My first-ever job-interview in Canada

Today I got my first-ever job-interview in Canada. It was a clothes store chain I applied about a month ago. On Friday I got an email from the store telling me that they had a hiring event coming on the next day. And so I went, without bringing my resume whatsoever. I stepped in the store and found a line of people queuing up. When it is my turn, I was asked why I was interested in working there and one best team I had ever worked in. I was actually cheating, because I heard people in front of me being asked the same questions and prepared myself with them. After that, the manager told me to come back next Tuesday or Wednesday for an audition. I did not even know what on earth that was. Asking the manager, she told me it was a group interview where candidates talk, play etc. to know each other better and the like.

I then searched the Internet for tips and advice for group interview, getting myself prepared. When Wednesday came, I went back to the store after school. To my amazement, I did not feel nervous at all.

I and a young woman were the only two out of five or so people who showed up. Even with fewer candidates, I did not feel I would win the job anyway lol. The manager first asked us to introduce ourselves and tell her one thing that we knew about the company. At that moment, my head swam a little. What? I did not do any research about the company at all. I ended up telling them that I find staffs there are nice (Yeah, that was what I got…). Then she took a roll of toilet paper (yup), and ripped off some, gave it to us, asking us to do the same. That was for the next part of the interview. As it turned out, we had to tell one another interesting facts about ourselves with the amount of paper sheets we got. The manager told us 12 things and the young woman got 16. I got 13 sheets, a good omen… (just joking, I am not that superstitious lol)

The final part is to throw a dice and we had to complete the mission shown on it. “Find apparel combination with a T-shirt for a customer’s blind date” is what I got, after my fourth attempt (The first time is the same with the young woman, therefore, I needed to do it again, and I got 2 blanks in a row…).

I then enthusiastically went shopping for clothes, women clothes lol. I do not know what others were thinking. This guy seems really happy shopping for women clothes perhaps. Since it was a blind date and a T-shirt, I went for casualness. A pair of jeans, a pair of sneakers, a shirt functioned as a jacket and a little bag are my combination. The manager then told us to put them back exactly where we had found them. Dramatically enough, we both got back from different directions at the same time.

That was it. The manager told us that whoever gets the job would be contacted via email and thanked us for coming. Then we thanked back in return, blah blah blah. When I was walking home, I thought I’m so not getting the job. Because of my lack of knowledge about the company and explanation to the clothes I chose; especially when compare to the young woman’s awareness of the new arrival of swimming suits in the store.

As I had expected, I did not get the job. Even so, I consider this a very interesting and rewarding experience. It makes me aware that I really need to at least get to know the company in which I apply a position, such as their policy, aims, achievements etc.

My Experience of Language Assessment Test

It was finally March 28^th. I would not say I got all nervous about it, yet this is, after all, a test. I certainly would not want to be late, so I set my alarm clock to 6:40. And, believe it or not, it took me 44 minutes to finish my routine, (just) including morning no. 1 (you know, pee), face washing, teeth brushing, breakfast making and consuming (five-minute instant noodle), sweater and coat donning, shoes changing, and making sure I have everything necessary in my bag (trying hard to list everything, so that it seems that I am actually not that slow a person. lol).

It was another hour later when I finally got to the language assessment centre on Grosvenor (and yeah, I was going to a language assessment centre for my LINC class. Didn’t mention that before? Oh well…). I reported to the staff, and was told to sit somewhere to wait. About 5 minutes later, my language assessor (assessor, I just learned this word today, I thought I should call her teacher or coach lol), a beautiful woman, called me and led me to an office. Before we started (I actually thought we HAD already started), we small-talked a little, about stuffs like the heavy rain last night. And to my surprise, she could pronounce my Vietnamese name after only 2 demonstrations from me.

