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Hi fellow desi friends,
I'm not sure if this would qualify as a success story, but here goes :
1. When did you come to Canada?
Oct 2000
2. What you do right now?
I'm a Sen. Systems Analyst with the Provincial Govt
3. Was your first job in your field or do you ever needed to do labor job?
No. My first job was as a telephone interviewer for Telespectrum for the US elections in 2000 - this was a short term assignment for 2 weeks. I was debating joining Celestica on some assembly jobs to keep me going in the first few months.
4. How did you get your first job ?
I have to go a bit into the details here. I sent out a lot of resumes (tons of them) - responses were minimal with the few that did revert back looking for that all important "Canadian Experience'. Was I about to give up ? Of course, not ! Did I cross the seven seas to make it here to call it a day ? Definitely not ! It wasn't easy at all (believe me, not a bit) but I decided to take the challenges head on !
After considering the pros and cons of investing a substantial part of my landing funds for getting a local qualification, I decided to take the plunge. My professional background was an MBA with 4 years of experience as an Application Developer. I figured that a local qualification would allow me to have that extra 'oomph' on my resume with an opportunity to piggy back on leads through the educational institution.
Enrolled myself for an 8 month intensive E-Com program with the CDI College in Nov 2000 . Going through, the course full-time, I saw the gradual erosion of every penny from my landing funds with the only source of income being a couple of part-time jobs that my wife had.
The stark reality of the job market was right before me as I got closer to the completion of my course (May 2001) - The dot com bubble had burst and programmers were 'a dime a dozen' around the place. As in many cases, the training institute put me through the motions with their exclusive "Employment Support' program for students with classes on 'How to network', 'Making cold calls'..........
To make the long story short, I ended the course with a few thousands in 'Student Loan debt' with the future looking bleak :( on the job front. My $14000 landing funds came down to $ 45 (not adding the credit card debts).
My first job : Rather than wait for my ideal IT job to come to me, I decided I needed to get a foot in the door. So I joined one of the Market Research firms as an interviewer on a 5-11 job (@ $7/ hr) while still looking for jobs during the day. I was on this job for about a month and a half when an employment agency offered me a 6-month contract with the Govt as the client (@ $14/hr) - They were reluctant to place me there as they felt that :
1. I didn't have any significant Customer Service element on my resume which was one of the key requirements for the job.
2. I was over-qualified for the job (beats me ????).
I somehow managed to convince them that I would be there for the long-haul - I guess in convincing them that I would be the 'right fit', I did manage to put across some of my customer service skills too.
June 2001 - All said and done, I started off on the new job (which was definitely a soothing relief on the debt front) with a positive frame of mind. In the 6 months that I was on the job, with God's grace, I could create an impression on the 'powers that be' on the project.
Nov 2001 - Since the project was winding up, the agency was asked to cut down its staff from 38 to 15 - Nothing but God's grace again, I was among the 15 that was asked to stay back although I was the 38th person on the team in terms of seniority.
Jan 2002 - The project was finally done but the government decided to take 7 out of the 15 of us on a 2 year contract at a much higher pay (@ $24/hr) - There was a technical component to the job and so my background came in handy. 3 of us along with 4 team leads were offered the contract.
Mar 2003 - I sort of stayed in there for about a year trying my best to keep thinking out of the box and coming up with creative way to improve the process and automate tasks. The efforts finally bore fruit when a full time position for a Sen. Systems Analyst cam up. I managed to get through the rigorous screening and interview process and was offered the job @ 68 K (with increments of 3-4 thousand every year) with pension and other benefits. Friends, don't get me wrong in specifying figures here (I don't think by any means, I have earned any bragging rights to be classified alongside the really 'successful desi friends'), but I was just trying to put things in perspective. It’s been a long struggle. It’s nothing but God's grace that I've reached a point where I can say, I'm 'satisfied and thankful for what I have'.
We have been able to buy a condo and pay off our debts in the last year. To cap it, my wife has a permanent job too and we're scheduled to take our Citizenship Oath Ceremony next week.
5. Are you satisfied with your job?
I would like to say 'I'm' but I would definitely not stop trying to move ahead in spite of the constraints that I face in my work place due to the typical difficulties that all of us new immigrants face.
6. Do you see a good future in Canada?
I don't see why not. 'Good' is a bit relative - what I may see as 'good' may not be seen the same way by others.
7. How to do rate Canada?
I wouldn't want to rate it - I would say, it’s uniquely different.
8. How do you find Canada for Kids?
Not applicable in my case as we don't have any yet - I'll reserve my comments for some other time,
9. What is it you don't you like about Canada or what is it you would like to see more of in Canada?
I'd probably appreciate more govt involvement to ensure that new immigrants can easily and seamlessly integrate with the Canadian society and are embraced by the society in general.
10. What is your advice for others in terms of settling in Canada?
Keep a positive frame of mind in spite of all the challenges that we may have to face. It’s a new place, a new lifestyle - This may require a change in our outlook too. As much as the Canadian society needs to embrace need immigrants, we need to embrace them too.
More possibly later.
NB : I have a humble request - Please don't misunderstand the facts and figures, I've indicated here. If I have offended anyone, my sincere apologies. This was by no means from a bragging point of view but just to highlight my long struggle in the last 4 years.
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