Hi all as you can tell I'm a recent lander from the UK (been working in London the last six years) and I'm in search of some constructive advice regarding IT jobs in Canada.

I landed about two months ago and started my search in earnest for IT jobs primarily in Van BC (I know wishful thinking) but also all over the country with a lot of emphasis on Toronto.

Before applying and landing I looked at the number of jobs being advertised in order to determine the probability of finding something and the numbers were stacking up.

However I'm having a complete nightmare getting anywhere. Back in the UK (I know someone will tell me off for comparing) I was getting 2/3 emails a week asking me if I was interested in different IT contract jobs all offering good money. Part of the reason for this is that my CV stacks up pretty well, I've got 8 years experience with good name companies (all international and known over here) and my particular skills were in demand (and also seem to be over here but please read on).

So I looked at the move with a reasonably optimistic view (not blindly but reasonably). There was one thing however that did concern me when I was doing my research (and which is now causing me major headaches) was the seemingly inflexible attitude towards recruitment that seems to exist over here (at least in IT related jobs).

When I did my initial research on IT jobs when considering the move it seemed that for each job advertised employers had a long list of what they call "must have" skills for each job. i.e. Must know 6/7 particular programming languages plus used a whole host of other software tools in order to get a chance of the job. When I saw this originally I put it down to being an employers market (as it was at that time) and thus employers were being more picky.

I also took the view that it is very unlikely that these employers were going to find people with those unique blends of skills as the more "must have" skills they require the more unique the requirements become and thus limit the possibility of finding someone. Common sense would then dictate that an employer would have to re-evaluate their criteria and come up with another plan to achieve their goal of recruiting someone. However it is becoming apparent that common sense is dictating nothing over here.

Comparing this to the UK employers often look for maybe 4 core skills, and if then there are other periphery skills, they take a view of whether or not the prospective candidate would be able to learn those skills quickly enough and to a sufficient level of expertise in order to be productive.

The reason for this is that in the vast majority of cases in the course of an employees duties their role will require them to use the “4 core skills” about %75-%80 percent of their time to a relatively advanced level and only “dip into” the other periphery skills. Thus they don’t need to have 10 years experience in these periphery skills they either need to have had some exposure, or show the aptitude to learn them to the required level in a timely manner.

This is usually done by reviewing their CV and apply a simply rule of “do they have the core skills – yes then get them in for an interview to find out whether or not they have two heads or they seem like a reasonably intelligent person” .


Now I may get the response not all jobs have such unique lists of “must have” skills and have a more reasonable set of requirements. And I agree there are one or two around and some of them I have been an exact match for so I thought to myself “now’s your chance son apply for these you’ve got a good chance of getting them”. I then saw the jobs disappear off the job board i.e. they have taken in all the applications they need and are now considering them. So I hear nothing and thought “okay they probably found someone who was an even better match than me (there is always someone better no matter who you are)”.


Then two weeks later I see these jobs (and this has happened a few times now) re-advertised by the same recruiter i.e. they couldn’t find anyone they wanted. Then I thought “hang on a minute I was an exact match for the skills/experience I was at least expecting a chance of an interview”.

What is going on in this country???

Unrealistic employee requirements (I saw one today with 17 “must haves” very unique person that)

No willingness to even interview “good fit” candidates.

This is born out by seeing jobs being re-advertised such a lot.

I’ve seen some comments on other threads mentioning degrees as a deciding factor (I’ve only done a HND then went straight into a job). But in my experience of IT (some may argue this) that practical experience is infinitely more valuable than a dividing line between qualifications. I’ve worked with guy’s who left high school with limited qualifications but are absolutely brilliant and far outshine others with MSc’s and PhD’s and it is also visible from their CV’s and salaries. From my knowledge of the recruitment process this is considered each time by reading the applicants CV and making a comonsense judgement call on each applicant. I have had to review CV's for prospective candidates back in the UK on request of my managers and this is the method they used and asked me to use.

It seems to be very stuck on procedure/rules over here i.e. Must have a highly unique blend of 17 skills or you don’t even get an interview.

I know someone will respond with "well standards are higher over here", but I know that no one in the course of their daily job would have to have some of the in depth + massively varied range of skills that employers seem to be looking for unless everyone over here is a genius. If that was the case then Canada would be the world leader in providing intellectual skills .

Can someone explain what is going on here ?

I’m tempted to pack it all in and head back home. I’m still getting emails offering contracts at 400 quid a day back in the UK. It may well p@!s down all the time and the houses are expensive but at least I can get a job to pay for it.

I know I’ll get slammed with people saying how dare you complain after only two months but if there is no way to break into what seems like a restrictive market then it only leads to one conclusion you’ve got to put a roof over your head and how do you pay for it.

IT jobs are becoming a nightmare for anyone to get, in any country. It's mostly down to who you know unless the job really does require a pretty unique set of skills -- and since most countries have some form of skilled worker visa, they can search the world over for that "perfect" candidate.

Getting your proverbial foot in the door is what you have to do.... best if you can manage to find someone already working in IT in Canada (I am in the US but worked briefly in Toronto though not in IT).

Here's hoping someone on t'other side of the border can help.

You need to network like crazy. Attend the meetings of the local Unix Users Group (if you are in fact into Unix, and if not Unix then whatever else it is that you are into). It's when you're having a pizza and a beer after the meeting that you may hear about this or that opening at Joe's mate's company.

I hope you have Canadianized your CV, are referring to it as a resume rather than a CV, and have formatted it for North American letter sized paper rather than A4 paper.

