Landing and Job hunting suggestions request please..

[letstry]

Guys,

While I am waiting for my PPR, I am making broad level plans for landing.. Need your help please.

Like almost all in the forum, as me and my spouse have well settled jobs here in our own country, we were a bit apprehensive about leaving everything at one shot and landing in Saskatchewan (as I am an SINP Nominee).

We were instead thinking if we make a short visit (4-6 weeks), do job hunting, meet people, network etc.etc. and based on the response, come back and pack our bags forever. I need your views in the following please:

1. Does the above plan of making a short trip for job hunting make sense?

2. Will the Employers consider job seekers who can join after 2-3 months?

3. How difficult will it be to get an employment (even if it is at a lower/entry level but in the field at least for one of us) for me an SAP Consultant or for my Spouse - a Chartered Accountant?

4. Will the short trip with 2 small kids be worth it?

Any response will be appreciated please.

Thankyou.

 

[ashishv]

Guys,

While I am waiting for my PPR, I am making broad level plans for landing.. Need your help please.

Like almost all in the forum, as me and my spouse have well settled jobs here in our own country, we were a bit apprehensive about leaving everything at one shot and landing in Saskatchewan (as I am an SINP Nominee).

We were instead thinking if we make a short visit (4-6 weeks), do job hunting, meet people, network etc.etc. and based on the response, come back and pack our bags forever. I need your views in the following please:

1. Does the above plan of making a short trip for job hunting make sense?

2. Will the Employers consider job seekers who can join after 2-3 months?

3. How difficult will it be to get an employment (even if it is at a lower/entry level but in the field at least for one of us) for me an SAP Consultant or for my Spouse - a Chartered Accountant?

4. Will the short trip with 2 small kids be worth it?

Any response will be appreciated please.

Thankyou.

A short trip will only let you experience the tip of the iceberg. You will not be able to settle things here in one month time frame.

I have recently moved to Vancouver (in Jan 2016) with my family (includes 2 small kids). We all are finding things difficult due to sudden change of place, home, friends, family, kids school, job and overall feeling of moving to a new place. But we are committed to face this challenge and settle ourselves in this new environment.

House hunting, job search, kids school, grocery are the things which you will not be able to do in your short trip and it will be more like a vacation for your family.

My suggestion - make up your mind and jump in the ocean!!! You will not be able to complete the tasks by doing them part time.

Before you come, make yourself strong enough to let go your stable lives!!! There will be challenges which you have to face and start building yourself again from '0'.

 

[letstry]

A short trip will only let you experience the tip of the iceberg. You will not be able to settle things here in one month time frame.

I have recently moved to Vancouver (in Jan 2016) with my family (includes 2 small kids). We all are finding things difficult due to sudden change of place, home, friends, family, kids school, job and overall feeling of moving to a new place. But we are committed to face this challenge and settle ourselves in this new environment.

House hunting, job search, kids school, grocery are the things which you will not be able to do in your short trip and it will be more like a vacation for your family.

My suggestion - make up your mind and jump in the ocean!!! You will not be able to complete the tasks by doing them part time.

Before you come, make yourself strong enough to let go your stable lives!!! There will be challenges which you have to face and start building yourself again from '0'.

Thank you very much for your suggestion anc time Ashish. . It means a lot to me. . Will definitely keep your suggestion in mind before making a decision. .

Thanks again. .!!

 

[belle_mx]

Hi! We came last August to Calgary. We also have two kids and my husband is an accountant. He was ACTIVELLY searching for a job for 2.5 months, he went to many associations, networking events, etc... And only got two interviews both were looking for an accountant (none for other jobs like bookkeepers called him back, they said that he was overqualified) finally one hired him, and wanted him to start the next day. We were really blessed to have this job which is not a survival job, and let me be a stay at home mom, im glad I don't need to work, we have a newborn and a 5 year old and the day care is very expensive.

