BristolUK

Why 'hope' when it absolutely won't if he stays put or follows the requirements?

DigitalGhost

But a lot of those jobs were the type lost a few months ago when retail outlets and sales/marketing companies had to either close or tighten their belts. The tech industry was one of the least affected from what I've seen and I doubt many medical professionals, architects, construction workers or executives were pushed out of a job.

DigitalGhost

I mean I hope he won't cause any problems for anyone else.

scrubbedexpat091

Possibly, who knows, just sad Canada can't offer good employment options unless in tech or some other highly skilled profession.

DigitalGhost

​​​​​​Well it depends on what you're looking for really. You're not going to get a highly paid, low skilled job these days unless you land a cushy number in the public sector or with the postal service etc. In an age of agency workers and increased levels of automation though, jobs like that are only going to become increasingly harder to find.

OrangeMango

What I see is that even in the IT sector contracting work for around 12 months is usual, often even for those with a university degree, and then with luck, no hiring freeze and a good track record, permanent employment is possible.
However jobs are way easier to find and to get in the GTA than anywhere in Europe, - the whole US IT tech sector in Ireland maybe excluded. In Canada there seems to be more hiring based on attitude and personality.

DigitalGhost

I wish that were true but it isn't. I'm not sure what kind of IT work you are looking for but I'd wager the UK has a better and more open hiring market for IT positions than anywhere in Canada.

scrubbedexpat091

Canada Post wage isn't great either, $19/hr and some change, usually part-time for many years on top.

I've given up hope ever finding anything decent, it will always be $15-$16/hr for me, I will never have the high skills necessary, just wasn't born in the correct generation....

At the rate I am going, I may never work again, trying to work on my resume, hard to make it even look remotely good, the gaps are the big issue.

And the other poster about personality, so true, Canadian companies spend loads of money on personality tests and personality/behavior interviews, don't have the personality they want, nothing else is going to matter, may not even get to the interview stage because their personality test weeds out those who don't match before it even gets to an interview stage, and some companies are using AI based interviews now to screen and do the initial interview, and that process is unsettling. Even Wal-Mart does personality test to pre-screen, assuming they continue needing humans, they seem to be automating more of their stores.

Crazy world this tech stuff.

OrangeMango

I don't want to go to detailed into my work. Pre-Covid it was easier in Canada in my field, specifically in the GTA. Things might have changed in the UK, first due to Covid, and second, due to Brexit. However the UK often gave more perks like private pensions as well as private healthcare plans and at least 20 but often 25 days of annual vacation. In Canada this was getting rarer and rarer.

OrangeMango

Sorry, I've missed your post. When I was referring to personality and attitude, I didn't refer to these tests. I meant, it's just behaviour in interviews, how you come across, etc..

Sadly, I am also aware of these IT-personality tests with AI behind it. I usually decline them, if they are part of the process, as I don't know and also they don't tell me, what specific things they are looking for when the fill the position. If it's an AI based personality test with some kind of mathematical algorithm behind it. I simply pull out completely as I find them a waste of time. It's often one of the first questions, I would ask to the recruiter involved. Also $19/hr is not a real salary to live on in the GTA. It's more a survival, rather than anything else.

We are also deviating very far from the thread. Interestingly, I am listed as Thread-Starter, even though I didn't start it as the thread was only split from another one, where my posting was listed first.

DigitalGhost

No I wouldn't expect you to. Don't give anymore detail on a forum like this than you feel comfortable with.

I've personally only worked in the GTA in Canada and it was a few years ago now. I found work quite quickly and the hiring culture was nicer there when it came to agents. The agency who put me in a long term contract took me out for lunch at Spring Rolls after I accepted the offer to say thank you. They also invited me to their Christmas Party although I couldn't go. I could count on no hands the amount of times something like that has happened in the UK. UK agents are just cutthroat sales types who see you as a potential payday and nothing more.

The whole Canadian experience and networking thing was not as big a deal in IT as it seems to be in some other industries in Canada. That might just be because homegrown talent is harder to find though, IDK. From what I've read on some blog posts, Canadian schools still don't push CompSci or IT degrees to a lot of local kids and that's why Canada's tech industry is largely populated by immigrants from India, the US, Europe and elsewhere.

scrubbedexpat091

Ah gotcha misunderstood what you meant...lol

I typically end the application process if these tests are involved, I never score whatever they are looking for and they are just a waste of time. I have only done 1 interview process where I know it was AI, but it took me googling and my own investigatory work to learn it, the company never mentioned it would be an AI interview but once they sent the link and email with the info and googling it was, what they are looking for no idea, I didn't get hired or an in person interview, so the AI machine probably didn't like me.

$19/hr more or less will get a single person their basic needs in BC, probably not enough to rent an apartment in Vancouver these days though, so probably need a roommate.

Jerseygirl

What about the Medical Reprocessing Tech. course in September? Hopefully after completing that you will have a better chance of a ‘decent wage’.

scrubbedexpat091

I should have used high paying...and not decent, poor word choice on my part. Can expect about $25-$26/hr for medical device reprocessing if working at a hospital in BC which is pretty decent.

I applied for September today, not sure if September will happen but May will for sure, but I will know in a couple weeks about September.

Jerseygirl

$25 per hr sounds good. I am pleased you have already got the application in, you get a place for September.