Eastender50

My 22yr old daughter and her best friend have decided to take a year out after finishing their degree and have decided on Canada, they have completed the first part of the application and have been accepted, they are hoping to fly out in July.

Can anyone give me any tips on the best places for them to base themselves? they will want to work as they travel around. They are planning on flying to Vancouver first.

What are the job suitations like there, bar/restaurant work etc? are they likely to find work easy enough?

I guess I'm just asking for any help, advice as most youngsters travel to Australia, but they have decided on Canada!!

Thanks.

Aviator

What makes you think most youngsters travel to Australia? In any event, what would be the disadvantage? Canada's IEC is full within minutes of becoming available.

Appears as though they are basing themselves around Vancouver. Which part to live in largely depends on what work they find. Go to a hostel for a week or so, get their bearings, find a job and somewhere to live nearby. Avoid East Hastings area. If they look around the UBC area, lots of students living around there, and working around there.

colchar

Other than their time in Vancouver, we would need more details. The entire United Kingdom would fit into Canada 40.98 times so there is no way that we can recommend a best place for them to base themselves as they travel around.

rwin

If they want to work in bars and restaurants and are coming in July, they might want to start in Calgary and cash in on the Stampede.

Shirtback

Avoiding the obvious comments which spring to mind (& which have been mostly covered above ;-) ):

I suggest your daughter & friend avail themselves of a very useful tool named "Google", & "google". BC is full of young people on IEC/working holiday visas, and / or from other parts of Canada, especially the East. Oodles of jobs, albeit unskilled ones, Van (according to my nomad son) may not be the best choice given competition for jobs & high living costs, but he does rate it as great city to visit.

SchnookoLoly

The major big cities probably will allow them to kick things off quickly and easily - Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto. Montreal could be a consideration if they speak French.

All those cities are thriving, good for travel, have lots of living options, and lots of other expats. Any would be fine I would think...

Shirtback

+1

I'm a big advocate of Quebec (province not city), for those interested in the (somewhat) less trodden path for UK IEC-ers :-)

Former Lancastrian

Looking at it from a different point of view why do IEC applicants discount cities such as Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Halifax, St Johns etc etc. If they were going to the UK sure London, Birmingham, Manchester might be the main ones but would we steer them away from Newcastle, Blackpool, Sheffield, Nottingham etc etc.
The UK gets just under 5500 places for the IEC plus along with the thousands of others from Ireland (6350), Australia (11350), Germany (4200), Japan (6500)
etc. The competition might be stiffer than some expect.

PMM

Hi


I could never figure out why no ever mentions the Vancouver YWCA as a place to stay when arriving in Vancouver. http://www.ywcahotel.com/content/WEEKLY_RATES/962 The rates are actually better for a private twin than some of the shared rates at the hostels.

ExKiwilass

I recommend Thunder Bay, Ontario. Another good place is YellowKnife.

Shirtback

I surmise it may have something to do with "awareness"; one of the reasons I suggested googling ..., & which your post highlights.

I have little experience with UK IEC-ers in Canada, other than fielding desperate calls from parents when things Go Wrong, or providing stopover beds, showers & food... ;-)

I can quote from the experience of Quebec Youth, who often head Out West seasonally, & who frequently comment on the BC/Toronto or bust mentality of European & Australian IEC travellers. (& who frequently moan about some of them ;-) )

MarylandNed

Birmingham?

Er...yes...I think we might!

Dashie

Why?

mazmataz

Hey Eastender50,

I'm in Vancouver on the IEC visa at the moment, so I may be able to offer something useful!

I'm a bit older than your daughter, I'm 28 and I was 27 when I arrived out here. I've been here for around 16 months now, as you have the option of doing two IEC visas, but that's the max. When I first flew out, I arrived in Toronto. My plan was to spend some time in in East and then visit Vancouver, and see where I wanted to set up shop. I travelled Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Boston, NYC, Seattle and then arrived in Vancouver.

I was really torn between Vancouver and Toronto, two very different cities but they both appealed to me in different ways. But as I had made some friends in Vancouver, and the thought of spending $400 on a flight to cross the country again didn't really appeal to me, I decided to stay in Vancouver.

The job market here is competitive, and your daughter might have trouble if she is looking to get into something career related. However if she is happy with bar, server, retail or temp work then she'll be fine. I've worked in the same temp job for past year getting paid over $20 an hour, so it's not too bad.

The only issue with Vancouver if they base themselves here and they want to travel, options are limited, compared to the east anyway. Vancouver is pretty isolated, and flying internal Canada is nowhere near as cheap as flying within Europe. Having said that, there are still some amazing trips you can take. Some I've taken since being here have been Seattle, Washington Olympic Peninsula roadtrip, Victoria (Capital of BC on Vancouver Island), Nanaimo, Mount Baker, Hawaii, Kelwona, Whistler and I went back to NYC at Christmas. I plan to do the Rockies, LA, Vegas and Alaska before I leave. A good tip for them if they plan on travelling the states from Vancouver is to fly out of Bellingham, just across the border. Flight prices are so much better and you can take the Bolt bus down there for $10.

Personally, I would recommend hitting one of the bigger cities on their first trip. On IEC, you might only be here for a year and there are so many more people to meet and much more to do than many of the smaller towns. I have friends who gave Edmonton and Calgary a shot and hated it! I have a friend from Thunder Bay who recommends that I don't put it anywhere near the top of my list! I think that if you are moving over with a family, it's a little different as you have that unit set up, you want to get involved in a small community, get a good job etc etc. But the IEC visa isn't all about work, it's about having fun and seeing Canada.

Finally, some of the previous posts on this thread have been defensive, unfriendly and less than helpful. I can imagine my dad stumbling across a forum like this on google in an attempt to find out exactly what his daughter is letting herself in for, and the thought of him being treated the way EastEnder50 has makes me really sad. Parents worry, as I'm sure many of you are aware. Show a little kindness.

EastEnder50 - If your daughter would like any help or advice, please feel free to put her in touch. PM me and I'll give you my email address.

Dashie

There are lots of cities that might work, pretty much any university town really. You could look at places such as Guelph, London, Ottawa etc. They're used to a transient work force in that way.

From what I can work out, if you can couple that with somewhere with a tourist industry too, or big events, such as the Stampede, then casual work is easier to get too.

If I was young enough and single enough, I would likely be tempted by the big cities too though, but I'd probably want to spend a bit of time in several of them.