Loamy

So I'm expecting to move to Vancouver/Squamish area in summer after I've finished my chemical engineering degree, and I need a job.

Firstly, I've heard you may need a licence to be a chemical/process engineer. Is this true, and if so, how much is this licence and how do I go about getting it.

Secondly, how easy would it be for me to find a skilled chemical/process engineering job in that area, considering there aren't too many chemical companies in the area and considering I'm not a canadian citizen (I'll be on a 2 year International Experience Canada working holiday, with the intention of getting full canadian citizenship).

Thanks in advance.

Ebonhawke

For the Vancouver/Squamish area, it's unlikely that you'll find a tremendous number of chemical engineering opportunities - you're more likely to find process/manufacturing engineering opportunities. Seeing as how you'll be a recent graduate, I wouldn't be too discerning about the type of engineering work you're able to obtain - getting experience is the goal.

In Canada, to practice as a professional engineer (which allows you to use the P.Eng designation), you need to be licensed. Each province in Canada has their own licensing and regulatory association, with some slight differences in requirements between provinces. Generally if you are able to attain your license in one jurisdiction, and then move to a different province, you can apply to your new home's provincial association for a license to practice.

To attain your license, it generally requires a number of years of engineering experience (at least three years), as well as completion of a law and ethics written exam (again, requirements can vary slightly from province to province. Among other things, a P.Eng license will allow you to certify that the engineering work that you perform is safe and correct (by use of a 'seal').

The website for the BC Engineering Association is: https://www.apeg.bc.ca/

While you're gaining experience prior to attaining your P.Eng, any engineering work (there are some exceptions that can also vary by province) that you perform has to be reviewed by a qualified P.Eng before it can be 'seal'ed by that person (the 'seal' allows the work to move forward). Note that as a chemical engineer, even if you had your P.Eng license, you could not 'seal' a bridge design - it's not your area of expertise.

The majority of job postings that you will see will say 'engineer' in the job title or description. Most of the roles do not require a P.Eng designation - some roles however may specify a P.Eng, but you can still apply to those roles as well - in no way suggest, imply, state etc. that you have an engineering license (even if you don't use the term P.Eng) - being a recent graduate it's less likely that an employer/recruiter will assume that you have a P.Eng license, but exaggerating your qualifications in this respect could have serious consequences.

There have been a number of cases in Canada where people have either misrepresented or misstated their qualifications, that has led to repercussions. For example, in Ontario, the Professional Engineer's Act will allow the provincial association to fine people who "use a term, title or description that will lead to the belief that the person may engage in the practice of professional engineering". That fine is $10K for a first offense, and $25K for subsequent offenses, and also makes acquiring a P.Eng license in Canada much much tougher.

christmasoompa

Just so you know, there's no way to go from IEC to citizenship - you'll need another step or two in the process, plus about 5 or 6 years, to get to that point.

Loamy

Thanks Ebonhawke, very helpful. Although when you say that there isn't a vast amount of process engineering jobs out there (I kind of guessed as much really), does that mean that there's less than the rest of Canada, or does it mean that there's barely any at all and I'd struggle to find a job.

Christmasoompa, my plan is to get 12 months of skilled work during the 2 year IEC then go through the Canadian Experience Class so I can stay.

Ebonhawke

The Canadian economy has some highly concentrated industries across the country. On the West Coast, there is a high proportion of IT/high-tech related jobs in the economy. In Southern Ontario, there's a high proportion of automotive manufacturing related jobs in the economy.

In general, there's less demand for 'traditional' process engineering roles on the West Coast then in Southern Ontario, just because there's less industrial operations. There are opportunities however, it's just a matter of patience and persistence.

