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Canada is a land of opportunity. Let no one cheat you otherwise. Just like any other civilized community, Canada has its fair share of wealthy citizens, middle level professionals, highly paid artisans and trades people, and a good number of strugglers.

 

I have met immigrant professionals who are struggling. I have met some who are doing very well. In terms of good living, the struggling lot are way ahead of the middle class in the developing countries that they originated from.

 

The Job Market

 

This is one area that disappoints some immigrants. There are those who came to Canada with a fixed mind that they must enter the job market at certain categories in the jobs they did in their countries of origin. Honestly, I do not know how this crazy idea got into our people.

 

Lucrative jobs, anywhere in the World, are never handed out on a silver platter. The developed west does not have a shortage of Managing Directors, Company Secretaries Financial Directors and Managers. You are not going to become the Chief Accountant of Air Canada or Boeing just because you have experience as the former Financial Chief of Kenya Airways. These jobs are hugely competitive. But, you can get them if you are willing to travel the road that involves competition and competence.

 

This is how you access the job market:

  •  

    You realize that you have come to a new country where the shortage of labour is not in those categories I mentioned above, but in some jobs Canadians do not want to do. But that should not bother you because you did not come this far to sweep roads and clean plates in a restaurant.
  • You make an urgent endeavour to meet and talk to successful immigrants who arrived just like you did and find out what they did to land the top jobs that they enjoy now.
  •  

    You give yourself a reasonable time-frame to adjust and integrate well into the Canadian society because executives in the companies you want to work in do not just look at your academic achievement, but the whole you. They want to be sure that you can fit in an unusual work environment. That you can joke and get along with peers without feeling too bogged down by culture shock. That you are comfortable with colleagues and clients. This is what they mean by Canadian Experience. Close to 100% of the clients who you will deal with on a daily basis are Canadians. Personal interaction will play a big role and of course your qualifications and experience will play along.
  •  

    MOST IMPORTANT: DO NOT listen to negative people especially those from your country of origin who have refused to address their “individual shortcomings” and have instead concentrated their energies at killing the spirit of others like you. 

 

You need to meet and make friends with energized people. People who will teach you how to upgrade your skills. People who will teach you how to gain a foothold in major companies through agencies. People who will teach you how to highlight your achievements in a one-page resume and how to accompany that with a well-worded cover letter.

 

Within a year, you should be on the road to your dream job. In your second year in Canada, you should be able to change jobs as you wish. In your third, you should be able to help others to become like you.

 

This is a country of ENDLESS OPPORTUNITIES.

 

Let’s talk. Drop me an email on vnkaranja@gmail.com

 
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