He now started his courses to become a chartered accountant here in Alberta (CPA) and will take him 3 years to complete his designation.

In conclusion, we saw with 2 kids how we consumed our savings very fast, but it was worth it. With the oil crisis here in Alberta there are not many jobs, so at least in Alberta we think it's impossible to do a job hunt from abroad. If you can start the paperwork to get your designation as an accountant validated by the CPA before you come that would be great, chartered accountants here make a lot of money, but the employers just ignore your designation if it's from other country.

if I were in your situation what will I do?:

1) save a lot of money and expect to INVEST it in the first months of living in Canada unemployed.
2)While you save money try make the necessary paperwork to have your accounting designation certified by the CPA
3) talk to your children about the changes that are coming, your new "adventure" if they are 5 or older they will notice as soon as they come why you decided to come.
4) go for it!!!!!! it's like diving in cold water, kind of uncomfortable at the beginning but it only lasts a second. But getting out of your "comfort zone" is never comfortable.
5) when you face difficult days here in Canada I your job search or missing relatives, think about the ugly things of your country you leave back: corruption, insecurity, lack of opportinities, etc...

Have faith, the best is yet to come.

Best wishes!!

 

[letstry]

Hi! We came last August to Calgary. We also have two kids and my husband is an accountant. He was ACTIVELLY searching for a job for 2.5 months, he went to many associations, networking events, etc... And only got two interviews both were looking for an accountant (none for other jobs like bookkeepers called him back, they said that he was overqualified) finally one hired him, and wanted him to start the next day. We were really blessed to have this job which is not a survival job, and let me be a stay at home mom, im glad I don't need to work, we have a newborn and a 5 year old and the day care is very expensive.

He now started his courses to become a chartered accountant here in Alberta (CPA) and will take him 3 years to complete his designation.

In conclusion, we saw with 2 kids how we consumed our savings very fast, but it was worth it. With the oil crisis here in Alberta there are not many jobs, so at least in Alberta we think it's impossible to do a job hunt from abroad. If you can start the paperwork to get your designation as an accountant validated by the CPA before you come that would be great, chartered accountants here make a lot of money, but the employers just ignore your designation if it's from other country.

if I were in your situation what will I do?:

1) save a lot of money and expect to INVEST it in the first months of living in Canada unemployed.
2)While you save money try make the necessary paperwork to have your accounting designation certified by the CPA
3) talk to your children about the changes that are coming, your new "adventure" if they are 5 or older they will notice as soon as they come why you decided to come.
4) go for it!!!!!! it's like diving in cold water, kind of uncomfortable at the beginning but it only lasts a second. But getting out of your "comfort zone" is never comfortable.
5) when you face difficult days here in Canada I your job search or missing relatives, think about the ugly things of your country you leave back: corruption, insecurity, lack of opportinities, etc...

Have faith, the best is yet to come.

Best wishes!!

I can't thank you enough for the detailed info. Your inputs are helping us a lot in planning our move.

Thanks again!!

 

[ashishv]

Hi! We came last August to Calgary. We also have two kids and my husband is an accountant. He was ACTIVELLY searching for a job for 2.5 months, he went to many associations, networking events, etc... And only got two interviews both were looking for an accountant (none for other jobs like bookkeepers called him back, they said that he was overqualified) finally one hired him, and wanted him to start the next day. We were really blessed to have this job which is not a survival job, and let me be a stay at home mom, im glad I don't need to work, we have a newborn and a 5 year old and the day care is very expensive.

He now started his courses to become a chartered accountant here in Alberta (CPA) and will take him 3 years to complete his designation.

