Hi, I'm a Probation Officer in the UK with over 15 years experience and two bachelor degrees in Criminology/Criminal Justice. My husband and I are looking at emigrating to Canada, British Columbia ideally, so I am looking for advice on how to find work. I've read the wiki, but the advice there seems to apply more to the private sector? I've also read on other threads that government jobs are only given to citizens or those with PR. But, wouldn't I need a job to get PR in the first place?! Just wondering whether anyone from the UK has succesfully found work in Probation in Canada, and has any advice?
Thank you in advance.

(Other info - I'm 36, husband is 40. He currently has his own business as a TV engineer. We have two children, 3yrs and 6m. I have first cousins who are Canadians living in Canada, no other connections).

I think you are correct that government jobs can only be given to PRs or Citizens, not those on work permits.

Assuming that is the case, that gives you two options:
1) Work in a different field until you qualify and are granted PR, then get back into Probation work
2) See if you qualify for a route that would put you straight to PR - have you checked to see how many points you and your husband score using CRS? If you score over about 450 then you might be in with a chance.

Thanks SchnookoLoly. I haven't completed the CRS test, hadn't heard of it. I will look it up. We've completed other online assessments where we scored something like 97 points, where the threshold was above 65, so we thought that looked promising?

PM sent.

The 67 point was through FSW which has been folded into Express Entry. EE uses the CRS scoring system, you need to work out how many points you score using CRS and go from there.

In general probation officers are employed at a Provincial level, and as such applicants must meet the Provincial requirements for the province that you are considering, each is different. Manitoba is currently seeking Probation officers, and there are some carefully worded requirements. Basically if you are not indigenous then you will not be considered. Check out the listing attached
https://jobsearch.gov.mb.ca/search.action

There are also a few issues going on in Ontario right now, this hit the press earlier this week. So there may be a shake up there soon


Ontario’s probation system ‘a joke,’ say offenders | Globalnews.ca

Dormy - thank you very much for the links. We have similar 'bad press' in the UK at times - very rarely is it a true reflection of the hard work that is done, which is a shame. Thanks for your information about POs being employed at Provincial level. We are looking at BC specifically. Many thanks again.

Hi, I've just done the CRS. We haven't done a language test, so I guessed those answers. We also haven't had our qualifications approved, so guessed that too. We had a score of 434. But it didn't say whether that was any good or not? I will look in to it more though, thanks for the advice.

Here's a link to BC government jobs open to non-employees. Don't see any Probation jobs there at the moment, but worth checking periodically:

https://search.employment.gov.bc.ca/...jobs_quick.cgi

HI


1, Not quite right, You still need 67 points or more through FSW to be eligible to submit an expression of Interest under Express Entry, the EofI is then scored under the points available under CRS scoring system to see if you have sufficient points to be offered an ETA

Yes as PMM says: you have to be eligible under the FSW eligibility/points grid (at least 67 points) otherwise you aren't eligible to make an Express entry profile under FSW.

This may be of use

Link to cached version of criteria for becoming a Probation Officer in BC including internationally trained. (direct link to the word doc: https://search.employment.gov.bc.ca/..._Info_Pkg.docx. )

General info:
Adult Probation Officer | Justice Institute of British Columbia
Youth Probation Officer | Justice Institute of British Columbia

Here's a link to current staffing activity with the Government of Canada for parole officers (both institutional and community, across the country). It does note that preference will be given to veterans and Canadian citizens.

https://emploisfp-psjobs.cfp-psc.gc....?poster=947977