Difficulties in Canada

[TrackIT]

Hello any and everyone,

Got my COPR in Mar-16 and currently living outside Canada, I have been searching and applying for jobs online in my career (industrial eng.) but so far no good news. In addition, two of my friends returned back from Canada after spending little over a year working what they described as "pointless menial jobs", and before leaving they both had decent experience (one in civil eng. 6+ and the other in mech. eng. 5+). When you read other peoples cases online you may ignore it but these two cases (in my real life - not online) can be a sort of 'wake-up call'. I also gather that companies/employers in Canada tend to ignore applicants who have no Canadian education and work experience. My concern is if there are others with similar experiences and what have they done to overcome such a situation.

Dear 54321,

I think you have already made up your mind based on 2 negative experiences of your friends, so it is a bit challenging to roll. However i just wanted to add my input here. As all other folks in this thread have mentioned I would do the same thing. When people say Canada , they assume it is cold etc etc etc, but personally i think it is a happy place as far as we are happy and optimistic. And yes it is not easy getting in to a desired position super fast. People do survival jobs to stand by their situations if they do not come prepared with bills till they get in to a decent position. (this may change case to case) It is not true that they will not get a job, considering my case 25 at the time of graduation, did not get the job that i wanted till 9 months. So I went for the survival jobs. Were there is a will there is also a way ! I started to volunteer in an IT company during day time and went to warehouse job during the nights. This fetched me in to the position that i aimed finally at the end. FYI my partner is a civil engineer too. so we both did the same thing. Today i have returned back to home country due to our PGWP expiry and what not did we try to avoid this situation ! it is been a month and we pray for miracle to happen and get back to CANADA so bad that i cannot explain. Unfortunately when i come across posts like this i bang my head and think why were we not given a chance !
This is totally my personal experience no offence. Bottom Line no one can foresee or predict future, if you made up your mind then you should follow your heart because there is always good and bad in everything.
Good luck !

 

[dell2]

Dear 54321,

I think you have already made up your mind based on 2 negative experiences of your friends, so it is a bit challenging to roll. However i just wanted to add my input here. As all other folks in this thread have mentioned I would do the same thing. When people say Canada , they assume it is cold etc etc etc, but personally i think it is a happy place as far as we are happy and optimistic. And yes it is not easy getting in to a desired position super fast. People do survival jobs to stand by their situations if they do not come prepared with bills till they get in to a decent position. (this may change case to case) It is not true that they will not get a job, considering my case 25 at the time of graduation, did not get the job that i wanted till 9 months. So I went for the survival jobs. Were there is a will there is also a way ! I started to volunteer in an IT company during day time and went to warehouse job during the nights. This fetched me in to the position that i aimed finally at the end. FYI my partner is a civil engineer too. so we both did the same thing. Today i have returned back to home country due to our PGWP expiry and what not did we try to avoid this situation ! it is been a month and we pray for miracle to happen and get back to CANADA so bad that i cannot explain. Unfortunately when i come across posts like this i bang my head and think why were we not given a chance !
This is totally my personal experience no offence. Bottom Line no one can foresee or predict future, if you made up your mind then you should follow your heart because there is always good and bad in everything.
Good luck !

+1 for you.


This dude's not even in Canada yet, Damn lol. FYI no one forced you to create profile and apply for immigration. it was your decision to go not Canada's.

 

[scylla]

Hello any and everyone,

Got my COPR in Mar-16 and currently living outside Canada, I have been searching and applying for jobs online in my career (industrial eng.) but so far no good news. In addition, two of my friends returned back from Canada after spending little over a year working what they described as "pointless menial jobs", and before leaving they both had decent experience (one in civil eng. 6+ and the other in mech. eng. 5+). When you read other peoples cases online you may ignore it but these two cases (in my real life - not online) can be a sort of 'wake-up call'. I also gather that companies/employers in Canada tend to ignore applicants who have no Canadian education and work experience. My concern is if there are others with similar experiences and what have they done to overcome such a situation.

