I've just been reading the front page article on this forum -the one about Networking in Canada. It's the same old same old, isn't it........it's not what you know, but who you know....and how true that is in this country! Sort of makes a nonsense, in a way, of having to have all those bits of paper that state you're qualified in This, That and The Other!
Forgive me if I sound bitter, but the above is so true of the community in which I find myself. Anybody else found this? :curse:

Thing is - it's not what you know but who you know - is valid ANYWHERE!

Networking is essential for getting a job regardless of which country you live in.

The flip side of this is that many Canadians are friendly and many of them like to help you out. Helping you out includes giving you useful tips, such as passing on the name of someone who may be helpful in your job hunt.

Just to throw out an example, we were on a beach in the Okanagan, and another family -- total strangers to us -- invited our family to join them for a ride in their motor boat.

We have done the same sort of thing too. During the summer we keep a canoe at the Glenmore Reservoir, near our home in Calgary. One evening my husband and I pulled into shore at the end of our canoe ride. There we met a father with a couple of children. He said he wanted to take his kids for a canoe ride and asked us if there was a place from which he could rent a canoe in the vicinity. We said there weren't any rental canoes nearby, but my husband invited the kids to hop in the canoe, and he took them out on the lake for a paddle.

The secret to getting on in Canada, and I would venture to guess in many other places too, is to be the sort of person whom other people would be glad to help.

Postscript. I would say to those of you who still are in the UK, if you don't want to live life by that principle, you might want to give Canada a miss.

This is precisely why I love Canada. I found the Canadians to be more open and friendly and helpful. Not as overly nauseatingly polite as the British and not as obnoxious as the americans. (and yes I know there are those who are not as I just described).

Here's another example. The company in Canada that wants me in their fold know full well I have my own business. One that ties in to what they do. They are aware that I have clients and won't abandon my clients. In fact, they say that if I can get myself out there on a TWP as self employed and do odds and bits for them they will not just pay me but let me use their premises to network and pick up more clients for my business. Just as I will help them get business through my contacts.

I totally agree with Judy. If you don't like helpful people but prefer a class society than you should rethink Canada. You will have to throw traditions over-board to adapt to their society. That actually goes for any country you would move to.

To the OP. This post is not directed at you personally but a general advice.

No, I never found this to be the case in England. Jobs had to advertised properly and interviewed for. References not opened until a decision was made.

In Canada, you need to know people to get jobs and to keep them

I couldn't agree more. Unfortunately it just doesn't work in this town! We've tried - truly - but nothing seems to work. It really is like one of those strange Stephen King films - we walk down the street and people look straight through us. I've had people jump in front of me in the stores and post office; the staff at the post office are hostile and rude; the manager of the local grocery store likewise - the list goes on, but still, we've kept on trying to get a toehold in this place. We've joined the local gardening club, photography club....I've even helped a young woman repaint her shop only to find she snubs me when I go in to buy something! We go to local yard sales, bake sales, Fall and Christmas fairs; I've invited neighbours round when we had a garden party in summer - no-one came except those who, like us, are out-of-towners - and who get the same treatment! For a long time we thought it was us, but we now realise it isn't actually personal. This is a small town run by a small group of small-minded people who are afraid of anything or anyone new - they see anyone moving in as a threat - especially someone from another country. We had really looked forward to returning to this country as we have such happy memories of our time here back in the 80's; we felt we had something to offer to the community - unfortunately we know we'll never stand a chance here - the people are just too set in their ways. It's a real shame, but we have to accept it as we'll never change it.

The secret to getting on in Canada, and I would venture to guess in many other places too, is to be the sort of person whom other people would be glad to help. I'm not quite sure if you're suggesting that maybe I'm not this type of person - I do hope you're not, as I and my OH are both out-going and well-liked...........outside THIS small town! I work in the nearest city and find the people are totally different - friendly and kind; when I was taken ill at work one member of staff drove me home and waited at the hospital until my husband arrived. I was off for three days during which time my colleagues phoned to see if I needed help!

So, sorry Judy - maybe you need to come here and work some of your magic, because obviously we're just really, really obnoxious!

Agree 100%.

And I found it to be completely the opposite.

I'm not looking for any kind of job - and have been invited to apply for four in the last 5 weeks! Strange place!

I'm working part-time at a certain coffee establishment - and during this time I have been 'invited' to send in resumes to a doctor's surgery, a bank, a climatologist's office and one other. Flattering, I guess - they're all admin type roles for which I would no doubt be more suited than making frappacinos. My cynical head just states they are all so bloody desparate for good staff, that I'll do !! But it also must mean that I'm starting to get to know more people than I thought. I'll wait and see how the new year pans out. And I quite like making frappacinos Shame about the remuneration, or my weekly insult as I call it .....

Not true in my case, I was new in town and didn't know a soul when I applied for my job. I had my interviews, references were checked and then I was offered the job.
No networking involved.

I must admit this is my perception, borne out by the fact that I had to get a foot in the door for my current job through a friend, before they would look at hiring a foreigner. All other jobs I got during my time here were through networking; one I got offered, rather sheepishly, after I was initially rejected. A friend contacted someone she knew in the company to ask why I did not get the job, as my request for feedback had been ignored. There was no reason, I had scored the highest on both the interviews, I just wasn't known in the community.

Several members of this forum who were not born and raised in the UK, but who have lived in the UK and in most cases are British citizens by naturalization, have told me via private messages and emails (and, in one case, a phone call) that they found it difficult to find work in the UK. They have told me of instances in which hiring decisions have been made in advance and in which the institutions in question have gone through the motions of advertising for positions.

I have no personal experience of this, as I've never lived in the UK. I'm just relaying the experiences that other people have reported to me.

Whatever.

just wait til you try getting on the TTC in 'rush hour'. You could be the first person on the platform yet still not get on before the doors close. I thought I'd left that behind in the UK

I've no personal experience of it either. I worked in the NHS and privare medicine. I havent heard of anyone else reporting it either, but then there are plenty of areas I havent worked in. If they say thats what happened then it must be true.