eferreira

Hi everyone,
I am an ICT professional working for Telecommunications companies since 10 years ago. I have a CCNP certification and I am working toward the CCVP certification (because I have been working with VoIP lately).
I will move to Canada next year.
I have no Canadian Experience.
How is the job prospect for a professional like me?
Thank you and best regards,

GillyC

Whoa - loaded question! It's been said many times before - it all depends on where you want to go in Canada and if you're a flexible kind of person.

Toronto is probably the best option in terms of breadth of job opps. Most company headquarters are there. If you are doing your homework (and you should be...) you should be looking at all the job sites for Canada to suss out the lay of the land for your line of work. You should start researching Canadian companies who specialise in Telecomms. You may wish to start by investing in the book called "Who's Hiring" ISBN # 1-894450-01-9 this gives you info on 5000 Canadian Employers Ranked by Occupation. Also there's a book called the Canadian Directory of Search Firms that lists 2000 Agencies and 3500 Recruiters by occupation and also geographical.

It's probably a good idea to perhaps contact some search firms who specialise in IT and Telecomms job opps and get their take on the local job market for your field and send them your resume. Be aware that it's quite difficult to secure a job when you're not in the country, particularly if you're immigrating. The response is often, "Well call us once you get here".

However there's no harm in contacting companies and recruiting firms who interest you for information chats on the phone about possible opportunities. If you're definitely coming next year then now's a good time to start.

I have just left a Telecomms company in Vancouver and they have a big tech dept who are always on the look out for Telecomms professionals (they specialise in IVR and are now looking at Wireless products etc www.teligencecom.com). Vancouver has a decent enough tech industry. A good place to start looking at tech jobs in Vancouver is a networking community called Techvibes (www.techvibes.com) they list jobs and tech companies in Vancouver plus they have articles on tech stuff in Canada so it's a good way of familiarising yourself with the local tech community.

Also maybe try look at the CRTC www.crtc.gc.ca
(Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission). They're the regulatory body for this stuff in Canada. It'll give you an overview of the industry and legislation here.

I wouldn't say it's easy getting decent work in Canada, especially if you're really interested in a particular field but I think that's the same for most part of the world these days. There's a lot of competition here, and there are a lot of well qualified people all going for the same jobs in technology.

Making contacts and networking is the key. In my experience, a lot of tech companies are not necessarily bothered about "Canadian experience". International experience and good up-to-date skills turn them on.

Also look at the big telecomms companies here:

www.rogers.com
www.bell.ca & www.bce.ca
www.telus.com

There's probably tons more but it's a start!

Hope this helps!

eferreira

Hi,
Thank you a lot for you reply. It is sure it helps.
I am sorry not to mention that I am planning to move to Ontario, either Toronto or Ottawa, although my mind is open to other options.
The two books that you recommend sound very interesting and the link to the Techvibes group is useful.
Anyone knows if there is any similar group in Ontario?
Best regards,

GillyC

De nada. There's another good job site called www.brainhunter.com and I just came across another website called CanadaIT.com which lists tons of companies by province as well as a source for Canadian technology jobs, news, events etc. Techvibes is actually Canada-wide (well the main cities mostly). If you google "Techvibes Ontario" you'll get Ontario information. Otherwise drop an email to techvibes and ask them for information on Ontario I'm sure they will be happy to provide more details. They do a lot of networking events at trendy clubs etc so if you're here for a visit at any point before immigrating it might be worth finding out the Ontario events beforehand and show up. BTW I've heard it's not good to turn up with resume or cv in hand which basically means you're purely there to job hunt! Best to avoid the hard sell at that point!

eferreira

Otra vez gracias.
You are right to recomnend not to chase everybody with your cv in your hands; the main objective of "networking" is establishing friendships and relationships. Once you have good friendships and relationships, the job offers will come by themselves.

GillyC

Agreed. Buena Suerte!