I have been acting as a volunteer business mentor to new immigrants for years now through a program called ACCES: http://www.accesemployment.ca/index.php/job-seekers If anyone is in the Toronto area, I would recommend you look into the services this organization provides. (Please do not contact me directly to request networking or mentoring. I do not accept these requests. I only work with individuals I have been assigned to through this organization.)

My two cents based on what I've seen is that it largely depends on how hard you are willing to work to achieve your dreams. I think too many immigrants come to Canada and expect to easily find a job in their field that pays a lot of money so that they can buy a large four bedroom house within a year of getting here. It doesn't work that way. Immigrating is HARD (regardless where you're coming from and where you are going) and it takes work to find the life here you are seeking. This isn't just true for immigrants, it's true for Canadians as well. I was born here and have worked hard to achieve the career success I have. I work in a management role for a bank (and have held a management role for some time now). I have never worked 9 to 5 even though I have an office job - I work many 12 hour days (even though I'm management level) and will do work on weekends from home when I need to catch up (I am not paid extra for any of these hours). Immigrants sometimes have this mistaken impression that once you have a management job in Canada, you don't work too hard or too many hours while getting paid great money. It doesn't work that way. If that's what you're looking for - then Canada's not for you.

On average, the people I've mentored have managed to find a good job in their field in 8-12 months. These are people who worked hard (understood Canadian interview skills, networked, understood the business culture, spent time improving their English language skills further, etc.). At by the way, sending out large numbers of resumes isn't trying hard. Everyone I've mentored has gone through periods where they have struggled in Canada and questioned if immigrating here was the right decision. However they pushed through these periods of doubt, worked hard, found good jobs and succeeded.

If you expect to just come here and have everyone work out without too much trying on your part - then I wouldn't bother. Stay where you are.

 

[RockCan]

It is somehow true and somehow not. Canada nowadays under economic crisis mostly in the part of western Canada (with high salary jobs), I have seen lots of people have been laid off by their employer (including myself). I want to move to Ontario but my friends have suggested that the pay is very low compare to Alberta and Bc while the expenses are almost double. When I talked to my HR for LMIA then she straight away refused saying that they are getting minimum 500 applications for a position so its difficult to prove. After being laid off, I got job after 3 months with less per hour salary, even though I had 2 years of canadian work exp.

Resume and cover letter format is imp too, for every job, its need some editing. Though the competetion is very tight these days, not intend to scare anyone but this is my experience, yea you can say I might dont know how to search job, but believe me I spend 13 days to format my resume to get attention of HR but Since I applied more than 100 jobs in last 2 month. I got only 2 interview calls and from thos I got selected for one later on.

 

[nope]

Good to know but its not right policy. Isn't it better to let people not suffer because they are unable to work in their developed careers then to be "seen as anti-immigrant". By adjusting the no. of immigrants coming into country due to changing factors like economic growth, etc, should/cannot make you "anti-immigrant" because it is Canada's right to accommodate newcomers as per ongoing conditions. Will you invite someone for dinner if you have less/no food in your stores.

Here's the thing about immigrating to Canada -- Canada hasn't accepted you to be a brilliant business success, they've accepted you to be a Canadian. Millions of Canadians struggle too -- live in poverty, fail in business, go bankrupt. Those people are still happy, though, they are part of their communities, they contribute to life here, their children have the chance to go to good schools, universities, and to do what they want in life. Of course it's nice when immigrants succeed in the economic sphere, but there are other ways for them to contribute. Your first goal should just be 'become Canadian' -- and then you will see little successes week by week and month by month, even if you haven't been able to find your dream job yet. As for that job, I too experienced the bitterness that you are talking about now: I have two master's degrees, and worked for a year in a grocery store when I came here. I have a few recommendations for you:

1) firstly the survival job is not to be sneezed at -- it lets you survive, which is one of the greatest gifts there is.

2) you will not get a job from outside Canada. Sure, people do -- but don't bet your immigration on it. Land, and start surviving.

3) Where you land is extremely important. Through a process of unrealistic thinking and bad use of stats, I chose Victoria. Only when I moved to Alberta did I start to find a little traction. Do not look at weather, friends, community, anything but "OK I'M HERE WHERE IS MY JOB?"

