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Have you ever felt that no matter how many jobs you apply for, how many times you edit/refine your resume or your cover letter, the responses you still see coming in look like “Thank you for your application but we have gone forward with the others” or in many cases no response with some recruiters even ghosting you after.

Well, a lot of this is not because you lack CAPABILITY but it’s because you are not adopting the RIGHT process to search but more so because of the lack of the right approach for applying for jobs.

A lot of students have a tendency to think JOBS involve a one-time massive effort, not realizing that it is actually the product of consistent effort over a period of time, and this consistent effort is needed in 3 areas:

1. Identifying WHAT you really want to do and WHY: This involves you getting a good understanding of why you are doing what you are doing and who do you really want to become. A lot of us spend time running after opportunities without truly understanding why we want to be in those roles and if we really even want those jobs.

   Most often I see students apply to roles because their friends are applying for it, or because they think they should or just because it is a part of their list of 100 other jobs people are hiring for today. And when you do that your success % is a lot lower not just to access the job but even once you move beyond this to the interview stage or to the company, people without a clear understanding of WHY are like to be laid off, or leave the company and have a high level of dissatisfaction.
   

2. Building CREDIBILITY for the work you hope to do: This is about you building experiences that provide employers true evidence on what you can do, and how you have done it for others before and the impact you had. This makes it easier for employers to calculate their ROI.

   Fun-fact: “Recruiters take 6-seconds to read your resume”

   ~John Reagan

   This implies that your CV won't be given another look if it doesn't immediately reflect value, credibility, and relevance. Credibility is established not just by job titles but also by your unique set of abilities and impact evidence.
   

3. Creating VISIBILITY for the identified and developed credibility: This is about showing what you do to people as people see you for what you show them. So, you need to be strategic in what you put out, how you use LinkedIn to shape your brand-what is it telling people about it and when you network with people, what perceptions of you are they leaving those conversations with.
   “Only 30% of people had already got a job because of LinkedIn. The remaining 71% hadn't got benefitted yet. It is likely that these respondents were not utilizing their LinkedIn profile effectively.” To read the whole post click here.

These are things towards which you need to be taking action towards everyday, little by little. There is no single day which will change everything, its consistent effort over time but it needs to start from somewhere.

Maybe the ACTION you take today is messaging people on LinkedIn who work in roles and in companies you want to work at and by a week you would have reached out to 7 people and maybe even set up a coffee chat with 1 out of them.

That is PROGRESS, which compounded over a month is 4 new strong connections and over a year is 48 new strong connections, and they say you need your first 5 to start seeing a change.

Rest, I will share for the next newsletter on how you build these further…

Opportunities this Week

1. Student Tax Support Session (Happening TOMORROW)
   
   ​Filing taxes in Canada for the first time? Confused about where to start? We’re here to help!

   ​Join us for a free, drop-in tax application session. Designed specifically to help students, especially international students, understand and apply for their taxes with ease.
   
   🗓️Sunday, March 16, 2025
   ⏱️10:00 AM - 11:00 AM EST
   📍Virtual/ Zoom Session
   
   To get detailed information on tax filing, click on the official CRA website links below ⇓⇓

   1. Tax information for Newcomers to Canada

   2. Tax information for International Students
      

2. Networking & Building Visibility Student Meetup: Waterloo

   ​​This event is designed to go beyond the basics of networking and job-seeking by leveraging real-life examples, hands-on activities, and interactive discussions to help you build meaningful relationships.

   ​​Through icebreakers, one-on-one relationship-building opportunities, speed networking, and insightful panel, you'll not only leave with tangible networking strategies but also real connections that can support your professional growth.
   
   🗓️Saturday, March 22
   ⏱️5:00 PM - 7:00 PM EST
   📍255 King St N, Waterloo, Ontario

3. Career Connections Networking Event: Durham
   
   The event aims at helping international immigrant students solve their employment and career development concerns. This three-hour event will provide valuable insights into the Canadian job industry expectations, networking tactics and job market transition.
   
   🗓️Saturday, March 29
   ⏱️10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
   📍Campus Recreation and Wellness Centre, Oshawa, Ontario

​Sign up, using the LUMA link here. See you there! Any questions email us at [email protected]

5 Hiring Tips Every Company (and Job Seeker) Should Know | Nithya Vaduganathan | TED

A quick video you can watch to learn how to keep up with a rapidly evolving job market, and why hiring practices need to change, too.

An Exciting collaboration we want to bring to you this week!!

Are you an International Student? Did you come to Canada on an educational loan?

If yes, LISTEN UP👇

I came to Canada as well on an educational loan and had a difficult time paying it back because of the delayed processes, long timeline for bank transfer, inaccessibility of western union services and more.

When I got started on my journey of building an end to end platform to help streamline the journey and process of every international student, l knew financial management is a problematic area.

Myself and my team went about on a hunt to find products and services in Canada that help streamline this process of bill payment and money transfers to India.

That is when we came across My Beacon an app that allows you to create a bank account before you even leave for Canada and the best part is that you can start using it to for expenses both pre departure and post arrival without loosing money in your first few weeks because of dollar to INR conversion.

It also solves for bill payment problems whether it is paying for your educational loan or even making mortgage payments for your parents back home as an anniversary gift etc. and also…you can do all of that in just 10 minutes 😱 with one click.

💰 Bonus: Get $25 cashback on your first India bill payment!

Download My Beacon now on iOS & Android and use referral code ‘Re-Defined' to get started!🚀

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And in case you are wondering What else we are up to?

Well, as we build and further Re-Defined, a lot of our focus right now is on Product Development with our platform scheduled to launch in April!!

Having been a student myself and have been a part of multiple communities, it has been my hope to create a platform together that can really help bridging the gaps between potential and opportunity for students.

And really see how we can create a one stop shop SOLUTION for all International Students with our focus on :

1. Access to Community via our groups channels on the platform, where you can connect with folks our community similar to LinkedIn. This will also have approved mentors assigned across to help address your questions 24x7

2. Access to opportunities like Events & services & benefits offers access to not Re-Defined relevant ones but also events/benefits from our affiliate partners and collaborators, at affordable or even FREE such as sim cards, bank account, clothes, social events, AI tools, & so much more

Find a sneak peak of our platform below⬇️

We also hosted our recent LinkedIn Local Toronto meetup this month, check out the group picture below⬇️

What you can help us with today? »»

Share your insights with us

At Re-Defined, we’re building a space where students and young professionals can sharpen their skills, gain confidence, and prepare for the real world. For us to do so, we need your help, we launched a student survey recently to help us gather your insights and feedback and learn about your experiences.

You can find it here, and will take just 3 minutes.

Additionally, Subscribe to our Newsletter here if you have not already!!!

Lastly, if you are interested to be a part of our community, you can do so using the links below:

🤝Join Our Community here

🤝Join as a Mentor here

🤝Be a Part of our Team here

Thank you…see you end of the month!!!