In conclusion, we saw with 2 kids how we consumed our savings very fast, but it was worth it. With the oil crisis here in Alberta there are not many jobs, so at least in Alberta we think it's impossible to do a job hunt from abroad. If you can start the paperwork to get your designation as an accountant validated by the CPA before you come that would be great, chartered accountants here make a lot of money, but the employers just ignore your designation if it's from other country.

if I were in your situation what will I do?:

1) save a lot of money and expect to INVEST it in the first months of living in Canada unemployed.
2)While you save money try make the necessary paperwork to have your accounting designation certified by the CPA
3) talk to your children about the changes that are coming, your new "adventure" if they are 5 or older they will notice as soon as they come why you decided to come.
4) go for it!!!!!! it's like diving in cold water, kind of uncomfortable at the beginning but it only lasts a second. But getting out of your "comfort zone" is never comfortable.
5) when you face difficult days here in Canada I your job search or missing relatives, think about the ugly things of your country you leave back: corruption, insecurity, lack of opportinities, etc...

Have faith, the best is yet to come.

Best wishes!!

Belle, your last line is really inspiring

"Have faith, the best is yet to come."

I have just started my life in Vancouver. House hunting is a tough tasks in good school areas. Its going to be a month for me now and I am unable to get a desired home in good school catchment area. Though all public schools are same but then if you read the education report, there are points given out of 10 to each school which defines the good schools.

Thankfully, my son got registered in the nearby good rating school and will start going there from this week.

My house hunting and job hunting is still on!

 

[letstry]

Belle, your last line is really inspiring

"Have faith, the best is yet to come."

I have just started my life in Vancouver. House hunting is a tough tasks in good school areas. Its going to be a month for me now and I am unable to get a desired home in good school catchment area. Though all public schools are same but then if you read the education report, there are points given out of 10 to each school which defines the good schools.

Thankfully, my son got registered in the nearby good rating school and will start going there from this week.

My house hunting and job hunting is still on!

Both of your posts have been really inspiring and helpful.. And I think I am dropping the idea of the first short visit..

Btw Ashish, if only you wouldn't mind sharing the following...
Is house and school hunting so difficult?
As your house hunting is still on, how is your temporary arrangement and how costly is it?
Are you on LMIA or is it that you have to hunt for job?
If you have to hunt for job, how is that portion going on?

Thanks again for your time..

 

[ashishv]

Both of your posts have been really inspiring and helpful.. And I think I am dropping the idea of the first short visit..

Btw Ashish, if only you wouldn't mind sharing the following...
Is house and school hunting so difficult?
As your house hunting is still on, how is your temporary arrangement and how costly is it?
Are you on LMIA or is it that you have to hunt for job?
If you have to hunt for job, how is that portion going on?

Thanks again for your time..

Hi
As been asked by you (letstry - should share your real name ), I would share my personal experiences:

- House hunting is tough in Good School Catchment areas. It takes time to get a property matching your requirements like no.of bedrooms, no underground basements, close to school (so that it is easy to drop/pick kids from school by your spouse while you are away for work), matching budget etc. Remember most of people would like to stay in the good school catchment area.

- School registration might be an issue (or not) during mid-session. If the school is already full with kids in the grade in which your kids go, then they will search and put your kids in the other nearest school where the availability is there. The kids will go to grades as per their Birth Year and has no relevance in whatever grade they were in their home country.

- I visited 4 different schools and only 1 had the vacancy in the grade wherein my son needs to go. However for the new session, the registrations starts in June and if you register during that period, then school will surely take your kid in the new session (if you are staying in their catchment area).

- Definitely search and look for education reports on schools. Gives you a clear picture on school rankings and where you would want to send your kids for schooling.

- Most good schools do not accept rental agreement only as the address proof for their catchment but they also want utility bills in your name to ensure that you are living over there.

- I used airbnb to book my temporary accommodation and then talked to the owners as per the situation to extend the same. It will turn out slight costly but you have to make up your mind for the area you want to live in. There would be lot of cheap options but - do you want to live over there or not is a personal preference.

