Read Bavneen’s story, from her journey as an International student to a Career Edge employee!
Marketing Coordinator
My journey began in 2022 when I, along with my two suitcases, landed in Canada. A land that welcomes newcomers like me with open arms. I moved here from India to kickstart a new life. Like so many people, I had heard horror stories about how difficult times here can be. Nevertheless, I had a whole year of post-graduation to pull through.
One year passed quickly for me at York University. I was studying there, exploring the city, and trying to fit in culturally. A mistake I made and told students I meet now not to is to start looking for jobs way before the course ends. Because I had three years of experience in my field of Digital Marketing, I was a bit laid back and believed finding a job in Canada would be easy. So, I started applying in November of 2022, with a lack of knowledge on resumes that fit well here or even the type of jobs I should be applying for.
And to my surprise, I did not hear back from too many companies for 2 months, which left me disappointed. On speaking to some friends that I knew here, I realized my resume was not catered to the Canadian market, and there were chances that recruiters and hiring managers were not receiving my application. While I was fixing that, I decided to start working part-time, simply because the free time was adding to my stress. This is when my job search journey began. I was applying for a minimum of four hours a day three months straight, and working part time, a routine that we are not used to back home. Luckily for me, the company I worked for in India were hiring for their Canadian office. I started working for them in January of 2023. As grateful as I was, I had the urge to expand and grow versus working in my comfort zone.
In March 2023 is when I got a call from the talent team at Career Edge. Somewhere in those multiple LinkedIn applications, I had also applied for a Marketing Coordinator position during my job search. Even though my wait period was much shorter than the stories and wait periods of other newcomers, those few months felt like years.
My first call was a screening call with the talent team, where I was told that they were looking to hire a Marketing Coordinator through an internship program. While I was happy about the opportunity and the job description fit what I was looking for, I was hesitant about the word “internship”. I decided to go ahead still and interview with the team. Two rounds of interviews happened in less than a week, and soon after, Career Edge offered me the position. Of course, I accepted, still hoping that the word internship would merely be a word. Someone finally saw the potential in me and took a risk by hiring a newcomer.
I still remember the nerves I was experiencing on my first day of the job, not so long in April of this year. During my first week, I met with our small but extremely warm team. Everyone was welcoming and so enthusiastic about the different roles they play in the organization. It could not have worked better than this for me. I started working with a Marketing Specialist, Marwa, who was and is so patient with me throughout the process of learning. The fear of internship slowly started diminishing as I was doing all the full-time work, meeting clients as well as gaining freedom in every aspect of content creation. Strangely, this opportunity has helped me feel less alone in a new country, where it can be so easy to get lost.
Today, I completed 4 months with Career Edge. What started as a 3-month contract has now been extended for further partnership while I continue to work with them happily. Not only am I grateful to Career Edge for giving me the first push into the job market, but also thankful for setting high leadership and teamwork standards. Career Edge is letting me grow professionally and as a person.
Over the coming months, hear stories right from our very own staff about why Career Edge and the work that they do is so important to them.