Hi All,
Have just signed up to this so apologies if this thread is in wrong place.

I am a 30 year old, time served bricklayer, currently in the process of moving to canada and am currently looking for work. I have already had my papers verified by the AAIT in Alberta but due to the terms of the Skilled Worker Visa, I need a job offer before i can get there, To be honest, I have no preference whether i get employment in Alberta or any other part of Canada, as a job there, has got to be better than the struggle that is here.

Does anyone have any advice on companies I could contact or any employment agencies who would be willing to support a foreign worker, as I have not had any joy in the jobs that i have applied for so far, and am starting to wonder if any Canadian company really are willing to put up with the hassle of waiting for me to obtain a visa before starting me.

Hopefully I'm wrong, but as the months go by and you know that over here, If a company need workers they usually need them right away,so I cant imagine someone saying , Yeah you can start in a couple of weeks once all your paperwork is in order,,,, But as i say, i hope I am wrong..
Thank You.

if bricklaying is on the list of skilled workers yu think its obviously cos theres a shortage of that skill eh! would think then that yu'd get a few interests, i dont know bout bricklayin but out of 50 emails to vacancies we got 2 interests thats for trucking .... keep pluggin away! i jus emailed loads of co's even tho they werent advertising for overseas drivers and one came back recommending company that are taking overseas workers so yu never know ... jus be cheeky an email every building co yu can find on net thats what i'd do. (an keep an data base to remind yu who yu have emailed/foned)

one agency we were gonna go with were gonna phone us an that would have cost $30 so be careful.

not much help i know but good luck to you an i hope you find something soon

no worries also if yu have a look in the wiki bit in the blue bar at the top it might have some good webpages (full of excellent advice bout everything you need to know bout all the processes)

and in the search bit on the orange bit above type in your skill an some threads may come up from other people in the same boat.

no dont chuck the towel in! good luck to you

Cheers mate, Will give that a try, Thanks for your help.

Hi I'm a bricklayer I've been in Canada for two years where are you thinking of moving to in Canada? I'm in Calgary and would not come here for bricklaying due to the lack of residential brick work. Its mostly cheap fake stuck on stone here but there is commercial brick work. I think Ontario has alot more brick work. I've just been laid off work as there is not much work about at the moment but hopefully the work will pick up soon. Its is also difficult to get a work permit here for bricklayers as there is no need for TFW as there are so many Canadians in the trade out of work. My wife is an accountant and has seen a downturn in construction in general. If you are thinking of coming to Calgary you could try I B Jenson, Pockar or Thibeault masonry.If you have any questions feel free to pm me i will try and help best i can

John

Hi Eddie

Welcome To the forum
have you looked at the job bank website if not here's the link :
http://www.jobbank.gc.ca/

if you can apply for PR it's your best long term option.
Hope you future plans go well.

Cheers John, Will pm you after this which should be my third post. BUT for anyone else reading this, I will say that when i originally signed up to come over to Canada after seeing the adverts in the paper almost daily from 2005, saying Canada, Alberta in particular had a massive skills shortage of bricklayers joiners etc, That was where I was advised to be the place that i should put top of the list of where to go.
Also where I live which is Glasgow, there is another big recruiting Expo advising people to go to Canada, Oz and New Zealand this weekend at the SECC, so am feeling a bit annoyed that these campaigns are always on yet there seems to be very little jobs, obviously I do think that this Recession has defo played a part in the downturn of new build projects but I am still very much determined to get to Canada and hopefully will sooner rather than later.

Thanks for the link joinerboy, will give it a go, Cheers.

I think you have to ask who's organizing/running these "Expos". Is it the Governments of Canada, Oz and NZ or is it a bunch of immigration consultants? If the latter then I think that says it all. They have a vested interest in overstating things.

Yep they are all lies

Thing is they aren't actually recruiting expos - they are expos to introduce aforementioned Countries to people who are interested in moving to them.

I am sure you do get the odd dishonest person who would state there was work where there was no work - but on the whole, the expos and other shows are really introductions to what is out there and how, if possible, you can get there.