4) Canadians do not like to hire at a distance -- do not land in Vancouver and expect you will be interviewing for jobs around the country. If you do get an interview at a distance, try to go in person, and tell them that you have already chosen to move there for such-and-such a reason.

5) In Canada there are strong provincial networks, it is not as easy to move between provinces as it is in the States.

6) The job you desire will be the 4th job you get. Here is the sequence you should plan for:
1) survival job (survive)
2) part-time/contracting/informal job that requires some brains or skill or education (build resume, develop contacts, at the same
time as the survival job)
3) any skilled job that uses your education (this job is your launching pad)
4) the job you want

There is no such thing as a guaranteed success -- it would be strange if there were, since many Canadians are not successful, and there is no country in the world that privileges immigrants over its own citizens. Canada comes as close as can be to being equal, however. Broaden your expectations, come here and see what Canada has to offer besides financial success.

 

[johnjkjk]

Hello any and everyone,

Got my COPR in Mar-16 and currently living outside Canada, I have been searching and applying for jobs online in my career (industrial eng.) but so far no good news. In addition, two of my friends returned back from Canada after spending little over a year working what they described as "pointless menial jobs", and before leaving they both had decent experience (one in civil eng. 6+ and the other in mech. eng. 5+). When you read other peoples cases online you may ignore it but these two cases (in my real life - not online) can be a sort of 'wake-up call'. I also gather that companies/employers in Canada tend to ignore applicants who have no Canadian education and work experience. My concern is if there are others with similar experiences and what have they done to overcome such a situation.

As I understand it some provinces/immigration support groups offer support with bridging programmes to help you get professional Canadian experience, a year of which mandatory for you to be able to register as a professional engineer (PEng)- if that's the requirement in your industry. It seems that much of this would need to be made up of unpaid internships initially.

 

[maged_mmh]

Gents/Ladies,

Very neat discussion and quite informative.

Let me "naiively" be a bit creative here if I may, I've been contemplating acquiring a tiny business/franchise once we land (my application is still far from finalised, but just exploring our options while binding time), so, have anyone has a take on that? e.g. I noticed some groceries/delis/printing agency/ dollar store, etc.. businesses being listed for sale anywhere between 20K ~ 40K CAD, my reasoning is that if you just put your settlement funds in some bank and starting job hunting you'll be churning on those funds anyway, so why not put them to work and consider such business as a source of income instead of putting energy in a survival job?

is it realistically feasible alternative? what are the pros/cons/risks?

 

[johnjkjk]

I noticed some groceries/delis/printing agency/ dollar store, etc.. businesses being listed for sale anywhere between 20K ~ 40K CAD

How profitable would such businesses be? Often small business can be just about breaking even after bills and staff have been paid- unless the owner is taking a salary.

 

[maged_mmh]

How profitable would such businesses be? Often small business can be just about breaking even after bills and staff have been paid- unless the owner is taking a salary.

I reckon one will never know until you examine the income statements for past years and their tax declarations

 

[mf4361]

Gents/Ladies,

Very neat discussion and quite informative.

Let me "naiively" be a bit creative here if I may, I've been contemplating acquiring a tiny business/franchise once we land (my application is still far from finalised, but just exploring our options while binding time), so, have anyone has a take on that? e.g. I noticed some groceries/delis/printing agency/ dollar store, etc.. businesses being listed for sale anywhere between 20K ~ 40K CAD, my reasoning is that if you just put your settlement funds in some bank and starting job hunting you'll be churning on those funds anyway, so why not put them to work and consider such business as a source of income instead of putting energy in a survival job?

is it realistically feasible alternative? what are the pros/cons/risks?

The risk is just like any risk in other businesses and entrepreneurial venture. There is always risk and potential benefit in starting your own business. If it's the route you want to pursuit and you have the capital, go for it. Just be aware of tax implications.

That's what it is about in a free society. No one gives you a job when you land, not even refugees. Nobody pities you when you whine about not able to find job because you're an immigrant. You decide what you want to do, be that a job in your profession, or start over from lower end, or start your business. And then you strive for your dream.

