IckleHelen

Hi All,

We eventually sent off our application under the skilled worker class at the beginning of July. With the wait times as they currently stand we are looking at 3 years until we are able to move to Calgary.

I work in IT, though I have only one years experience so far. As a lot of IT professionals seem to be having difficulty finding work, I am interested in having a back up. I've been thinking about construction, in particular the areas of carpentry, joinery, painting and decorating.

There are some City and Guilds courses running at a local further education college, which I was considering. Does anyone have any advice for me on whether this is worth doing? I enjoy studying and love learning new skills, so don't mind doing the courses even if at the end it just means I'm better at DIY, and don't actually get a job in the industry. However, the courses are quite expensive, so I'm not sure if it's worth the investment.

Also, in case you hadn't gotten it from my name, I'm a woman (and not a very tall one at that). Do you think this will affect my employment chances much in the construction field?

Thanks for any responses.

Helen

rossandvi

Hi Helen
I wish you luck but even if you were to retrain as a carpenter etc you would still have just 3 years experience and i doubt if that would be enough for you to find employment...my hubby is a carpenter with 16 years experience and it wasnt all that easy for him to gain employment at first.
Being a woman.shouldnt make any difference to your occupation.but who knows''.they might feel you lack body strength for the heavey and difficult capentry tasks.........I wish you well Vi.

Judy in Calgary

My gut feeling is that, if you want to retool yourself, you'd be better off seeking education in a white collar field, e.g., accounting. If you did that and you were bound for Canada, however, there might be merit in acquiring Canadian qualifications. Perhaps you'd be able to do distance learning through a Canadian open university. For example, a Calgary friend of ours whose husband worked in Qatar for a few years spent her expat stint getting a degree through Athabasca University.

I do administrative work in the health, safety and environment industry. While Alberta's safety and environment regulations are better than those of a Third World country, they are lax by Canadian standards. Alberta has some excellent employers who have a proactive, responsible attitude towards their employees. There are many companies in this province, however, that do the bare minimum they can get away with, and that try to wriggle out of their obligations when workers are injured and need to access short-term or long-term disability benefits.

A fellow who attends my church is a fifty-ish carpenter. Almost a year ago he was diagnosed with emphysema, apparently the result of exposure to sawdust, glue, lacquer, solvents, etc, over two or three decades. The company for which he worked fired him the minute he submitted an application, signed by his doctor, for disability benefits. After making many enquiries, he came to the conclusion that he had no option but to retain a lawyer to help him press his claim for disability benefits. Of course the lawyer doesn't work for free. After some months my fellow congregation member ran out of money and, in desperation, took up employment as a carpenter again, although his doctor had told him to steer clear of any environment that contained the substances that had caused his health problem in the first place. So far this man has not received a single cent from the government by way of the Employment Insurance, Workers' Compensation or other systems that you might imagine would assist a disabled worker.

On July 16, 2005, a 14-year-old boy died at a construction site in Wetaskiwin, a town to the south of Edmonton. This under-age boy was crushed by a machine while working for a private contractor. Three years ago another under-age worker, also a 14-year-old boy, died when he fell five storeys at an Edmonton construction site. In that case, the contractor who employed him was fined 138,000 CAD.

In Alberta the maximum penalty for an employer found negligent after the death of an employee is 500,000 CAD and/or six months in prison. I find the light penalties for employer negligence chilling, especially when I consider that Alberta permits children as young as 12 years of age to work in the hospitality (read "fast food") industry.

I suggest you read the Rabble and Straight Goods web sites to keep abreast of Canadian news and to see points of view that are different from those that often are expressed in the mainstream media.

Canada is a great country in many ways. I like Willmore's current signature (Canada : Modest but Mighty!). Coming from Southern Africa as I do, I don't lie awake at night wondering if I should stay in Canada or go back "home." Staying put is a no-brainer for me.

For Brits, however, the merits of Canada do not seem to me to be so cut and dried. It's true that Canada does have more space than the UK does. From what I've read here, British expats who arrive in Canada with some capital can buy substantially bigger houses in Canada than they could have done in the UK.

But, beyond that, it seems to me that -- for someone who already is living in a G8 country -- Canada does not necessarily represent an improvement.

Sorry, I've gone off at a tangent. To return to your original questions......

I don't know the answer to this question. However, you may be interested to know that Alberta is the only province in Canada with no pay equity legislation. The principle of pay equity for men and women is supported by the Canadian Human Rights Act. In the case of Alberta, however, there is little proactive enforcement of the national law. Too often action has been taken only as the result of complaints on the part of women workers. Registering a complaint is not an easy process. As soon as you do, you risk various kinds of intimidation.

Sorry to raise yet another point that puts a damper on things. However, you asked the questions, so I hope you really did want whatever answers might come out of the woodwork (no pun intended).

IckleHelen

Thanks for your reply Vi.

The way I was thinking of it, it would be a back up. So I'd continue in IT, but when I land I may change careers. I thought already having a British qualification, may show commitment when applying for apprenticeship.

Helen

IckleHelen

I studied accounting for a year, boy was it boring, so that one is definately out. Although I’ve just spent a year doing Oracle development I’m now moving in to a Project Management type of a role, so think my skills will be a bit more transferable to other ‘white collar fields’. So it’s certainly a possibility. With my construction idea, I was just trying to think out of the box, of something totally different, where there seems to be work.

Thanks for the negative perspective (which is a good thing – I’m not being sarcastic). I had thought about health and safety issues, but like people do when things get in the way of a good idea, I had put them to the back of my mind. Conversely, the other career direction I was thinking of was to become a dietician or nutritionist, because I’m interested in healthy and clean living. The issues you raised will certainly make me think harder about this.

It was just an idea, and I wanted to sound it out on the board, to see if anyone was able to give me any food for thought. So thanks.

Cheers,

Helen

dingbat

Think again about the dietician/nutrictionist idea, in BC, and other provinces this is the minimum qualification required:

"Dietitians and nutritionists require completion of a bachelor's or master's degree in Dietetics, Nutrition or a related field and a supervised accredited practical training program (40 to 50 weeks). Registration is required with the B.C. Dietitians' and Nutritionists' Association (BCDNA). All applicants are required to pass the national qualifying exam."
http://www.workfutures.bc.ca/profile...2&site=graphic

The biggest mistake people make before they get here is thinking that Canada is like Europe with regard to changing careers.Without experience and a Canadian degree or an internationally recognised one in most (not all) disciplines, you are looking at entry level jobs with seriously crap pay. Because the standard of general education here is, in my opinion, so low, the job market demands "degree" level qualifications for jobs that really don't need a degree at all. Apprenticeships are like gold here - and they go to friends of Union affiliated friends before foreigners. Yes, I have seen this personally over and over again. Going to school here to be a dietician costs money - look at the length of the practicum too (nearly a year). Do you have all that time to waste? The money for the courses? (you won't qualify for student loans for a while and within a year they will base your eligibility on your UK household income). Are you supporting a family? What are you giving up in the UK? All food for thought, your choice, you go for it if you want to, of course.

Judy in Calgary

Actually Calgary has a need for people with skills in project management / project control. Of all the fields you've mentioned, that probably is the one that is most promising in the context of the Calgary market.

IckleHelen

Thanks for that - A positive.

So, I guess the best option is continue with Plan A (what I'm doing now), and when I land look at jobs in Project Management (though not necessarily IT). If that fails then I'll come up with a Plan B, after reviewing the job situation while I'm there. Really I should spend the next three years just trying to get on in my current job - to gain as much experience as I can.

Thank You, Helen