Looking for new job opportunities
Jul 21st 2019, 1:08 pm
#1
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2019
Posts: 1
Looking for new job opportunities
Hello,
I am currently working in finance in the UK and have been working here for over a year now after graduating from University with a first-class honours degree in 2018.
I am now looking for opportunities in Finance in Canada, more specifically Toronto. I have obtained a two-year working permit now through IEC and now would like to have a job set up before I go and move over.
My question to the forum is what is the best way to go about trying to get a job? I have been messaging multiple recruiting agencies in Toronto and they have been pretty unhelpful to say the least. I also worry that if I apply for jobs directly, that I am at a disadvantage because I do not already live in Canada, even though I already have a Visa?
I am quite open to various jobs within finance and banking in order to get my foot in the door and would love to hear from anyone who can provide good ideas!
Kind Regards,
Ben.
I am currently working in finance in the UK and have been working here for over a year now after graduating from University with a first-class honours degree in 2018.
I am now looking for opportunities in Finance in Canada, more specifically Toronto. I have obtained a two-year working permit now through IEC and now would like to have a job set up before I go and move over.
My question to the forum is what is the best way to go about trying to get a job? I have been messaging multiple recruiting agencies in Toronto and they have been pretty unhelpful to say the least. I also worry that if I apply for jobs directly, that I am at a disadvantage because I do not already live in Canada, even though I already have a Visa?
I am quite open to various jobs within finance and banking in order to get my foot in the door and would love to hear from anyone who can provide good ideas!
Kind Regards,
Ben.
Jul 21st 2019, 1:43 pm
#2
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Nov 2011
Location: Somewhere between Vancouver & St Johns
Posts: 19,850
Re: Looking for new job opportunities
Although you have the ITA and been accepted you haven't got the work permit yet which is given when you arrive in Canada. Many will say applying online etc usually doesn't work as you need to pound the pavement with work permit in hand to secure a job. Why hire a foreigner when I am sure they might have lots of Canadians applying for the same job who could start next week. How would a UK employer act in the same circumstances?
Jul 21st 2019, 7:37 pm
#3
Forum Regular
Joined: Dec 2016
Location: Tumbler Ridge, BC
Posts: 34
Re: Looking for new job opportunities
YMMV and I know nothing about Toronto or banking. I would say though:
- In general Canada is vastly less parasitized by recruitment agencies than the UK; if you're focusing on them to find work you may find you're barking up the wrong tree.
- Though it's not impossible, you're unlikely to find a 'professional' job before arrival in Canada. Part of that is as mentioned there are people to hire locally. Much is made of Canadian companies not being willing to consider applicants not in Canada and this is often attributed to insularity, which I think is usually not correct - a more common root of the problem is likely to be that any company in Canada that posts a job which could potentially serve as a stepping stone to PR or a work permit will receive such a bombardment from the desperate outside Canada that they've long since trained themselves to filter out any sort of communication that says much about work permits etc beyond 'I have one'. This manifests itself in different ways of course but when you get right down to it, 'We will only hire people with status in Canada' or however it's phrased ultimately boils down to 'Please don't ask us to get you a work permit, we're not going to'.
The scale can be truly startling especially for low-end jobs - I used to work at a remote lodge, several hours away from anywhere of significance and essentially a day's travel to the nearest city of any size, and we'd often get double digit numbers of applications per day from half of India, Pakistan, the Phillipines, more of the same working in the UAE or Saudi, Ukrainians, Nigerians...none with work permits, but what they're looking for is for someone to get them one. If you have to spend part of your job application explaining that actually you don't have a work permit yet but...the odds of anyone getting to the end of the sentence before tossing it in the bin are, let's say, lower.
- In general Canada is vastly less parasitized by recruitment agencies than the UK; if you're focusing on them to find work you may find you're barking up the wrong tree.
- Though it's not impossible, you're unlikely to find a 'professional' job before arrival in Canada. Part of that is as mentioned there are people to hire locally. Much is made of Canadian companies not being willing to consider applicants not in Canada and this is often attributed to insularity, which I think is usually not correct - a more common root of the problem is likely to be that any company in Canada that posts a job which could potentially serve as a stepping stone to PR or a work permit will receive such a bombardment from the desperate outside Canada that they've long since trained themselves to filter out any sort of communication that says much about work permits etc beyond 'I have one'. This manifests itself in different ways of course but when you get right down to it, 'We will only hire people with status in Canada' or however it's phrased ultimately boils down to 'Please don't ask us to get you a work permit, we're not going to'.
The scale can be truly startling especially for low-end jobs - I used to work at a remote lodge, several hours away from anywhere of significance and essentially a day's travel to the nearest city of any size, and we'd often get double digit numbers of applications per day from half of India, Pakistan, the Phillipines, more of the same working in the UAE or Saudi, Ukrainians, Nigerians...none with work permits, but what they're looking for is for someone to get them one. If you have to spend part of your job application explaining that actually you don't have a work permit yet but...the odds of anyone getting to the end of the sentence before tossing it in the bin are, let's say, lower.
