Employment

As a new immigrant, to get a job with basic salary is not difficult, but to get one with high pay is a challenge because our education and experience from overseas are not recognized in Canada.

In my opinion, we should take any job at the outset to earn money and to learn the working style of Canadians. If we would like to study in/at a university or college again, it is a good thing. If not, we do our best at work to show our manager that we are able to fulfil the job in the best way. Once our ability is recognized, it is easy to get a higher pay or be promoted to a higher position.

My case is an example. I got a job which seems too low for education and qualification. I have a foreign trade bachelor’s degree from Vietnam and I was a sales and marketing general director before moving to Canada. However, I got my first job as a housekeeper for a resort after I sent out a lot of resumes to many companies and failed at an interview for a marketing staff. Other applications did not result in an interview.

Finally, I have this job since July 2017 and am still working for this resort. When I had an interview, I did not ask my manager how much she would pay me., I just wanted to take a job to earn experience and to learn about the working environment in Canada. Luckily, I got the first salary increase after 6 months and got promoted as a team leader. The second increase was in April 2018, it was nine months after I worked for the resort.

There are many websites to find jobs, such as Indeed, MyJobHelper PM, All The Jobs, WowJobs Alerts, Manpower, and careercentre.org. I am living in BC. Therefore, I can go to Workbc.ca.

In my experience, to catch the attention of an employer, we have to write good resumes. We should get help from job consultants. We should have a look at the website of the company which we are going to for an interview to know what the company is doing, wear neat clothes, and be on time.

Besides job websites, we could try to ask people we know if their companies are looking for new employees. This is called hidden employment. I know 80% of employment in Canada is hidden.

Another way to find a job is visiting websites of companies which you would like to work for and sending your resume. Although they may have enough people at the time you apply, when they need to hire, your resume will be there for them to look at.

To have a good life in a new country is not easy, but we can do it if we have the will.