Hope that helps.

Got the resume thing down already.

It seems a lot get's done by "a friend of a friend" which is a blow as I'm on my tod over here. I've got no issues about networking but it certainly restricts things.

It doesn't really add up though in my (still UK thinking) mind if you've got the skills and experience then your a good fit for the job then as an employer you should consider the person as they might just be able to do a good job for you.

but thanks for input anyway all much appreciated believe you me

Good luck mate, I hope you manage to find a job soon.
It's true about the networking thing. I'm not looking for a job, but I've been offered 4 since I've been here through meeting various people, typical eh?
Can you imagine been in a pub full of Unix experts though?!?!!? :scared:
Bleech the Unix expert

Welcome to the Canadian job market.

My best is advice is to persevere, Canadianize your resume and sell yourself like crazy. Selling yourself is a big thing over here. You may have to accept a job beneath your skills just to get Canadian experience.

I experienced the same thing with applying for jobs I felt I was a perfect fit for, never getting called for an interview and then seeing them advertised weeks later. Some may have been fake ads but generallly employers have the upper hand here and can be fussy. Also you could consult the local business directories at your local library and fire off resumes to all the companies you feel might need your skills. Don't just rely on ads. Good luck.

Thanks for the feedback so far guys.

It looks like I'll need to start knocking on doors and get used to applying a lot of flannel to my presentation.

It's a bit of a pity I was hoping the canadians wouldn't go in so much for the big sell as I thought they would try and distance themselves from a US approach.

I'm used to the networking side of things as I've spent the last couple of years contracting in the UK so I'm used to doing the rounds and becoming instant best friends with people.

Any further feedback links or even jobs (brown envelope waiting ) will all be appreciated as the more info I can get the better.

I am not in the IT field,but after observing this thread, I wonder whether you have considered developing your own business? The ATI tech. founder KY HO
(I think) came to Ontario from Vietnam and nobody wanted to hire him because of "no Canadian experience and not up to Canadian standard" .
He went ahead and developed his video game cards or chips which are used
by Sony and other video game companies.
Recently his company is going to be bought up by an American Co.
If business is not for you ,have you tried Alberta? From my own experience,
other provinces just give the around,whereas Alberta is willing to give
foreign trained workers chances to gain the Canadian experience.
Good luck, Yoong

Hi Recentlander, a good networking tool is Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/ PM me if you want to join my (rather small so far) network.

Our experience is very different from yours. My husband and I both work in IT (I'm a software tester, he's more desktop support/network admin - I have a degree, he has an HNC), and while we're not in jobs at the moment, he has a second interview this week, I had an interview yesterday and one tomorrow, he has a phone interview this morning, and turned down a job offer yesterday! The jobs are out there (depending on skills).

We've only been in Canada for less than a month, and have only been job hunting for 3 weeks. In that time, we've found that the response was slow to start with, but is now really picking up (to the point where we've actually had to turn down interviews). Part of the problem is closing dates on applications...I got an e-mail from a company saying that although they would like to interview me, the closing date on the job isn't for another 2 weeks, so they will continue to advertise and will contact me after that date.

How are you looking for jobs? We found sites like workopolis and monster very limited. We did those, but also opted for the 21st century version of "pounding the pavement", i.e. he went through the microsoft certified partners directory, I went through the phone book for software companies. We went to the individual company websites, checked out their career sections, and found that some of them had jobs advertised on their websites that were not advertised anywhere else, and a lot of them don't advertise jobs at all, but ask for you to submit your resume if YOU think you are a fit for their company (this was how my husband was called in for the job he just turned down, from a speculative resume).

The jobs are out there, but it is a different ballgame to the UK. Once you get your foot in the door, it makes all the difference. The jobs that we've been called in for all pay more than we made in the UK, with better benefits, but WE'RE the ones being picky about what we choose (we have enough money to survive a fair while of both of us being unemployed, so are taking out time with everything).

Good luck. One thing to remember though, and this may sound a bit harsh, but if you're applying to dozens of jobs and not getting a single nibble, maybe the problem is not with the dozens of companies but with the one resume you are sending out? One piece of advice we discovered that may or may not help you...if you apply for a job in Toronto with an out-of-town address on your resume, you are unlikely to get contacted. We found this out when trying to apply for jobs in Ottawa while we were living in the GTA. We actually got responses from companies saying that yes, we're a fit, but contact them again after we've moved to the area, and they won't progress it until then. I think the company doesn't want to get stuck with your moving expenses, and most places also would not want to wait until you're moved and settled before you start work, they want someone NOW.

Pack it in with Vancouver. The work in Canada is, by and large, in Ontario. If you want to live on the west coast look at California. Work on brevity.

I'm in a different industry to you (Engineering Contracting) and agree with your comments. I was fortunate to have a position on arrival, and like yourself I get offers from Blighty for "Big Money".

There are some great places in Canada; BC Interior, PEI, etc, where I'd love to live, but the reality is I wouldn't be willing to retrain, do a lesser paying job or one I would be unhappy with, in order to live in a particular place.

When you move to follow the same career, you are limited by location as dbd33 stated and as you say "You’ve got to put a roof over your head and how do you pay for it".

Living in the GTA 'burbs I see very little of "The Lifestyle", We Expats talk of being embraced by our neighbours. The same applies to ourselves, sure the weather has been great, we've travelled and done a lot, but has my lifestyle improved ? I would say no.

Good luck with whatever path you follow.

I love your posts.

Thank you or thanks or just ta.