Setting up and Running a Successful International Virtual Office

As an entrepreneur or startup, presenting your business card with an address at a prime business location in Toronto would leave a great first impression. But if you’re thinking of expanding your business globally, and reaching out to new markets, wouldn’t it be great to present your card with your address in your target market? Could it be in New York or Tokyo or other cities?

Can you afford having high profile offices in each of these business centres? Most probably, not. In addition to high rental cost, it wouldn’t be affordable for a small business to rent and hire staff in different cities for an extended period of time. 

You wish you could invite your clients to meet at your prestigious offices, and close that deal you've been working on for a while at your home office. Is it possible to get a prestigious office when you need it? You could do your day to day work anywhere else, as long as you have your laptop and your phone with you… 

Can someone answer the phone in Japanese and provide you with the message you need, while you are in another country? You would like to have your company’s name when the phone rings, a message taken, and delivered to you on time, without hiring full time assistants.  

You need to get your mail delivered to you, although you cannot pick it up overseas. You need to see the official letters delivered to you on time, without having to inform the sender that you are not actually in that country.  

Could there be a one stop shop combining these services, allowing you to pay for the time you spend in a meeting at the office? Could you pay the assistant for the time spent taking the messages, without paying vacation days?

Thanks to “Virtual Offices”, you can have a prestigious profile, at low cost! 

Virtual offices provide entrepreneurs, startups, and small businesses with a cost efficient high-profile professional image. Businesses of any size can also establish global presence across countries, thanks to international virtual offices. In a business world where appearances and first impressions count, this service enables small businesses to be presentable and at par with big businesses.

A virtual office saves the rental cost of a high profile office in a prestigious business building. It also saves commuting time and cost; as well as the cost of hiring full time assistants, and paying for vacations or sick leaves. Whether the entrepreneur is working from home-office, or travelling from one country to another, calls can be professionally answered, mail can be forwarded, and you can hear your voice mail, even if it was delivered to a phone number in another country. 

Setting Up an International Virtual Office

• Decide which country the virtual office be located in. This depends on your global expansion strategy, and the market for your product or service. 
• Choose your virtual office operator. Compare prices and terms of service.

       Some international virtual office operators: 

      Regus operates virtual offices in 1800 locations around the globe, including Toronto.

      Servcorp operates virtual offices in 140 in 20 countries, excluding Canada. 

      Global Virtual Offices provides offices in USA and internationally.

      VH International Business Solutions provides virtual offices in New York.

• Compare prices of different operators, if more than one operator exist in the city of your choice. Compare the prices of different business buildings. The prices differ from one building to another.
• In case you travel frequently and need to meet with business partners in different countries, you could choose an operator with global presence.
• Decide on the period of time you will be using the virtual office. Some companies  provide a trial period for a month, followed by month to month payments. Some companies offer 20% discount for annual membership, while others provide annual contracts only.
• Voice mail and fax can be forwarded to you through email. You can receive a call, or a message informing you that you got voice mail.
• Choose the frequency at which you want the mail to be delivered to you- weekly or monthly. Get a scanned copy of the mail you receive, as soon as it arrives at your virtual address.
• Live answering of incoming calls. The agent can take a message, and send you an email with the content. The caller can be directed to a voice mail box to leave a message.  
• Fill out the required forms. Provide your full contact information, company name, actual address, ID information, credit card information.
• Provide the script for the greeting of incoming calls. It will be recorded professionally. 
• Incorporate the business at chosen location for $100. 
• Pay the fees using your credit card. 

Successfully Operating a Virtual Office

• Choose products that suit your needs.
• Use Live Answering service, and don't rely solely on voice mail. Voice mail is overused, and too many calls are unanswered. 
• Have your mail scanned and forwarded to you once received. Mail delivery is already time consuming. 
• Meet business partners when possible. Office space can cost only $25 per hour.
• Paying for a short period of time, could be more expensive. Consider getting a longer period of time.
• Compare the prices of different operators. Having the virtual office can cost $1 per day, $600 per year, and can reach $3000 per year.