For someone in your situation, as a recent grad, and moving halfway around the world, networking will be crucial to finding work - it might be challenging to even get an interview with a company prior to coming over in the summer (but you never know!) - you will need to hit up career fairs, attend some of the APEGBC events (a number of the provincial associations will host seminars, BBQs etc throughout the year - chance to meet others in your profession)

For job search, use Indeed.ca, LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter.ca, Monster.ca, Workopolis.ca, Glassdoor.ca etc. I haven't really found too many engineering opportunities with the government job bank (and if I did, they popped up on Indeed.

christmasoompa

If you'd be scoring enough on the CRS to get selected, then that's a good plan - but it results in Permanent Residency, not citizenship. Citizenship will come approx 4 or 5 years after that.

HTH, good luck.

Loamy

Very useful advise guys thanks.

Plus what's the difference between perminant residency and citizenship.

Also, I've heard that it can take a long time to go through a job process, such as going though stages of interviews and things like that. Does this sound correct, and if so then how long would you say it takes on average from applying to a job to securing the job.

man1mal

As a process engineer I would have thought you could work at oil refineries and/or petrochemical sites. Both of these can be found predominantly in Alberta/Ontario (Think narnia) and Quebec. However, that doesn't help you in the slightest!

M

christmasoompa

Pretty much as it says - when you get citizenship you are a citizen of Canada, and can get a Canadian passport if you wish. Assuming you're a U.K. Citizen (or another country that allows dual citizenship), you'd have citizenship of both countries. Once you are a Canadian citizen it could only be taken away in very exceptional circumstances, such as if you were found to have obtained it fraudulently. As a citizen you'd have all the rights of any Canadian born citizen i.e. you can vote, come and go as you please, work in government jobs etc.

Permanent Residency means you can stay permanently as long as you maintain your residency (spend enough time in Canada to keep your status), but can't vote or anything like that. You can also lose your status for other reasons, but can stay permanently if you wish and abide by Canadian laws/rules.

PR is what you'd get if you applied via CEC (check your points score on the CRS to make sure you'd be eligible though), and citizenship can currently only be applied for by those that have lived in Canada as PR's for at least 4 years.

HTH.

Engineer_abroad

By the way if your heart is set on BC look out for process engineering jobs in the mining and oil and gas fields, with the approval of the trans-canadian pipeline on the way and Vancouvers large number of junior mining companies we are still a center of excellence for these industries.

Ebonhawke

To be honest, the length of time between the start of the process and the hiring approval will vary from company to company - it will depend on the company and the need. For example, one very large automotive company constantly advertises engineering positions - even if they don't immediately have an opening. They feel that they have enough turnover to warrant continually going through the process (their process is 4 interviews) in search of talented people. I had my first interview with them one July, and then was hired in December (I'm no longer with the company).

Other companies will only start the process once a vacancy appears, and may be wanting to move rather quickly in the process to fill that vacancy. You may have an interview on Monday, then get a phone call on Thursday to see if you could start the following Monday.

Process engineering positions can be found anywhere a product or service is generated by a series of steps. This isn't limited to brick and mortar manufacturing, but can also extend into businesses that are thought of as transactional/data industries. For example, a couple of banks in Canada have recently been hiring people with engineering backgrounds to help improve their operational and transactional processes, rather than solely relying on people with MBA/finance backgrounds.

I would imagine that trying to find engineering work in the oil patch would be really challenging right now - especially for someone with no experience in the industry, who would be competing with engineering graduates from Alberta (whose universities have Petroleum Engineering programs). Working in Quebec will require the OP to be bilingual in French/English (and Quebecois has some differences to Parisian French).

As a quick exercise, I searched Indeed.ca using keywords that could be found in typical roles for engineers (such as 'improvement', 'problem solving' etc), but didn't explicitly state engineer - so there are other positions that happen to mention those terms, but aren't 'engineering' roles. Number of positions listed are for positions that were posted in the last 24 hours.

Within 100km radius of Mississauga: 734
Within 100km radius of Calgary: 182
Within 100km radius of Vancouver: 494

cbrown89

Canada is awash with Process Engineers looking for work after the downturn....