First of all, gloveman, I'm sorry if what I said offended you.

No, that's not what I said. What I actually said was:
I didn't say you were not allowed to ask questions on this forum once you were in Canada or that you shouldn't do so.

What I meant was that the benefits of asking questions on this forum diminish once you're in Canada.

When you're still in the UK and you know nothing about Canadian immigration, job hunting in Canada, the cost of living in Canada, schooling in Canada, medical treatment in Canada and so on, the preliminary information that you can get from members of this forum is enormously helpful.

Once you're in Canada, the people who have the most knowledge about the environment in which you're living are the members of your own community -- the parents of the other kids at your kids' school, your spouse's colleagues at his/her job, your hair stylist (if you dare to get your hair cut in Canada ), the mechanic who fixes your car, the people who run businesses of the type in which you would like to work, the people who run volunteer organizations of the type you would like to help, etc.

Once you're on the ground in the Comox Valley (if I correctly recall where you are), virtually anyone in your community is likely to be more useful than the members of this forum who live in Victoria or Vancouver or Calgary or Edmonton or Regina or Windsor or Toronto or Montreal or Halifax or ........

You said you'd read what the other posters had told you and you had taken their suggestions on board. Yet, even after Surrey Expat and ann m mentioned going into businesses in person, you still said that you'd emailed a local organization.

I'm sorry, gloveman, but I got the impression that you still hadn't absorbed what other people in this thread had told you.

What Almost Canadian said was exactly what I had been trying to convey to you.

Again, I'm sorry if you feel offended by what I said or was trying to say.

Judy - job hunting is new to me and I simply wanted a few pointers about how to go about it from people who have 'been there and done that'. Some people kindly took the time to give me some advice which I have taken on board and acted upon having spent some considerable hours preparing a resume to take along to prospective employers. The advertisement for a volunteer job gave an email address to apply to - that is why I emailed them.

Funny thing about Canada. Be it TV stations, Supermarkets, Insurance companies, Dentists etc etc, they all give email addresses and invite contact

But getting a reply is a different matter.

It certainly does seem that a phone call or dropping by is good advice.

Luckily emails do work as I have an interview already.

Great news Gloveman - let us know how it goes

My emails were not job related, lucky for me. I've been ignored by CTV and CBC, the Co-op but not Sobeys and Superstore (Loblaws) and most insurance companies and all but one dentist ignored my requests for info.

Ironically I got nowhere trying to get through to Starchoice and resorted to emails TWICE and that did the trick.

Good luck.

Just a quick "Job Centre" note -

Try to find out where your local Employment Insurance office is (E.I.) and ask for contacts for job hunting. (People get E.I. when they first claim for benefit when unemployed if they have made enough contributions.) Do make sure they know you are a "new" Canadian - their term and not mine. There are lots of schemes out there to help "newcomers"....... funnily enough...... only found out about them after we did all the leg work ourselves

Try to find out where you local (dare is say it "welfare" office is) in Ontario it will be called Ontario Works they too will have employment information. Ontario Works (sort of like Income Support back home) is the benefit you get once you exhaust the E.I. funds.

There will also be numerous Employment Resource Centres........... but they are not the easiest to find! They are out there!

When we first came I couldn't find things properly....... now that I work in the public sector I can see why! Imagine several different offices and levels of government doing what the good old job centre did back home.

Good luck.

I'm trying not to, given I left Job Centre plus to come here.

I said when I came here I would never go back into local government........... so yes ...... you guessed it....... I am back in local government. However it does have advantages.............. they are behind the UK in many ways and it means that I merely do my job and seem fantastic........ slower pace and less efficient and I never thought I would say that about anything in comparison to government back home.

It's all a learning experience

Woo hoo. I'm delighted to be wrong. Congratulations, Gloveman. As Piff Poff said, please do keep us posted.

Government offices in the UK have come on in leaps and bounds over the years. But even within the UK there were differences.

I remember going to help out in a DSS strike centre in Caerphilly during the1984 miners strike. They had a staff meeting about a new procedure where the staff would put their documents etc into pigeon holes throughout the day and then someone would package it all up to go to various offices, thus saving multiple postage rates and loads of envelopes with just one thing in.

I couldn't believe it. That had been part of my job as a young clerical assistant more than ten years earlier and I doubt it was a new idea then.

Hi Angela,

I wonder how you are getting on with the job hunt........

My sister-in-law works for the North Island employment foundation based in Campbell River. Lots of part-time and full-time positions advertised. They might be worth popping in to see too. You could even mention that I recommended you to 'Jenny Evans', who is the on-line advisor. She is a manager there though so wouldn't be the one you would speak to if you went in but she tells me that other newly emigrated Brits have been in looking for jobs.....
I bet you already scan the job section in the CR Mirror
Good luck and let us (me) know how you get on.

Thanks Robin - looked everywhere I can think of but not heard of North Island employment foundation but will give it a look - thanks. I've found some volunteer work with Community Justice which could keep me occupied and sounds like a very worthwhile cause but something with more hours and a bit of money would be nice. I'll let you know how I get on. Thanks again.

Hi Angela
Great news about the job congratulatons its that foot in the door initially thats the most important isnt it .
Also Thanks R&GF for the great link

Congratulations, gloveman. As Eastbound said, you have a foot in the door.