Maintain your professional profile… Your day-to-day office complements the virtual office’s professional look…

• Choose a quiet location 
• Set up your own office space and equipment. A laptop, with backup and antivirus software, wireless broadband, a phone, a printer, scanner.
• Keep your space tidy, especially if you need to have virtual conference calls. 
• Dress up professionally for conference calls and virtual meetings.

Could virtual offices help reduce small business failure? Future research comparing performance of companies using virtual offices and others that don’t, could provide interesting results. 

"Cobourg"- Northumberland County- East of Toronto | Knowing more about Cities in Canada

Cobourg is a "very" small town to the East of Toronto. It is part of Northumberland County.

I got the chance to visit Cobourg recently for one day.

Getting to Cobourg is very expensive if you don't have a car, and there is limited transportation inside Cobourg. You can get a taxi if you don't have a car to move inside

Via Rail has 4 trips per day from Toronto. You can check the prices of Via Rail online. Add to that the cost of the bus to Toronto from Mississauga, and a taxi in Cobourg.. and it would add up to around $100 for a round trip.

Cobourg is really small. I let the taxi driver take me around. There was basically one street which has all the shops. However, all shops close at 6:00 pm.

You would definitely need a car in Cobourg. The buses stop operating at 7:00.

The town is not well lit at night. There aren't a lot of buildings and houses in it. So you would definitely be identified as someone new in the street!

People living in Cobourg have been living there for a long time... it is basically their hometown. They live and work there.

The rental costs around $1250.. whether the building hosts older generation, or younger people. Utilities are added to the rental cost. As for the cost of buying an apartment, a two bedroom apartment costs $165,000.

New funding for Economic development in Eastern Ontario will help bring more businesses to Northumberland County.

Northumberland CFDC provides up to $30,000 funding for scientists and engineers willing to start their business in Northumberland County.

Northumberland CFDC is seeking entrepreneurs from Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields who have a market-ready product or process innovation that they wish to commercialize in Northumberland County. Start-up businesses launched in Northumberland through the Scientists and Engineers in Business (SEB) Initiative may be eligible to receive up to $30,000 in the form of non-repayable performance-based contributions matching the STEM Entrepreneur’s equity in their new company.

http://www.northumberlandcfdc.ca/seb/

People working in Cobourg don't really need to go to Toronto much, as they work within Northumberland County.

If you find a job in Northumberland County, you would have to live in that area.

"Mississauga" - Peel Region - West of Toronto | Knowing more about Cities in Canada

Mississauga is a big city in Peel Region. It is on the West side of Toronto.

Square One is a big mall in Mississauga. Just beside it is the bus terminal of Mississauga Transit, in addition to Go Buses.

You can take Milton train from Union Station to Square One- Mississauga. The bus runs to Square One frequently. Their is either a train, or a bus at one given point in time. You can install the Go Transit iphone application to check the timings.

Mississauga is home to a lot of immigrants from different cultures. There are a lot of restaurants from different culutres, from Arabic, to Chinese, to Japanese, to Vietnamese, to Indian, in additiont to Western food, and all the food chains that are found at all the malls.

A lot of families live in Mississauga, although the father/ mother's job might be in other cities, and they would have to commute. In addition to the commuting time, the cost of fuel could reach $600 per month, and the companies might not cover this cost.

Houses in Mississauga are very expensive. The prices exceed $500,000 and reach $700,000. You don't have to be a millionnaire to live in these houses. What you need is a big downpayment, and mortgage that you will be paying off over many years. People do sell one house and move to another, and they don't have to live in the same house for 30 years.

Can insurance is more expensive in Mississauga than in smaller cities, such as Oshawa. Car insuarance can cost $5000 per year for $5000 car. Such a car would be old and would require having maintenance.

Public schools that offer French education are called "French immersion". The kids take one day of French, and one day of English studies.

