The situation
Mert came to Career Pursuit in late 2025. He was still living in Turkey at the time, planning to immigrate to Canada with his wife in February 2026. 15+ years in aerospace transmission engineering. Co-founder of an R&D firm specializing in aerospace and defense gearbox systems. Lead designer on Turkey's national turbofan engine program. Certified by every major gear design tool in the industry - Romax, KISSsoft, MASTA, Gleason, Klingelnberg. He was the kind of engineer that other engineers call when they're stuck.
He needed a senior role in Canada that matched his level. Not a step down. Not a survival job. He wanted to keep building the career he'd spent 15 years building - just in a different country.
How does a senior aerospace transmission engineer find a job in Canada when most newcomers spend 12 to 18 months in the wilderness, and he wanted an offer before he stepped off the plane?
The diagnosis
Most coaches would have told him to broaden his search. Take a step down. Pivot to general engineering management. Apply to anything aerospace-adjacent. We told him the truth instead.
The Canadian market for his exact role - aerospace transmission engineering at his level - barely existed. The work that does exist is concentrated in Quebec, at companies like Bombardier and Pratt & Whitney Canada, which require French. Mert doesn't speak French. Outside Quebec, the market shrinks to a handful of US-headquartered firms with Canadian engineering presence, and an even smaller number of those were hiring at his level.
When we mapped it out honestly, there were maybe two real shots. Tesla and Gleason.
That's a hard conversation to have with a client who's banking on a new life in a new country. But sugarcoating it would have wasted his time. The honest diagnosis was: most of the standard career-search playbook doesn't apply to you. We don't get a hundred applications and a funnel. We get two real shots, and we have to be perfect at both.
The strategic move
We ran precision campaigns at the two companies that mattered.
For Gleason, we positioned him as a senior technical authority who could engage on the full sales cycle - someone who could sit across from OEM and Tier-1 customers, interpret their requirements, and translate them into manufacturable solutions. The resume rebuilt his 15 years of work as customer-facing technical leadership, not just deep engineering. That's the angle a US-headquartered industrial manufacturer hires for. It worked. He landed the interview process.
For Tesla, the angle was different - a Technical Program Manager role on the actuator manufacturing side. More junior than where Mert sat in his career, but a real second option that gave us leverage.
The execution work followed. Custom resumes for each role. Interview prep for technical screens, recruiter calls, hiring manager conversations. Once the Gleason offer came in, we worked through it line by line, making sure the terms aligned with where he was in his career before he signed.
While the Gleason process was running, we also built out his soft landing. Introduced him to a tax accountant for newcomer tax planning, a real estate agent for rental search, a private health insurance advisor, and a currency conversion specialist. By the time he arrived in Canada, the relocation infrastructure was already in place.
The outcome
Mert signed his Gleason offer on January 20, 2026. Senior aerospace engineering role at the level he was targeting. Tesla was still alive when he signed - we'd been working both sides until Gleason's terms came together.
He arrived in Canada on February 25, 2026. He started his job a week later.
In his words, from his Google review: "Alex supported me throughout a critical career transition and helped me stay focused, confident, and strategic at every step."
A senior Canadian aerospace role, secured from another country, before he stepped off the plane.
