Hi All,
This question has been doing the rounds of a lot of forums (all professions included)...here’s my thoughts and inputs on the issue
First of all before you decide to undergo the strenuous process of immigrating...you need to explore within yourself and find answers to the following questions.
Why do you want to immigrate? - Give this some serious deep thought. In my case, I already have a management level job a good salary and a fairly decent life in India...why do I want to move?? I want to move because I want a better quality of life for me and my family. I want the opportunity live abroad without being looked at as a second class citizen, I want the comforts and benefits provided by an economy and government which is light years ahead of my current country's (India). I have thought and decided to immigrate. I am not immigrating so that I will earn in dollars and then 10 yrs later convert that to rupees and come back and buy a flat in Bangalore and live happily....NO...I am immigrating to move bag and baggage to a new land, make it my home for the rest of my life and build a peaceful and prosperous life for me and my family...and I am willing to give it what it takes!!
applying for a PR is not the same as applying for a H1B or L1 to the USA...you don’t get a job the moment you land there, but you get the respect and privileges of being an almost citizen which a H1B or L1 will never get till they move onto a green card.
Will I get a job in Canada of my choice? -Think about it this way. Imagine a foreigner lands in India….a NON WHITE…and goes about looking for a job…assume he knows English but speaks with a very strong accent which is hard to understand, but in his head he is an expert in English. He has all the right qualifications (masters in his field from a university in his hometown which most Indians haven’t even heard of), he has the legal permission to work in India…how many companies will entertain this guy??...
How many interview calls will he get?? And even if he gets called in for an interview, how will the interviewers react when they realize he is a foreigner and has never worked in India??
Will you employ this guy if it was your company????...I guess not
In my opinion this guy will have a really tough time in getting a job…I will be surprised if he does get a job….
THIS IS OUR SITUATION WHEN WE REACH CANADA!!!...
Ok so now what do we do about this situation. Research, research, research and more research. By research I don’t mean sitting at home and browsing websites, that is just one method. Here are some suggested methods..This is what I have been doing and I have not even filed my papers yet!!
Professional Networking: If you already have a job in India in an MNC, then check if your company has a branch in Canada…see if you can find people there to talk to. Try and build a rapport with them. CAUTION: don’t bypass organizational hierarchies, if you are a manager and you call a VP in your Canada branch and talk to him your current boss may get suspicious or pissed off with you, do it with caution and tact. Don’t just look through your company directory and call some random person in Canada, try to find somebody who is in the same/similar line of work as you…gradually build a conversation and try to find out more about how things work there, keep this line of communication open and you will find new opportunities opening up for you, even if this does not land you a job there at least you will have a friend when you land in Canada.
Use websites like Linked In (http://www.linkedin.com) and build a professional network. See if you can find ex-colleagues who maybe in Canada, search for professional groups in Canada and join them you will receive updates on the market there through these groups. Participate in forum discussions.
Social Networking: Log into Facebook, Orkut, Wayn, ibibo or whatever other social networking sites you use and track down old friends, classmates, girlfriends..
, colleagues, relatives whoever it is and see if you can find anybody from them who is Canada…search friends of friends and their friends, msg them and talk to them build a relationship..build a network of friends. These sites also have region or profession specific groups for eg: Toronto_Doctors or something like that which will help you if you are a doc who wants to settle in Toronto. Join the group and participate in discussions, make friends and build contacts.
Websites: don’t ONLY look at the suggested websites in this forum (pls look at them also they are very informative). Run searches on google use keywords extensively for example, if I am an IT guy wanting to go to Toronto then I would use the following search terms
Toronto+IT+jobs
Toronto+IT+companies
Toronto+jobs+agencies
Toronto+immigrant+employers+IT
So on and so forth …get creative…and you will get information…DON’T TYPE SENTENCES IN THE SEARCH FIELD eg: How to get IT job in Toronto?
Again if you are an IT guy looking for a job in Canada…then go to the Canadian websites of all the top IT companies like IBM, HP, Microsoft, Dell etc and search on their individual career sections to see if there is anything suitable for you. If you are a Doctor then visit the hospital websites..if you are a teacher or prof then visit the college or university websites…so on and so forth
CAUTION: if you find suitable jobs on the sites…DON’T APPLY UNLESS YOU HAVE A PR…because if you apply without the authorization to work in Canada then there is a very good chance that the companies may blacklist you as someone who is not serious or even a spammer. Use the sites only to get an idea of the job market there. Once you get and idea you will be better placed to take a decision.
WHY DO DOCTORS DRIVE CABS and IT GUYS ARE CASHIERS etc
When you move to Canada please have realistic expectations regarding your job hunt and its result. Use the above methods to assess the market and then if people tell you it will take 3 months to land a job you should make a personal estimate of at least 6 months. This way your expectations will be more realistic, you will go there well prepared (financially and psychologically) and you will have little less pressure to settle down.
Some of you (including me) will be winding up so far successful careers in India and moving, this will lead us to the question..will I get the same position/salary/level there??
The answer to that question again lies in the foreigner example I have mentioned above…You as the hiring manager …will you recruit that guy at the same level he was at in his home country??..
Wouldn’t you be apprehensive and think?
“hey this guy says he was a senior project manager in some company in his home country, now I don’t know what he did there or what that company does, but he sounds technically sound and his communication can be improved. Let me try and get him at a slightly junior level, that way my boss wont screw me if he screws up, plus I can get a highly qualified resource at lesser than the market rate in India and then since I am giving his first job here he may stay with us and I can mould him to my company’s requirements”
Or you may possibly say…”this is uncharted waters…I don’t wanna go here and burn my fingers, let me just find the most creative reason to tell this guy I cant employ him”
Human nature and instincts work the same the world over, so before you scream out racism!!...unjust!! or any other revolutionary term, put yourself in the other man’s shoes and see.
Now if you get the job at a slightly lower level and pay then you need to be able to take a call so to get an idea of salary levels check http://www.payscale.com this site will tell you what should be the salary for your job…its only indicative..but its information and that’s good.
If you are in a rush to start making money or settling down then chances are you may end up as a cab driver..mind you its not a bad profession, you just may end up building contacts as a cab driver which may help you find a job soon…remember Deepika Padukone in “Bachna Ae Haseeno”…she was an MBA student driving a cab in Australia…she is not my best choice for an example but I just thought it would be something everybody could relate to!!
Just to put the whole cab driver thingy in perspective…think how many talented students finish B.E or B.Tech from premier institutes in India and due to some reason cant find a job and to put bread on the table take up jobs as tech support in BPOs in India…Do they lack talent???...do they lack knowledge??...what they lack is time and money….so prepare yourself well save a good amount of money and put it away as your initial post immigration expenses kitty…give yourself enough buffer time when you reach there and don’t create artificial pressure for yourself ….work steadily strongly towards your goal and you will reach it!!
All the best & God Bless
Rishab