The day care is very expensive in Canada, and can reach $1500 per month. Some moms decide to become stay at home moms, instead of working, due to high cost of day care. If the mom works, the child's day would be too long as well.

Mississauga Public Library is very big. It is a convenient place to work on your own laptop. You have free wireless Internet access.

There is a nice skating place just beside the libarary. In the summer, kids enjoy playing with water fountains/ splash pads. There are a lot of nice parks in Mississauga.

"Oshawa" - Durham Region- East of Toronto | Knowing more about Cities in Canada

Oshawa is a small city to the East of Toronto. It is part of "Durham Region", which includes: Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa.

Transportation from Oshawa to Toronto is a disadvantage, especially if you rely on public transportation, as I do. I had to take a bus from Oshawa to Ajax, which took one hour, and then a train from Ajax to Toronto. Going back to Oshawa was the same issue. Walking back to catch the train from Toronto's Union Station, then to catch the bus that goes from Ajax to Oshawa - UOIT / Durham College.

Although Go Transit increased the number of Lakeshore East trains to every half an hour from Union Station to Oshawa, Durham Region Transit reduced or even cut the buses from Oshawa Go Station to University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) and Durham College. Durham Region Transit mainly doesn't not want to serve Oshawa Go Station. A lot of people who live in Oshawa and commute to Toronto, have their cars parked at Oshawa Go Station. This would be an easy solution, if you can get a car. (Car insurance would be $300, gas would cost $280 on average in Ontario, car maintenance, cost of the car...).

On the weekend the buses in Oshawa are only every hour.  If you miss one, you have to wait another hour.

Go Transit's iphone application is a good one. However, Durham Region Transit doesn't have a good iphone application for the bus schedules. So you need to find the bus schedule that you find online or in the DRT book, with the Go Schedule.

Sometimes a bus would reach the Go station after the train leaves, so you'd have to wait for the next train. The same issue is when coming back from Toronto to Ajax.

I think there needs to be more coordination between Durham Region Transit and Go Transit.

Durham Region Transit routes do not appear on Google Maps. So you can't really find which buses to take within Durham Region when searching on Google Maps, unlike Go Transit.

There is a bus from Mississauga / Square One to York University, then another bus from York University to University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT).  This is pretty convenient if you are going to Mississauga. But it doesn't go to Toronto.

As there are a lot of students in Oshawa, you can find a room in a shared house with other students. This would be cheaper than getting a condo in Toronto, if you were living in Toronto.

Some people live in Oshawa and commute to Toronto. The houses are cheapter there. There are houses for around $325,000. However, this would be the price of one room in Toronto.

General Motors has operations in Oshawa. It closed part of its operation in 2012, and 2000 people were laid off. In October 2013, General Motors decided to delay closure of its Oshawa assembly plant till 2016. http://globalnews.ca/news/908287/gm-delays-closure-of-oshawa-assembly-line/

I lived in Oshawa as I worked at UOIT for 15 months. I stayed in Oshawa for several months after my contract ended. I decided to move out of it, because of limited transportation to/ from Toronto. 

Planning to move to Canada? What to expect and points to be aware of...

1.     Although you were able to progress in your career, and you gained experience over the years before moving to Canada, finding a job is a challenge on its own. 

2.     You might find a job in a new field in which you did not work previously. So you need to expand your search beyond the fields that you worked in previously. This is where "transferrable skills" come in.

3.     You need to have money before moving to Canada. This money comes from savings in previous jobs that you held. A good thing for the Canadian banks..

4.     After moving to Canada, you will be spending money that you saved previously. If you have no savings, don't move. If you think that you'll be making and saving money, revise your expectations.

5.     Finding a place to live in, is actually tied to employment. A lot of landlords ask for one year lease, and you are requested to provide proof of employment, and references from previous landlords. If you don't have a job, it is difficult to find a place to live in.

6.     Rent is very expensive. $1000 per month is not enough in Toronto.

7.     Houses cost over half a million dollars.  

8.     Finding a job is more difficult than you thought.

9.     A lot of jobs are contract jobs, and not permanent positions. If you just look for permanent employment, your search will be a lot more difficult and a lot longer.

