Is it naivety or could I have prepared better than I did?
What’s become very apparent is that Canadian employers do not offer a level playing field to new entrants. I’ve been told stories about professional people arriving, seeking employment and ending up in the land of under-employment (in jobs far below their potential). So how does this happen? It seems that new entrants are purely and simply discriminated against.
The first hurdle is getting professional and educational credentials accepted. For example, I have Chartered Environmentalist status in the UK, however, in Canada I can apply to be a practitioner in training and after 2 years apply for full status as long as I can prove my 10 years UK experience. The alternative is to re-qualify through a Canadian educational establishment, despite me having a post-graduate diploma.
The next hurdle is not having Canadian experience. It appears that international experience counts for little. I was browsing an article in the Canadian Immigrant publication entitled the transition penalty and it was sobering reading. This links in with the recently reported stats that within the first 5 years from landing, new immigrants are more than twice as likely to be unemployed as Canadians.
So, if you’re thinking of making the move to Canada I would suggest:
- • Make sure you have a job offer, or
- • Plan to go self-employed, be an entrepreneur or similar, or
- • Be prepared to accept a lower standard of job just to get that vital Canadian experience, or
- • Retrain for the construction industry
The way things are, really beg the question, why do the Canadian Government allow trained, qualified and experienced professionals into the country when that group of people will struggle to add anything to the economy other than another digit on the jobless figures.
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