Tumbling_Dice

The people I met who rejoice in that ridiculous title all work in financial services companies (i.e. banks and wealth management). I was an IFA in the UK so these good folks were able to see the benefit of my experience. I did get some Canadian credentials under my belt before I even bothered applying for things and I was specifically looking for financial adviser / planner positions.

I guess that backs up what I was saying in my earlier post and, resultingly, am not sure it helps you right now. However, but I can pm you with some other info / names if you want. I do suspect that you would need to have an idea of what sort of role you would wish to look at, within a bank for example, before getting in touch with them.

Let me know if you want more info.

Grimnorth

Snowtime

I am sorry to hear about your start in NS but to be honest not surprised.

We have been in NS just over two years ourselves but started in New Brunswick, which believe it or not is much much worse. My wife was a manager for an M&S in the UK and I was a police officer who spent most of my service in counter terrorism or international money laundering investigation, so skill sets ideally suited to the Maritimes of Canada. I can only advise on our experience and hope it helps put some perspective on the Maritimes and "people from away". We found our experience frightened them and made them revert to people from away or my favorite "what Canadian experience do you have?" We found it easier for Katie to get work if the area manager recruiting was from one of the bigger provinces. She started as a corporate manager in a store which had been seized back from a local (franchise) who had not paid tax for over a year. This person was a member of a local Fredericton family who actually went on radio to tell her friends that the evil people from away had taken her store. I am sure you can imagine the reaction she got from her cut glass English accent, after the radio commercials. She then went on to work for Costco starting out pushing trolleys in the car park and then ultimately on to membership manager. So from managing 300 staff in a three floor M&S operation to pushing trolleys, not the greatest career path. She is still with Costco part time at Dartmouth Crossing if you want to say hello, just listen out for the accent

I started as a $9.00 an hour security guard at an art gallery but after three months was near suicidal and so started my own business. You mention you are an introvert and that may have an impact on your fitting in. Do not change, Katie is the nicest person in the world quiet spoken whereas I am a brash Yorkshire man, she has received far more sympathy and cooperation than me. If you think our experience frightens them unleash a totally uncaring Yorkshire man on them, it sends them up the wall. In short it is really difficult to get going in the Maritimes BUT stick it out and here is why. Once you are established it does not take a lot to shine, as you have seen, people in senior positions here are in a lot of cases punching well above their capabilities. The key is to find one who accepts that if you produce good results it reflects on him/her. People who spent my first 3-4 years in business shouting at me/snubbing me for comparing everything to the UK or trying to get them to do things differently, all now work for me. Neither Katie nor I compromised who we are and eventually both did really well. I still do not really fit in, we live in rural NS a bit like living in Duck Dynasty but the locals all accept me for who I am and it helps they all like Katie.

Look at it like this, we started out in a working environment (UK) where people are accountable, where competence counts for something and where outcomes are measured. They started in an environment where their brother/sister friend got them a job. They will never change but when they realise that the product/service you give is well above what they could describe as good, it does not take long to go from "person from away" to can you get me so and so. My company works around the world including in every Province and Territory in Canada (except New Brunswick) and each one has its issues. Yes you have to start at the bottom, but at least in NS once you do take off the rise can be rapid and the quality of life is hands and feet above the UK. <SNIP>
Good luck Stuart

Snowtime

getoutofbritainquick

Agreed we are heading back to the UK to retire somewhere in the SW. My family and I are done with Canada.

scrubbedexpat133

I lived in Moncton, NB for 8 years and have recently relocated to Windsor ON. Reading this thread reflects my own experience. I was a fish out of water in NB. I am a working class lad from Stoke. Culturally quite different from small town NB. I was also considering moving back to the UK vs another part of the country. I thought long and hard about what it was that was making me unhappy and it boiled down to two basic things. 1) I was bored with not many things going on that I was interested in doing. 2) I could not get on with the people there for similar reasons outlined above. The from away thing drove me mad. Being asked all the time Where are you from? How long have you been here? Do you like it here? and sometimes When are you leaving? Then no other conversation or interaction. The East Coast is fine if you are happy with small town life and are happy with the status quo. I dont mean this in any way to be patronising but its just a question of what you like and what you want. For me when I first moved there I wanted that slower pace of life and less hustle and bustle. I was happy and enjoyed life. Over 8 years I became bored and yearned for the big city life again. I realised that I liked Canada just not the bit that I was in.

Moving to Windsor has really been a massive change for me. I am very much happier here and there is so much on offer in terms of what I want. I can honestly say that I have had more fun in the 3 months of living here than I did in any few years of living in Moncton. This revolves around access to amenities and entertainment that you would have to drive a long way for in NB. It is of course still very early but I feel like this is where I want to be. I cant actually recall one person as of yet asking me where I am from - this is probably because there are people from all over the world and nobody stands out. Its nice to be invisible and to be treated the same as everyone else.In the nicest way nobody gives a toss where you are from or how long you have been here. People here seem more genuinely friendly rather than the fake bs friendly at you. Even the Mrs who is a Moncton native has said that. Also I dont have to repeat myself everyday here to be understood

In terms of moving within Canada I would say that any of the bigger Cities may offer you more opportunity career wise and likely better wages and conditions vs NS. I actually find that apart from housing( vs Moncton, probably similar to Halifax) most things are cheaper here in Windsor. Taxes are less and my wages are higher. We are better off here than we were in Moncton but that is balanced by there are more places to dispense beer tokens

dormy

Your experience mirrors my NS experience exactly. I managed to last 5 years in NS, but had to move Provinces eventually in order to progress in my career, and to preserve my sanity. NS is a beautiful place, and I still have ties there that keep bringing me back as a visitor (Im headed back there for Xmas), but I could never live there again. I found that no matter what I did it was going to take a lifetime to find suitable employment. I worked, for sure, there was always jobs available, but all were entry level jobs. I started back at the very bottom of the ladder in my industry, working for $9.00 per hour, and after 5 years had climbed up the ladder to a junior management position on a whopping $35,000 per year. I could only afford to survive not to live.