10. Once a contract ends, you are back to a new job search.. that could be longer than the first.

11. International experience and education are definitely discounted.

12. The interviews are scarcer than you thought.

13. Salaries are lower than you thought.

14. The job titles are more flat. People could have the same title for years. Career progression does not follow a steady path as in other countries.

15. A lot of Canadians are looking for a job... not just immigrants...

16. Finding a job is not just difficult for immigrants, but for Canadians as well....

17. A lot of people are establishing their own business instead of waiting to find a job... although it is known that a lot of businesses fail...

18. You would think that you would be able to find a job quicker than others as you were progressing in your career.... and you'll be surprised to see that finding a job is a challenge, even to you!

19.  You need to be lucky more than once in your job search. Being lucky once is not enough in the contract job market.

20. There are a lot of jobs that are posted out there... you might be applying for lots of jobs by submitting your resume on the companies' websites... If a recruiter thinks you are a good fit for a position, and it turns out that you applied on the company's website directly, then the recruiter can't present you to their client! The companies work with recruiters, in addition to posting the jobs online.

21. The companies post the jobs online, after posting the job internally...

22. Some of the jobs that are posted online have already been filled... but they are still posted…

23. Long job descriptions, with a lot of details and credentials required... Even a job that might seem very easy, such as cashier at a big store would have a long description…

24. You would be considered overqualified for entry level positions, and lacking experience for higher level positions.

25. Large number of applications received by big companies, while small companies might not receive enough applications. Big companies could receive over 4500 applications or up to 40,000 for one job posting. A small company might not receive the minimum allocated number of resumes for a job posting.

26. Some companies offer Free internship for several months

27. Financial services companies that provide commission only positions, referred to as entrepreneurial business. You might be contacted for these opportunities.

28. Small companies looking to grow their business, without the capacity to hire employees full time for longer periods of time to confidently grow the business.

29. Multilevel marketing or network marketing, and companies trying to grow their business through word of mouth, providing commission without hiring employees full time. Referred to as “Opportunity for lifetime earnings”.

30. A lot of services are available in the market to job hunters, starting from resume writing, to job search strategies. A thousand dollars is not enough if you wanted to tap into these services.

31. You could apply for hundreds of jobs, and never hear from a lot of companies. Getting to the interviewing process is what is needed.

32. You will be happy to know details on the hiring process and timelines. It is one of the companies you heard back from.

33. You will be happy to get an answer quickly after an interview, even if you didn’t get the job. You need to continue searching if you did not get hired. Getting a prompt answer makes a difference.

 34. Statistics show that the Unemployment rate for immigrants landed 5 or less years earlier is 12.1%, more than double the unemployment rate for Canadian borns. Even after 10 years from being in Canada, the unemployment rate for immigrants is higher than the unemployment rate for Canadian borns. 

     

     Labor force statistics by immigrant status

35. You will be astonished when you learn the definitions of “visible minority”, and “non white". If this is the first time to hear of the terms… you might find that you are considered non white although you could be white. This is definitely astonishing as the days of discrimination by race or color are long gone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visible_minority

      According to the Employment Equity Act of 1995, the definition of visible minority is: 

“members of visible minorities” means persons, other than aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour;^[7]

This definition can be traced back to the 1984 Report of the Abella Commission on Equality in Employment,. The Commission described the term visible minority as an "ambiguous categorization", but for practical purposes interpreted it to mean "visibly non-white".^[8] The Canadian government uses an operational definition where they classify as visible minorities the following groups: Blacks, Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, Koreans, Latin Americans, Pacific Islanders, South Asians, and West Asians/Arabs.^[9]

The term “non-white” is used in the wording of the Employment Equity Act and in employment equity questionnaires distributed to applicants and employees. This is intended as a shorthand phrase for those who are in the Aboriginal and/or visible minority groups. In this context, the use of the term non-white does open the door to ambiguity. For example, people who are Arabs or Latin Americans or even some South Asians may consider themselves to be white, yet the federal government treats Arabs and Latin Americans as members of the visible minority category.^[11]

36. Please join “Hire Immigrants in Canada” LinkedIn Group… You can find lots of discussions there… Please be active on the group!


