James08

Hello and thanks a great deal in advance for any helpful replies I may receive

My girlfriend and I are just at the initial stages of thinking about leaving the UK and setting up home in Calgary. Basically before we take this any further I was just wondering if any of you could provide any information with regards to our employability.

My girlfriend is a qualified medical secretary and has 3 years total sceretarial experience with one of those years being as a medical secretary employed by the NHS. I myself have been educated up to A Levels and have 11 GCSE's and 3 A Levels of good grades. I dropped out of university and have for the past year been working in a basic admin job for the DWP.

Now that you know our educational/employment background how do you think myself and my girlfriend would find it getting jobs in Canada, her as a medical secretary hopefully and myself anywhere that would take me lol.

Also what sort of wage bracets would we each be looking at if we were to find employment.

Sorry for taking so much of your time with such a long question but thanks for taking the time to help!

Have a great day.

Steve_P

Before answering any questions I strongly suggest you read the Wiki.

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Category:Canada

With emphasis on the following four topics.

Quick Guide to Canadian Immigration
Immigration Timeline-Canada
Canada is different!!!
Quick Job Hunting Instructions-Canada

Summer-Caitlin

While I can't help much with your query, I just want to welcome you to the forum

I am a Medical Secretary, currently employed by the NHS and I also trained (well 18 months) as a Nurse but gave up on that when I realised my heart wasn't in it. My passion has always been Law, worked as a Legal Secretary too, so now I have applied for University to study as a Paralegal in North Vancouver.

When I was initially looking into come over to Canada, I did look into going down the skilled route but neither my husband or myself qualified with enough points. As for getting a TWP, well it was a possibility, I am pretty sure a Medical Secretary is on the NOC list. I have no idea about the wage brackets though, you might try looking at Craiglist in Calgary to get an idea.

Although I like my job I have always wanted to work in Law, so for me the best option was to go back to Uni.

I would have a look at the Wiki (above). It has loads of helpful info and different routes you could look into.

I will be interested to see how you get on.

Good Luck!

Atlantic Xpat

I imagine you are both <30yrs old? If so then I suggest you look into BUNAC 1 yr visa's as the easiest method to try Canada out.

James08

Hey thanks for the repleis so far guys, very helpful and I will read those links when I have more time to do so properly. Obviously I would be putting a lot more research into this before I take it any further I just was hoping to establish whether we would be employable or not in Calgary if we would struggle to find work or if we did so be earning not enough to live on. We are both under 30 so thanks for that advice it soudns a good route to try. And thanks for the wamr welcome and kindness!

Judy in Calgary

Hello, James08, and welcome to the BE forum.

Yes, since you are under 30, you could come to Canada on BUNAC and see what living here is like.

But you would be hard pressed to gain entry to Canada beyond that BUNAC year. You might be able to swing it if your girlfriend was the principal applicant. For example, I seem to recall that executive assistants were on the list of Occupations under Pressure in British Columbia. This gives some indication that your girlfriend would be able to find work there and would be able to get a temporary work permit. This later could be upgraded to permanent residence.

But, without much education or a skilled trade, you would find it difficult to get a well paying job, and what jobs you did find would not be secure. Not that highly qualified people have secure jobs either, mind you, but they usually have a better Plan B in place than you'd have.

I moved away from Calgary literally days ago, after having spent most of the last 31 years there. Don't waste even the oxygen you would expend in getting there. It would be a crap place to live if you didn't have the money for skiing and other fun activities.

But then that would be true of any place in Canada, really. And it would be true of Australia, where I have lived in the past too.

It's all very well to go to Canada for a year on BUNAC and work at a ski resort and hang out with the other young folk from the UK, Australia, and New Zealand who are also there on working holiday visas. But trying to create a "real" life in a "real" city in your situation would be the pits, in my opinion.

The best thing you could do for yourself is to get a trade or some other qualification under your belt.

Yes, I know there are exceptions. There are people who don't have any education and who are very creative and entrepreneurial and who have started businesses and who have been very successful. Perhaps you would be one of them.

Well, fine, go off and make a fortune some other way. If you were a multi-millionaire, you could enter Canada via the investor category or something.

But, what I'm trying to say is that, from the information you've given us so far, I don't see any chance of your being viable in Canada.

