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Be more "Canadian" on job hunt, immigrants told

Admiral Beez

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http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2011/01/14/toronto-immigrant-jobs-114.html#ixzz1BSAbdJfK

Interesting article. I guess immigrants should buy a cottage, drink Timmys and say "eh". Just kidding, but this is an odd article.

As an immigrant to Canada in the 1970s, my family's transition was pretty uneventful, my Dad came first, found a job, and then we came a few months later. I imagine I had a funny accent as a kid, and my parents still sound like foreigners, but that never held us back.
 
As an immigrant to Canada in the 1970s, my family's transition was pretty uneventful, my Dad came first, found a job, and then we came a few months later. I imagine I had a funny accent as a kid, and my parents still sound like foreigners, but that never held us back.

must have been pretty tough being british & white in 1970's canada.
 
things are harder now...

Back in those days, people may have been more racist and such but immigrants could easily find a good job.
In the 70,80's and even in the 90's working in a factory was decent pay and was enough to support a family. A similar job today pays a terrible wage and immigrants have to get better jobs and this requires actual skill. The biggest thing holding back an immigrant is not his skills, but they way he applies them.

Like I go to university and I know a lot of really smart international students but whenever I talk to them, I can't use "Canadian English", because they then have trouble understanding what I am saying.
This is why you see in the office place, people who are not super smart but can speak and interact well.

Back in the "old country", marks were everything but to successful here you need to speak and interact well.

So to some, this article is offensive but as a son of an immigrant and being friends with a lot of recent immigrants, this is a huge problem.
 
In the 70,80's and even in the 90's working in a factory was decent pay and was enough to support a family.
Back in the 70s you didn't need a unversity education to get a good job. My Dad, with just a 60's British high school diploma, was able to work his way up at the big ad firm James Walter Thompson and now owns a large marketing firm, and makes the big bucks, has the big house, drives the Porsche and M5, etc. Now even the entry level admins in such firms need a BA before they can get an interview.

An immigrant without recognized Canadian credentials is basically screwed today. What I wish Canada would do is be more honest with potential immigrants. For starters, tell them that Canadian employers will not recognize or value their "foreign" experience, edcuation, credentials and accomplishments, and that Canada is looking for immigrants to do the low paiddirty jobs that Canadians do not want to do, such as caring for their senior citizens, washing dishes, driving taxis, etc. The appeal thus for the potential immigrant is that his/her Canadian educated children will have the opportunity for success, not the immigrant themselves. Of course a Canadian gov't immigrant scout with a quota to fill is not going to say anything this candid, much like how they told my wife's Ukranian grandparents and great grandparents that life in Canada is easy and full of opportunity - they just left out the parts about harsh land, sod huts, and hardship.
 
Actually what immigrants need to know, if they have the backbone, is that Canada is a fantastic land of opportunity but not for people looking for jobs. If you can banish the entire "get a job" paradigm and look at the real opportunities it is there for you.

The secret is that "Canadian experience" IS important and DOES matter for getting a job. The other secret is that Canadians are horrible business people and negotiators. They have little in the way of long-term planning capabilities and are utterly coddled and risk adverse.

If you take a look at the history of business in this country from corporate giants to your local small business or property owner, you will usually find an immigrant at the source. This opportunity exists for everyone regardless of your ethnicity or language skills.

So forget about getting a job, job or educational credentials and think wealth generation and hire "Canadians" to do your work for you.
 
Telling potential immigrants that the road to success lies in becoming owning or running a business is unrealistic. Yes the cream rise to the top in any group, be it immigrants or natives: Ted Rogers - born in Toronto was a great success, as was Galen Weston - born in England.

However, according to Stats Canada's website, there are about 2.5 million businesses in Canada. Only half of those have more than one employee. With Canada bringing in about 250,000 immigrants each year there simply aren't enough business for them all to buy or own. Most will end up working for someone else as an employee.
 
Admiral, I'm not suggesting everyone is going to make it or that there is a business for everyone. What I am saying is that immigrants should know that their success in Canada likely hinges on their ability to succeed independently first.

For instance we let in engineers under the pretense that coming to Canada represents an opportunity to be an engineer in Canada. For some it works but for most their path must necessarily requires transcending the paradigm that having a job matters.

Immigrants have always understood this intuitively. There are well worn paths to success, niches carved out by people coming from different lands, be it as franchise owners, skilled tradesman, property owners, retailers, restauranteurs etc. However, I sense that the system we have crafted now tends to bring in more people who originate form large urban centres and are more "job" centred with expectations of career success that do not match the reality on the ground. Almost all the tradespeople, property owners and small business owners in my area of the city are either first or second generation immigrants and very few originating from large urban centres.

If you dissect the job market there are really two fundamental renumerations: Money and Status. Status oriented success is difficult to crack as an immigrant. An example would be corporate manager versus plumber. In reality plumbers have the highest job satisfaction of all careers. Supplement that skill with a few rental properties and the reality is your financial compensation and the synergies with living your life and raising a family make it a better career path than being even a high level manager in a corporate environment. However, everyone will agree that the high level manager has a higher status job.

Success as an immigrant often requires taking the lower status route to success in the first generation.
 
must have been pretty tough being british & white in 1970's canada.
This book reminded me of this old post http://uofmpress.ca/books/detail/invisible-immigrants

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