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Moving Between Countries?

Posted by kdawson on from the lay-of-the-land dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In six months' time, I am packing up and moving from Australia (Melbourne) to Canada (Vancouver). I'm a qualified network engineer. What I want to know is, what sort of quirks and tricks I am going to have to get used to in the Canadian job market? I'm used to Australian recruiters, and all the hoops you have to jump through, but Canada may have different hoops. I've tried contacting recruiters directly for information but they don't really give out much, as I am not actually in the country yet and therefore not worth their time. Is anyone willing to share their experiences on making the big move from country to country?"

18 of 450 comments (clear)

  1. I work in Canada by Anrego · · Score: 5, Informative

    .. as a programmer and havn`t moved between countries, so I can`t really provide a direct answer.

    What I can say is that I`ve found Canadian companies want to see work samples rather than long lists of certifications. Not really sure what would constitute a work sample in your field though.

    References are also very important here (and probably there as well). Generally employers want to talk to previous employers. Seeing as how that would be difficult due to timezones and long distance fees, having a few written letters of reference before you leave might be a good idea. Email might work as well.

    Also there tends to be a defacto job posting site for every province, where most of the jobs in the area will be posted. Here in Nova Scotia, it is CareerBeacon. Finding out what your areas job posting site of choice is, is probably a good first step.

    1. Re:I work in Canada by jez9999 · · Score: 5, Informative

      References are also very important here (and probably there as well). Generally employers want to talk to previous employers.

      Heh, that's interesting. In the UK, it's almost the opposite; an employer judges you based on CV, interview, previous work, and maybe qualifications; often, references aren't even followed up on, or they are checked after the job is offered to make sure you're not hiding some catastrophic thing. I think this is more sensible, too. A previous employer's reference is pretty worthless; they might make up nasty stuff because they didn't like you leaving, or make up good stuff to get you off their hands if they think you're crap.

      --
      == Jez ==
      Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
    2. Re:I work in Canada by Zemran · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The reason why they are not supposed to take up references until after an offer is because you might not have told your boss you are looking until after you have a job to go to. It might ruin your job prospects of your boss finds out you are job hunting.

      --
      I love stacking my barbecues in the shed at the end of summer - you can't beat a bit of grill on grill action.
    3. Re:I work in Canada by Threni · · Score: 5, Informative

      > A previous employer's reference is pretty worthless; they might make up nasty stuff because they didn't like you leaving, or make up good
      > stuff to get you off their hands if they think you're crap.

      In the UK references are usually just to confirm that you worked there, with perhaps a mention of how much time you were off sick. If an employer said anything bad about you - no matter how true - they would be liable for claims of libel. It's just not worth the hassle - you're leaving, so just draw a line under it and move on; it makes no difference to them if you get a job elsewhere or not. Ditto for saying very good things about an employee - if you are shit in your new job, your new employee could sue the old one for lying/exaggerating etc. Generally a new employer just wants to ensure you're not lying to cover up gaps in your employment history because they want someone who is up to speed, not someone who's done a little SQL 3 years ago but has forgotten the syntax etc.

  2. Recruiters in Australia by daliman · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Seeing as you know the Australian market, and I've recently arrived here - what are the hoops here? The biggest challenge I have is finding a technically competent recruiter; many I've spoken to are fine so long as you repeat buzz words, but if you try to explain anything more complex, their eyes glaze over...

    I've got a contract for the moment, but it's up in another month or so... Your experiences here would be useful.

  3. Just do it by MantiX · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Mate, things work pretty similar the world over for an engineer, the research you need to do is more so with visa and living arrangements.

    In terms of your work, the situation is mostly the same, be it Canada, UK, Australia, in that you are expected to hold a professional attitude, and be good with your work. You will find Australians have strong work ethic reputations abroad, so you need to back that up.

    Short of that, you merely need to be resourceful, and you don't necessarily need to go through recruiters. Get your resume up to speed, make sure it is within 2 pages so as not to waste others time, and advertise your skills and project work so as to give potential employment a good honest run down on your skillset.

    Print it out 20-50 times, and go walk through the front door in professional attire and give it to reception, possibly ask to see if they are seeking help.

    With a skills shortage of competent engineers, you will gain employment fast, and gain the margin a recruiter normally takes.