I don't imagine this is what you want to hear, but that's the way I see it.
x

James08

Hello, thanks Judy for your frank and honest reply, thats kind of the reason I was posting here at first to see if it was kind of viable and your information has duely opened my eyes a little.

The reason behind my girlfriend and I being intrested in moving to Canada, even if only for a year on a year long visa its still a good experience, is because she has family over there and it would be good to hang out with them for a while and experience a new part of the world whilst we are still young and relatively carefree. Im not sure if her having family over there would help with the visa situation or not, I could ask them these questions but seeing as its was just a 'pipe dream' so to speak at the moment I thought it best to come and ask here as you all seem very knowledgeable.

You reccomend getting a trade or other qualifications, and seeing as another qualification is out of the question for me, seeing as I spent the best part of two years studying towards a degree at university before having enough of education and dropping out, maybe the trade route would be the one for me to go down. Im just wondering what sort of trades are most in demand? Also would I be able to get in with a basic trade such as tiling or plastering, which I could become fully qualified in pretty quickly here, or would it need to be a more advanced trade such as a carpenter or electrician?

Also if I were to get a trade under my belt and come to Canada would my standard of living still make it not worth while orwould I then earn enough to live a little?

Sorry for bombarding you with all these questions but you all have been most helpful so far, thank you.

christmasoompa

James, quick question for you - you mention your girlfriends family, what family are they? If they are close enough family they would be able to sponsor you so that might be worth considering.

But if that's not an option then definitely Bunac sounds like a great idea for you if you are not bothered about staying for more than a year. Perhaps you could do that, and then if you really love it there and want to go back, come home and do your absolute best to find a job out there?

A skilled trade is a great idea, but for most of them, you do need to have a certain amount of experience i.e. for an electrician it's 9000 hours and that cannot include an apprenticeship. So that would be quite a wait for you! Have a look at the Skilled Trades article in the Wiki (on blue bar at top of page, just put Skilled Trades into the search) which may tell you more.

Best of luck.

James08

Thanks Christmas. The family is her Mothers Sister and her Husband and kids, would this be helpful at all?

Also if I were to get a trade id be intrested in something like training to become a tile setter. I can get qualified quickly over here and get a years experience under my belt in no time at all. The only thing would be whether this would be worth my while. Are tilers needed in Canada and would I be able to find work after just one years experience in Britain working as one? Also if I would be able to find work would the wages be sufficient to live on? Ah so many questions I am bothering you with!

Thanks also for pointing me in the direction of the wiki articles - they seem most helpful. Once again thanks for your help and have a great day

P.S If this sites indicative of the general friendliness and helpfulness of the average person living in Canada then I sure want to move there even more now!

christmasoompa

Except I'm still in the UK.....!! But thank you anyway, and I'm sure people will always be happy to help you, partly because that's what this forum is here for, but also because you are incredibly polite about asking! (Manners are v important to me!).

Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that your girlfriends family will be able to help her, an Aunt isn't close enough family to sponsor I'm afraid.

As for tiling, I have no idea but it might be worth you doing a search of the forums (search on top right of forum, just put 'tiling' or 'tiler' in and see what comes back).

Good luck.

Butch Cassidy

Please get your facts right!!!
http://www.albertacanada.com/immigra...ilystream.html

In the self assessment section it clearly states an aunt can sponsor.

Where the OP may fail is in education.

justkidding

James, here is something that may help your girlfriend. I went to the Calgary Health Region website and did a search for all clerical / administrative positions.
This will give you an idea of wages, etc.

Hope it works!

https://calgaryhealthregion.ats.hrsm...jobs_quick.cgi

Rob_999

Butch - do you know if BC has a similar scheme. I've never seen this before. Very interesting, having the ability to sponsor my brother would go a long way in convincing him to move over

Butch Cassidy

Rob, sorry but I believe Alberta is alone in using such a widespread family sponsorship model.

I have a sneaking suspicion it was implimented to compensate for the fact that AB is actually starting to fall behind BC in regards to net migration, and that SK is beginning to draw back its 'lost sons'

christmasoompa

Not much good bearing in mind the aunt lives in B.C!!

I know that Alberta and Manitoba both have 'family stream' schemes, but they are not relevant in this case, hence I didn't mention it.