Who said one does not need to have experience in the field of application to be become successful applicant?! I have never implied that. If you are a generalist engineer, for example, without specific area of expertise your chances of getting a well-paid job in the oil and gas – are slim. Add to that an accent (often not fluent English) and they become even slimmer. However, back in his or her country under the same scenario, the chances for success are similarly slim. This is my point. I am a genuine believer that immigrant workers in Canada, by and large, ARE NOT disadvantaged in any form or shape in their endeavors of finding highly paid jobs by prejudice against the mere fact of them being immigrants. The selection criteria is usually (most of the times) meritorious in nature, and is based on what skills the applicant possesses, and most importantly what, if at all, makes him / her to outstand professionally. Such skills include not only and mainly technical expertise but behavioral, managerial, leadership, linguistic (yes, surprise, surprise! - to be highly paid one needs to possess eloquence of speech and presentational skills in ENGLISH! Because this is (for those who forgot) an English speaking country). These are what determines the level of pay bigger and smaller corporations or businesses are willing to offer to the successful candidate. Not where he or she is from. I work amid lots of immigrants from Nigeria, China, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Pakistan the list is long, who are higher salary grades than many Anglo-Saxon 3-4th generation Canadians. I know that for a fact because some of them work in my team and I am privy to their remuneration information.
I do believe, and so I have done all my life, that every man is the architect of his own fortune, and whether he or she will be successful largely, I repeat, largely depends on one's will, energy and perseverance, be that at home country or abroad.
When I was applying to become a PR back in 2001, I was short of the passing points, as at that time the passing mark was 73 and with just a bachelor degree for education and no French I was short of 3 points and did not qualify. I had to, literally, persuade David Cohen (the owner of this site) to take my money and represent me. He was not willing to at the beginning as he fairly concluded that my application would be unsuccessful being short of points. I could have just taken the stance of an “insulted innocence” and bad mouth Canada until this day for having not tailored the immigration selection qualification criteria to condescend to my personal realities. But I chose the way of perseverance and not accepting no for an answer. I did my research (I, instead of David whose job it was, one would argue) and found a “loophole” known as “substituted evaluation”. When applied under the substituted evaluation, the review officer is vested with the decision making power – he can add points to a case based on merits of the applicant and his likelihood to secure a good life in Canada. I was accepted. Took me 7 long years of waiting. But I was accepted. When that happened in 2008, I was a very senior level in an oil and gas company in Russia far-east making a lot of money. I knew that I would be able to get a decent salary in Canada but never that much. So for me it was not an economical drive to immigrate but rather an aspiration of a better (safety, dignity, society) life for my kids and myself. Even though I was sure I would find a well-paid job in Canada, and despite having a significant financial cushion should I lose my cash stream, I still opted to bring the family over and rotate back and force for 3 months before I secured a good job. Suncor, the biggest oil and gas Canadian company, and the first company I worked for in Canada, had to rewrite the offer of employment 3 times to meet my expectations and to have me (an immigrant!) to accept. So please don't tell me about us immigrants being discriminated just because of being from elsewhere.
This long post was not meant to demonstrate how great and successful I am personally. But rather to underscore the notion of equality, meritocracy of the Canadian society and, most importantly, personal skills and merits that are and will always be the main drive for success in any country.
one day might come or not but I left 