I wasn't really sure how to go about it at first. Back in Minneapolis (where I'm from) I could easily find a job if I needed one because I knew people. Coming here, I kind of got the impression that people favored agancies more over the approach of directly applying as I was used to. So I signed up with three agencies. One of them got me a few low-paying temp jobs that were outside my specified field, one put me in for a few positions, none of which went anywhere, and one never contacted me. After a few months, I got frustrated with waiting and just looked up all the places I would have like to work in the yellow pages. I took my CV into each place and asked for the personnel manager and gave that person a copy. Many places weren't hiring, but I had people at three places sit down and give me advice on which avenues to follow, where I should go, who I should talk to etc. They even said I could use them as a reference(!
!). 3-4 weeks after I started this, a company that had previously told me that they weren't hiring called me up and said they had a temporary opening due to a maternity leave, so that's how I got my job now. I'm made up as it's a great company to work for in the field, and it gets me in the door so I can get back on the career path that I was on back in the states.
I also had been scanning the paper for jobs since I've arrived, as well as attending a job fair, but I ended up finding this through the old tried-and-true way of pounding the pavement. I'm glad I didn't end up settling for something I didn't want out of desperation (though soon I might have had to) and stuck it out.
I hope this helps you Stacey.
