Kanwardyal Singh is a Product Owner/Manager who immigrated from India in 2017. In his preparation to come to Canada he became a program participant and mentee with Canada InfoNet where he was matched with Rick McCallion. After successfully establishing himself in the country, he wanted to pay it forward and decided to become a mentor with the program to support others like him. Here he shares his inspiring story with us.

I would like to start by saying that I am very lucky and happy to be associated with JVS Toronto. Organizations like JVS do so much to help newcomers in taking one of the most difficult steps of their lives. I was one of these newcomers a few years back and now I am fortunate enough to be a volunteer with JVS. Here’s the story of my wonderful journey.

I immigrated to Canada on December 9^th, 2017 but my preparations had started about 6 months before this when I received my COPR. I was working as a Product Manager in Delhi, India at that time. When I got free from work, I spent my time on the internet, researching whatever I could find about immigrating to Canada, the life in Canada, career opportunities in my field, the weather here, interesting places to visit, etc. That is when I came across JVS Toronto and I decided to register with them. Registration was simple and in a couple days, I started working with an Employment Specialist and very soon I was assigned a mentor. My mentor was none other than Mr. Rick McCallion. I had tons of doubts and question but was confused around where to start with the mentorship program. Rick sensed my confusion and took control of the conversation. He started off with some introductions to break the ice and in no time, we were exchanging tons of information with each other. Rick read all my questions properly and gave me precise answers with sources that I could go to if I needed more details. He also made sure, that I was feeling comfortable about the move and all my doubts (around job, expenses, housing, transportation, etc.) were resolved to the best of his abilities. My interaction with him over the Canada InfoNet portal instilled a lot more confidence and predictability around my move to Canada. I was in a much better state of mind when the mentorship ended as compared to when I started. My Employment Specialist also helped and supported me by reviewing my resume and updating it according to the Canadian standards.

When I came to Canada, I followed all of the advice that I received through the program and my mentor gave me and it really made a difference. Specific to job searching, since I knew December to January is generally a slow time in the job market due to the holidays, I kept my cool and kept preparing for interviews, networking with people and enhancing my knowledge. I started rigorously applying in mid-January on job portals like Indeed, Glassdoor, LinkedIn, etc. I landed a couple interviews and was lucky enough to land a job in my field of Product Management in mid-February. I feel that keeping a cool head during my job search, enhancing my knowledge and networking, were key to my success.

As soon as I completed 2 years working here in Canada, I approached JVS Toronto to see if I could be a volunteer mentor with them. JVS agreed and I am now acting as a mentor for a newcomer. I am still very new to this but since I was on the mentee side fairly recently, I understand their state of mind and their queries quite well. I hope I can provide some clarity and confidence to the mentees I get associated with and help ease their transition to this great new country and a great new life.

If Kanwardyal’s story inspires you to want to become a mentor with our Canada InfoNet program, please click here and register with us.