purple80

Hi all,
My husband and I hope to move to Canada next year, we would like to move to Ontario and have planned recce trip for October....

My husband works as an Engineering Manager for The First Milk Cheese Company, plenty of in house training and a HND in Mechanical Engineering, 15 years experience in his discipline, he's 36 years old.

I have read alot of threads on BE, and we decided that to get either Ieng registration or recognition of his credentials under the Sydney Accord would be a good idea. The letter from Engineering Council Uk arrived this morning and he now has Sydney Accord recognition!

Questions:
Is it worth getting IEng registration? From everything I have read it appears more UK based so only a fellow Ex Pat would know what it was!

Is there anything else we can do to improve his chances of finding work?
I am planning on sending out his resume and Cover Letter (once he's finished it), hoping to get interviews or chats whilst on recce trip.

Does anyone have any other ideas, any help would be greatly appreciated

Charlie

iambof

Have a look at www.cicic.ca.
Basically anything outside of Canada is not recognised so no point in getting any of what you mentioned.
I got my job ok without all that but did get a report from the CICIC to strengthen my application for PR.
Hope this helps.

Flossie and Jim

Hi
Have you contacted the Ontario engineering technician/technologist body to see what their requirements are for any reciprocal membership arragements yet? http://www.oacett.org

I think that IEng is roughly equivalent to an engineering technologist in Canada - you may have to be chartered in UK to become a PEng in canada but I might be wrong - may be worth checking out, and also others on here will probably advise better on this.

They have a fact sheet: http://www.oacett.org/newcanadians2update/EFS_Index.htm which might answer some questions about how long it takes and what they need to see from you.

We are heading to Alberta and my other half has an HNC in Civil Engineering and he has been asked by a potential employer to get his qualifications assessed by the IQAS (not sure if these apply just to Alberta or are Canada-wide), but you may not need to go this far if the Ontario OACETT are up on UK qualifications and know what HNDs are.

Hope this all makes sense - Its good that you are sorting all this out before you get there as it will save a lot of hassle when you arrive!!!

Good luck!
Flossie

Liana

I believe that the HND/IEng qualification would give you a CET qualification in Canada- a Certified Engineering Technologist. It would also perhaps, depending on which province you are resident in, allow you to do further studying at university for the engineering qualification here, a P.Eng. I am sure that without being a qualified engineer though you would be able to find a job as an engineering technologist. Remember you can't legally call yourself an engineer here in Canada unless you are professionally qualified and HND/HNC etc alone do not contribute to that.

hudd

I not an engineer, but Chartered Chemist and found it had no value in Canada compared to the UK other countries apart from North America. I have hired engineers/nuclear physicists from the UK with HND and BSc when I worked for a govt department as a divisional manager. Ex pats generally understand the value of HND your husband has, but most Canadians will se him as a technologist or technician. Incorporate Engineer is not used in Canada, but may give some value to his Resume.
Canada does not have the apprentiship engineering route that many of my friends and family went through including my grandfather who became Production Manager at ICI.
I have known Brits to get engineering/professional roles with HND’s in Canada and this has been through networking with other British ex pats. HND Engineers in the UK are treated as professionals, whereas in Canada you generally need a BSc or MSc to become a professional.
As an engineering technologist there are some benefits compared to a professional engineer. Many P Eng’s I knew worked extremely long hours with no OT and other allowance, whereas technologist(unionised jobs) generally get OT, on call allowance etc. When I worked for ATCO power in Alberta the Engineering Technologist would gross more than the plant Engineering manager.
You husband need to network especially being in an engineering discipline as its a quite a "closed shop" in some industries.
I lived in Ontario until we return to the UK in 2005, so if you have any specific question PM me.
What area of engineering is your husband looking to work in?

hudd

JAJ

That is a false and misleading statement.

Canada is signed up to the Sydney Accord for engineering technologist recognition.

JAJ

Under the Sydney Accord, the provincial Canadian institute for engineering technologists should recognise him has having met the academic requirements to become an Engineering Technologist (or equivalent) in that province.

There may be other requirements, such as work experience, that he needs to meet.

IEng won't be worth a huge amount on its own, except that:

- as you note, it will impress a fellow ex-pat (or a Canadian who has lived in Britain) and this may open doors sooner or later; aned

- it will look good alongside a Canadian qualification; and

- it keeps open options should you later on want to work in the UK.

purple80

Hudd,
Many thanks for your reply, my husband has worked in the dairy industry all his working life, and would hope to do the same in Canada.

He is looking to work within the food industry.

JAJ,
Again many thanks for your response, financially we chose to narrow down things and went for what we believed would gain him the most in Canada, and that was to get the 'Sydney Accord Recognition', which he now has, and yes you are correct he will have to meet other criteria i.e. work experience...

We are hoping that he could still go for the IEng, we have contact Imeche and believe that he fulfills that criteria, due to HND, in house training and on the job experience.

Liana,
Many thanks for your reply, but I think you are wrong as my other half has qualified under the 'Sydney Accord'.

Thanks all, all replies are appreciated, and it gives everything a balance, we are trying to go into this with our eyes wide open!!

Charlie

R2D2

My hubby has HNC and ONC in Mechanical Engineering, and worked in the Valve industry in the UK as Inside Sales Manager.
When he was looking for work in Alberta (Province chosen for most job opportunities in his field), he looked on the ISA website for companies, contacted as many as poss to get the actual name of the HR person, so you can send your resume to the correct individual and make it more personal. He made phone calls too, follow-up phone calls, and never let a sniff of a job pass him by. Persistence. He did phone interviews with a couple too.
He arranged a fact finding trip and again contacted the interested companies again to request an appointment to call in and have a chat.

All his persistence worked, (along with a lot of luck) and one of the companies he saw, offered him a position and were prepared, after discussion to try to obtain a WP. As it turned out, our PR arrived just after, so we were on our way to a secured job shortly after.

BTW.....his company are looking for more good people, with Sales experience in an engineering background ????????????????????? Anyone out there >>????