Hi everyone,

I was wondering whether anyone had any experience in Contract Management for electrical companies? My husband was a contracts manager for a company that worked for London Electricity and is looking for a job in BC in the same field. We have submitted our PR application (about a year ago) but want to move over under a work permit asap.

The only company we have found information on is BC Hydro and despite a very kind person giving us a lead in to the company we cant get an answer from them.

Does anyone know whether the larger companies sub contract this work out and, if so, who the sub contractors are?

Thanks for your help

Ally

In another thread you said your father-in-law was Canadian. I assume you've already explored your husband's entitlement to Canadian citizenship, otherwise you wouldn't be jumping through all these other hoops. Anyway, onwards and upwards .......

First of all, you need to find out what your husband's occupation is called in language that Canadian immigration authorities understand. The reason I say this is that you need to know his NOC Code Number if you are to understand the lists of Occupations under Pressure. These lists, in turn, give you some sense of the labour shortages in various provinces.

When I go to the National Occupational Classification (NOC) website and search for CONTRACT MANAGER or CONTRACTS MANAGER, I'm referred to NOC Code #0113, Purchasing Managers. I don't get the impression that that is what your husband does. I'm guessing he's in sales rather than purchasing.

I searched the NOC website for SALES. Several possibilities came up. You should read all of the job titles, alternative job titles and job descriptions to find out the occupation to which your husband belongs. If I was to take a wild guess, I would say he belonged to NOC Code #6221 - Technical Sales Specialists – Wholesale Trade. The reason I say that is that one of the alternative job titles for NOC Code #6221 is Electricity Sales Representative. But it's important for you to read all the job titles and job descriptions and see if you agree with me.

Our next stop is the list of Occupations under Pressure in BC. I look down the list to see if 6221 is on it, and unfortunately it is not.

When an occupation is on an OUP list it means that the period of time for which an employer has to advertise before getting a Labour Market Opinion (LMO) is greatly reduced. However, even if a job is not on an OUP list, the employer still may be able to get an LMO and your husband still may be able to get a temporary work permit (TWP). In addition to that, your husband still may be able to find an employer who is willing to sponsor his application through BC's Provincial Nominee Program. However, if an occupation is not on an OUP list, it gives you a hint that you may have more of an uphill battle persuading an emloyer to jump through hoops. I say that because the OUP lists give you at least some indication of labour shortages.

The next thing I do is go to the Wiki article called Finding Job Opportunities-Canada. I look at the section called Job Websites. There is a subsection called Utilities, and there is a link to a website called Utility Worker.

I do a search for full-time sales jobs in the electricity industry. I find some jobs in the USA, but none in Canada.

The same website has a tab called Resource Links. I click on it to see what it can tell me. Ah, it says it can give me energy companies listed by country. I get a world map, and I click on Canada. From this, I find that the following companies sell energy in British Columbia:
And that's it. That may not seem like many companies to you. But you need to remember that, although British Columbia is the size of France and Germany combined, it has a population of only 4 million people.

Usually I'm a great fan of the Canadian Company Capabilities website, but I don't expect it to produce much useful information for you. I do two seaparate searches for ENERGY and ELECTRICITY in British Columbia. Aside from the usual suspects that already have been mentioned, a few small companies that work in alternative energy and that sell electrical metering equipment come up. You can pursue that kind of search and drill down more deeply than I did if you like. In fact I think it would be worth your while to do that, just in case the search bears fruit.

The Finding Job Opportunities article recommends reading business magazine(s) that cover your destination province. So I do a Google search for BUSINESS MAGAZINE + BC, and I find BC Business Magazine. I use their search feature to look for articles about ELECTRICITY. I some articles that discuss the present state of the industry in BC and predict its future. A quick glance suggests that these articles are a MUST READ for anyone who wants to work in the industry.

In the left hand margin of its home page, BC Business Magazine also a link to a page that, in turn, has links to Top 100 lists for 2008. These are corporations in BC that have made various Top 100 lists. The list is worth reading in case it throws up a name that hasn't appeared anywhere else so far. For example, it was on one of these lists that I saw Westcoast Energy. Now admittedly it's a natural gas processing and distribution company. It doesn't sell electricity, but it's still a utility company and therefore may be of interest.

Once you've identified potential companies to talk to, you should identify specific people at those companies. Try to find people who work in relevant departments (that is, department in which your husband might work). You can use the Linked In website to do this. If you have a free account with them, there's a limit to the amount of information you can find. Apparently you have to upgrade to a premium account to get the real juice. I've just looked, and I see it costs $19.95/month. I've never used Linked In for job hunting, but I would guess that, at the most intense phase of your research, it would be worth becoming a premium member for one month.

What I've shown you is the start of the process, drilling down through the information that's available on the Internet. The next step is to phone people at relevant companies. For the sequence, see the Wiki article called Quick Job Hunting Instructions-Canada.

Hope that helps.

Hi Judy,

Thank you so much for your response, that is extremely helpful and I will spend some time looking through the resources. The situation regarding my father in law is complicated as even though he is a canadian citizen my husband was adopted and father in law didnt become a canadian citizen until my husband was about ten.

I really appreciate your help, many thanks.

Ally