During our listening and speaking tests, on a topic about comparison between Toronto and my home city, I learned that she had been to Ho Chi Minh City! I was saying pedestrians are more comfortable (for lack of a better word, limited vocabulary…) in Toronto, then she said she totally understands, because when she was in HCMC, she would spend a long time standing there, not daring to cross the street. After the listening and speaking tests, she led me to a larger room where other test-takers were finishing their writing and reading tests. And there I started panicking, because the third task of the writing asked me to discuss a topic, and discussing is never my thing. I ended up not finishing the third one due to time limit. The last test was reading. The tasks got more and more difficult as I progressed, passages containing many words that I did not know (and honestly I came across and learned some of them before, just could not remember them). When time was up, I left the last (29^th) question uncircled, over which I spent three or so minutes poring. (The last two tests have a thirty-minute limit each. The test ended at 9:55)

Then I went outside sitting on the same bench where I sat when registered. About 20 minutes later, we got back to her office (and I later figured out that during my writing and reading tests, she was actually going to meet a new test-taker for their listening and speaking. So busy). In there, she showed me my result. I got 6s in listening and writing, a 7 in speaking and an 8 in reading (According to a piece of informative paper provided by the centre, the benchmark system has 12 benchmarks (benchmark, meaning level, learned it before, but again, I forgot it), and the assessment measures our ability of using English within the first 8 benchmarks. Probably because the last four are for advanced English speakers). Then she gave me some addresses of school near my postal code and explained what their courses were about.

Now when I think back, there was this one thing I usually do not like doing and never do it before somebody starts it. Shaking hands (yeah, I know it is socially essential, but I just…meh). BUT, when we were done, I automatically stretched out my right hand, so naturally that I did not even notice it until now, when I am typing. I guess there are indeed some situations where you really appreciate somebody that you will do things you normally would not (like SHAKING HANDS, lol).

Before I left, I asked her a question that had nothing to do with the event. An expression I heard when opening bank accounts and said it for the first time to somebody (to her). It was if am I good to go is an appropriate way to ask. Am I good to go? It basically means is everything done? I can go home now? And she said something that really encourages me. She said I had used it correctly. It was informal but it was good, because that meant I am rather good at speaking English (Not boasting but a big smile on that : ))

I left the centre at about 10:43.

If ever asked advice on this, I would say just like any tests, relax. I think it will be really stressing to speak in a non-native language in tests. But seriously, all you can do is to relax, and talk just like when you do with your friends. Your friends will not make fun of or laugh at you. Well, even though sometimes they do, they will correct you after that. Do not worry about making mistakes. I sometimes make mistakes when speaking in Cantonese, my first language. Everybody makes mistakes. And through them, you learn. There is no reason to get all nervous (well, a little bit is all right) about it. Just do your best.

And I actually made a video about this (basically for practicing English~) :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELGg-EVdtYw

My Experience of Going Through CBSA and CIC

It was March 4^th 2016. It was a big day. And it certainly was a new start.

I could not sleep well on the plane, and fought the air-sick valiantly. But I lost, was crushed into pieces, to be more precisely.

The worst part is, I was all nervous about meeting with the CBSA (the Customs) and CIC (Citizenship and Immigration Canada). What with my broken English and not filling out a B4 form in advance. My thought started to wander. What happened if I failed this?

Before moving, I searched the Internet for as much information as I could. But I never found anything about this. And mind you, I did it in Chinese, English and Vietnamese. The best thing I found was it might take about one or two hours to go through.

And it actually does not. It took only about 15 minutes, at least in my case.

I believe if you ever google for what to expect when immigrating to Canada, you definitely will hear about something called a declaration card, B4 form and B4a.

The declaration card is compulsory. You have to fill it out on the plane, or at least most of them, e.g. some personal information. I myself did not, but I believe it would be just fine if you left some sections blank and asked the officer at the Customs for help or details as to what to write, if you did not understand what they mean. About the B4a, it is necessary if you have any stuffs that will come to Canada on a later date. You can download the form on the CIC website. It is something called Goods to Follow. As for B4, I made a list in advance but did not fill it out and guess what, the officer did not ask for that.

When me and my family got to a counter, the officer took the declaration card, asked us some questions. For instance, what kind of food and how much money we were bringing into Canada. Those questions are not difficult to answer, just make sure that you are honest, especially if you are bringing more than ten thousand Canadian dollars. It needs to be declared. And make sure that you understand what they are asking before answering. Just ask them to repeat more slowly if you cannot hear it. I did when we went to a CIC counter. The officer asked us some questions. I could not understand what he was saying and he patiently repeated it. Then he reminded us that one of my family members needed a medical surveillance.

And that is it.

I think there are people out there (probably not many though) who are also nervous and want this kind of information. So I promised myself that after we have landed, I would make a video and write something about it, just to make other people like me feel more assured and less worried.

Here’s the link to a video I made:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lajrsa8TyfU