NIPC > Jobs.

As a newcomer you may experience some difficulties in seeking your first job in Calgary. The following tips might help you plan your career search/development.

You might have years of experience elsewhere, have your established network there, and so on. However having no prior Canadian experience would be the first dilemma for many newcomers. You need to be prepared for a holistic or as some say 360 degree job search. Make sure you visit Resume and Interview section of this website.

Your Resume reflects your work experience, technical knowledge, management skills and much more. You need to question whether your qualifications and experience have been identified in a way that the Canadian job market understands and appreciates. For example your previous job title may literally translate into "Superintendent". Should you use the same term when you prepare your Resume or should you chose a compatible term which is more familiar in the Canadian job market e.g. "Coordinator" or "Manager"?

The best way to review and revise your Resume is to get professional help (please see Links page of this website for Job Search Assistance Centers in Canada). There are well established NIPA members as well who may volunteer to assist you in reviewing your Resume. Please look for them in our Networking section.

After you have reviewed (and revised) your Resume it would be time to start your job search. The easiest and quickest would be to start is using online search tools. You could search the major online job engines and search engines (e.g. Google, Yahoo, etc.). Most of online job engines have a tutorial to guide you and sharpen your search. Nowadays most of the reputable companies have a career section where they post their vacancies and openings. Internet search engines would provide you a long list of available jobs for the keywords you used. You could start your search by having Calgary as part of your search keywords. Later on, you might like to extend your search to include other cities in Alberta where you feel comfortable relocating to.

Networking is a key component to success. It comes with human nature; you would like to bond with people whom you know and trust. Everyday there are many vacancies that are filled by people outside the formal channel of job search, but through networking. Your personality would help you a lot in meeting new people and building a social or professional relationship.

Facilitating social and professional networking is one of the missions that NIPA is formed around.

Here is how NIPA can help you:

Job agencies in Calgary are focused either on a sector/industry and/or job level. They hire you and then sub-contract you to their customers. Engineering-Procurement-Construction (EPC) sector in Alberta works this way. Major EPC companies such as Bantrel and Jcobs obtain their workforce from engineering job agencies such as TRS Staffing. Some other job agencies focus on Accounting or IT sectors and provide workforce on a contract basis for industry-wide.

YWCA run a digest start up program for new comers regularly. New immigrants start with brushing their English language skills and then take part into a speacial program where YWCA source them a short-term position within industry. This program is very popular among companies in Canada as the cost of the employee for this period will be picked by YWCA and there will be no cost to the companies. Read more here.

In Canada the industry is well developed and mature. There are a number of professional bodies which have been formed and are in practice for many years with their main objective being educating, setting guidelines and governing the quality of the work, ethic and professionalism. It is highly recommended that you search for the governing body of your industry (for example APEGGA for engineers, geologists, and geophysicists) and obtain your professional registration.

The registration process is usually in two stages; assessment of your educational background and validation of your work experience. A copy of your degrees needs to be directly forwarded from the university where you completed your latest education to the professional body. Validation of your work experience is completed through receipt of letters from people that you have been working with/for over last 10 (or more) years. Please refer to the professional body's website for more information. You might reach them though our Link page.

You submitted your Resume, had two successful interviews and now you have been offered a job. Job offers are usually negotiated over the phone first (unless you have agreed on some basis for salary and compensation in one of your interviews) and then you would receive two original signed copies of the employment contract from the company. You would have some 3-5 days to review and confirm your acceptance by signing off both copies and returning one back to company for their records.

As with any contract, you need to read the employment contract thoroughly and make sure that you understand it fully. The Human Resources (HR) department of the company that has offered you a job would be able to help out and answer your possible questions. Make sure that you check on salary, vacation days (usually starts with 2 weeks a year and goes to 5-6 weeks for top-managerial positions), medical insurance coverage, performance bonus, termination notice time, and confidentiality term of the contract.