Employment

Employment is one of the essential needs of life for everyone except entrepreneurs. For new immigrants it is very difficult to find employment in their early days of arrival due to many reasons. The first reason would be non-Canadian experience, as almost every employer gives priority to a candidate who has Canadian experience; therefore, new immigrants always find themselves in difficulties to compete in the job market with candidates who have Canadian experience. The second reason would be documentation/license requirements. Every new immigrant is required to get some important documents from the government which can prove their status in Canada and some occupations require licenses before hiring. Either way, some time is needed to fulfill the requirements.

I work as a full-time security guard in one of the leading security providers in Regina, Saskatchewan. This was my first job in Canada and until today I am working in the same company. My employer has the majority of sites in Saskatchewan and I am deployed in one of the best sites i.e. Refinery (Oil and Gas Company) for which our company is responsible for 24-hour security.

When I came to Canada, I tried to find a job in my field (Accounting and Finance) in which I have almost 14 years of experience in my home country as a Finance manager. I tried to continue my career in the accounting field in Canada but due to the reasons explained above I was unable to find any job. After two months of continual struggle, I understood that to find a job in a professional occupation is not easy without getting a certification/degree in Canada. I decided to change my occupation for a short period of time and selected security industry. I got a security license after passing a security exam and within a week I got a full-time employment.

My advice for the newcomers would be, to invest some time in getting certification/ degree in the occupation they want to continue their career in Canada. For earnings, my advice is to find a job in any occupation, then continue to work the same job until getting a certification/degree. It is very easy to find jobs in retail stores (no license requirements) and in the security industry (license required).