Canhun said:
Muby - CONGRATULATIONS!! I was smiling so much when I read your message. Yes I agree with you that good people are working at Vienna, there is just too much work and not enough people! When will you arrive?
Tom - I too don't know what to make of your coorespondance. My heart broke a little when I read it. I truly hope that does not mean you are set back. I guess you will know more when your case papers arrive.
So much talk about Canada lately, I will throw my opinion out there: Canada is so big, that it also has very different cultures in many of the different cities and provinces. Some people who live in British Columbia would never move out east to Newfoundland and vice versa. It would be like moving to another country! I am sure that there is the right fit for everybody in Canada, it's just sooo big that you will have to find it!
Ottawa is my husband's perfect fit. Small town feel, but a city, with so much clean green space. It's conservative though, so the creative/artsy prefer Montreal or Toronto. But I really believe there is something here for everyone!! I do hope to get together with the GTA/Eastern Ontario crowd someday to have a celebratory drink
Jobs are another thing that vary soooo much by location. Canada as a whole has a lot of jobs to offer, but the right fit might be far away. Canada is not that much smaller than all of Europe.
Dear Canhun
I am getting over the initial shock by saying to my self that if it had depended on me then I would fix it. But it's not...
You are so right on your thoughts of the Canada subject!
i like to paste here an essay about immigrating to Canada and how to settle in without causing pain! I am not sure who was the author of this very nice document but from what I heard he was from India and a member of our forum. Read it and you might see your self in it!
Tom
New Immigrant Settlement Tips
Most new immigrants who have landed or are going to land have a lot of questions regarding life in Canada. I have tried to provide some info here for everybody's benefit. Hope this helps.
BASIC Dos & DONTs
DON'T CONVERT THE COST OF ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING FROM CAD TO YOUR HOME CURRENCY – this will only scare you and give you unnecessary tension
DON'T STICK TO YOUR OWN COMMUNITY – while your own community gives you a feeling of “home” and emotional support, it may not be the best thing to do. I am saying this because if you only talk to people from your community or spend time only with them then your perception of Canada in general and life here specifically will be completely skewed and in some cases completely wrong. Heres an example, imagine you meet a 40 year old doctor from India who has immigrated and is finding extreme difficulty in finding work here because his educational credentials need re-certification as per Canadian standards, being 40 years old he maybe quite rigid in his thinking and he might think Canada is treating him unfairly despite his educational qualifications and experience, however Canada and Canadian hospitals are only following rules and not biased against this specific doctor. Now you land here as an IT professional and meet this doctor in your local community gatherings and hear his sad story. Though it is completely unrelated to your situation, profession, qualification or experience it may demotivate you a lot because you see a fellow country man, with fantastic qualifications and experience struggling here to get a job and your morale goes down. In that state you mind will not think rationally and you will lose positivity.
LEARN THE CULTURE OF CANADA – I am not saying google Canada and learn everything by heart like how we study for exams in India. When you move around in Canada, see how people treat each other it can be the man at the immigration counter at the airport, the taxi driver who drops you to your place of stay, the man at the ticket counter in the subway station or fast food store, the manager at the bank, etc. Basically anybody and everybody you meet in life teaches you something consciously or unconsciously, when you interact with different types of people try to observe them, their gestures, body language, tone of voice, volume level of speech, dress sense etc and try to understand the culture, general rules of communication, mutual respect and boundaries. This will help you a great deal in tailoring your communication skills to Canadian standards. Most Indians have a wrong attitude of thinking western people have no culture or that Indian culture is superior, that is stupid and will only lead you down the wrong path. India has a rich culture and heritage, that doesn't mean we are the only ones. Learn to understand the difference between something which is wrong and something which is just different from what you do. And remember just because I do something in a different way and not like you doesn't make me wrong and you right, we are just different people, you may not want to appreciate that but atleast you should internally acknowledge this difference and accept it as a natural thing, else you will isolate yourself and see every westerner as biased, racist, wrong or stupid (according to you)
DON'T FEEL THAT CANADA OWES YOU SOMETHING BECAUSE THEY INVITED AND ACCEPTED YOUR IMMIGRATION APPLICATION – Remember immigration is more of a political decision than an economic decision for the government. You may have very good qualifications and experience in your home country, but that may not mean anything in Canada. Canadian government does not guarantee every immigrant employment what they guarantee is a quality and standard of life which is very good if you can sort out the basics like job, housing etc. Imagine you are an Indian in India and one day an African person comes to your office and says he has done MBA from the Univesity of Mogadishu and passed in first rank, he has worked in the Bank of Kilimanjaro for 15 years as chief accountant and wants you to give him a job as chief accountant in your company. What will you think? Do you know where the University of Mogadishu is?? NO...do you know if the University is any good?? NO...do you know anything about the Bank of Kilimanjaro?? NO would you give this guy a job?? NO!! you would not want to take that risk, you would rather consider a local Indian applicant who has studied in a university you know and worked in a company which you know or which you can easily check on using your contacts in India. This is the same story in Canada and this is the truth, Canadian employers are not biased against immigrants, they just don't want to take a risk with an unknown person with unknown qualifications and work experience in unknown companies So what do you do to land a job...read on..
IMPROVE YOUR COMMUNICATION SKILLS – I cannot stress the importance of this more that what has already been said by many senior people on this forum. When you apply for jobs initially you are nothing but a voice on a phone claiming to have studied something and worked somewhere and to know so many things. If this voice is not clearly understandable then the person at the other end will most probably not belive the information or will atleast be doubtful, also he may not want to continue a conversation which he is not able to understand. I am not saying every new immigrant should speak the queen's English with a perfect accent. But every immigrant should be able to speak clear English without any mother tongue influence, every immigrant should be able to communicate his ides and thoughts clearly in a manner in which anybody anywhere in the world can understand. Even on this forum itself if you see many people post in very poor English, this is not because they don't know English, this is because they are thinking in their mother tongue and then doing a direct translation or transliteration into English!! If you want to make an impression on potential employers then please polish your English skills, you may clear IELTS and may have studied and spoken English for many years but that still doesn't mean you know the language well. Here is a simple test, watch an English serial on youtube without subtitles, try to write down the dialogues and then watch it with subtitles and see how much of the dialogues you got right. This will tell you how much you understand the accent and the language. Remember English is not our language its theirs and therefore they are the ones who decide what correct English is not you and me!!
Other keys to success
•Have an open mind – your culture is rich valuable and wonderful wherever you came from, but the one that you have come to (Canada) is neither lower nor worse than your own culture its just different
•Life is not easy – in most cases people go through lots of hardships in their own home countries, a new adopted country will be more difficult initially, its like joining a new job, or school or moving to a new neighborhood. Make double the effort to integrate yourself into this new culture and community
•Your future and destiny is what you make of it and nobody else has a say in it!! – strive hard, work hard and pray hard...you will be successful. God did not create any damaged goods!! Everybody has their own talents and skills, identify your strengths and project them and identify your weak areas and work harder to improve them.
•Be polite, respectful and courteous – You may not be an IT genius or heart surgeon, but somebody may like you just because of your nature and attitude and help you. Most geniuses work alone in laboratories, it's the normal people with average intelligence and positive attitude who build society and make it a safe and happy place to live in!!
•Don't be jealous of other people's success – somebody may have landed 6 months after you did and may land a job in 2 weeks whereas you maybe struggling for last 6 months. Don't be jealous, be genuinely happy for them, congratulate them, they maybe able to help you with some tips on how they achieved success. Jealousy and all other negative attitudes should be thrown in the garbage bin in the airport when you land in Canada!!