    Every top 500 needs engineers, and google for the integration/IT comms companies in your city of settlement.

    If you work with specialist sectors like network/comms, speak to the local distributors to find out what integrators work with those products.

    Hope this helps.

    MantiX
    IT CEO.

  4. I'm in Australia (Adelaide) Looking to move count by DiSKiLLeR · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm in Australia (Adelaide) Looking to move countries too!

    Canada and New Zealand are the two places I have been seriously considering, and it looks like Auckland, New Zealand has won me over. (I have a really close friend there for one, and NZ is a beautiful country.)

    I'm a Software Engineer and Systems Administrator in my current role. Anyway, guess I should read what people post as that stuff my apply to me too ;).

    I bet Americans are wondering why on earth we would want to leave Australia.....

    --
    You can tell how powerful someone is by the magnitude of the crime they can commit and be able to get away with.
  5. #1: Beware of Moose by dangitman · · Score: 5, Funny

    They are known to drop from the trees and surprise foreigners with deadly force.

    --
    ... and then they built the supercollider.
    1. Re:#1: Beware of Moose by definate · · Score: 5, Funny

      You mean like drop bears? We know all about drop bears in Australia.

      That's why when Yanks that aren't used to drop bears come to the forests out here, we make sure they wear a helmet.

      That and it is funny.

      --
      This is my footer. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
  6. Re:Huh? by mrbluze · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's a very broad and vague question. That's a very broad and vague comment.
    --
    Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
  7. Job references in the UK by Alain+Williams · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Many companies in the UK now give references of the form: ''he worked for us starting XXX until YYY.'' Nothing else. The reason is that someone sued because of a bad reference, so HR departments are now scared to say anything at all.

    The sort of reason that we would do better with fewer lawyers in this world.

  8. Re:always, Always, ALWAYS, talk to a lawyer... by WarwickRyan · · Score: 5, Informative

    >$100 it will cost for several hours of his time.

    You're missing a 0 from that.

    For the record, I've moved countries, and I found all the information that was needed by talking to my destination's embassy in my own country.

    They were happy to help, send everything via email and also answered my questions via email.

    For more general information, and social stuff I found http://www.expatica.com/ to be a good resource. Googling for country-specific forums also found a place to find information which wasn't so obvious - like good local plumbers and flat shares.

    My move was UK to Netherlands so it was easier as far as visas were confirmed (don't need one), but harder because of the language difference (which I've now solved by learning).

  9. Be Canadian first. by William+Robinson · · Score: 5, Informative
    I immigrated to Canada, and finally decided to leave Canada after few years. During those days, I was invited by social workers to give presentations to new immigrants to Canada.

    Canadian work culture is different, and was more or less of shock to me. If you could say that I am wearing Canadian underwear, the probability of getting job is better than if you say, I have designed supercomputers in Australia. I know I am exaggerating, but it is not too far from reality.

    One of the best way is to start is applying directly to companies, instead of recruiting agents, as they would consider you less marketable lacking Canadian experience (god knows WTF it is.) You will wasting too much of your time if you believe that agents can help you.

    Second important thing is to start working and build your credibility, which could come from working somewhere either voluntarily or accepting job that was not your profession in Australia. You will need to be patient to get job what exactly you are looking for.

    Third suggestion is to start acquiring some academic qualification or certifications in Canada. It helps.

    Fourth suggestion is to start looking for social services network of your own community. Surprisingly, Canada has pretty good social network of helpful people. They would guide you a lot better than anybody else.

    I used to tell a lot of jokes to new immigrants, and would love to share with you. Hang on.

    --
    hilarious
  10. Re:always, Always, ALWAYS, talk to a lawyer... by Vectronic · · Score: 5, Funny

    He's probably a lawyer, looking for work.

  11. Been there (Melb), done that (relocated) by nyquist_theorem · · Score: 5, Informative

    Hi, I can't find how to send you a message or email privately, so here goes... I lived in Melbourne for 4.5 years (Carlton and Kew) and am now a recruiter in Canada. I work for Hays in Calgary. Shoot me an email at matthew at area709 dot com - I've been through the whole gamut (brought my Aussie gf with me, got her PR, found her a job, etc etc) and work in recruitment so can probably steer you in the right direction in exchange for a pack of tim-tams on your arrival. :)

    --
    -- "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge." (Charles Darwin)
  12. same move 3 months ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I moved from Victoria (the AU one) to BC myself 3 months ago. It was definitely an easy move to make, both personally and work wise. Canadians are kind of like more friendly Australians, it's really nice.

