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Originally posted by tamilkuravan

Feeling hopeful to read irock's post about networking and good to know we the aspired immigrants can get help from the old indo-canadian immigrants through there contact relationship. Obviously that should not guarantee the job but at least we can face test/interviews.

Nanbendu,
Be practical.
I Rock's intention is no doubt very good but it will be very hard to come across such intentions in Canada.

Once you arrive at Canada, people in Canada, are extremely busy and it is very hard to find contacts for networking. More so if you arrive at winter.

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Adam,
Nice to see you back. Agree to a great extent with your post but was afraid of conveying it on CD board for the fear of negetive backlash.

There are certain people who want to help others but it is a rarity.

I will tell you one of my experience at Blackberry (a true one).

An Engineer who was working with Blackberry had a wife. She was a software engineers (MCA) with little bit development experience. My cousin interviewed her and rejected her. However since she was from Andhra, there was a lot of recommendation phone calls from various dept's to hire her. So my cousin hired her. It seems she was good for nothing and my cousin did all her work and she was able to survive for a year.

Why I am saying this is that a Tamilian will never help a Tamilian due to jealousy. However it looks like Andhra people are a little more united.

When I was Canada from 2002-2011, I was really not able to do any networking, though I tried hard. I made friends with Gora's but somehow, they seemed to get irritated with me due to my indian culture. Our Desi's were only good for spiritual services, pot luck but no one ever tried to give me a lift in my career. One desi's talked to me about some business oppertunities, which I was not interested in.

However, the point is, networking is harder said that done. I am sure that Fido, Dimple, SS, Irock will be able to rotate your resume but they can only do so much. Very hard to find a good networking circle unless we start a CD networking website. A few years back, CD had initiated a referral networking scheme in which we would post all jobs in our dept. for which we CAN get the CD a job, if his resume fitted our requirement. I got a CD a job in my office solely based on that scheme. May be we can restart it.

Murali

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I am a Gents and not a Ladies.

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Originally posted by Delhite

Quote:

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Originally posted by tamilkuravan
Nanbendu,
Be practical.
I Rock's intention is no doubt very good but it will be very hard to come across such intentions in Canada.
Murali

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Don’t like to argue with you TK but want to bring up a point. A referral is not only helpful for the candidate but also fruitful to the referrer. My employer pays 5K for each successful referral when the new hire stays over 3 months.

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Fido.

Having said that , I always recommend or refer people I have worked with to known vacant positions - whether it clicks or not , is not in my hands.

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Fido.

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Originally posted by Fido


To an experienced IT guy $500/- would be a pittance .... $5000/- is an exception and not a norm as much as I know..

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A Delhite in Toronto

Basic expenses in GTA for frugal living. Prices for groceries have gone up by 15-20 % since I made this post ..as Canadian dollar has gone down a lot and Canada imports most of groceries from outside like China , Mexico etc as very little grows over here due to the cold weather.

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If you want expenses :

1. 1 Bed Room , Living Room aka Hall , Kitchen - Apartment - $ 1,000 - $ 1,200 / month.

Basement Apartment in some desi's house will be cheaper around $ 850/month

1 Room in some house will be $ 400/$500 -per month , if a single guy/girl wants to live as a Paying Guest

First & Last mont's rent - So 2 months rent has to be given in advance. 1 year lease has to be signed.

2. Groceries/Food - $ 300/month for all 3 of you. If you eat basic food like rice, dal, roti,chappatis,parathas,puri, vegetables, fruits, bread, eggs, milk, butter etc. Mostly if you cook at home & don't eat out much.

3. Cell Phone $ 35/month with Unlimited Internet & Unlimited local calls on it , if you go with WIND MOBILE.

4. Highspeed Unlimited Internet at home $ 40/month if you go with Distributel , Teksavvy etc.

5. Homephone landline Unlimited local calls - $ 30/month . Calling back home to India is about 2 cents/minute.

6. Very good used car for $ 5,000 or less..like Corolla , Camry , Honda, Ford , GM, Nissan etc.
Even brand new cars like Kia, Hyundai can be had for $ 12,000 all inclusive.

7. Gas aka Petrol $ 1.00/litre. You easliy get 15 Km/litre.

Car Insurance will be expensive for a NEW driver, so shop around a lot. Usually third party liability insurance is enough, don't go for comprehensive insurance if its a used car.

8. Publice Transit. TTC - Both Subway ( Metro ) & Bus included in it for $ 140/month for Adult Monthly pass.

9. Healthcare , Doctor , Hospital, Tests, Reports etc is all FREE ...3 months after you land.

Dentist is NOT free. Eyecare like Optometrist etc is NOT free either. Prescription drugs are not free either. But if you have a drug plan from your company , most of dental , eyecare, drugs are covered.

10. Education is FREE for your kid upto Grade 12 . University & College education is pretty reasonable, much much cheaper than if you come here as an International student.

11. Libraries are FREE. They have lots of movies , books , games , video games, newspapers, FREE internet access.

12. Clothes are cheap too. If you shop at stores like Wal Mart . You can get a very good high quality Winter Jacket for less than $ 100...winter shoes for $ 20.

13. Movies are $ 10/ticket. Bollywood , Hollywood everything shown here.
Indian restaurant $ 10/person lunch all you can eat buffet . Dinner & weekend is more expensive.

14. Minimum wage is $ 11/hr . So survival jobs like MacDonalds , factory jobs, warehouse jobs, security guard jobs, retail store jobs, mall jobs, restaurant jobs, gas station aka petrol pump jobs

Some of these survival jobs might pay $ 2 - $ 3 more per hr.

