Pipboy

Hi first post. I was wondering what the demand is for excavator operators in canada. Not really decided where yet.

I have 11 years experience driving them from large scale civils projects to new build projects, and prior to this I did ground works for a few years. Without sounding big headed I would class myself a fairly decent operator. I am constantly offered jobs and have managed to get myself a decent yearly wage for operators by UK standards without having to work crazy hours.

I have blue cards in both tracked and wheeled/rubber duck excavator and pride myself in having an excellent eye for detail leaving a good finish to a job. Previously I had experience on telehandlers and dumpers but those tickets lapsed.

I am also currently studying toward a degree in Environmental Technology and Management although I am doing the first year having previously passed the STEM module with a distinction. My partner is currently studying towards a maths and statistics degree.

All advice appreciated thanks.

christmasoompa

Hi, and welcome to BE.

Not got a clue I'm afraid, but just wanted to say hello and hope all goes well.

Fingers crossed some forum members have some knowledge they can share with you.

Good luck.

Atlantic Xpat

I doubt it. There are many training courses for heavy equipment operators (my brother in law is one) offered and no shortage of people training up as one. Couple that with the oilsands / mining downturn and I'd think getting a job might be challenging to say the least.

Pipboy

Thanks for the reply, does that apply across the country as the oilsands don't appeal to me would rather be on large civils jobs or house building.

Aviator

It likley would, the layoffs from the oil-sands are moving across the country to find work.

Pipboy

Not so good ,don't suppose it would do any harm to maybe put CV on some Canadian websites and maybe drop along to an expo if there is one coming up or close by.

christmasoompa

I'd suggest you read the Job Hunting section of the Wiki to understand how different the hiring culture is in Canada - even if you had specialist skills that were in demand in Canada, sending CV's (resumes) would be very unlikely to result in anything, as it's just not the way things are done there. You need to pick up the phone at the very least, or ideally get out there and job hunt in person. It's all about personal contact in Canada, and that goes for people who are already work authorised. As you will (I assume?) be looking for an employer that is prepared to pay $1000, wait months and go through lots of paperwork to hire you, that's even more important.

Have you visited Canada before? If not, you'd probably want to do that before committing tens of thousands of pounds to moving your family anyway, so perhaps you could do a recce trip and job hunt at the same time?

But have a read of the Wiki and hopefully you'll work out a good strategy for finding an employer, it's also worth searching the forum to see what's been said about the Expo's in the past.

Best of luck.

Pipboy

Thanks will check it out. I know its not simply just putting a CV out there and may have to go out there, might actually go out there next year on holiday and to see what the country is like and speak to some companies out there. This very much still a long way off from being a reality just trying to get as much info as possible.

magnumpi

Good idea

Last thing you need is to just come over here and dig yourself a big deep hole you won't be able to escape from

Engineer_abroad

As others have mentioned there is a lot of unemployed plant operators/construction professionals at the moment as a result of the downturn in oil sands and mining. These guys are moving across the country to find work.

Your best course of action may be to finish your degree and then look at emigrating, you would certainly have more points and be more desirable as a professional.