superwench

Hello everyone.

We've just had our Medical Requests through so that means - all hands on deck!! It's time to start looking for jobs and from my research it doesn't seem easy.

Can anyone give some insight? My partner works in IT for Hewlett Packard (HP) and I have been working in marketing and graphic design. We have over 7 years experience in our fields.

We thought Toronto would be the best place to look for work.

Has anyone had any success in applying and getting a job for these fields of work before they have moved to Canada? How easy will it be to get a job in these fields? I'm distraught with some threads saying how difficult it is in certain professions and the whole 'must have canadian experience' nonsense. I'd hate to come over, be unemployed for ages and have absolutely no money (that we've been trying to save up!) left. I want to be prepared and have something to set us up for our move to Canada in a years time.

I wonder if social networking via twitter may help and a canadian character reference? We have both family and friends in Canada.

Wow - I have totally rambled! Well, any advice folks? TIA

lashe

How easy is that from another country

Oakvillian

If you're aiming to move in a year's time, are you planning a recce visit before then? Pick a handful of active LinkedIn groups in the right industries, get involved, set up a bunch of meetings for when you come over, and start building your network. You may get lucky and find someone who is looking for just your talents in a timeframe that suits your plans, but be prepared to come over jobless and work the network for all it's worth.

There's some good general advice in the Wiki article on jobseeking in Canada. Canadian experience is (usually) a red herring, designed to provide a built-in excuse to discriminate on all sorts of questionably legal grounds. Don't allow that to put you off - but remember that the best job is the one you specify for yourself by convincing an employer that you're indispensable before they know that they need you. That's what networking is for; it's hard work but can pay off spectacularly in the end in terms of job satisfaction.

lashe

It not as easy as you think. Every where in the world has some no of unemployed youth so coming into anoda country without any physical contact with ur employer is always very hard in most case it has to do with company with branches outside it domin doing interview generally allover there branches in all country and picking up those with great tallent. For transfer to the main office but without that no beter opportunity can come

Novocastrian

The Ontario Human Rights Commission have a new policy statement on this...

http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/policy-remo...%80%9D-barrier

... I don't suppose it'll make much difference but it's a step in the right direction.

Oakvillian

I heard something about that the other day - didn't realise it was an actual real thing. Well done them, hope it makes a difference.

Of course, enlightened employers realise that having somebody who can bring the benefit of the world outside Canada to a Canadian company is a benefit rather than a disadvantage, but there aren't enough enlightened employers out there.

superwench

Thanks for the advice! I'll be following lots of companies and people on twitter and linkedin. I'm hoping that if I keep in contact, they'll be more favorable towards me and hopefully employ me! Here's hoping it'll pay off! We're looking to go to Canada in June, so that should give us a recce trip to figure jobs out beside we finally move in October.

superwench

This is encouraging! Thank you!

orly

My employer is having a distinct problem finding any suitable employees. It's a web studio. We've found, particularly young Canadians, have completely ridiculous ideas about how much they should get paid. Like coming out of college and wanting 60k. They usually swan off to Toronto and find some mug agency who will actually oblige but then they all complain about working weekends and 16 hr days in some cubicle making "production line" rubbish instead of actually designing something that makes a site better or more usable. Sucks to be them.

I personally found the "canadian experience" thing a nonsense. My boss had literally zero interest in that. I don't even have "web design" courses at college or uni - all self taught. It was simply a case of whether I could do the job or not.

cornmatthew

I suppose I have a few years in Canadian IT under my belt now, in two different companies in Toronto. I've done my fair share of interviews from the employer side and sat in on others as a second pair of eyes. I have never seen anyone turned down for want of Canadian experience. I have seen plenty turned down because they don't speak English, because they have an impressive resume but clearly made it up, or because they're just not cut out for paid employment in general. Now, somebody who's not currently local would be at a disadvantage purely because of practical considerations. But that would be true of a candidate out west somewhere as much as one in the UK.

Good employees are hard to find, at least in Toronto and in the Unix and Windows administration fields. I think a lot of people are staying put right now.

dbd33

I think the above has been generally true since I've been involved with computing in and around Toronto (that's since before the advent of the electronic punched card reader). I've hired people from far countries having "met" them on technical discussion boards and moved them to Canada from Saudi, the US and from South Africa, none of them knew anything of Canada (except that there's a lot of snow all the time) none had any local experience, all are native English speakers.

I'd say that in the computing field here the best quality one can have is a family connection to the prospective employer, then a social connection to someone in power at the firm; this is where attending a Canadian university comes into play. After that it's merit and/or personal prejudice on the part of the hiring manager. Knowledge of something currently fashionable combined with both good English and business English is ideal. The ability not to splutter when someone says they'll "reach out" or consider only "net new" developments is key to the latter.

superwench

This is encouraging. Thank you. My partner actually works with UNIX working on government contracts. If you have any idea of people who need someone of this nature, please let me know!

superwench

Glad you've found the 'canadian experience' stuff nonsense! That is great news. My partner and I are not afraid of hard work so I'm hoping employers will hire us!

Wow - they expected $60k straight out of college??? That's crazy!!!

superwench

Thank you for your input. We have some friends in Ontario and family in Quebec, but unfortunately, none of them are in IT or Marketing. I foresee a lot of networking to be had! I'm hoping my partner can relocate his job with HP, but that is up to them at the end of the day.

orly

Being eager is half the battle. There are plenty of jobs out there (depending on the sector). The situation seems to be better than back in the UK from my viewpoint.