Hello everyone,

Amongst all the doom and gloom, a few people have said that Networking is the best way (only way!) of getting on in Canada. What is the best way of making contacts? Do people get jobs through friends etc? Is it really true that UK qualifications don't matter?

I'm new to it all, with no links or money and , despite my girlfriend and i both having degrees and teaching qualifications, are preparing to hit the ground running and start from the bottom rung. Again.

I'm looking forward to the challenge......

Unfortunately teaching is one of those canadian qualification area. BEd is a requirement for nearly all full time positions.
My wife has a canadian masters degree and experience in adult ed, but cannot teach in the public school system without a BEd.

There is no great secret to networking, its been covered in other posts here. Basically join as many social or professional groups as you can, and talk to people, everyone, about what you want to do, and why you should be doing it. Remember though that networking it is a two way steet, anyway, i think it was ClareBC who posted some good tips on this subject in the past, could be wrong though.

No, heres the link
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...5&pagenumber=2

Volunteer to help for free, in fact volunteerism is a much bigger deal in canada than the UK, and apart from anything else it gets you out of the house, you meet interesting people, and you make a difference in society, there are many groups in need of help, so check out the United way or some similar group, or the local library.


Iain

There is a lot of doom and gloom in this forum, and its good that a new member like you, is able to see that. You are going to get a lot of people here that came over for the wrong reasons, and when things didn't work out the way they thought it would, they knoock the Canada.

Networking is not just a canadian thing, you even get that in england, especially london. I should know, i used to work there for a multinational company that kept most vacancies internal. If you didn't know anyone there, you won't know there is a job going.

Most of us expats here from blighty, have got two degrees at least, when i came over, i did a lot of voluntary work like you won't believe, and it was whilst i was doing this, that i met someone that told me about a job going at their place of work in mississauga (ontario).

Its not that your qualifications don't count, but its kind of like a stepping stone for you, went you get it, as long as you can get it brought over to the canadian equivalent.

If you are a contractor/general builder, you have more chances of making more mullah than most of us. Am not going to knock canada, it has provided me with things in a much larger scale than i did in the UK. I still love the UK no matter what.

As long as you are willing to work hard, there is a lot to be achieved.

Good luck

Just remember that people are less subtle about selling themselves here than in the UK: so don't be shy about extolling your virtues (within some limits of course, taste and decency still apply).

Essentially, unless you tell them what you have to offer, they will not assume it. I think in the UK the recruitment process is a lot more sophisticated and subtle.

When I had interviews in the UK I was asked all sorts of abstract questions (I was once asked - by Shell in London - what I thought about the problem of refugees). Here I was basically asked to confirm and expand on what was on my resume.