Ottawa for living and working
 

Hi,

We're hoping to go to Ottawa once /if we're granted visas. However, I recently had someone in another forum warn me off saying it was an unwelcoming place for immigrants and getting a job is impossible. Now, I know everyone has different expectations and experiences... but is there anyone here who has gone to Ottawa from the UK? If so - what were the positives and negatives in your experience?

Thanks,
Jen

Re: Ottawa for living and working
 

A lot of jobs in Ottawa are federal government jobs - for which you (normally)need Canadian citizenship.

There are some jobs in service providers to the federal government, and there's an IT industry in Ottawa too.

Re: Ottawa for living and working
 

I grew up in Ottawa. Now it was an idyllic place to grow up in but I wouldn't recommend it as a great place for employment. Almost ALL Federal Government jobs demand bilingualism (French/English). There's also a lot of nepotism/cronyism in how government jobs are doled out. The requirement to pass a bilingualism test is high. I failed it despite having studied French for 14 years! The other big employment sector of IT is a tough nut to crack. I believe there's a lot of demand for very specialized work and the competition is fierce. Most ask for a computer degree of some kind and again, bilingualism is required for most customer interfacing roles. You may have to lower your work expectations when you arrive. You may want to have a look a this post from someone who moved to Ottawa a couple of years ago.

Re: Ottawa for living and working
 

Thanks, that's been useful :)

Jen

Re: Ottawa for living and working
 

The major impediment to getting a government job is that most of them are advertised only internally. Few are open to the public and even the ones advertised on jobs.gc.ca are advertised internally too.

There are plenty of contract positions on offer, as a quick trawl on monster.ca and workopolis will show. However, they are mostly short-term, badly paid and will not help anyone get a full-time job in government. Contract employees are not counted as being part of the public service and thus can't apply for the internally advertised jobs.

No potential immigrant to Canada should ever work around a plan that involves employment with the government, including provincial government. In 99.99% of cases, it ain't going to happen.

I can't comment on the IT market.

In essence, however, I'd say don't come to Ottawa unless you already have a firm job offer (or you're Lebanese with a clean driving licence).

Re: Ottawa for living and working
 

I had a contract for a year in Ottawa working for the feds and I've handled lots of others. The problem isn't so much that the pay rate is bad but that they take so long to pay. I didn't get paid for my first week worked until after the contract ended and one invoice took two and a half years. We handled the contract for a guy (not financing the receivables, just providing a supplier number) who had to give up a contract with RevCan after two years because he hadn't been paid and they, RevCan were after him for back taxes. Dealing with the government and with quangoes is a case where I think the pimp does deserve more than half the rate as there's a considerable risk of not living to see the money.

otoh, it's all very relaxing, nothing in government departments actually needs doing so it can as well not be done tomorrow as not being done today.

Re: Ottawa for living and working
 

Hi Jen,

I've lived in Ottawa for three months now, and must say I'm happy with it. Maybe that is because I was prepared to get a job with low pay and didn't have high expectations, I'm not sure.
Getting a job wasn't anything as hard as I'd read everywhere - sending off one (1!) application and posting my profile on a worksite resulted in being called for two interviews, getting both jobs, and then being called for another three interviews after I'd already accepted one of the offers. It can be done, folks! Of course, it helps knowing you're good at what you're doing, clear about what you're expecting, and then being willing to negotiate. :)

Ottawa as a place to live has been good to me. There are lots of "the outdoors" around here, and at the same time lots of stuff to do in the city. I think I've read somewhere Ottawa has the highest ratio of museums per capita - I like that!

Of course there are things that are driving me nuts, too, but they are more Canada things and not Ottawa things, if you know what I mean...

Have you been over to see what it's like here? Let me know if I can be of more specific help!

Good luck, and hopefully welcome to Ottawa! :)

Re: Ottawa for living and working
 

Thanks for sharing your experience. I've sent you a PM.

Jen