(Added points 31-34 on Dec 16, 2013)

Can excessive tatoos affect a person's career? 

By Serene Zawaydeh
There is an increasing wave of tatoos on the streets in Canada. Tatoos are reaching the neck, full arms, legs!

In addition to tatoos, and piercing, big round circles that make the lower part of the ear grow into a big circle.. I don't know what these are called.

What are the prospects of employment for people who have all the above tatoos and earrings? Are they risking their future employment to specific sectors that don't mind having all the tatoos?

I really wonder about the reasons behind having all of the body tatoos. Is it to bring attention to the individual? The only reason that I can think of is having attention. However, when so many people are getting tatoos, it's difficult to be distinguished for something specific, other than having the tatoo.

I haven't seen excessive tatoos in the financial industry.

Would the decision to hire a person, for example, in a bank or a financial institution, be affected by the fact that they have a full body tatoo or round circles in their ears?

Could there be additional screening questions, on whether the person has tatoos if this is the case?

Are there any national surveys, asking about the reasons behind having all these tatoos, and linking the results to the person's career and the prospects for professional development?

If this is the case, maybe getting excessive tatoos might be reconsidered.

Following is an image that I saw and I am reposting it.

High car insurance fees in Ontario...Is driving in Ontario more risky than driving in other countries? 

By Serene Zawaydeh.

Car insurance fees are very expensive in Ontario. Especially for someone who doesn't have previous driving experience. Insurance on a $5000 car can cost $5000 for a newcomer. Getting a drivers license is not something that everybody can afford, especially since finding a job takes some time.

Someone who has prior driving experience, needs to learn new rules for driving.

Traffic lights exist in order to manage who goes when, and who should stop, and when.

However, in Ontario, I keep wondering why the red traffic lights, does not necessarily mean that you should stop. And more importantly, the green traffic lights, do not mean that it's your turn to go.

Case 1: At an intersection, when the green light turns green, the cars actually have to stop in the middle of the intersection, and have to keep on waiting for the cars that are going straight, and then when the road is clear, they can go ahead. Sometimes, the light might be green, but you actually have to stop until all the cars pass, and at some points the traffic lights turn red. It is at that point, that you can pass. In this case, the car had to stop on the green light, and passed on the red light. The green does not mean "go", and the red does not mean "stop". When the red light doesn't necessarily mean "stop", and going on red is actually something that is just fine... and when the green light doesn't really mean go, and it actually means you have to wait.. the red light and the green light lose their "value"... This definitely increases risk on the road.

So what is the alternative way of going to the left on an intersection? The alternative is using a green light arrow, which signals that the driver can go to the left at that time. However, in Ontario, the green left arrow is rarely seen, and it quickly changes back to the "general" round light which is not necessarily for going to the left.

Case 2: The second case in which the red light doesn't mean stop, is when you want to go to the right. You can go right on red. In this case, the red traffic light, also does not mean "stop". However, it is imperative to come to a complete stop, and not to do a rolling stop. If  the driver doesn't come to a complete stop, they can fail the driving test.

Case 3: The third case is actually risky for the pedestrians walking in the streets. When it's time for the pedestrians to cross the road, the traffic lights are also green for the cars that want to go to the right. The cars actually have to wait for the pedestrians to cross the road, who cross the road at normal speed, as it is their right of way. The drivers have to wait for the pedestrian to pass, after already waiting for their turn, waiting at the red light. I attended a stand up comedy show, and this was actually one of the funny situations that the comedian described... the comedian described the driver while waiting for the pedestrians to cross the road.