- I have started looking for jobs recently as was involved in house hunting, school registration and other settlement stuff. I have approached workbc office wherein I am getting help to design my resume and cover letters as required over here. They have told me that generally it takes 1-2 months to get a job in your work profile. Rest all depends on your efforts.

What I would suggest you is that since you have school going kids, finalize 2-3 schools you would like to send your kids to (check their catchment maps too). Take up a temporary accommodation in the same area (for around a month). Land over here and look for a rental in the same area. Along side, get all other work started like health insurance, child benefits, job hunt, visiting schools, apply for Driving license etc.

Things will take time. Just keep doing something daily which makes you progress towards settlement!!!

As Belle mentioned in the last post - "Have faith, the best is yet to come"

 

[belle_mx]

Hi ashishv, yeah we also struggled to find s good place to rent. Specially because we don't have Canadian credit history or a steady job, and because the zone we wanted is very popular, if there is another family without this issues applying for the same place, the tenants ALWAYS want to rent them, not us.

So we applied for several units in the same building, until one of them said yes!

And as you said, we wanted to live here because of our girls: the schools, the playgrounds, the lake community, the neighbors have little kids too, it's few steps away from the bus stop...

Speaking of transportation that is our challenge now... We came here 6 months ago, we applied to buy a car and they didn't approve the credit. They said we have to wait 6 more months!!!.... So our first year in Canada we won't have a car, that wasn't in our plans, but anyways we are glad the public transit is really good (not like the one in our previous country)

 

[SamyAmy]

Hi
As been asked by you (letstry - should share your real name ), I would share my personal experiences:

- House hunting is tough in Good School Catchment areas. It takes time to get a property matching your requirements like no.of bedrooms, no underground basements, close to school (so that it is easy to drop/pick kids from school by your spouse while you are away for work), matching budget etc. Remember most of people would like to stay in the good school catchment area.

- School registration might be an issue (or not) during mid-session. If the school is already full with kids in the grade in which your kids go, then they will search and put your kids in the other nearest school where the availability is there. The kids will go to grades as per their Birth Year and has no relevance in whatever grade they were in their home country.

- I visited 4 different schools and only 1 had the vacancy in the grade wherein my son needs to go. However for the new session, the registrations starts in June and if you register during that period, then school will surely take your kid in the new session (if you are staying in their catchment area).

- Definitely search and look for education reports on schools. Gives you a clear picture on school rankings and where you would want to send your kids for schooling.

- Most good schools do not accept rental agreement only as the address proof for their catchment but they also want utility bills in your name to ensure that you are living over there.

- I used airbnb to book my temporary accommodation and then talked to the owners as per the situation to extend the same. It will turn out slight costly but you have to make up your mind for the area you want to live in. There would be lot of cheap options but - do you want to live over there or not is a personal preference.

- I have started looking for jobs recently as was involved in house hunting, school registration and other settlement stuff. I have approached workbc office wherein I am getting help to design my resume and cover letters as required over here. They have told me that generally it takes 1-2 months to get a job in your work profile. Rest all depends on your efforts.

What I would suggest you is that since you have school going kids, finalize 2-3 schools you would like to send your kids to (check their catchment maps too). Take up a temporary accommodation in the same area (for around a month). Land over here and look for a rental in the same area. Along side, get all other work started like health insurance, child benefits, job hunt, visiting schools, apply for Driving license etc.

Things will take time. Just keep doing something daily which makes you progress towards settlement!!!

As Belle mentioned in the last post - "Have faith, the best is yet to come"

Dear Ashish,

Really a nice post +1 from me.

I will be shifting to Vancouver in April, 16.
Need to know which area has good rated schools. From where can I get this info.
So that I can also start the house hunt

 

[ashishv]

Dear Ashish,

Really a nice post +1 from me.

I will be shifting to Vancouver in April, 16.
Need to know which area has good rated schools. From where can I get this info.
So that I can also start the house hunt

Sammy, you can go through the list on http://britishcolumbia.compareschoolrankings.org/pdfs/Fraser_Institute_Report_Card_on_British_Columbia%E2%80%99s_Elementary_Schools_2015.pdf
This would give you a clear picture on every public school in BC. You can take an informed decision after going through the list.

