Ways to Get Canadian Work Experience

Canadian work experience is something that employers look for on your resume. But how do you gain Canadian work experience when you have recently arrived in Canada? How can you overcome this employment barrier? 

When you search for your first job in Canada, consider other ways to get Canadian experience that can lead to full-time employment. Employers who state that you have no Canadian experience may be concerned that they are taking a risk on you.  Hiring managers may worry that without Canadian experience, you may lack knowledge of the Canadian workplace culture, language proficiency, or important skills and training.

Three Ways to Gain Canadian Work Experience

 1. Volunteer work

Volunteering is one way to overcome the no Canadian experience employment barrier. When you volunteer, you can improve your chance of finding a job that matches your skills, knowledge, and experience. This is something many immigrants do to get that so-called Canadian experience. By volunteering, newcomers get the chance to show their interpersonal skills, language skills, and overall professional ability.

The trick with volunteering is to be strategic about the not-for-profit organizations and roles related to your career. Invest time looking for roles that you are genuinely interested in and that link to your career.”

Volunteering Tips:

• Be prepared to interview for your volunteer role and take it seriously
• Expect to commit to a specific number of hours per week or per year
• Visit sites to search for volunteer roles across Canada.

Be honest with yourself about whether you can meet those expectations. In addition to gaining Canadian work experience, volunteer work can be a great career development opportunity as well. Volunteer work can help you to enhance your existing skills, learn and develop new skills, and make connections with professionals in your field. It’s also a great way to stay involved as you conduct your job search.

2. Intern

 Consider gaining Canadian work experience is to intern. If you don’t want to go the not-for-profit route, you can look for local companies with roles that match your experience. Also, shortlist companies that are advertising paid roles (in your area of expertise) and opt for more junior roles where you can easily prove your worth and add value.

Approach the company and offer to intern, unpaid for four-six weeks to test you out.  

Tips to Approach Employers:

• Use your peer network (that you’ve built pre- and post-arrival to Canada)
• Pick up the phone and ask to speak to the HR manager (or better still a peer manager)
• Walk into the business and drop off your resume.

The more personal and genuine you make the interaction (showing up, dressing well, being open, friendly, and professional) the more of an impression you’ll make.

3. Take a Short Course or Bridging Program

If you can, avoid the cost and time of opting for a master’s degree in your technical field unless you really want to do one! Instead look for the most relevant, brief, and inexpensive technical course you can take that will add to your skills or expertise. Ryan often advises newcomers to budget to be out of work for six months after arriving in Canada. There are lots of reasons why I suggest this timeframe and gathering your ‘Canadian experience’ is one of them.

Tip:

Once you have arrived in Canada connect with a settlement agency to learn about funding for a bridging program to secure or challenge your Canadian credential.

Bottom Line

Numerous courses give accounting professionals a step up in the industry; these will help you differentiate yourself from the competition and earn higher salary rates. Reach out to Gettrainedgethired.com to book a free 30-Minute career counseling meeting. At Get Trained Get Hired we provide you with the necessary training to learn practical skills to become an accountant. Our training is based on practical real-life cases.  After the training, we work on your resume and try to place you in accounting firms through our network. You will also get access to like-minded individuals who are looking for jobs through our WhatsApp group. Please feel free to contact us at [email protected]. Or call us at 647-275-7150.

Disclaimer: The information provided on this page is intended to provide general information. The information does not consider your situation and is not intended to be used without consultation from professionals. Salman Rundhawa and Gettrainedgethired.com will not be held liable for any problems that arise from the usage of the information provided on this page.