worldwideweeb

Hey all,

Well, as of two weeks ago myself and my good lady are proud holders of BUNAC visas and land in Vancouver on 28th April....cannot wait!!

Ready to send my resume off for some job openings but unsure how and where to mention my visa status and work availability. Currently at the top of my resume I have my name, UK address (looks kinda empty without it) and email address. Thinking about putting under that:


Hopefully this will reassure anyone reading my resume that I am legal to work in Canada and when I'll be landing. How does this look/sound to you guys?? Any comments/suggestions would be muchly appreciated!!

p.s. any keen mountain bikers got trail recommendations around Vancouver area? Cannot wait to buy a new bike (just sold my old DH bike) and hit the BC trails!

Judy in Calgary

The covering letter / covering email is the most appropriate place to mention your visa status.

On the resume itself, I would include a brief reference to my immigration status at the end of the document.
x

iaink

Never put anything to put off an employer on a Resume.

I would leave it off the resume entirely, and cover your status briefly in the cover letter to say I was seeking work in canada from whatever date and that I have a work visa (dont mention its temporary nature) from that date, and then move quickly on to dazzle them with my fantastic work acheivements, qualifications and transferable skills.

The less time dwelling on a potential negative (temp status), the better...you are legally entitled to work in Canada...and thats all they need to know.

From a practical viewpoint it might be worth setting up a forwarding address in Canada to get around the whole out of country question.


I hear there are way to many great trails on the north shore to pick just one. Join a bike group when you get here.

daft batty

An employer can only ask you if you are legally entitles to work in Canada before they employ you. I agree with Iain, dont put anything in thats foriegn unless you can help it. Find a Canadian address. PO box or something

worldwideweeb

Thanks Judy.

I think I will keep it for the covering letter, and then only briefly!

worldwideweeb

Thanks for the advice, guys.

Currently looking into renting a mailbox, which we will probably need until finding somewhere to live anyway!

Just cannot wait to land and hit the ground running rather than being sat behind a laptop from the UK.

....Whistler better have some decent snow when we get there too....the excitement is building

nichburton

p.s. any keen mountain bikers got trail recommendations around Vancouver area? Cannot wait to buy a new bike (just sold my old DH bike) and hit the BC trails!

Just spent 10mins writing a reply and then stupidly lost the page. DOH! Anyway, here's the summary again.

I'm moving out to Vancouver next month, just got back from a 2 week snowboarding/recce trip. Of course you probably know that the North Shore mountains are one of THE premier biking spots on the planet (can't wait!!!!!), so here's some info I've found.

North Shore Ride looks like a great club, very active. I'm going to look them up when I arrive.

Whilst I was there last week I stopped off at Different Bikes in North Van and picked up a couple of really good trail maps, one each for Seymour and Fromme (Grouse). $6 each I think. Loads of marked trails from green to double black, even more secret ones are not marked.

North Shore Mountain Biking is a very active forum too, loads of good information.

Of the 3 North Shore mountains, the chap in the bike shop said that Seymour has the largest number of trails and the best variety, including some of the easier stuff thats better to try out as a newbie. Fromme (Grouse) is technically hard in general but also has a lot of trails. Cypress doesn't have as much, and can also be hard.

Some Mt Seymour trail descriptions

Hope this helps!!!

Nick.

YYZlover

I've done the complete opposite. I've told upfront in an e-mail "is there any chance you would look at my resume although I am a foreigner and need work permit or am I wasting both our time?" and included a small blurb about my qualifications. The ones who have responded are those I sent that to and they have been positive. When not saying anything, I've not heard anything.

MarkG

Yes, if I got a CV with only English work experience on it and no mention of visa status in Canada I think I'd probably put it to one side too. When I was applying I put 'permanent resident, no employment restrictions' on the CV, and a couple of lines in the covering letter that said I was in Canada as a permanent resident and could work without any additional visa.

I also sent both cover letter and CV in the same PDF file so that the likelihood of the CV being passed on to someone without explanation in the cover letter was minimised.

celine_uk

I didn't even bother mentioning it , nor did anyone ask... but on the other hand i didn't start looking for work until i lived in Canada.

Good Luck!

Surrey Expat

An employer can ask what they like, where they can get into trouble is if they ask questions that lead to complaints of discrimination if they don't hire someone based on certain criteria, such as race, gender, disability. However the candidate is unlikely to be successful with a complaint on reasonable grounds if the job had specific requirements that they did not fit. If you are not residing in Canada at present, they can ask what they like as you would be unlikely to be covered by Canadian law.

If you mislead an employer or leave out bits on a job application that might reasonably influence their hiring decision, they hire you believing one thing and it later proves you were not altogether forthright, they have grounds to withdraw a job offer or dismissal for just cause if you have already started.

If you tell an employer of your status and when you are arriving, it saves wasting yours and their time. If they are led to believe you are already here and say start Monday or want you in for an interview the next day, it is difficult to comply with.