From Wiki

• New members of the BE forum sometimes ask if there are jobs that they can do in Canada if they are soldiers, police officers, prison wardens, private detectives, fraud investigators, security guards, etc., in the UK.

• The answer is that it depends.

• As the Wiki article called Civil Service-Canada points out, government services in Canada give preference to Canadian citizens and permanent residents, but municipal governments and quasi-government organizations sometimes do employ foreign workers.

• As this article is being written (July 2008), Security Guards and Related Occupations are listed as an Occupation under Pressure in Alberta.
  • The good news is that that suggests you'd be able to get a temporary work permit (TWP) on the basis of a job offer in that field.
  • The bad news is that security guards in office buildings and shopping malls (and people in similar occupations) are poorly paid in Canada.
  • The other piece of bad news is that, because those occupations belong to Skill Level D on the National Occupational Classification Matrix, you cannot use a job offer in this line of work to upgrade to permanent resident status.

• On the other hand, some new members of the forum have discovered that their work in the security or investigations field in the UK has qualified them to work in the insurance industry, in the banking industry, in the arena of corporate security or something along those lines in Canada.

• If you were to find a job that belongs to Skill Level 0, A or B on the NOC Matrix, you'd be eligible for an upgrade to PR status.

• Look at the National Occupational Classification, and see if your previous duties might have prepared you to work in any of these occupations:
  • Insurance Adjusters and Claims Examiners
  • Other Financial Officers - includes Financial Investigators, Bank Inspectors, etc.
  • Professional Occupations in Business Services to Management - includes many different job titles
  • College and Other Vocational Instructors

• Use the Search function on the National Occupational Classification website, and search for as many terms as you can think of.