Canadian Immigrants and Citizens Life Stories

I want to share my experience as an immigrant from year 2000.

I came here alone to settle first in the city I chose to live, Toronto. Special thanks to my cousin family who helped me found an apartment before I landed and let me stay in their apartment for three days, so I did not need to spend the night in a hotel. If you happen have no relatives living in Canada, do not worry since there are plenty of community centres that can help your family settle here.

I came in the summer, and a day after I move in to my new apartment, I walked along Bloor St. and Yonge St. to familiar myself with the city of Toronto and at the same time look for any jobs opening in stores and restaurants. As a results of walking along those two streets above and applying jobs for a week, I got two phone calls for interviews in fast food restaurants. Right after two weeks, I got my first job in Canada. Eventhough it wasn't my line of job in computer networking as my background, I was proud of myself for this accomplishment since I can keep my saving I brought from my country for my educations later.

I knew that I have to update my knowledge and get some Canadian certifications, so I applied in Computer Networking program in one of public Colleges. Unfortunately, they rejected my application due my English skills level wasn't as high as the admission level. They suggested me to take some English course for College. I took a weekend course in that College and ESL class every night to improve my English. As a results, a year later I got admission to two of programs (E-commerce and Computer Networking) in that public College. I decided to pick E-Commerce.

After I graduated from an E-Commerce program, I applied hundreds of jobs opening in E-Commerce field, but no one invited me for an interview. The only job interview I had was for Computer Networking position (from my background experience in my country). I got the job interview lead from one of my college professor contact. Eventhough I didn't get the job, this experience made me believe that the best way to find a job is from your networking contacts.

I get back to work part-time in the fast food restaurant while I kept applying jobs. I got one-on-one free help from JVS Toronto. The Employment Counsellor had helped me to build my resume based on new education and experience. She adviced me that with my background experience I should take some IT vendor exams and get a job in computer networking instead of E-Commerce. I couldn't follow up on that advice due tight budget since my wife just came to Canada.

While I worked volunteer in The Dorothy Ley Hospice during my spare time, there was a friend who gave me an advice to take whatever necessary requirement the employers need to get my dream job. This second persons adviced the same thing. Then, when my wife got a full time job, I couldn't wait any longer to take another courses for Networking Engineering diploma program with focus on getting IT vendors certifications. I got my MCSE, CCNA, ACE, CNA, A+, IT Project+ certifications and Network Engineer diploma just in one full year (2003).

By the way, did I mention that I still love Canada regardless the hardship I had since I lived here?

With a help from my career counsellor in my last college, Trios College, I got a month contract job from an agency in a computer warehouse company. I worked hard there and a few days before I finished the contract I handed in my resume to the company director. As a results, two months later I got a call for an interview in that company. However, it wasn't a computer job again. It was a warehouse job. It wasn't that bad, since they paid me almost double than when I worked for the fast food restaurant. I got a year contract job in that computer warehouse. I took the job with a hope that I could get a job from an internal opening as a technician job later on in that company.

However, after 8 months working in that warehouse, I could not get any chance to move to another technical position. Then, I decided to take a part-time job as a Computer Instructor in a private College, so that I can keep myself uptodate with the technology. My perseverance paid off, as four months later I finally got an offer working as a MIS Support.

As a summary, the point I want to make here is that we should never give up, perseverance is the key. Keep trying different ways until you reach your goals. Within this 6 years I live in Canada, I have met a lot of wonderful people who are willing to help me. There are sometime I was home sick during my hardtime within the first 5 years, but now after we have two childrens in this country and after I finally got a profession job in the field I like, I will never look back since then. I became a Canadian citizen in 2004 and my wife became a Canadian citizen in 2006. Our childrens were born in Toronto, so they are Canadian as well. My family is Canadian now and we are proud to be Canadian.

After you read my experience stories and if you have decided to apply for immigration to Canada, please be prepare to adapt to the way Canadians live here and keep learning and never give up on trying.