Case 4: On the highway, the drivers are supposed to drive at 100 km per hour. Driving at 80 km/h would be driving at low speed, increasing risk of getting into an accident. Everybody is supposed to drive at high speed. Driving slower would mean that the cars would be uncomfortable with the fact that this driver is on the highway. However, during the high traffic times, the cars just wait on the same highway, at which the speed limit is 100km/h, and everybody has to live with it. How come driving at 80km/h was not ok, while just waiting on the highway without moving is ok?

In addition to the above, the driving distances in Ontario are long. As the distance travelled increases, the risk of having an accident increases.

Case 5: The first driving test is the written test. One can drive with another person in the car who has 4 years experience with a G license. You have to wait for one year (or 8 months) and then go for the G2 test (driving in the residential areas). This rule is fine for a teen ager who has their parents teaching them how to drive. However, this rule does not take into consideration that people who move to Canada, do not have someone to drive the car with them. A mother would have to keep the car parked in the garage, while her husband is away. A single person moving to Canada,  would not have anybody to drive the car with them.

Case 6: After passing the G2 test, the person can drive on the highway on their own. One year after getting the G2 test, the person can go to the G test, which is driving on the highway. They need to be confident of their driving, and once they are confident, they can go for the G test, or the test on the highway.

Since having the G2 license enables the driver to drive on the highway, there are a lot of people who already have the G2 license, and are driving on the highway. These drivers, need time to get the training they need, in order to pass the G test, which includes driving on the highway at 100km/h.. or even higher, as the person has to drive at the speed of the traffic. If the person is not sure of themselves, they would drive at lower speed, which means going back to case 5. A person driving at lower than 100km/h would be annoying other cars. However, the person is allowed to drive with a G2 license. This means that there are a lot of people with a G2 license who are driving on the highway.

If a person is already driving on the highway, why would they need to do a test after getting comfortable with driving on the highway? driving on the highway already? Getting the G license would enable the insurance company to give a lower insurance rate. However, if they cause an accident, the insurance rates go up.

The ministry approved driving schools give 20 hours in class, and 10 hours on the road. The 10 hours on the road would be for driving in residential areas. They are not for driving on the highway. This means that the people have to learn how to drive on the highway on their own.. thereby  increasing risk on the road, as they can't drive at the high speed right away.

The following rules are used in other countries, in which insurance rates are lower than in Ontario.

• A red light means that you have to stop. You cannot go right on red.
• You don't have wait in the middle of the intersection with the light being green for you. In oder to go to the left, there is a green arrow that signals that it is time for you to go to the left, or to the right.
• The cars don't have to wait for the pedestrians to pass when the light is green for them. This is because the pedestrians get the green light when it is time for them  to pass. During this time, the cars do get the green light this direction.
• If a driver wants to drive at low speed, they can drive on the right hand side of the highway. The cars on the left hand side of the highway go fast.
• There is no rule that says that you can drive only if you have someone who can drive with you. Either you can drive, or you can't drive. The written test does not enable you to drive. You can drive when you pass the test. 

I wonder if re-engineering the traffic lights system in Ontario, and adopting some of the rules that are common elsewhere, could reduce the waiting times at the green lights, reduce risk on the road, and consequently reduce insurance rates.

This article was written by Serene Zawaydeh. (serene.zawaydeh@gmail.com).

Hire Immigrants in Canada’s First Group Meeting Concludes with Uncovering Hidden Gems

By: Serene Zawaydeh, November 4, 2013

Two years after "Hire Immigrants in Canada" LinkedIn Group was started, the group had its first meeting. The meeting was at Eaton Centre, and took place on November 3, 2013, and was scheduled between 4:00 and 6:00 pm. The LinkedIn Group and the meeting were organized by Serene Zawaydeh, who established the group on October 29, 2011, a few months after moving to Canada from Jordan. Serene has been initiating discussions on the job market, and would like to find solutions that will enable immigrants to keep progressing in their careers after moving to Canada. The LinkedIn group attracted 508 members as of November 3, 2013. Information about the Group meeting was announced on LinkedIn, and Twitter, and Facebook. EventBrite was used to announce the meeting and to communicate with the attendees.

