clubcanada said:
@ quebecnewhusband:
Also be fair here: mrbeachman is indeed giving you some good advice based on his personal experience being married/relationship to/with an Asian (BTW: same here) - so he knows what he's talking about. And indeed there's a lot of truth between the lines - hidden behind a lot of polemic and frustration, though. I also don't know your background and I'm not sure whether you're aware of the responsibility associated with bringing someone from a completely different cultural background to a western country. Overall I think it's not a bad idea to lower expectations...
This is obviously a life changing decision and I'm not taking this lightly at all, and she doesn't either. None of us is doing this move for "professional" reasons, and she understands that too. We do this because we want to live together, and after evaluating the pros and cons of every option, we decided that living in Canada, at least for the next few years, was probably the best move to do because of various reasons associated with our specific situation. I don't care about the 3 years responsibility, because for me it's a lifetime responsibility. We are both at the same stage in our life (she's even older than me actually) and one of us has to sacrifice his immediate career on the short term. Not an easy decision, definitely. But apart from her social status, there's a lot of things that she dislikes about her current career, so she also sees it as an opportunity for change. She's also at a point in her life where building a family is more important than her professional goals. But since we're both travel addicts, we'll be together in Thailand pretty often anyway. I don't want her to lose contact with her friends and family. She's also lucky enough to be surrounded with many friends that are at ease financially and who will visit her.
Anyway, this is just a little part of the story. No doubt that the professional expectations are low. But since we're gonna make the move anyway, better start looking at what the opportunities are out there.
For people reading this thread that are in my situation, I'd like to share this interesting piece of advice that I got I my private mail :
"From what I've seen and heard in the past two years while being there, immigrants from Asia, Middle East and India find survival jobs in the beginning. Over and over, not only I hear it, but I see it!! No lie! However, there are solutions to it.
She must build herself up, both in education and experience. At age 35, it is rather late to study another 3 or 4 years in university, especially if you have kids on the way. A 1-year college diploma is all that is required (accounting/banking) like my Filipino work colleague.
The next step is work experience! Without a doubt it's very competitive. Applying through Workopolis or Indeed won't get her anywhere. There is a way around it. Job agencies! Yes, they take 50% of her pay, but they have connections to the hidden job market. THEY ARE THE CONNECTION. I'm not saying she should earn $14 an hour working under a contract for the rest of her life, but through that she will gain CANADIAN experience. An advantage of taking temp (contract) work at first is it is easier to get and it is undervalued due to it's low salary. However, through temp work is where she will acquire the experience that others think ‘Nah, the pay is too low, I'm not going to apply. I tell you, a 3 month contract is sometimes better than a 1 year contract because she can look for the next job after that to broaden her experience. Once her experience is broaden after 5 contract jobs, she is ready to look for full-time employment.
I advise upon landing in Canada, if it is too difficult at first to even find a job through an agency, she should simply take a job in customer service. That is the first step towards Canadian Experience in her resume! After that, she should transition smoothly from gear 1 to gear 10. Everything should be gradual, don't panic. Take as many jobs as possible as opposed to one job for a long period of time. That way is has more experience on her resume.
A business sounds like a very good idea but do take into consideration the risks. E.g. You may have to sacrifice your well paying job."
