Canadian work experience….eh?

Credit :https://www.flazingo.co

We all dream of the perfect life, house and job when we come to Canada. Some are lucky and get it immediately. For others it is a steep climb. You first have to get past the “no Canadian experience” comment. If you hear this in an interview – you can bet you are not getting the job. I worked in Ernst and Young as an Auditor in the Caribbean. The first place I applied was Ernst and Young in Toronto.

A few weeks later I was called for an interview. After an hour, I was hit with the dreaded “you have no Canadian experience”.

If I knew then, what I know now I would have handled the remark differently. I worked for the same company in the Caribbean. I had a reference from a partner in the firm. I was familiar with culture of an auditing firm. I was UK qualified and English is my first language ….so what was the problem? The problem is perception. I was from the islands and obviously on island time and island mentality.

Employers are concerned not about our ability to do the work but our ability to adapt to a Canadian work setting. Can we handle communicating by IM, email, skype, telephone and in person sometimes concurrently? How good are your presentation skills? Do you talk with your hands and constantly touch the other person ( a very West Indian habit)? I  came from a very open society, conversations about race, politics and religion are common in the workplace – not so in Canada. It is something to be aware of.

Your job as applicant is to convince your interviewer that you not only have the skills but the behaviours.  You need to identify these behaviours and acquire them (if you don’t have them) and then address your interviewer’s concerns in a manner to ease his fears. Most employers are too polite to say exactly what they mean by Canadian experience. It is for you to understand what they mean and address it.

Any thoughts from born Canadians or newcomers will be appreciated!