Many immigrants coming here as professionals struggled to find jobs (understandably) ended up in lower skilled entrepreneurs like running a cornerstore, day care, technicians, taxi driver etc. It's very common and there's nothing wrong with it, and you can certainly support a family with that kind of lifestyle.

------

Adding a little more in professional recognition.

Employers in Canada values local experiences a lot, understandably. It is about how companies here operate in their own way. There are Canadian code and standards, ethics and consideration that doesn't apply to any other country. Employers don't care about your skin color, not as much about your accent (as long as not impeding communication), they care about your Canadian exposures. Because it directly affects your performance in their company.

 

[johnjkjk]

The risk is just like any risk in other businesses and entrepreneurial venture. There is always risk and potential benefit in starting your own business. If it's the route you want to pursuit and you have the capital, go for it. Just be aware of tax implications.

That's what it is about in a free society. No one gives you a job when you land, not even refugees. Nobody pities you when you whine about not able to find job because you're an immigrant. You decide what you want to do, be that a job in your profession, or start over from lower end, or start your business. And then you strive for your dream.

Many immigrants coming here as professionals struggled to find jobs (understandably) ended up in lower skilled entrepreneurs like running a cornerstore, day care, technicians, taxi driver etc. It's very common and there's nothing wrong with it, and you can certainly support a family with that kind of lifestyle.

------

Adding a little more in professional recognition.

Employers in Canada values local experiences a lot, understandably. It is about how companies here operate in their own way. There are Canadian code and standards, ethics and consideration that doesn't apply to any other country. Employers don't care about your skin color, not as much about your accent (as long as not impeding communication), they care about your Canadian exposures. Because it directly affects your performance in their company.

Doesn't this really depend upon the reasons of why the person is immigrating in the first place? Particularly if you're moving from another developed country, unless there are specific reasons of moving to Canada e.g. better environment then why would you give up professional work to be a taxi driver? That said, many people moving from developing nations in my experience would rather work as a cleaner in the West than as a nuclear scientist back home- for their quality of life would be significantly improved in real-terms.

 

[scylla]

I noticed some groceries/delis/printing agency/ dollar store, etc.. businesses being listed for sale anywhere between 20K ~ 40K CAD,

Keep in mind that the cost of actually running the business is going to be far higher than that. All the $20K to $40K will give you is the business itself (i.e. allow you to use the name) and perhaps some stock. It won't get you the actual building where the business is located (you'll have to take over the lease and pay that rent in addition to the money you've already spent). There's also the cost of staff, insurance, tax, etc., etc., etc.

 

[mf4361]

Doesn't this really depend upon the reasons of why the person is immigrating in the first place? Particularly if you're moving from another developed country, unless there are specific reasons of moving to Canada e.g. better environment then why would you give up professional work to be a taxi driver? That said, many people moving from developing nations in my experience would rather work as a cleaner in the West than as a nuclear scientist back home- for their quality of life would be significantly improved in real-terms.

Sure. There are people immigrating here just because they can make more money in their profession. That doesn't mean the Canadian society can offer it. The world doesn't always work for us. There is nothing wrong with returning home from Canada after immigrating because people can make more money back home.

 

[maged_mmh]

Keep in mind that the cost of actually running the business is going to be far higher than that. All the $20K to $40K will give you is the business itself (i.e. allow you to use the name) and perhaps some stock. It won't get you the actual building where the business is located (you'll have to take over the lease and pay that rent in addition to the money you've already spent). There's also the cost of staff, insurance, tax, etc., etc., etc.

understood of course, but if previous income statements demonstrate a profitable net income, is it worth it compared to survival jobs?

 

[MZASAM]

Thanks to all for sharing their experiences

In order to keep the dreams alive, we must have faith and belief in oneself, work hard, have strong determination, and dedication.

Bear in mind all things are possible to achieve, for those who believe.

Be prepared to work hard, remain focused, be happy in what ever situation you are.

Nothing come easy in life. ??? :'( :-[ :'( 8)