 

[letstry]

Hi
As been asked by you (letstry - should share your real name ), I would share my personal experiences:

- House hunting is tough in Good School Catchment areas. It takes time to get a property matching your requirements like no.of bedrooms, no underground basements, close to school (so that it is easy to drop/pick kids from school by your spouse while you are away for work), matching budget etc. Remember most of people would like to stay in the good school catchment area.

- School registration might be an issue (or not) during mid-session. If the school is already full with kids in the grade in which your kids go, then they will search and put your kids in the other nearest school where the availability is there. The kids will go to grades as per their Birth Year and has no relevance in whatever grade they were in their home country.

- I visited 4 different schools and only 1 had the vacancy in the grade wherein my son needs to go. However for the new session, the registrations starts in June and if you register during that period, then school will surely take your kid in the new session (if you are staying in their catchment area).

- Definitely search and look for education reports on schools. Gives you a clear picture on school rankings and where you would want to send your kids for schooling.

- Most good schools do not accept rental agreement only as the address proof for their catchment but they also want utility bills in your name to ensure that you are living over there.

- I used airbnb to book my temporary accommodation and then talked to the owners as per the situation to extend the same. It will turn out slight costly but you have to make up your mind for the area you want to live in. There would be lot of cheap options but - do you want to live over there or not is a personal preference.

- I have started looking for jobs recently as was involved in house hunting, school registration and other settlement stuff. I have approached workbc office wherein I am getting help to design my resume and cover letters as required over here. They have told me that generally it takes 1-2 months to get a job in your work profile. Rest all depends on your efforts.

What I would suggest you is that since you have school going kids, finalize 2-3 schools you would like to send your kids to (check their catchment maps too). Take up a temporary accommodation in the same area (for around a month). Land over here and look for a rental in the same area. Along side, get all other work started like health insurance, child benefits, job hunt, visiting schools, apply for Driving license etc.

Things will take time. Just keep doing something daily which makes you progress towards settlement!!!

As Belle mentioned in the last post - "Have faith, the best is yet to come"

Thankyou very very much Ashish for your very informative piece of information.. Real life info is always very helpful..

Btw, I don't mind sharing my real name, I am Savitha from Mumbai, India..

I would be landing in Saskatoon and my kids would around 3 years old when I land.. As you have shared the very very useful information about schools, also do share if you have any idea about the childcare facility for their post school hours (if in case we both happen to work).

Regarding the temporary accommodation, do you book from your home country before you leave(including payment), or you could reach there and checkout?

Also, would be great if you could share what all are the kind of things that you should ideally carry from your home country.

Thanks once again for your time...

 

[ashishv]

Thankyou very very much Ashish for your very informative piece of information.. Real life info is always very helpful..

Btw, I don't mind sharing my real name, I am Savitha from Mumbai, India..

I would be landing in Saskatoon and my kids would around 3 years old when I land.. As you have shared the very very useful information about schools, also do share if you have any idea about the childcare facility for their post school hours (if in case we both happen to work).

Regarding the temporary accommodation, do you book from your home country before you leave(including payment), or you could reach there and checkout?

Also, would be great if you could share what all are the kind of things that you should ideally carry from your home country.

Thanks once again for your time...

Hi Savitha

Your kid is still young and you don't have to bother much about school at this stage. However, start making up your mind because a person always gets comfortable where he lives. Shifting after 2 years to a new area will again be mentally challenging.

At this stage I will not be able to share any info on child care facility because we have not yet availed it / looked into it.

Regarding accommodation, ask yourself - where will you live after you land - do you have friends, family with whom you can stay. If not (as was my case), you have to make arrangements like hotel, temporary vacation rentals etc before you land. Its advisable to go for temporary homes than hotels as you get an entire unit (including kitchen) which is required in case of kids. In most cases, the payment will be made online while booking.

