HELP: Should I include my freelancer experience?

[wherethestorystarts]

Hi guys, I will try not to make the post sounds too complicated.

Here's my situation:

I recently got an ITA for PR. I have a year and eight months of full-time job experience, but I also did a couple of side jobs as a freelancer. I reported these when I filed a tax refund last year.

But until now I did not think about putting freelancer experience in my work history. Since this side job did not meet the requirements, for example, it was less than 30 hours per week, it won't give me any scores. I already have enough work experience to meet CEC, so I did not bother to put this freelancer experience in my work history when I was writing down the EE profile.

But... should I put this on my work history?

I'm just worried if the officer sees my Note of assessment(for POF) and thinks weird about the extra money I reported. I received around CAD 700 two times.

Thank you so much!

 

[jes_ON]

Hi guys, I will try not to make the post sounds too complicated.

Here's my situation:

I recently got an ITA for PR. I have a year and eight months of full-time job experience, but I also did a couple of side jobs as a freelancer. I reported these when I filed a tax refund last year.

But until now I did not think about putting freelancer experience in my work history. Since this side job did not meet the requirements, for example, it was less than 30 hours per week, it won't give me any scores. I already have enough work experience to meet CEC, so I did not bother to put this freelancer experience in my work history when I was writing down the EE profile.

But... should I put this on my work history?

It is good that you did not include it in the profile, as it is not eligible and you are only supposed to include eligible work experience there.

For your eAPR, in the Background / Personal history document, YES, you should include it, you have to include everything on that.

 

[wherethestorystarts]

@jes_ON Thank you for your response! So... even though I can't put my freelancer work experience in work history as it does not meet requirements for 'eligible work experience', I should put it in personal history to make things clear, is this right?

 

[arajoba]

@jes_ON Thank you for your response! So... even though I can't put my freelancer work experience in work history as it does not meet requirements for 'eligible work experience', I should put it in personal history to make things clear, is this right?

That's correct. You need to enter it under 10 years personal activity.

 

[wherethestorystarts]

That's correct. You need to enter it under 10 years personal activity.

Will do that. Thank you for confirming it!

 

[wherethestorystarts]

Hi guys, Sorry, I have an additional question regarding this matter.
Should I also provide a letter of employment for this freelancer experience even though this won't be counted as eligible work experience?

 

[arajoba]

Hi guys, Sorry, I have an additional question regarding this matter.
Should I also provide a letter of employment for this freelancer experience even though this won't be counted as eligible work experience?

No you don’t have to provide any letters for unskilled experience.

 

[wherethestorystarts]

No you don’t have to provide any letters for unskilled experience.

Oh that's great! Thank you again

 

[Jonathan.vr]

May I ask what is your field of working?

 

[wherethestorystarts]

May I ask what is your field of working?

It's graphic design. Noc 5241

 

[Jonathan.vr]

Awesome, I'm a graphic designer as well. Would you mind if I ask you some questions regarding your experience? I'm still in my home country, but I'm looking for options to immigrate to Canada.

Thank you.

 

[Jonathan.vr]

It's graphic design. Noc 5241

Awesome, I'm a graphic designer as well. Would you mind if I ask you some questions regarding your experience? I'm still in my home country, but I'm looking for options to immigrate to Canada.

Thank you.

 

[wherethestorystarts]

Awesome, I'm a graphic designer as well. Would you mind if I ask you some questions regarding your experience? I'm still in my home country, but I'm looking for options to immigrate to Canada.

Thank you.

I don't know a lot, but if I can help you I will. Hit me

 

[Jonathan.vr]

I don't know a lot, but if I can help you I will. Hit me

XD Thank you!

I have a bachelor from my home country in graphic design but I'm doing mainly illustration. I've been thinking about studying in Canada something related to animation/3d, or maybe web design and programming (but honestly I have zero experience in that field and doesn't appeal much to me for now).

My question is regarding job opportunities, I've been looking at the webpage jobbakn.gc.ca to have an idea of the offer in both graphic design and animation and I found that in animation/3D there's not as many as I thought and all require experience in the field; I've seen some more in graphic design and they're flexible, with offers starting at 1 year of experience.

From your experience how difficult/easy is to find a job in our field as a foreigner, and where do you see that are located the majority of opportunities?

If you could share some advices or a bit about your experience in general, I would be thankful.

 

[wherethestorystarts]

XD Thank you!

I have a bachelor from my home country in graphic design but I'm doing mainly illustration. I've been thinking about studying in Canada something related to animation/3d, or maybe web design and programming (but honestly I have zero experience in that field and doesn't appeal much to me for now).

My question is regarding job opportunities, I've been looking at the webpage jobbakn.gc.ca to have an idea of the offer in both graphic design and animation and I found that in animation/3D there's not as many as I thought and all require experience in the field; I've seen some more in graphic design and they're flexible, with offers starting at 1 year of experience.

From your experience how difficult/easy is to find a job in our field as a foreigner, and where do you see that are located the majority of opportunities?

If you could share some advices or a bit about your experience in general, I would be thankful.

Disclaimer: This is just my opinion from my experience from the animation industry. It may be biased. It may be different depending on one's graphic design skills and other circumstances.

Getting graphic design jobs in Canada may get easier if you have a college experience in Canada. First of all, you will have a lot of chances to make connections with people already in the industry. Not only that, your classmates can be your connection in the future. Secondly, you can get more information by actually living in Canada, and talk with people face by face. I learned a lot about studio cultures, reputation by talking with people in real life. Online is a useful resource too, but I feel there is still some limitation. Lastly, depending on colleges, college itself can be valuable sources. Many colleges have career centres and depend on how you use them, it will help you get into the industry.

But it does require a lot of money to afford intuition(+rent, food etc...) as they ask a lot of money to international students. If you are not able to provide to do another education in Canada, you could try sending out portfolios and resumes directly to studios. Or you could try to go to International or Canadian job fairs too. (This would also require some money too tho)

Additionally, when animation studios need people for their projects, sometimes they don't even bother to put out ads. A lot of them ask workers if they can recommend anyone who is fitting for that job. Many studios also want to hire a person who resides already in local because of tax benefits. You could appeal that you can move to that place, but some of the studios didn't give me interview chances even though I was in Canada but a different province. And my friend had a similar experience too.

So overall... either you decide to go to a Canadian college or not, exposing yourself to recruiters is a crucial key. If you try to appeal yourself to studios with a good portfolio and resumes, you will likely have more chances. Try going to studios websites and check out if they are recruiting, and directly send them your portfolios and resumes. Also check Linkedin, Indeed and Animatedjobs.com too.