Originally Posted by Judy in Calgary (Post 5511634)

Thanks for the great info, Crasher Dai, but just a few translations for people heading to parts of Canada other than Ontario.

• I did a Google search for Job Skills, and found that it was an organization in Ontario. Assistance for newcomers to Canada varies from province to province and from city to city. Newly arrived expats will need to find out about resources in their own communities.
  
  
• As I understand it, PEO stands for Professional Engineers Ontario. The professional engineering associations of other provinces have other names.
  
  
• DOD - Would you be willing to share what this actually stands for? A Google search came up with Department of Defense (or Defence), but I don't know if that's right.
  
  
• NOC = National Occupational Classification

Originally Posted by Crasher Dai (Post 5507230)

OK folks, here's the employment bombshell on being a UK trained person here in Canada. I am an electronics engineer of 23 years experience & have struggled hard to get established in my trade here even though I can wipe the floor with most of the incompetent jokers I have worked with in Canada. This is what I have figured out in 8 years. The one place which will really help you to adapt to the job market here is Job Skills (it's free!) - find your local office & sign up ASAP. They will help you with your search, interview skills, resume & job search, the methods used here are VERY different to those used in the UK!
1. Whatever they are, your UK qualifications are worthless here so you must start re-qualifying again from scratch by going to college, university or trade school. The course you choose may give you some exemptions or credits for what you have done & obtained up to now but generally they are considered to be worthless. You should seek foreign credential equivelency evaluation to get an exchange rate for your quals.
2. Lower your sights (& your sallary expectations)...A lot! Your foreign work experience is of very limited use here. You must work here to get Canadian employment experience. It is as difficult to get a start here as it was for the first job you had to crawl for when you left technical college or university. Consider the time as an aprenticeship - again! Look to join a company in a related field at the bottom of the feed trough & I mean the bottom. From there you can prove your worth from within & make friends with people who will help you progress. This is commonly termed "networking".
3. Your profession is regulated here & requires professional licensing. To get this you need to show time working here under the direct scrutinisation of a registered professional engineer. After a number of years you will be able to apply for a license which may involve some re-training but will require exams & sign off by the PEO engineer who oversees your work so make friends not enemies with the guy who watches over you! Typical times are 2 years for PEO & to get the DOD (avaiation engineering license) you will be looking at 9 years!!! (My Stepson is Canadian qualified & has 5 years so far working for Bombardier) BTW: Bombardier are the pits of the employment food chain for avaition engineering. They pay peanuts & there are no chances to progress within the company unless you are an imortal (it takes decades not years). They will be the easiest company for you to try & get into because of this as nobody ever stays with them long enough to progress properly & they know it.
4. Job Title: Jobs here are categorised on a NOC list (ministry of employment) so you must google it & look at the list to find the title(s) which most closely matches your skills set & use this to describe yourself to employers & job agents. This will stop the "don't know what that is" comments!
5. Keep plugging away at it! Canada is a great place but most Brits who come here struggle to make a living here because they fail to accept that they have to start at the bottom & work up.

Originally Posted by little flower (Post 5506351)

Hi people
Havent been here for ages BUT need help again and Know you are all the best at answering them:rofl::rofl:

Sorry its another job question but HELP !!!!
My hubby is 40 ex RAF after his 22years and now works for BAE Systems as a electrical supervisor.

We have no idea the best way to go about finding a job he has been offered contract work but thats not a "job offer" we really need to secure a job so we can be "fast tracked" as so far we are nearly a year and only through the first stage.
Unless there is a shortage of florists LOL we need to find him a job!:)

GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL AN YOUR DREAM :thumbsup:

Originally Posted by Judy in Calgary (Post 5511634)

[*]DOD - Would you be willing to share what this actually stands for? A Google search came up with Department of Defense (or Defence), but I don't know if that's right.

Originally Posted by Crasher Dai

Originally Posted by Mech (Post 5515954)

I am ex RAF (airframe Tech) and left after 24 years and came to Canada 3 years ago.

I intended to work in aviation but it took 6 months to break into the industry and then the pay was pitiful. After 3 months I was layed off, a frequent event it would appear in the aviation field. Your RAF qualifications will count for nothing, although I found I was far more skilled then a lot of the people I worked with. You will only get decent pay if you gain your Canadian licenses and even then the work is patchy unless you manage to get into one of the bigger companies such as Air Canada etc. It is a bit of an Old Boys Club.
I decided that the aviation industry wasn't for me and to diversify. I got a job straight away as a hydraulics tech. Once I had proved by abilities I soon progressed and am now the branch Service manager.

If you are still driven towards the aviation field then L3 Spar aviation in Edmonton are always recruiting but the pay isn't the best. There is also Cascade aviation in Abbortsford BC. Both companies service C130's and if you have a particular skill they are looking for or have worked on C130's then they may sponsor you but I think there is a slim chance.

Don't give up trying, look at your skills and see if you can use them to diversify your job search. The wait is a long one but it is worth it, I haven't looked back.

If you want any further information feel free to E mail me.

THANK YOU and thanks to you all your information and web pages are great (even though my eyes hurt):thumbsup:

Mech