The CFA mentality is soul crushing, as no matter what you do or how much you network you will never be truly accepted. I was denied 3 good jobs as I was not Canadian, 2 of which said come back when you are Canadian, the other just told me they preferred "local" knowledge. Eventually I was laid off from my Junior position, as they made cutbacks and replaced me with a team member that had a "good understanding of Nova Scotians" ie is not from "away". This is within the Hotel Industry, a Hotel is a hotel worldwide, this no special knowledge or differences. It is all about what you know, not who you know. I have worked in hotels all around the world, only NS had an issue with local experience.

At this point I was headhunted by an employer & moved to Winnipeg. I moved from a Junior position to that of a regional manager, and now am VP of the company. I was also on the verge of quitting and moving back to the UK, but had this chance so thought I would give it one last shot. Since the day I arrived, I have never looked back, and would never consider living anywhere else. I have a wide circle of friends, very active social life, wonderful job that challenges me daily and rewards my hard work. I can live now.

A moment of enjoyment for me was, when the guy that laid me off applied for what is now my job, but at the time was vacant. My employer asked me to conduct the 1st interview, oddly we finally decided that we needed a candidate that had a "better understanding of Manitobans". I was promoted shortly after this. Small victory for me.

Anyway, my advice would be to try another province 1st, you went through a huge process to get here, don't quit without at least trying an alternative, if that doesn't work you will not think what if for the rest of your life.

Tangram

"oddly we finally decided that we needed a candidate that had a 'better understanding of Manitobans' "

So they had the same attitude as the ones in Nova Scotia ? Maybe i'm missing something

BristolUK

I wondered too, but decided that was just what they said...sort of getting one back.

Howefamily

Maybe both my husband and I have just been fortunate in our careers here. As an accountant I have never had issues with CFA. My only problems at first was variations to the professional lingo in places and having S replaced by Z in various reports until I just remembered to just use the Z.

OrangeMango

I always thought that Canada, and especially Atlantic Canada would be better than that.

What always bothered me, to a lesser degree in Canada, but even more so in the US: Discrimination against citizenship or place of birth or where are you from is unfortunately commonplace, often practiced and also widely accepted.

For instance, especially in the US, discrimination against gay, lesbians transgender etc.. is in many companies not allowed and often there are employee guidelines and policies to accept at the beginning of a new employment. But when it comes to excluding even a Canadian citizen from working on a contract by the US government, discrimination is again allowed. How many people actually "get to chose their place of birth" or citizenship, if not naturalized? It's ridiculous if one thinks about it.

AdamPiercy

Hi Snowtime, you have had some great responses but I figured I would throw in my two pennies worth for what it's worth.

I have been in NS for just under a year so still new but have found it wonderful so far and everything we had hoped. I do have kids which no doubt has made it easier to integrate but we have found people here to be warm, friendly and have not experienced any CFA nonsense. I think it has helped that we realized we were immigrants and therefore had to change our way of thinking, not bring our "In the UK" mentality. We are both (my wife and I) outgoing people which I think helps.

I was lucky enough to get a job before arriving (the reason we moved here) and my wife found a job in a school teaching within the first two months of landing. We have a large circle of friends now, live in a great neighbourhood in Fall River village and the kids go to a great school.

From reading the comments I guess we are lucky but I wouldn't change it for the world at the moment.

If you want to meet up for a coffee I'd be happy to meet, perhaps Howefamily could join us. Howefamily were a great help to us before, during and after our move here and certainly helped our transition.

Snowtime

Partially discharged

If that is the case you may want to change your username

Howefamily

hi, more than happy to help out if I can

IHTempleman

Hi We had a similar problem as we moved to NB in 2007, beautiful location, great house etc but we were totally misled. Husband has a PhD IN Micro Electronics and I had worked and taught at university. We were told that a lot of high tech companies were in Moncton but they forgot to tell us they were call centres with basic pay. Hubbie got a range of jobs with Bell, Rogers and Sitel but not enough to really give us a great life. I could not get work at all. When we tried to apply for some jobs they literally turned their backs on us when we said we did not speak French. I started applying for everything online and managed to get a job in London but it meant i had to pick up and move with our 2 kids by myself and drive across country as we had problems due to the crash in 2008 in selling our house. It took 11 months to sell and hubbie moved to London in August 2009, it took him a year to find work but he finally found something still not in his field but at least both of us were working. If you can move quickly - say 2 - 3 weeks, then apply for work anywhere and everywhere. Don;t get me wrong, London is not exactly what we want but we are giving it 100% and it is a major hub that is growing - easy to get to most locations to extend job options.

Start to join clubs, I joined the YMCA and volunteered to teach a couple of dancing clubs which allowed me to network and make friends. Don;t give up, as Canada has a lot to offer.
good luck