6 people attended the meeting, and it was an interesting discussion. Following is an overview of some of the points discussed, in addition to background information about the participants who were accepted to have their information mentioned in this review.

Paul was the first to find Serene at the Food Court in Eaton Centre, and started with the saying….It takes 2 people to start a meeting!

The first task was a geography test... finding where the other person's country is! Jamaica and Jordan were not easy to find! Once Jordan was found, it was easy to find Palestine. India, Russia, were the easy part!

Paul has been in Canada for 30 years, and his passion with taxes started at 14! Paul knows a lot of details about taxes. He has his own business at home, and is very diligent in his work. He reviews the taxes for the past 10 years.. and he is always up to date with the latest changes in taxes that come up in July. His objective is to refund more money for his clients. There was a case of a single mother, and Paul identified refunds of $15,000 as she's been a single mother for 11 years. As for commuting, it's from bed to home office.. and has a lot of coffee meetings at Tim Hortons. The discussion on taxes was a hot topic, as everybody had some questions, and Paul was there to answer. The discussion went on!

Dr. Sarath said a very important fact: A lot of work is outsourced to India. However, when doctors, engineers, and highly educated professionals come from India to Canada, they cannot find a job!

Dr. Sarath practiced medicine, and worked with patients, in addition to working with drug safety. He is a medical doctor, and is now working part time in clinical research. He worked with Novartis as well. He was advised to remove his MD from his resume to apply for a position that did not require MD. He went through several exams to apply for a position, and did well at them, and then was told after a month, that another person was selected. He was told that he doesn't have relevant education. It could be a good to check out colleges outside of Toronto, in case there might be other opportunities. Moving to another provide was also mentioned. However, that also means initiating a job hunt in another location, while the school year has to be taken into consideration.

Dr. Leena is also a doctor, and has a Master's degree in dentistry and specialization in dentures, and was an assistant professor in India. She is now at home, and couldn't find a job yet. Even a position as a dentist's assistant is difficult to obtain. Dr. Sarath and Dr. Leena moved to Canada in June 2013 with their daughter. Their immigration process was very quick, and took just 9 months to get the permanent residency.

The issue of doctors or engineers driving cabs was also brought up. While patients have to wait for months to get a meeting with a specialist, immigrant doctors cannot practice their profession. Meanwhile, the human body is the same regardless of a geographical location...if a person is sick in one country, and a doctor can cure them over there… why would the same doctor not be qualified to cure a person in Canada?

Mona worked for over 17 years in the banking industry, and was Depute Branch Manager at an international bank in Qatar. After moving to Canada, she realized she didn't want to pursue banking anymore and wanted a change in career. Instead, she started pursing the Media industry. She found her passion in Media Production and said that she was fortunate to have the advantage of circumstance that introduced her to the world of Media Production, and realized right then that this was what she wanted to do.

She immediately pursued her passion and as a starting point, she's currently offering video transcription service of documentaries and interviews as an Independent Freelancer. She also helped a friend who is also a Freelancer in the Media business and currently working as Director of Development, in critiquing scripts written for movies and are currently work-in-progress. Mona said she loved this type of work that is giving feedback on scripts written for motion picture and television production and would like to pursue that further and grow career wise in Media production. She volunteered for Luminato, Toronto Art Festival and was part of a special project of interviewing new Canadians at the Canadian Citizenship Ceremony that took place in June 2012.

Now that she found her passion and working as part time, unfortunately, there is no constant flow of work in Media and most of the time, she has no work to do. She understands that having no Canadian Certificate in Media will make it extremely difficult for her to land a job in this industry unless work/introduction/reference comes from close friends and network. She decided that she would continue to pursue work in Media, while looking for other jobs where she can use her expertise in providing outstanding customer service, having worked in a service industry before. She tried stores like Indigo and Shoppers Drug Mart, but without luck till now.