    Most important things though

    1. Get your qualifications recognised. I'm currently still undergoing getting my accounting qualifications recognised, it's a lengthy process. I have my accounting degree done by these guys - http://www.bcit.ca/ices/ however I'm waiting upon the chartered accountancy guys to do their end to continue my studying. They requested a ICES recognition (they being the chartered accounting institute of BC), so it seems a good place to start.

    2. Work visa, I am currently on a 2 year working holiday that has very few restrictions and was rather easy to get (took all of 3 days). All acquired via post and online at here - http://www.whpcanada.org.au/ Took me forever to get through customs in Canada, my stuff was stamped off straight away once I got to the front of the line, but I came in just after a couple of plane loads of Chinese Immigrants. So don't trust the "express" check-in

    3. I had a few issues with a stopover flight into the US. Basically I needed to get a US visa for the entire time I'm in Canada just to enter the country (which was for a 2 hour stopover where I had no intention of leaving the airport). It involved meeting the US consulate for an interview and I wound up just changing my flight to fly via Auckland (air kiwi fly direct from Auckland, air canada now fly direct from Sydney). If you fly air kiwi, I highly recommend the lamb :)

    4. As an accountant, I probably had more work issues in some regards (different laws), less in others (demand for accountants). Definitely apply directly to employers, I got stuff all help from employment agencies. Applying to companies I got a lot of "get back to us when you're in the country" replies, however I found work before I actually arrived in the country anyway (however, it was through someone I already knew here who worked at an accounting firm). I think you shouldn't have too much hassle, maybe you will finding the exact job you want, but demand for skilled employment (especially in business and IT) is high, there's plenty of work around and large employers are smart enough not to worry about where you come from, just the skills you have.

    5. Check out the work laws, as mentioned. You don't get public holidays in your first 30 days with an employer (I didn't work Good Friday, fortunately my overtime I'd been working covered it), you only get 2 weeks annual leave, 5 days sick leave, etc, etc.

    6. Get setup when you get here. Go to a bank and get a bank account (take your passport and any other kind of ID you have, Aussie stuff worked for me). http://www.hsbc.ca/1/2/en/personal/international-services/arriving-in-canada - HSBC have quite a range of services for new-comers and non-residents. Get a Social Insurance Number, go to Service Canada (they have a zillion offices, like Centrelink, basically) and you get it on the spot. You need one to work anywhere. Get a phone too, getting a prepaid one is easy. Getting anything on credit can be more difficult, but I haven't really gotten into that

    7. And a whole heap of small things. Finding vegemite is a bitch. Most things you buy have a price on them that is BEFORE tax and you'll always wind up with a tonne of change. People are wrong about it being hard to drive on the opposite side of the road. It rains really, really hard in Vancouver sometimes, however they have the sky train, which is cool. It's as pretty as hell here as well.

    8. Shit I forgot, get an international drivers licence before you leave, you can get it from RACV, takes 5 minutes and costs $20 or something. I'm not entirely sure on the legality of it though, it's meant to be 1 year, but I've heard since getting here it's only 3 months for residents. Look at getting a drivers licence here eventually, I've never been pulled over to really find out. Don't buy Ameri

  13. Re:I'm in Australia (Adelaide) Looking to move cou by Anomolous+Cowturd · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I bet Americans are wondering why on earth we would want to leave Australia..... There have been some recent unpleasant changes in Australian society. The Iraq war and anti-Islam propaganda has started turning the knuckle-draggers here into nationalists. Every day sees more crosstikas plastered on the rear windows of SUVs, and Aussie flags are cropping up in incongruous places. It used to be that Aussies were only nationalistic when it came to sports... now, I feel an ugly change coming.
    --
    Software patents delenda est.
  14. Re:I'm in Australia (Adelaide) Looking to move cou by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The Iraq war and anti-Islam propaganda has started turning the knuckle-draggers here into nationalists.

    And you want to move to *America* to avoid that???