If you’re considering immigrating to Canada, this question is probably top of mind for you. Most people need a job – and finding a job in a brand new country can feel like a dauting proposition. And to be clear, it’s not easy. There are many factors that go into finding the kind of job that you want, and I’d like to discuss a few things in this blog post.
IS IT IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND A JOB AS AN IMMIGRANT IN CANADA?
No. Not at all. Canada welcomes hundreds of thousands of immigrants every year, and the majority of them are employed within a reasonable amount of time. Canadian society is mostly welcoming of immigrants, and if you live in one of the bigger cities, you’ll find many people who are from the same part of the world as you, working at all levels of employment.
Finding a job depends on many things. Your prior work experience, level of education, and language skills are probably the three most important indicators of job-market success. Certain high-growth fields like tech are very welcoming of immigrants, while others like healthcare or law may need you to requalify in Canada.
In my personal opinion, the single biggest factor that can help you get a good job is great communications skills (English or French). If you’re extremely fluent or a native speaker of either of these two languages, life is a lot easier. The good news is that most people who immigrate usually have pretty good language skills, and with a little work can go from good to excellent. This is even something you can do while preparing to come to Canada.
THE FACTS AND FIGURES
It is true that immigrants can be at a disadvantage as compared to native born Canadians. StatsCan (Canadian Govt. Statistics Agency) has published data that shows that immigrant unemployment and/or underemployment is a real thing. The last report was published in December 2018, and it is worth reading in full – The Canadian Immigrant Labour Market: Recent Trends from 2006 to 2017
For those of you who don’t want to read the whole thing, here are some highlights (all emphasis mine):
- The unemployment rate for core-aged immigrants edged down to 6.4% in 2017, the lowest rate since the start of the LFS immigrant series in 2006. At the same time, their employment rate rose to 78.9%, the highest rate recorded during the 12-year period. In comparison, the employment rate for the Canadian-born was 84.0% in 2017, up 0.8 percentage points from the previous year, and their unemployment rate was 5.0%, down 0.5 points.
- Most of the growth in immigrant employment was in professional, scientific and technical services; finance, insurance, real estate and leasing services; manufacturing as well as health care and social assistance.
- For university-educated immigrants, employment increased between 2016 and 2017, mainly in full-time work and among those who were established (in the country for more than 10 years). For the university-educated, Canadian-born, employment also increased, pushing up their employment rate to 91.4%, the highest level since 2006. Employment gains for university-educated immigrants helped lift their employment rate to a record high of 82.1% in 2017. Consequently, the gap between them and their Canadian-born counterparts narrowed to its smallest size since 2006.
Highly-educated immigrants have the best chance of getting a good job in Canada. This can sound somewhat obvious, but it’s good to see it validated by the data. It also takes a few years for most people to establish themselves and get the kind of job they really want.
SPECIALIZED PROFESSIONS
Lawyers, doctors, professional engineers and people in similar regulated professions need to know that their qualifications may well need to be revalidated in Canada before they are allowed to work here. The nature of the validation depends on the profession.
Foreign-trained lawyers, for example, need to take a set of qualifying exams (5-10 of these), complete a period of articling, and then pass the bar exams in the province they live in before they are recognized as a Canadian lawyer. This usually takes about 18-24 months, though some people can do it a bit faster if they qualify for certain exemptions.
Professional Engineers (P.Eng) go through a similar process as lawyers. Doctors are probably the worst off here since it apparently takes them multiple years to requalify (I’m not a Doctor.. I know about the process for lawyers 🙂 )
HOW DO I GET A JOB?
First, you need to become a Permanent Resident. While it is possible to get a job as a foreign national, it is extremely difficult. The one exception is people in tech – if you’re a senior developer, it’s much easier to get a job in Canada and move over here on a work permit. For most other professions, there’s really little point in applying for jobs before you become a PR with the right to work. Sure, there are exceptional individuals who can do it – but if you’re that good, you already know it!
Once you have your PR, applying for a job becomes easier as the factors that you have to change are mostly under your control. Things like resume-building. Canadian resumes are not the same as European or Asian resumes. You need to learn how to write your resume in the Canadian format. You also need to understand the differences in the job interview between Canada and your home country. These are things that you can pick up by talking to friends, attending meetups, or even by watching videos on YouTube! There are many ways to bridge the cultural gap.
It does take a bit of time though. Having savings for at least a year is very important since it can take that long or longer to get a really good job. You need to be mentally strong as you send out job applications and never hear back from the vast majority of companies. Building a support system is key – there are lots of meetups where you can talk to people just like you, and it’s very reassuring to know that you aren’t alone in your quest for a good job. Meetups are a great way to work on your soft skills as well.
CONCLUSION
I’ll write a few more posts on this subject, but I hope this overview helps you understand the job market in Canada, and how to optimize your chances of getting a job. Good luck 🙂