Hi Guys,

I have just started applying for jobs in Calgary. I'm looking for a similar position as an Account Manager preferably in a bank. I'm prepared to fly to Calgary if invited for interview. I'm worried that companies may not reply to me because I'm not in Canada yet. I will me moving to Calgary with my hubby 1st week of Aug. I would like to secure a job before moving there. Dont know whats the best option! Is it better to go there on a visit visa & get a job or to apply from here & then go there on a work permit?

Any recruitment agencies you guys can recommend? If I were to have 4-5 interviews arranged I'm willing to fly there. I'm fairly new to the forum. I'm a qualified ICM (Institute of Credit Management).

Please help

Yes, a recce trip would be useful, but you need to start networking before you come to Calgary on a recce.

You need to identify potential employers, phone them, and send them your resume. You also could mail them hard copies of your resume and then phone them. Different members of this forum prefer different sequences. But just about everyone who has been through the job hunting process in Canada agrees that the phone has to come into play.

Your covering letter needs to state that you'll be arriving to live in Canada on Such And Such a date, and you'll have Such And Such authorization to work in Canada.

But, realistically, who is going to hire you if you can only start in August? Still, it would be valuable to start the "networking" and "informational interview" process now.

I recommend that you read all the articles that spin off from the Wiki article called Job Hunting Process - Canada.
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Judy,

Thank you so much. Its not that I cannot start before Aug. To be honest I can start anytime after end of May as long as I have a job. I will be arriving in visit visa is this going to be a problem? How long will it take to get a work permit if I were to have an offer letter?

I have been applying through Monster.ca & Workpolis. Should I contact them by phone tomorow to confirm that they have received my CV so that'll break the ice & I can start talking.

Dont know how to net work. Whats the best place to start? Apologies if this sounds stupid.

Merien

I spent the best part of last year emailing CV's, responding to vacancies etc, and received a handful of replies only.
In the end, I told a white lie and told a recruitment consultant I was going to be in the area for interviews should anyone be interested. She arranged in 10 interviews, so we booked a flight and headed out.
I was fortunate enough to come back with 2 offers, and accepted one shortly after. I'm just waiting for the PNP to go through.

To be honesty, I wouldnt waste your time by sending CV's out willy nilly. You'll be lucky to get a response from 1 in 10, but all will tell you the same thing- "if you have a work permit...." etc.

Best thing to do is get yourself over there.

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Networking

Yes, that's a problem. If your husband has a temporary work permit, and if he belongs to Skill Level 0, A or B on the National Occupational Classification, you are eligible for a spousal open work permit. You should apply for it now, as it takes about 3 months to get it if you apply once you're in Canada.

If you are not eligible for a spousal open work permit, the employer has to apply for a Labour Market Opinion (LMO) before he can give you the job offer that will lead to a temporary work permit. The employer has to demonstrate that he has advertised the job across Canada for X length of time, and no willing and able Canadian resident has applied for the job. Depending on the province, it can take anywhere from a few weeks to 6 months to get an LMO. In Alberta, I've seen posts on this forum indicating that LMOs have taken at least 20 weeks to come through. I seem to remember reading of an instance in which an LMO took as long as 35 weeks to come through.

But you will not have that problem if you have spousal open work permit, as you will be allowed to accept any job, with any employer, in any part of Canada.

You can try them, but they should not be the main focus of your job search activities.

No. That would be a complete and utter waste of breath. Admittedly, I did recommed that you use the phone. But that was in the context of speaking with potential employers.

Please read the Wiki articles in the series called Job Hunting Process -Canada. Make yourself a pot of tea, and read through all those articles. Read through them three times. I am being deadly serious. The main Job Hunting article has links to other articles that deal with sub-topics, such as Networking. (Oh, I see G586 has given you the link.) But you need to read the articles in their entirity, because job hunting in Canada involves a cultural shift.

It also sounds as if you could use more information about the immigration process. For that side of things, I suggest you start with the Wiki article called Quick Guide to Canadian Immigration, and take it from there.

Hope that helps.
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When people ask questions on this forum, I quite often look at a couple of their previous posts to get more context. I didn't do that in your case. But, after I'd responded to you, I did look at your first couple of posts on the BE forum.

I see that your husband will be coming to Canada as a PR and that he applied for PR in 2005, before you were married. The fact that you say you'll be coming to Canada as a visitor suggests to me that your husband didn't add you to his PR application after you got married.

Merien, I don't know a lot about this stuff, but I know enough to suspect that you are in a big mess. I suggest that you ask about that specific issue -- your status vis a vis your husband's PR application -- on the Canadian Immigration Forum. There are immigration experts who post there, and they know more about this than I do.
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I am so mixed up, I don't know whether I'm Arthur or Martha.

If you do in fact have a PR visa, along with your husband's PR visa, you will have the legal right to accept any job, from any employer, in any part of Canada when you officially "land" and activate your PR status.

Perhaps you mentioned a visitor's visa in the context of a recce trip, which you might do for job hunting purposes, before you officially land and activate your PR status.

You're a British citizen, so you don't need to get a visitor's visa to enter Canada. You can just show up at a port of entry (POE). The immigration officer (IO) at the POE has authorization to use his/her discretion as to whether or not he/she admits a British citizen to Canada and the length of time for which he/she admits that British citizen. Usually the IO admits a British citizen for the maximum length of time that's permitted, which is 6 months.

If you have a PR visa but do not want to officially land and activate your PR status, you should tell the IO at your POE. Technically you are not allowed to job hunt while you're a visitor, so just say you've come to Canada to house hunt (or something like that) ahead of moving here as a PR.

If, however, your husband did not add you to his PR application and you do not have a PR visa, things are going to get complicated at this point. If that is the case, you should ask the folks on the Immigration Forum how to proceed from here.
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It really doesn't matter:

http://www.xtra.ca/public/viewstory...._TEMPLATE_ID=2

Boom boom.

Thank you. I'll start registering with the recruitment agencies & arrange interviews. I know I'll get a job if I have had an interview.

Merien

Hi Judy,

Let me be honest here. I'm currently living in UAE, as per their law its illegal to live with your boyfriend. I was worried that I may put myself& my b-friend in trouble by telling people in the forum that I'm living with my boyfriend. I'm engaged but not married yet, we are planning to get married once arrived in Canada. My boyfriend is willing to get married soon & to get me the visa but as I'm pretty independant I'm trying to get a work permit. Apologies. I'm really scared about the Arab law here. Yes he has a PR. Thank you so much for helping.
Merien

Thanks for clarifying, Merien. That helps me to understand your situation.

Regarding job interviews, please do read all the previous links I gave you regarding job hunting in Canada. It's very unlikely that agencies will be able to arrange job interviews for you if you don't already have authorisation to work in Canada. For that reason, agencies should not be your primary focus. You should be identifying prospective employers and communicating witht them directly. As I said before, you need to use the phone. Yes, a recce trip would be useful too. But, before doing a recce trip, you need to speak with people on the phone. The time difference works in your favour, because you can call when it's evening in your time zone and morning or early afternoon in Canada.

One of the Wiki articles in the series on Job Hunting in Canada is called Finding Job Opportunities. I recommend reading that article to find out how to identify prospective employers. Use the Resume and Covering Letter articles to find out what your written communications with prospective employers should look like. Then read the Networking article to find out how to communicate with prospective employers verbally. But you also need to read all the other articles about Job Hunting in Canada. The hiring culture in Canada is different from that in the UK.

Hope that helps.
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Thank you for being so understanding Judy. I'm just going to read all that now. The more I know its better.

Merien