.... no ... wait, it's the other way around :(
I've tried to seek employment through a few IT agencies, but they seem to flatly refuse to deal with any candidate who will need sponsorship for a work permit, rather than propose me to clients and find out if their client is willing to consider someone in my position.
Recently I got in touch with a manager at an agency through a LinkedIn connection. I explained my position and she said they'd be happy to work with me and passed on my details to a recruitment consultant on her team.
I was quite excited by this and exchanged a few emails with said consultant and sent my resume in. I then got an email saying her company couldn't sponsor me for a work permit (of course not as I wouldn't end up working for her company!), and that she couldn't work with me until I had a valid work status.
I said I understood that and hoped she had clients who would consider sponsorship, but not wanting to be pushy and burn bridges I thanked her for her time and wished her all the best. She said she would keep my resume on file in case she found a client who could work with me.
Frustrating, but if this process were easy, I suppose Canada would already be full :)
Wednesday 31 August 2011
Tuesday 30 August 2011
To do, to do, to do....
.... so much to do.
Apart from the trivial matter of finding an employer who will sponsor me for a work permit (I'm being sarcastic when I say trivial), there are so many things that need to be done in order for us to move.
The biggest is sell the house. The process of obtaining a work permit may take time, but so will selling our house with the way the market is at the moment. In order to sell we have to do a lot of work to our humble abode, and we want that done now so if I do get a job offer, the house is ready to go on the market immediately.
Unfortunately getting it ready is going to take time and money, and that's money I'd rather not spend, so I'll be spending time in DIY hell to keep costs down. Jobs include:
You could question why we are spending the money, and that we should let it sell in the condition it is. Well unfortunately we are no longer in the middle of a housing boom and we have to make the house as appealing as possible to potential buyers. Add to that the fact that we will probably have to price it to sell in order to complete quickly, which is annoying, but sadly a fact.
It's clear I'm good at procrastinating as I should either be customising my resume for the job adverts I saw today, or fitting skirting boards in the living room.
On that note I suppose I'd better sign off and do something useful :)
Chris
Apart from the trivial matter of finding an employer who will sponsor me for a work permit (I'm being sarcastic when I say trivial), there are so many things that need to be done in order for us to move.
The biggest is sell the house. The process of obtaining a work permit may take time, but so will selling our house with the way the market is at the moment. In order to sell we have to do a lot of work to our humble abode, and we want that done now so if I do get a job offer, the house is ready to go on the market immediately.
Unfortunately getting it ready is going to take time and money, and that's money I'd rather not spend, so I'll be spending time in DIY hell to keep costs down. Jobs include:
- Decking in back garden (done)
- New lawn in back garden (done)
- New flooring in living and dining rooms (done)
- Decorating (75% done)
- Resurface driveway as cheaply as possible (current one has broken up badly and you don't want to put people off before you get them in the door)
- and many more
You could question why we are spending the money, and that we should let it sell in the condition it is. Well unfortunately we are no longer in the middle of a housing boom and we have to make the house as appealing as possible to potential buyers. Add to that the fact that we will probably have to price it to sell in order to complete quickly, which is annoying, but sadly a fact.
It's clear I'm good at procrastinating as I should either be customising my resume for the job adverts I saw today, or fitting skirting boards in the living room.
On that note I suppose I'd better sign off and do something useful :)
Chris
Sunday 28 August 2011
So, a little backstory....
About 6 years ago, my wife Lydia and I were thinking about a move to the Calgary area of Canada.
If I am honest, it was more me than Lydia, but she was coming round to the idea (however she may post here to disagree), to the point where we were in touch with a contact in the Alberta Children's Hospital about how applicable here nursing qualifications were. At the time we had a daughter, and enough points to qualify (no targeted list of occupations back then).
Anyway, to cut a long story short, Lydia became pregnant with daughter number two and Canada slipped way down our priority list to the point where we thought nothing more of it.
Fast forward 3 years and some friends a few doors away announced that they were moving to Canada. I asked where and they said the Calgary area. I pointed out the coincidence and talked with them about their move at great length. A hectic few months of them selling as many of their possessions as possible, and they and their two kids were off on a temporary work permit (inter company transfer).
A little over two years later, and daughter number 3! we decided to go and visit whilst daughter number 3 could still fly for free. We couldn't really afford it, but it would be totally out of the question if we had to pay for 5 tickets. Off we flew in mid April of this year (2011) for 2 weeks in Okotoks - http://www.okotoks.ca/home.aspx A little bit of snow for a few days (a teeny weeny bit by Calgary standards I suppose), and a good bit of nice weather.
We saw some sights, local and farther afield (Lake Louise, Banff, Sulphur Mountain - the rockies are something else!), and tried to live a little as locals, shopping at the supermarkets, seeing what Okotoks had to offer, seeing Alberta Children's Hospital up close when daughter number 3 needed a visit to the emergency room ($650 for walking in the door - ouch!). Daughter number 1 even got to go to school for a day! That would never be allowed in the UK.
Our friends will remain anonymous unless they reveal themselves here, but I can't thank them enough for the opportunity to visit. We fell in love with the idea of moving to Canada.
So, to bring you up to the present, we discussed it at length and decided to go for it.
A few things have changed since I last researched the process. There is now an occupation list for permanent residence applications. We easily have enough points, but my occupation is not on the list, although annoyingly it was 12 months ago! Lydia's nursing occupation is, but her registration here in the UK has lapsed. That means a temporary work permit and see how things go from there (not a simple task to find an employer to sponsor one in my field).
So there you are, out backstory in a nutshell.
If I am honest, it was more me than Lydia, but she was coming round to the idea (however she may post here to disagree), to the point where we were in touch with a contact in the Alberta Children's Hospital about how applicable here nursing qualifications were. At the time we had a daughter, and enough points to qualify (no targeted list of occupations back then).
Anyway, to cut a long story short, Lydia became pregnant with daughter number two and Canada slipped way down our priority list to the point where we thought nothing more of it.
Fast forward 3 years and some friends a few doors away announced that they were moving to Canada. I asked where and they said the Calgary area. I pointed out the coincidence and talked with them about their move at great length. A hectic few months of them selling as many of their possessions as possible, and they and their two kids were off on a temporary work permit (inter company transfer).
A little over two years later, and daughter number 3! we decided to go and visit whilst daughter number 3 could still fly for free. We couldn't really afford it, but it would be totally out of the question if we had to pay for 5 tickets. Off we flew in mid April of this year (2011) for 2 weeks in Okotoks - http://www.okotoks.ca/home.aspx A little bit of snow for a few days (a teeny weeny bit by Calgary standards I suppose), and a good bit of nice weather.
We saw some sights, local and farther afield (Lake Louise, Banff, Sulphur Mountain - the rockies are something else!), and tried to live a little as locals, shopping at the supermarkets, seeing what Okotoks had to offer, seeing Alberta Children's Hospital up close when daughter number 3 needed a visit to the emergency room ($650 for walking in the door - ouch!). Daughter number 1 even got to go to school for a day! That would never be allowed in the UK.
Our friends will remain anonymous unless they reveal themselves here, but I can't thank them enough for the opportunity to visit. We fell in love with the idea of moving to Canada.
So, to bring you up to the present, we discussed it at length and decided to go for it.
A few things have changed since I last researched the process. There is now an occupation list for permanent residence applications. We easily have enough points, but my occupation is not on the list, although annoyingly it was 12 months ago! Lydia's nursing occupation is, but her registration here in the UK has lapsed. That means a temporary work permit and see how things go from there (not a simple task to find an employer to sponsor one in my field).
So there you are, out backstory in a nutshell.
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