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.
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.
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]
“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)
(Added points 31-34 on Dec 16, 2013)
Comments posted on LinkedIn Group, Hire Immigrants in Canada
ReplyDeleteNicolas Pevy
Bilingual Operations & Customer Service Executive
Very good summary Serene, I will add another one: when you apply for a job, most of the time, there are no deadlines, so you don't know when the recruitment process will start. And when it finally starts, it can take months! Patience and networking are a must in your job search strategy.
Serene Zawaydeh
If it's taking a long time, I think it means they don't want to hire...I always ask about the timeline when I am in the interviewing process.. and I am glad that I got quick answers after interviews.. Getting an answer is important, as you need to move on to search for other positions if you don't get hired
by this company.
Hey, I did not find even a single positive point here :(
ReplyDeleteI agree that all these points are valid but you will find the same scenarios in other countries too(especially the countries which are having immigration rate).
I have friends in Canada who think its easy to get settled in Canada as compared to USA or UK, where the competition is even more fierce.