Bank teller will start at $ 13 - $14/hr.

15. If you get a job in your field then well & good..obviously it will be more than above..
$ 45,000 per month will be minimum in your field, if you are just starting.
Most probably you will start from bottom, irrespevtive of how much experience & education you have got in India. So be willing to start from scratch.

16. Child care & Day care is ridiculously expensive over here. So unless both of you have good jobs, it makes more sense for one parent to just stay home & take care of the kid, if he is small. Once he goes to school, its OK as only 3-4 hrs of child care will be required after school, so not that expensive. Some subsidised child care is available or some cheap desi baby sitters are also available if you really want

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So come with atleast $ 24,000 or 12 Lakh Rupees, if you want to survive the first year without a job. 1 CAD = Rs. 50 , it used to be Rs.60 , but CAD $ has weakened recently & Rs. has become stronger

Budget atleast $ 2,000/month for the 3 of you. Almost 50 % of which will go in rent , & other mostly for transport & groceries. Just doing a survival job you can earn $ 1,700 - $ 1,800 per month after tax.

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Make sure you shop at cheap & non fancy grocery stores like FOOD BASICS , NO FRILLS , FRESHCO etc.

Food Prices : ( Check out the store flyers & see where/when things are on sale , Also Price Match when you can )

Milk 4L - $ 3.99
Eggs 12 Dozen : $ 1.99
Bread : $ 1.99 for 675 gm loaf ( Brown , Multigrain , White Bread )
Atta 20 lbs/9kg : $ 7.99 ( Golden Temple , Deep , Shakti Atta etc )
Rice 10 kg : $ 7.99 - $ 9.99 ( Brown Rice , Regular White Rice ) - Basmati is slightlty more expensive.
Dal 8 kg : $ 9.99 ( Yellow Split Peas )
Cooking Oil : $ 3.99 for 3 L ( vegetable oili , sunflower oil , canola , mazola etc etc )

Apples : 99 c/ lb or $ 2.18/kg
Oranges : 99c/lb or $ 2.18/kg
Bananas : 50c/lb

Butter 454 gm : $ 1.99 - $ 2.99
Margarine : $ 0.99
Dahi 750 gm : $ 1.99 - Indian Yogurt

Most Fresh Vegetables : $ 0.99 - $ 1.99 / lb ..like Egg Plants , Green Pepper etc etc.
Most Frozen Vegetables : $ 0.99 - $ 1.29 for 300 gm - 400 gm - Deep , Shana Brands
Frozen Peas : 1 kg bag for $ 1.99
Frozen Corn : 1 Kg bag for $ 1.99

Potatoes : $ 1.99 - $ 2.99 for 10 lb
Onions : $ 1.99 - $ 2.99 for 10 lb
Fresh Garlic : 50 cents for 5 Garlic Round globes
Fresh Ginger : $ 1.99/lb
Cilantro : $ 0.99 for a bunch

Canned Tomatoes 800 ml - $ 0.99
Fresh Tomatoes : $ 0.99/lb

Chicken : $ 1.29 - $ 1.99 / lb - Leg qtrs , Leg pieces , Thigh pieces etc.

Spices are the same price as India : Turmeric , Garam Masala , Mirchi , Powder Ginger , Powder Garlic , Dhana, Jeera, Coriander powder , Mustard seeds etc.

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15. If you get a job in your field then well & good..obviously it will be more than above..
$ 45,000 per month will be minimum in your field, if you are just starting.
Most probably you will start from bottom, irrespevtive of how much experience & education you have got in India. So be willing to start from scratch. .

Good analysis Adam.
Looks like the prices are cheaper that what it was when I left Canada in 2011. Now you are saying that it is 15-20 % more expensive.

I disagree with some of your points, esp. on the job front. I got educated in NIT (National Institute of Technology) which is just a notch below IIT. I did Architecture. When I started in Canada in 2002, I got $ 17K a year. Now this was my professional job. When I left in 2011, I was earning around $ 40,000 a year (with 8 years Canadian experience).

$ 45K and all is only for specific people, who have done hard core engineering in the Gulf and have solid experience. Otherwise, you are looking only at $ 30,000 per annum to start with. Of course, being a labourer (like a shift worker in pharma or in some heavy engineering workshop) will pay you more, more through OT. I know a Msc. Micro biologist who works in Pahrma field who started with 25K and now is in 60K (with massive OT).


So come with atleast $ 24,000 or 12 Lakh Rupees, if you want to survive the first year without a job. 1 CAD = Rs. 50 , it used to be Rs.60 , but CAD $ has weakened recently & Rs. has become stronger

Budget atleast $ 2,000/month for the 3 of you. Almost 50 % of which will go in rent , & other mostly for transport & groceries. Just doing a survival job you can earn $ 1,700 - $ 1,800 per month after tax.

Now you will frighten many people. Of course, I agree with the analysis, if you have money to spend and are used to a high life.
Otherwise, fruegally, you can survive with just $ 1500 a month. Note that I am telling this for 2 adults + 2 children. In this you will get $ 400 credit each month and hence you can survive with $ 1100 a months ( Basement apartment of $ 900 all incl.+ all other expenses at $ 600 incl, cellphone, internet, TV and one bus pass). Of course, you can save another $ 200 a month once you go for food bank / soup kitchens / langar / picking second hand furniture from the road and all.

Murali

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I am a Gents and not a Ladies.