BeenTrainingDogs

Hey guys,

I've been round a few sites related to IEC visas but I wanted to ask a few specific questions about seeking work in Vancouver.

Firstly I'm a Civil Engineer working in the UK private sector, mainly on rail and bridge projects. I sit my CEng in April, hoping to pass. My O/H is a research assistant/lab manager at a top UK uni. We've both got pretty good jobs, 4-5 years relevant experience in our occupations etc.

Has anyone on here moved to Canada in jobs similar to this? We want to have jobs lined up before we go, but networking from afar is difficult and particularly so in academia. Has anyone any advice for us?

withabix

Contact employers, get a job offer and LMO and come over that way. Your wife should qualify for an open Work Permit in your case.

You will have no problem getting a job and the employer will have no problem getting an LMO.

There is very little rail work in Canada apart from sporadic rapid transit systems (e.g. Evergreen Line in Vancouver). Trains are for freight and that's about it. The lines are already there and are decreasing rather than increasing and very basic. I doubt they will ever be upgraded much.

The only public proper rail system in BC operates between Mission and Vancouver (about 50 miles) and only for about 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening.

'Engineer' is a regulated Profession over here, so once here, you would need to get your CEng converted to PEng. In the mean time, you would work under a PEng if you wanted to be an 'Engineer'.

http://www.cicic.ca/684/Engineers.canada?prof=2173

Do you want to work for a Consultant or a Contractor?

The Canadian equivalent of Chartered Engineers work for both in pretty equal numbers in my experience so far.

ExKiwilass

how do you know? Just curious because engineering is in a bit of a downturn in Van right now.

withabix

Not from where we see it.

Agreed some big highway/structures jobs have recently finished or are coming to an end, but they had been running for several years. There is plenty of work under construction, in bid (construct only and D&B) and in design right now.

Mainly in Energy, waste and water sectors and not necessarily 'in' Vancouver itself, but across the lower mainland and the island.

A good Engineer from the UK should be able to get a job and structures (bridge) experience transfers easily to Energy, Waste and Water sectors.

Consultants and general contractors cannot get enough suitably qualified staff. My employer is again off to Europe to a recruitment event in Holland next week and we don't even have enough staff for our current workload.

Some of the general contractors have overheated and grown too quickly and they are suffering losses on certain projects, but most of the main players have unfilled jobs advertised.

R I C H

It's a bit of a stretch to make such a bold statement about someone who's resume you've never seen, who you've never met and had the opportunity to understand their character, never seen a reference for and you only know from a brief post on the Internet. Would you employ someone with such brief acquaintance of them?

withabix

Ok, maybe I should have used the word 'should'.

Civil engineers get employed more on qualifications and experience, with experience and references easier to investigate than in many other occupations. Contacts do tend to be multinational.

DeepSix

curious about the "engineer" title..
I am in talks with a big engineering consultancy and thats part of my title.. yet i am not an engineer nor would ever claim to be
Scientist.. yes..

as for the OP, based on what this company is saying.. they have a large pipeline of work in LNG and associated infrastructure which a civils guy would have to be part of the mix.
From what they said when i spoke to them.. times will be good for the coming yrs in this sector.

However they are looking to gear up re staff for later on in the year so the 6+ months that it will take to get me over ( if they go with me ) wont be an issue as i am still finishing off a project here in OZ

JB0591

the term engineer they were referring to was to do with work in the public domain, where they need PEng to sign stuff. there is a host of other deciplines/domains in engineering where this does not apply. there is legislation in (for example) Ontario that without PEng you can not use the term Engineer, does that stop companies using the term engineer when the position does not require PEng, hell no.

DeepSix

thank god for that.. was a bit worried they wanted me to ponse about the office telling other people what to do!

BeenTrainingDogs

Thanks for the responses guys.

I forgot to add we've been given our CAL's for the IEC visa, so hoping that goes through.

I can work in many fields. Rail (I have commuter, freight and LRT experience in the UK), highways and highway structures as well as renewable energy are my strongest fields. I'm looking for consultancy or client side work personally.

I'm aware of the PEng to CEng situation but if I had 12 months experience in a Canadian environment I'd meet all the PEng criteria.

As for my OH, we're common law partners, not married. =P

I'm actually more curious about the academia side for my OH, because that's a much more specific market than what I'll be looking in certainly. A bacteriology research assistant position, preferably at UBC... Very specific!

Novocastrian

You said earlier that remote networking is difficult particularly in academia.

I'd say the opposite is true.

Get her to ask her present boss who the big wheels are in her field in BC (UBC, Simon Fraser etc.,) and then she can simply call, introduce herself and have a chat about common interests etc., making sure to drop as many names as possible.

BeenTrainingDogs

Yeah I think this is the best way, but OH is taking every precaution to make sure her current boss doesn't find out about our desire to go to Canada... It wouldn't go down well I think.

Novocastrian

Then she could do her own research. I think you said she is a bacteriologist?

I'm not going to insult you with the Can I Google That For You gimmick but perhaps you get my drift?

BeenTrainingDogs

Yeah of course. In the UK it's generally said that 80% of jobs are never advertised. It'd be naive to assume Canada is any different.

The best thing you can do is know somebody, or know a 2nd connection but that's only the first step. From my research, what you show in a UK and a Canada resume is quite similar so a few tweaks here and there and it should be golden.

Even though we've had a couple of professional jobs each this will be the first time we haven't got it because we know someone. It's a bit of a different ball game and giving the hard sell is something new to us both.

As said before, any advice at all on how to get the best jobs we can is welcomed either from others experience or from opinion .

JGK

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