When an immigrant arrive in Canada, they come with a sense of entitlement. They come with a feeling that when they arrive, they will be given a job in their area of expertise and employers will be running after them to hire them. And they have this feeling because before they arrive, the lawyers, consultants and the government have built up this dream world for them. The messages that they hear are that Canada is a country of many opportunities and has a lot of skilled labour shortage.
Well, this is all correct! Canada has many great opportunities. It does have skilled labour shortages and there are jobs that need to be filled. But what newcomers are not told is that employers are not just going to hire someone who on paper looks like they have the right experience and skills. They will look for the best person to fill their requirements. And newcomers most times cannot position themselves as the best, because of the lack of Canadian Experience.
To illustrate my point of view, let’s reverse the tables. Let’s imagine you are back in your home country. Being a successful person in your career, you have the opportunity to hire someone. Now, will you hire a person that has experience in your country and from a company you know about? Or will you hire a person that is a newcomer to your country, on paper has the same experience but has come from a place and worked for companies you know very little about? Most likely, you are not going to risk hiring the newcomer because recruitment is a painful and expensive process. You want to hire someone who you know will hit the ground running. You have responsibilities and targets you have to meet, and the person you are hiring needs to help you achieve these goals or take on responsibilities you are handing. You don’t want to take risks with someone who is new to the country and may not understand the culture and norms of your workplace.
This is the same attitude that employers have in Canada. They are looking out for themselves and their interest. They want to hire the best person for job, and the only reason they will hire a newcomer is if they feel s/he is the best candidate. This is the reason newcomers get frustrated so easily and start having a negative outlook to their life here. They feel they are being treated unfairly and the dream they came with is broken.
Don’t let this sense of entitlement take over you. It will make you miserable and negative. And this negativism will come across to people when looking for a job. No one wants to hire a negative person. Stay positive and let go of the feeling that you have a right to get a good job. You need to work hard on the way you portray yourself as the best person for the job. This is not just by showing your technical skills, education, and experience but also show that you will fit into the workplace. You need to demonstrate how you will be able to work with people, your conversation skills and your initiative to go beyond what is asked for. And how your international experience will bring in a different perspective and ideas to energize the company. Then you will be able to show that you are the best choice and will not have a problem getting hired by employers.