer would have multiple technical rounds where you will
be asked to CODE, but for a marketing professional such as myself, they
are likely to test my team skills, attitude or going deeper into my
previous experience.
Now, I am assuming you will be able to handle the technical stuff really
well, however what would make you stand out is when you are prepared
for the generic questions like:
1. Tell us about yourself
2. What are your top 3 strengths?
3. What’s your biggest weakness?
4. Why should we hire you?
5. Do you have any questions for us?
Everyone I ever asked this question has more or less the same answer.
You know what I said when my current employer asked me about my
biggest strength? It wasn’t my people skills or my 10 years experience of
working across 18 countries – it was my FIGJAM - “I can turn any amount
of information into 5 decisive slides” and then I cited 2 examples
supporting my FIGJAM.
Recruiters do this day after day after day – and most people they
interview will have generic answers to these questions. And then there
is you, who knows their shit and speaks with clarity – who do you think
they are more likely to offer the job to?
Did you find this helpful?
I am so glad if you did. I also acknowledge that every person has a
different story and there is no “one size that fits all”. That’s why we
created FIRST JOB ACCELERATOR.
This is a 2-day accelerator program which includes 6 hours of LIVE
learning with me and 4 other fellow job seekers along with 10 hours of
homework between 2 days [FULL SCHEDULE HERE]
I obviously can’t give you your first job in Canada, however in this 2-day
workshop, I will make sure you find your FIGJAM, have the best profile
that stands out and get down / dirty with LinkedIn, where I take you
through my routine of how I network with recruiters and improve my
chances of getting more calls.
It took me 4 months to figure this out and get my first job in Canada.
And it was not because of the pandemic that I wasn’t getting a job, it
was because I was not approaching the job market correctly – if I had
known what I know now, I am sure I would have saved at least 2 months
– which amounts to over $10,000 in salary.

Book your seat See full schedule

What’s in it for you?

6 HOURS 45 MINUTES NETWORK

LIVE online learning 1-2-1 zoom session with Access to invite-only
class with Navjot Navjot for personalized WhatsApp group with
(group of 5) feedback / Q&A FJA alumni
NAVJOT
BINDRA WORK EXPERIENCE

CONTACT DIRECTOR, PRODUCT MARKETING Oct 2018 – Feb 2020

Stamplet Solutions | HONG KONG

+1 999999999
AI-powered mobile application for shopping malls that uses location services
and optical character recognition to reward shoppers for all their purchases
xyz@[Link]
inside the shopping center. Consumers click a photo of their receipt in return
for rewards such as free parking & discounts on their next visit.
LinkedIn Profile
This loyalty program feeds into shopping center’s data engine that has
information about the demographics of people who shop with mall, what
Mississauga, Ontario they buy and how often – millions of data points collected on a monthly basis.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
PROFILE • Product development: From idea to execution, created a
A data nerd with education in framework (on Tableau) to convert this raw loyalty data into user-
Information Technology & friendly dashboards that were used by shopping malls & retailers
Marketing (H&M, Zara, Adidas) to understand shopper behavior.
Over 9 years of experience in • Sales planning: Lead a team of business development executives
building & marketing product to move prospective leads through the sales funnel. Grew the
services & data frameworks for client base from 2 clients in 2018 to 15 clients in 2020;
the retail industry across 19 Stamplet’s revenue grew by 7x in 2019-20.
markets in Asia Pacific & • Client Relationship Management: Enabling client’s marketing
Middle East for global giants team to make data driven decisions – data from the loyalty
like PepsiCo, British American programs funneled into targeted marketing campaigns in order to
Tobacco, Ikea, H&M. improve customer foot-fall and shopper engagement.
My Biggest strength is to turn
massive amount of information CLIENT BUSINESS PARTNER Jan 2011 – Oct 2018
into 5 decision making slides.
Nielsen| HONG KONG & INDIA
STRENGTHS Nielsen is #1 marketing research company in the world that measure what
consumers buy & watch.
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
In this role, I worked as Consumer Insights consultant for 19 markets spanning
CONSUMER INSIGHTS
North Asia, South East Asia, Australia & New Zealand for 3 of the largest
MARKET RESEARCH clients – PepsiCo, British American Tobacco & Dairy Farm International.
DATA ANALYTICS
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
PRESENTATION SKILLS

EXCELLENT COMMUNICATION
• Data to decisions: Turning large data sets into meaningful and
actionable insights for senior management that can have an
STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT impact on important aspects of client’s decisions including Sales,
Product innovation, pricing, distribution & assortment.
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

TEAM MANAGEMENT
• Product Planning: Working with Nielsen’s product team to plan &
launch analytical models & consumer studies that could help the
client make faster innovation, pricing & distribution decisions.
BEHAVIOURAL • Revenue Management: Handling a multi-million-dollar revenue
SELF-STARTER INFLUENCIAL stream for clients across 19 markets in Asia Pacific & Middle East.
Grew the revenue by 25% for 3 consecutive years.
DEPENDABLE PROBLEM SOLVER
• Team Management: Led a team of 40+ people working across 19
INTEGRITY RESULT ORIENTED
markets – all working towards a common goal of turning
LEADERSHIP TRAITS TEAM PLAYER consumer data and building frameworks to grow client’s business.
 MY EDUCATION
TECHNICAL
ADVANCED MS EXCEL MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 2009-2011
DATA VISUALIZATION TOOLS Specialized in Marketing
SEO MARKETING
BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY 2005-2009
GOOGLE ANALYTICS 360
Specialized in Information Technology

BIGGEST
ACHIEVEMENT VOLUNTEER WORK
Stamplet was a loss-making
company on the brink of YOUTUBE
shutting down in 2018. I love teaching and always wanted to start an educational YouTube
channel, and so I did.
Introduced a winning product
for a niche customer base – Via my YouTube channel, we crack-down on fraudulent immigration
grew the gross revenue to consultants, also known as ghost consultants; sharing experience and
high 6 digits in 18 months stories of how skilled workers can immigrate to Canada by doing the entire
process on their own, without spending a dollar on any agency.
The company turned a profit
by end of 2019 and got In just over a year, have posted 140+ experiential & how-to videos.
acquired by a multi-portfolio The channel has grown to over 130,000+ subscribers and over 9 MN views.
real-estate investor in 2020.
STARTUP MENTORING
PASSION
Building products is my passion and I do pro-bono consulting with multiple
TEACHING WRITING startups in Canada, India & Hong Kong. Have attended many startup
TRAVELLING THE WORLD events powered by TechStars – helping young entrepreneurs to streamline
their product and the overall vision for their venture.

MY REFERENCES

REFERENCE 1 REFERENCE 2
Reporting Manager | Nielsen, India Reporting Manager | Nielsen, Hong Kong
EMAIL: XYZ@[Link] EMAIL: XYZ@[Link]
Phone: +91 9999999999 Phone: +91 9999999999

REFERENCE 3 REFERENCE 4
Reporting Manager | Nielsen India Reporting Manager | Nielsen Hong Kong
EMAIL: XYZ@[Link] EMAIL: XYZ@[Link]
Phone: +91 9999999999 Phone: +91 9999999999

REFERENCE 5 REFERENCE 6
CTO | Stamplet Solutions Startup Facilitator | TechStars
EMAIL: XYZ@[Link] EMAIL: XYZ@[Link]
Phone: +91 9999999999 Phone: +91 9999999999