Sending resumes online was not an effective method of finding a job so far. Through networking, volunteering at conferences and attending networking events, Serene was able to find her first job in Canada. It was an internship in technology transfer and commercialization at a university. The contract ended after 15 months. Her second job hunt is taking longer than the first job hunt, despite gaining "Canadian Experience". At the third stage of the interviewing process for a position, an interviewer wondered why she should be hired for a position that can be filled by a fresh graduate, although she should have a manager position. She did not get that position.

Serene’s MBA studies were in French; she has Electrical Engineering background; and completed level 1 of the Chartered Financial Analyst program. Her career has been focused on research, analysis, and delivering reports with research findings. She researched markets with limited research coverage. She worked in telecom market research for 4 years, and conducted equity research and financial analysis for 3 years. She authored over 100 reports with research findings that integrated French and Arabic translation skills. She conducted patent search for engineering innovations while working in technology transfer. She seeks to find the right people to research questions.

The processing time for the immigration applications, varied widely…from 6 years for an application submitted in 2002; to 5 years for an application submitted in 2004. Both of these applications were submitted in the Middle East.  Meanwhile, an application submitted in 2009 from India, was accepted within 9 months.

Moving to Canada is a tough choice. The first thing an immigrant does when they decide to make the move, is quitting their job after progressing in their careers following years of education. After moving to Canada, it turns out that finding a job requires a lot of networking, as 80% of the jobs are not advertised. Once a contract job ends, the job seeker goes back to job hunting again. There is a lot of competition in the job market, with online a single job posting receiving thousands of applications. Jobs are posted internally, and if a candidate is not found, posted externally.While software products are used to scan the resumes for key words, referrals have a competitive advantage.

There is a gap between the immigration policy and what the immigrants see on websites regarding the need
for highly skilled professional with high education, and the realities of the job market . The immigrants are eager to utilize their knowledge and experience to keep on progressing in their career.

Toronto has a high cost of living. The low wages for entry level positions does not cover the living costs. Not only is the rent high, but landlords request an annual lease, and proof of work, which is not possible without having a job. Immigrants move from having two cars per household in their countries, to high car insurance rates that make owning a car unaffordable. Public transportation is the solution for a single person, but is not sustainable for a family.

The need to find Plan B, such as establishing one’s business is one of the solutions. There are a lot of start ups in the market. Commission positions are popular, whether for financial services, or even for multi level marketing companies in which businesses attract clients through word of mouth. Claiming business expenses when filing taxes is a positive point for the self employed.  Plan B, however, is not always the best solution, and some people, still seek a full time position.

The "Hidden Gems" part of the meeting uncovered what distinguishes every person. Integrity, frankness, singing, math, multitasking, being multilingual, and finding the right people to answer questions! Every person got a blue "Gem" and a little white one, as a reminder of the importance of distinguishing themselves from others in order to success.

Mona quoted a saying and that '80% of success is showing up' and strongly believes in it. Showing up in this meeting, will hopefully enable her, and other immigrants, in finding their next opportunity soon.

During the Macro Economics course in my MBA studies, my professor kept on repeating, “Il faut travailler”. It is imperative to work in order to achieve economic strength on an individual level and a macro-economic level. Unemployment means a loss of productivity, and needs to be resolved.

Following are the profiles of participants in the meeting referred to in this review. Please do not hesitate to connect to them for potential opportunities.


Mona Massaoud, Freelance Transcription, Finance Professional
ca.linkedin.com/in/monamassoud

Dr. Sarath Ravipati MD, Dip Diabetes, PG Clinical Research
ca.linkedin.com/pub/dr-sarath-ravipati-md-dip-diabetes-pg-clinical-research/9/a16/415

Dr. Leena Ravipati, Dentist

Paul Samuels, Tax Professional
ca.linkedin.com/pub/paul-samuels-dfa-tax-services-specialist/53/50/217

Serene Zawaydeh, MBA, B.Sc. EE, Research Professional
ca.linkedin.com/in/serenezawaydeh/
This article was written by Serene Zawaydeh (serene.zawaydeh@gmail.com)