Stuff to carry from home - apart from your regular stuff and important stuff, we carried one week of all basic essentials (like sugar, salt, spices etc) so that we don't have to run immediately for them (still you have to go and get some milk, bread etc). My younger one is 2 years so we had to carry additional baby stuff as well.

It would take nearly a month to understand basic things. This country (at least Vancouver) runs on appointments!! Even to open a bank account, you have to take an appointment. I was shocked when I was asked to come on another day to open a new account because I did not have an appointment on the day of my visit (not like our banks wherein you will be ambushed the very same moment as you say - i want to open an account )

You learn new things daily and everything will add on to your settlement experience!

 

[caba4blue]

Guys,

While I am waiting for my PPR, I am making broad level plans for landing.. Need your help please.

Like almost all in the forum, as me and my spouse have well settled jobs here in our own country, we were a bit apprehensive about leaving everything at one shot and landing in Saskatchewan (as I am an SINP Nominee).

We were instead thinking if we make a short visit (4-6 weeks), do job hunting, meet people, network etc.etc. and based on the response, come back and pack our bags forever. I need your views in the following please:

1. Does the above plan of making a short trip for job hunting make sense?

2. Will the Employers consider job seekers who can join after 2-3 months?

3. How difficult will it be to get an employment (even if it is at a lower/entry level but in the field at least for one of us) for me an SAP Consultant or for my Spouse - a Chartered Accountant?

4. Will the short trip with 2 small kids be worth it?

Any response will be appreciated please.

Thankyou.

Hi, I landed in Toronto 4 years ago
One thing I would say is - life is different in Canada and things do not work as fast as you may hope!
I don't think making a trip is going to help you at all, you should save the money and fins a short term let, then you can start to find your new perm home when you a re here.
Many companies will not be able to sort out new jobs in a couple of weeks, it normally takes a lot longer than this!!!
Until you are here in Canada it is not worth planning anything as you will have to realize you are now on Canadian time and things always change!!! you will have to give up control for a short period of time.

 

[Mabertia]

Thanks for this insightful post belle_mx

Hi! We came last August to Calgary. We also have two kids and my husband is an accountant. He was ACTIVELLY searching for a job for 2.5 months, he went to many associations, networking events, etc... And only got two interviews both were looking for an accountant (none for other jobs like bookkeepers called him back, they said that he was overqualified) finally one hired him, and wanted him to start the next day. We were really blessed to have this job which is not a survival job, and let me be a stay at home mom, im glad I don't need to work, we have a newborn and a 5 year old and the day care is very expensive.

He now started his courses to become a chartered accountant here in Alberta (CPA) and will take him 3 years to complete his designation.

In conclusion, we saw with 2 kids how we consumed our savings very fast, but it was worth it. With the oil crisis here in Alberta there are not many jobs, so at least in Alberta we think it's impossible to do a job hunt from abroad. If you can start the paperwork to get your designation as an accountant validated by the CPA before you come that would be great, chartered accountants here make a lot of money, but the employers just ignore your designation if it's from other country.

if I were in your situation what will I do?:

1) save a lot of money and expect to INVEST it in the first months of living in Canada unemployed.
2)While you save money try make the necessary paperwork to have your accounting designation certified by the CPA
3) talk to your children about the changes that are coming, your new "adventure" if they are 5 or older they will notice as soon as they come why you decided to come.
4) go for it!!!!!! it's like diving in cold water, kind of uncomfortable at the beginning but it only lasts a second. But getting out of your "comfort zone" is never comfortable.
5) when you face difficult days here in Canada I your job search or missing relatives, think about the ugly things of your country you leave back: corruption, insecurity, lack of opportinities, etc...

Have faith, the best is yet to come.

Best wishes!!