Monomania

Hi All,

I'm currently living in Montreal and i was thinking of moving to Gatineau and work in Ottawa. Are there any forum members living in that area who can give any advise please with regards to the move.

Montreal is nice but finding work is tough when your french is not so good

Novocastrian

Welcome to the forum. A regular poster called Souvy lives in Gatineau. He rarely posts at the weekend but I'm sure he'll reply tomorrow.

rich07

Almyer seems to be the town of choice for those who want a pretty English speaking neighborhood in the Gatineau region. I know quite a few English only speakers who live there and head over the river to Ottawa to work

Monomania

Thanks for the replies. Is it easier to get to Ottawa from gatineau or aylmer. I have a csq i would prefer to live in the quebec side for the moment. I wont be eligible for federal jobs but are office admin jobs easier to find in ottawa?

Partially discharged

It depends where your job location is. There is basically 1 bridge from Aylmer to Ottawa and you end up in central west end Ottawa.

There are 4 bridges from Gatineau to Ottawa and you end up in various downtown Ottawa areas.

What is a 'csq'...?

Crazyhorse1

The bridges get busy during rush hour.

Bilingualism is on a lot of job specs as an asset. It is also frequently a requirement for jobs in the Ottawa Gatineau region. A strong resume can help overcome however.

Why is Federal not an option? Federal is a significant employer in Ottawa.

Have you started applying for jobs in Ottawa and meeting with recruitment agencies?

Souvy

Aylmer is part of the city of Gatineau.

Gatineau is an amalgamated city, like Laval or Longeuil. It stretches for about 40 miles. Aylmer is the western end of it and it has a fairly high anglo population. Not that it really matters. Most people in Hull and Gatineau proper (the original Gatineau) are bilingual.

Property prices in Aylmer are quite high, although not as high as in Ottawa. It's cheaper on this side of the river, even if personal taxes are higher (it would probably be cheaper to live in Ottawa, if you're single and have no kids).

Aylmer is quite a way from the nearest bridge. The bridges are choke points, just as they are in Montreal. Many people here work in Ottawa, lots of them for the Feds. Quite a few of the people on my street, including my wife, work for the Feds in Ottawa. They go to work before the regular office crowd (like 6.30) to beat the traffic, morning and afternoon.

I should point out that quite a few Fed departments are based in Gatineau/Hull and not in Ottawa. Be careful if you are looking at public service jobs, though. The Feds are laying people off, not hiring them and competition for positions is fierce.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you need any specific advice.

Monomania

Thanks for all the replies,

A CSQ - is a "certificat de selection du Quebec" as i applied for my PR under quebec province instead of the federal side

Federal jobs are not an option for the time being as i have a PR visa

Souvy,

i am mainly looking for administrative jobs in either gatineau or ottawa provided that it's in english. My only option for the time being is the private sector. Are admin jobs hard to find in ottawa?

I will stay in Montreal for the time being and apply for jobs in ottawa. Hopefully it will work and then i can move with a job in hand.

Monomania

Not yet. Do you have any agencies in mind with regards to HR/Admin jobs?

Lemonfish

This is a popular misconception. It is true of the core public service, but there are other agencies of government who are 'separate employers' who do not prefer citizenship (Parks Canada is one such example) although do require PR. I obtained permanent work for the federal government in Ottawa with a separate employer holding PR status.

You may have other good reasons for living 'on the Quebec side', but would you need to rule out living in Ottawa? Assuming you have immigrated through the Quebec system, once you have landed in Quebec you have the right to live in other provinces; again, I know people who have done this. There may be a morality question here, but less of a practical one I think.

Lemonfish

Excel HR staff a lot of these

Shirtback

As Lemonfish mentioned: read the small print in the Federal job ads; many positions are open to PRs.

Good luck with your search

S

Souvy

That should probably be qualified a bit. A very high proportion of Fed jobs are open only to existing, permanent, Fed employees. They are not even advertised to contract employees or the general public.

When jobs are advertised to the public and PRs are admissible, you can bet that in most cases a PR will be at the bottom of the recruiter's wish list.

Fed job ads are often rigged. You can usually tell by looking at the "asset qualifications". If they are very specific, you can be sure that the organisation already knows who it's going to hire (promotion, conversion from contract to permanent etc) and the advert is just for show.

The new Rapibus system is a disaster, by the way. People hate it because it actually increases journey times. There have also been 15 crashes, so far, and always for the same reason.

Monomania

I think i will be applying through recruitment agencies at the moment. I'll be taking a bus from downtown montreal to downtown ottawa. How to i get to gatineau from ottawa, by bus or train?

Souvy

Bus. There are no trains.

Several buses, probably. The Ottawa bus service does not come north of the river. The Gatineau bus service (STO) does go into Ottawa but only to the Rideau Street hub.