ann m

[QUOTE=rebecca1986;951071and the placements the university give you are all in the Kamloops area. Finishing at 10pm at night on a shift and having to drive back to Langley wouldn't be the best drive in the world![/QUOTE]

How long are the praticum placements? If it's a matter of weeks to make up a certain amount of hours, could you book yourself into the local Super8 motel?

rebecca1986

Apparently, it's 50% theory and 50% practice, so it'd be 6 months of the year split up. It's all a matter of money aswell unfortunately. It'd be great if I had the $10,000 but I just can't afford it at this present moment. If I had known all this prior to arriving in Canada, I probably would have just continued to stay in my job at home and save the money up. I think it's quite misleading to have people pay a lot of money to emigrate to Canada as a skilled worker, and then tell you that you have to upgrade etc to be able to do said skill, and then not mention to you the cost of doing all of that! I'm all enrolled in Kwantlen for next year, I really won't give up unless I really have to, don't worry about that!

shelley748

Welcome to Canada- qualifications in one country does not necessarily translate the same way here. Good Luck on your journey!

rebecca1986

Haha I know - it's fair enough. Just wish I knew how much it was going to cost before making the transition!

Aviator

Nor the other way for Canadians. It is not a one way thing. This happens the world over and not just in job qualifications. This is how each country sets its standards, maintains them and retains control of their standards.

Aviator

You may want to be aware of the Employment Standards Act. Never know when it may come in useful. There is an office in Langley if you have any questions or can call the 800 number.

This may also be of use http://www.chrc-ccdp.ca/publications...yment-eng.aspx

nativenewyorker

I feel your pain Rebecca. I am a registered nurse and a registered midwife with 30 years experience. At an interview today I was asked if Midwives had any "proper" medical experience, or were they just a companion for the woman I decided that I am too old to start exams again to convert to be able to practice in Canada so I enquired about being an auxiliary........I need to submit and pass a written piece of work, I then need to pass 4 exams and then they will allow me to sit the exam for auxiliary nurses - and this is the shortened course
Before anyone comments, I understand Canada has the right to set its own standards, but seriously, what sort of training do they think we undertake in the UK?
Talking to Safeway today, all they want is candidates with experience of dealing with people - might give it a go!

Essay

You ask a very good question, and I am not in any way making fun of it. Why don't the different "ruling bodies" get together and sort out an easier way to allow qualified folks to get started faster here?

Rebecca1986, what you described borders on (or crosses the border and sashays right into) harassment. By a creep (from the sounds of it). I can only imagine what his employees must go through, and I'm thankful you can see not all Canadians are like that!

Alan2005

Unless you really need the job I'd stay well away from this guy. He sounds a bit sleazy and also a bit mental.

JonboyE

First for Rebecca - definitely sounds like unusual and inappropriate questions for a job interview. In defense of the guy, interviewing can be very nerve-wracking for an untrained and unprepared interviewer. More so than for the candidate. It is possible he was trying to find out about your long-term interest in the job but let his nerves get the better of him.

On the other hand he may just have been a creep. I would go with your gut feeling.

To Essay - it has long been recognized as a problem. Some of the ruling bodies do get together and work out solutions. For example, my professional body, CGA have a mutual recognition agreement with ACCA in the UK, CPA in Australia and, I believe, a similar agreement in Ireland.

It seems to be more difficult in the public services such as teaching and healthcare. I suspect that this is because the professional bodies tend to be staffed by people who come from a union background and their first instincts are to protect their members from increased competition.

Flossie and Jim

If it were me and I had been asked those questions at an interview then I would give that employer a very wide berth.

I'm in the middle of a University module on HR right now and those sorts of personal questions are totally inappropriate, possibly even verging on discriminatory perhaps?

I'm not sure I could work for someone who was going to make a selection on the basis of those types of questions.

If its a big, well-known organization I would even be inclined to make a formal complaint (but if you're trying to get into the job market you might not want to rock the boat like that!)

Good luck with the job hunting!

Flossie

rebecca1986

I'm definately going to have a good look through this, thankyou! At least I'll get an idea of what's allowed and what's not.... if that was an interview in the UK, I'd have asked him why these questions were relevant to the job. But here, I just didn't know if this was the norm. So glad it's not!


Oh my, you're joking! I think with 30 years experience, you know what you're talking about. By no means, upgrading to their education is perfectly fine and acceptable to be a registered nurse, but some of the things are just crazy. I'm sure if we were that bad, we wouldn't have been able to be registered in the UK. How funny that you were asked if about if midwives were just a companion If only they knew that midwives run the maternity! I looked into working as an auxillary or an LPN until I managed to get my registration, but like you, was told their was a course and X amount of exams and coursework... I wonder where the nearest Safeway to me is?!

Yeah, I thought he was a little bit borderline harrassment in the end. I definately know not all Canadians are like that, the majority I have met have been lovely! There's always one that spoils it though hey...

Don't worry, I'm going nowhere near that store again. If he was this bad in an interview, I can only imagine what he'd be like as your boss!

From my gut feeling, he was a creep. I got a horrible feeling about him as soon as I went into his office. He just sat back in his big leather chair and rubbed his hands together in a way you see in movies. He was definately trying to intimidate me... apparently the business has been there for 26 years, so I'm sure he's interviewed plenty of people before. I just don't know how he got anyone to actually work for him with his attitude!

Sounds a lot easier when the regulation bodies come together, just a shame they can't do this in healthcare. Regardless of the nasty stories you sometimes read in the UK press, us nurses are good! We work on the bare minimum and just get on with the horrendous workload.

Yes, perhaps those questions were discriminatory, I'd never thought of it like that. As soon as he started with the craziness, I knew I didn't want to work there. Unfortunately, it's not a big organization, just a one-off store that's been in the same spot for 26 years. Just so glad I know interviews aren't usually like this!

nativenewyorker

Safeway will probably be the best place to have a heart attack - they will all be staffed by UK doctors and nurses

cxx

If your gut feeling is that he was a creep it might be better to stay clear. It's tempting to take the job to get 'Canadian experience' but you need to think about what happens if you can't get along with him - how will it look to future employers if you only stayed a few weeks, what kind of reference will he give you, etc.

Canuck Fan

I thought you had to send off educational transcripts to cnrbc to evaluate relevant experience. If you haven't what they consider theory or practical experience in paeds, MH, LD's, adult, then I thought they then let you know what additional credits or SEC training you need. As far as I'm aware this is requested prior to leaving UK.