As a foreign job seeker trying to find work in your new country, the odds are stacked up against you. Not only are you competing against other foreign job seekers, but you're competing against domestic job seekers who share similar skills and experiences. After working with foreign job seekers from all over the world in every type of industry, I have found that the most common excuse these workers use to explain the lack of interview requests is the fact that they don't have "local experience". It frustrates me so much when I hear this, and I know how depressing it can be to a foreign worker trying to get a foot in the door of their new country. Rather than being put off or depressed by not having "local experience" (and how hard must it be to put on a brave face and carry on), let's prepare strategies that can improve the chances of finding a job as a foreign visa holder. Online Networking With no local experience you need to become an expert in networking and become an expert ASAP. Use online networking websites such as LinkedIn to make contacts with as many people as you can. Talk to people in your industry and find out comparisons (and differences) between the role you performed in your country of origin and the types of roles you are applying for in your new country. This way you can incorporate this into your resume and interview preparation. The more you understand about your new country, the greater chance you can prepare yourself for finding a new job. Think Outside the Square There are many ways to search for job openings - don't get stuck with just applying for roles online. My advice is to seek out hiring managers and people in positions to help you. Don't be intimidated to approach these people directly. Although there may not be a current role open at their organisation, there is a possibility that they may know of other job openings or other areas within their business that is looking to hire. Finding the perfect job takes time and people appreciate pro-activeness. I have heard of stories of hiring managers keeping resumes in their database for over 12 months before positions come up. Social Networking Step away from the computer and begin to enjoy your new country! Again, the more you can learn about your new country, the more help you will have with your job seeking. No matter what your hobbies are, you can always find other people who share the same hobbies and interest. You can begin to gain local experience by participating in extracurricular activities or even by volunteering. This is a great way to begin to gain local experience. Patience One of the least favourite words a job seeker likes to hear. Patience. Unfortunately, job seeking takes time. Do not get despondent if you can't find immediate success. Moving abroad takes a lot of guts, determination and courage. Be proud of your efforts in doing something that many people wish they could do but never try. Finding success may take time but will definitely be worth it in the long run.

Getting ahead in the workplace comes down to many different factors. Your skills and values you bring to the job are of the upmost importance. If you can't deliver in your job it doesn't matter how nice you are as the company won't want to keep you on their payroll. There are, however, other things you can do to help maintain a professional image and make you stand out in your work environment. Dressing for Success How you dress and how you look says a lot about the person you are. If you come to work with a shirt hanging out and dirty shoes, you present an unprofessional image of not caring. No Looking smart will create a positive image about the way you work. One of my colleagues shed light on this point when he compared two employees under him that were competing for a promotion. One of them dressed every day in a nicely pressed suit with a tie and perfectly polished shoes. The other wore the same worn suit and same tie nearly every day. Furthermore, his shoes were not polished and his hair was in a mess. Both of them had equal skills and their work was first-rate. When my colleague needed to promote one of these men he went with the man who looked the more professional. As he told me, "Who I promoted was a reflection on me. At the end of the day, it was a pretty easy decision." First impression in the work environment First impressions count and in the work environment it is important that we portray the right impression every single day. Understanding your working environment is the key, and this should drive you in the right direction. If you work in a professional organisation such as a law firm, for example, and you have large tattoos on your arms, rolling up your sleeves at work is probably not the best idea. Keeping your tattoos covered while at work would probably be advised. The same goes for piercings. The opposite is also true - if you work in a more creative environment, then showing off your tattoos at work would be acceptable and wearing a suit would be deemed inappropriate! Conclusion The key to dressing professionally is understanding your working culture. Dressing for success will make you feel like a winner, but will also send the right image to those around you about your professionalism and attitude.

It's an undisputed fact - today's job market is tighter than ever before. During this period of economic strife and instability, competition for the best jobs is extremely stiff. Job stability seems practically non-existent. Turnover rates are at an all-time high, given the number of layoffs and agency closings. Millions of individuals are unemployed and clamouring for employment regardless of skill level. Whether you are a doctor, a chef, an engineer, a secretary, housekeeper or even a resume writer, individuals from all walks of life struggle to retain their current positions since the economic future is not promised. But what route should you take if you yearn for a better opportunity or are even without a job right now? How can you ensure that your name is at least known to companies looking to fill positions? One way is to hire a resume writing expert to help ensure that your resume / CV goes to the top of the pile. Let's look at it in a simple way. If you want to build a new house, you can go online, research how to build a new house and go out and buy the materials to begin building your dream house. However, as building anything is probably not your expertise and you want the house built properly the first time, it makes sense to call in a professional builder who has all the expertise and experience in building homes. The same is true of the resume writer. You can easily pick up a pen and paper and write a resume, however a resume writer can do it a lot more effectively and professionally because they have the experience, knowledge and skills in the art of resume writing. The first stage of building your professional resume includes starting off with supplying the information that you wish to have printed on your document. This includes the obvious, such as your basic information (name, address, phone number, city, state and zip code). You should also be prepared to have a chronological listing of your past and current employment (if applicable). It is important to have an idea beforehand of how you'd like to word your list so that your job duties don't sound mundane or discredit your actual tasks. Never simply state that you were just a "cook" if in reality, you were a culinary arts service person! Make sure your resume includes targeted keywords that leave no doubt that your past employment was productive. Stay clear of the ordinary, eliminating redundant phrases such as "typed letters", "filed documents" or "bussed tables". Yawn! Most importantly, you need to use achievements throughout your resume to highlight your skills. You need to turn your basic duties into "accomplishment statements" and, if possible, use quantifiable results to the duties you have performed. A successful resume will highlight achievements rather than focus on responsibilities. Job seeking is a cut throat business and in order to succeed your resume needs to be 100% right, and it needs to be presented and formatted professionally and correctly. When you apply for a particular job you only have one chance to succeed. Make sure that you give yourself every opportunity to get that new job!

The best advice I give job seekers is to set realistic job expectations. Too many times candidates cause themselves heartache and misery because they have unrealistic expectations when applying for jobs. Yes, it's true you need to aim high, but aiming too high can just lead to a longer time of being unemployed. I recently met a candidate who told me they had applied to over 100 banking jobs, but had not received a single interview request. The first thing I did was review his resume as a poorly written resume is usually the reason behind 90% of failed attempts at securing interviews. The resume is the first impression a hiring manager has, so if there's something fundamentally wrong with it, it doesn't matter how good your qualifications are if the resume is never going to be read. This time, however, his resume was very well written. His achievements were highlighted and the resume was structured and well presented, so I was quite confused as to why he was not getting a single interview. As a job seeker with 2 years of relevant work experience there didn't seem to be a reasonable reason why this candidate should not be getting interviews or job offers. The next thing we did was sit down together and analyse the jobs he had applied for, and there was the answer. Within 60 seconds it became obvious why he wasn't getting any interview requests. With 2 years of experience and on a base salary of $50,000, he was applying for senior roles with base salaries of $80,000-$120,000. With many of the jobs he didn't even tick the essential requirements on the job description such as minimum years in a manager position. Not only was he wasting his own time by applying for these positions, but he was also causing unnecessary stress and anxiety in the meantime. I encourage candidates to strive for bigger and greater jobs and to seek out higher salaries, but just remember to be realistic in your job search. To be a manager or in a senior role takes experience and it is very unlikely that a company will hire an outside person to fulfil a role without the relevant experience. The more likely scenario is the company will promote within the company. Go for gold and strive to succeed, but just remember to be realistic with your job expectations.