Originally Posted by christmasoompa (Post 10374644)

Please start your own thread, rather than hijacking the OP's.

If Google can't answer what you want to know about a province, then this forum usually will, but it would be very helpful if you could be more specific about exactly what it is that you want to know.

Thx.

Originally Posted by Atlantic Xpat (Post 10371711)

I imagine they were either going to be rented to employees directly or through the company. Either way IOC is struggling in recruitment because they simply can't find places for prospective hires to live.

Originally Posted by jp11 (Post 10378013)

Thanks, I'm very well versed in Google, I simply posted on here as it thought my question would generate some real life responses and it would help out the
people who started this thread as well as myself too. Also the the searching i done on this Forum prior to my question only showed up results that were old (2010 - ) so i thought things may have changed since then.

Thanks again.

Originally Posted by energysolutions (Post 10378894)

Hmmm, perhaps its coincidence but I am waiting on a "Stage 2" interview (having got past "Stage 1") with IOC which was to be a week or two ago - could this be the reason I havent heard anything?

Originally Posted by comet555 (Post 10375335)

My husband currently works FIFO in Fort McMurray for a contractor. Our family lives in a smallish town in Ontario (approx 25,000 people). It's on the 401 so there's decent services and an 45-60 minutes to two larger centres and 3 hours to Toronto. To give you an idea of house prices the house we are living in now would probably cost 3-4 times as much in Fort McMurray.

We are both Canadians and have lived in Fort McMurray for 5 years prior to moving to Australia (and then back to Canada). I wouldn't say it's a terrible town but it really is in the middle of nowhere. It's about 4.5 hours to Edmonton the scariest highway I've ever been on. We travelled it many times without incident but the fact that it's only single lane coupled with masses of people coming/going to town for shift changes means it can be pretty deadly (add in the snow in winter as well!).

Living in Fort McMurray is different. It has less services/selection then you'd expect of a town that size and the service is terrible. Yes the people at McDonald's probably make $20 an hour but no one wants to work there when they can go out to the mines. When we lived there they were experiencing major staff shortages in all the places that are your typical minimum wage type job. I don't imagine it's much different now. The other thing I want to mention is that I lot of people are just there to make lots of money and move on so it's always work, work, work. There are of course plenty of people just trying to raise a family as well. But on the whole the work/family life balance is different.

So for us, I'm quite happy to live away from Fort McMurray and have a really nice house at 1/3 or 1/4 of the cost. Given my husband's very specific job (mining engineer) we don't really have the luxury of living anywhere we want. We're pretty much stuck with living in a mining town or doing FIFO roles so for us fly in fly out is the lesser of the two evils. It works out ok although it's not forever. My husband has been doing it for almost 2 years now and is starting to get sick of it. He's hoping a change in sites and jobs will help. We'll see, but for now it works ok. We have two young kids (ages 6 and 8) and they seem to be ok with it. He has a 2 week on and 16 days off schedule, which is unique and it was the only way he would agree to do it. Most of the time the ratio is more like 2 weeks on and 1 week off.

For the OP, I would suggest picking a role in or around Calgary or Edmonton as they are decent places to be and there's lots of work. If you want to do FIFO work then most places will have flights going to these locations. So you could always start out doing FIFO for the money and then go for something more local if you don't like it, or the other way around.

On another note, there should be lots of opportunities coming up at Kearl Lake, so for anyone interested in FIFO work then check the website once in a while. This isn't where my husband works but his company may end up transferring him to that site.
http://www.imperialoil.ca/Canada-Eng...l_careers.aspx

Originally Posted by iaink (Post 10378924)

N'ah. thats just the canadian hiring process, it can be painfully slow sometimes.

However, it doesnt hurt here to follow up with a call and say how much you enjoyed the chat and basically brownnose a bit and enquire when you might expect some news.

Originally Posted by comet555 (Post 10375335)

He has a 2 week on and 16 days off schedule, which is unique and it was the only way he would agree to do it. Most of the time the ratio is more like 2 weeks on and 1 week off

Originally Posted by energysolutions (Post 10378960)

As you have mentioned FIFO is probably the better of the two options.

Originally Posted by iaink (Post 10378920)

I doubt the basic provincial make up of canada has changes much in the last 20 years, never mind the last two, but if you are "well versed" in google you probably know that you can use the advanced features to search the britishexpats.com domain, and set specific date limits for the results.

TBH google its probably a more powerful tool than the built in search feature, but the question you asked is very very broad and will get no sensible answers I suspect, you need to do some footwork first, your question is a lot asking "Can someone breakdown the countries of Europe and what they have to offer?"

The OP in this thread had a couple of well defined areas in mind, so not at all the same circumstances. The majority of posters here are very helpful and happy to take the time to try and answer questions, but you have to give them at least some semblance of a sensible question and something to go on first. Getting chippy with a friendly mod trying to point you in the right direction is not the way to win friends and influence people here;)

Originally Posted by jossie (Post 10379261)

The term "jobsworth" comes to mind here. jp11 is new to the site and asking a legitimate question only to be accused of hijacking the thread then told they are being chippy and how to win friends and influence people on here?? Way to go to make newcomers feel welcome on the site.

Originally Posted by Atlantic Xpat (Post 10379253)

Bear in mind that a 2 week on and 16 day off schedule is, I believe fairly unique. There are many Newfoundlanders working in Fort Mac who work 8 wks on and 2 off and other such combinations. FIFO on a schedule that means that you only see your family every two months wouldn't work for me.

Originally Posted by energysolutions (Post 10378960)

)

Can I ask about your time in Australia? How did the two compare? Is the fact that you`re back in Canada an indication of which you preferred?

Originally Posted by comet555 (Post 10381489)

We loved Australia so us coming back is no indication at all. I would say I love them both for various reasons so could happily live in both. I'm hoping to go back again once the kids are out of the house. On the whole I think they are fairly similar countries aside from the weather of course.

Originally Posted by jossie (Post 10379261)

The term "jobsworth" comes to mind here. jp11 is new to the site and asking a legitimate question only to be accused of hijacking the thread then told they are being chippy and how to win friends and influence people on here?? Way to go to make newcomers feel welcome on the site.

Originally Posted by christmasoompa (Post 10389386)

Not sure that 4 months in counts as a site newbie, but if it does then perhaps JP11 could re-read the 'Newcomers' sticky thread, which would explain what we've tried to (in perfectly polite terms I might add) - that it's not great forum netiquette to ask your own questions on anothers thread, and that specific questions get better answers.

Originally Posted by jossie (Post 10390894)

People ask their own questions on other peoples threads all the time:confused: You have over 12000 posts compared to JP11 having 10 so I think this does count as a newbie:confused: And using the term hijacking isn't polite:confused: Like I said the term jobsworth is appropriate: "A low ranking official who follows their instructions and procedure to the letter. Often just to p*** you off and to make them feel important."