Looking for Employment after Landing?

[britincanada]

I "landed" on 29th Sept 2010 and have got my SIN, Now I am looking for work in Canada..

When writing a Cover letter to an employer to accompany a resume would you include the fact that you are a new immigrant to Canada? Or in which country you gained your experience? I am having trouble writing my cover letters, I have spent 5 years in Canada without being able to work, so the last time I had a job was in the UK 5 years ago as a Supervisor in a Grocery store. Should I include a paragraph explaining why there is a 5 year gap??

Thank you

 

[Suin]

I would mention the reason about a gap - this will explain why you didn't work, and that is a good reason.

 

[Robins]

I "landed" on 29th Sept 2010 and have got my SIN, Now I am looking for work in Canada..

When writing a Cover letter to an employer to accompany a resume would you include the fact that you are a new immigrant to Canada? Or in which country you gained your experience? I am having trouble writing my cover letters, I have spent 5 years in Canada without being able to work, so the last time I had a job was in the UK 5 years ago as a Supervisor in a Grocery store. Should I include a paragraph explaining why there is a 5 year gap??

Thank you

I don't understand.
You landed 7 days ago. And yet you have been living in Canada for the past 5 years. ??? doing what?
studying, keeping house, traveling ...

 

[britincanada]

I am a stay at home mum and my Visitor Record prohibited me from working..I didn't qualify for a Work Permit and Child care is expensive..so yep I kept house

 

[Robins]

I am a stay at home mum and my Visitor Record prohibited me from working..I didn't qualify for a Work Permit and Child care is expensive..so yep I kept house

That's a wonderful reason. :-* Besides you could not work legally then.
I'm sure that your prospective employer(s) will understand.

 

[angelbrat]

Being a stay at home Mom is perfectly exceptable. However, many employers may well question your 'up to date' knowledge about basic stuff, like computers etc.

Depending what kind of job you are intending to apply for, it may well work for you to do a short back to work basic course. I know they are available here in Vancouver, targeted at stay at home Moms, who are now ready to go back into the work environment.

Might be worth investigating this possibility.

 

[britincanada]

Being a stay at home Mom is perfectly exceptable. However, many employers may well question your 'up to date' knowledge about basic stuff, like computers etc.

Depending what kind of job you are intending to apply for, it may well work for you to do a short back to work basic course. I know they are available here in Vancouver, targeted at stay at home Moms, who are now ready to go back into the work environment.

Might be worth investigating this possibility.

Thats a great idea thanks, I had never thought of that! I will do some investigating

 

[PommeDeRoute]

Hi,

My advice would be to treat the stay at home period just like any other job on your CV to avoid a gap completely. As others have said, staying at home to raise children is a perfectly acceptable reason to have been out of the "mainstream" workforce. So, I would do something like this:

Stay-at-Home Mom, 2005-Present.

• Efficiently managed household finances
• Planned, prepared and served nutritious meals and snacks to 5 people on a daily basis
• Tutored and assisted children with academic assignments as needed
• Made minor household repairs and improvements such as painting, wallpapering and carpeting
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Voila! No more gaps
  
  
  
  Regarding up-to-date skills: Have you done any volunteering or taken any classes? If so, add this to your CV. It is another good way to avoid gaps. Even if you have worked with software packages at home or on your own, you can still list these as skills. For example: Microsoft has excellent tutorials in the Office Suite package right on their website. Doing these tutorials was enough to allow me to score as an advanced user on an employment agency test once. Just think out of the box. I'm sure you have a lot of knowledge and experience you can list.
  
  Good luck!​

 

[Suin]

that's a great idea! thank you!

 

[britincanada]

Hi,

My advice would be to treat the stay at home period just like any other job on your CV to avoid a gap completely. As others have said, staying at home to raise children is a perfectly acceptable reason to have been out of the "mainstream" workforce. So, I would do something like this:

Stay-at-Home Mom, 2005-Present.

• Efficiently managed household finances
• Planned, prepared and served nutritious meals and snacks to 5 people on a daily basis
• Tutored and assisted children with academic assignments as needed
• Made minor household repairs and improvements such as painting, wallpapering and carpeting
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Voila! No more gaps
  
  
  
  Regarding up-to-date skills: Have you done any volunteering or taken any classes? If so, add this to your CV. It is another good way to avoid gaps. Even if you have worked with software packages at home or on your own, you can still list these as skills. For example: Microsoft has excellent tutorials in the Office Suite package right on their website. Doing these tutorials was enough to allow me to score as an advanced user on an employment agency test once. Just think out of the box. I'm sure you have a lot of knowledge and experience you can list.
  
  Good luck!​

Thank you, I had not actually considered putting Stay at home mom on my resume..how silly of me lol..