Many people from around the world have the Canadian dream and want to immigrate to the beautiful country for a better life. However, if you are to be successful in moving to Canada, you’ll most likely need a job to support yourself and take care of your needs.
An important consideration when planning to immigrate to Canada is how are you going to find a job, especially for those without official work experience. In this article, we’ll tell you everything about finding a job in Canada even if you do not have any official work experience in your home country.
Can I Immigrate to Canada without Work Experience
The short answer is yes. You can still find a job in Canada even without having work experience. However, your success is dependent on a couple of factors, especially whether you are already in Canada or not, and whether you have a Canadian education or not.
The long answer, therefore, is a little more complicated. Trying to get a job in Canada without any work experience will be very tough for most roles. When applying for a job, there is likely going to be a handful of other candidates who all have the work experience that you lack.
So should you lose hope? Well, thankfully there are things you can do. Here we’ll explore the different ways of getting a job in Canada and how your place of residence and education history affects it.
We’ll start by looking at the difference in finding a job before and after you come to Canada.
Before Immigrating Vs After Immigrating
Because the world has become a global village, people are no longer limited to their immediate environment when job hunting. Even from your room, you can search for and get a job in any part of the world, including Canada.
In fact, if you can, you should secure a Canadian job before applying for the Express Entry Canada immigration program. This is because you can get 200 additional points if you’ve already arranged a Canadian job. This shoots up your CRS score, automatically making you a very strong candidate for selection for permanent residency.
There are lots of sites to find a Canadian job while in your home country. Some of the most popular are:
- The Job Bank
- Indeed Canada
- Monster
However, skilled workers with work experience littered with accomplishments will find it a lot easier than someone without work experience when it comes to finding a Canadian job while still in their home country.
This is because the competition on the job sites is usually stiff, and candidates with a strong resume will always be preferred. That said, if you do not have work experience, you’ll have a better chance of landing a Canadian job if you are already in the country.
One of the best ways of getting a job (especially if you do not have work experience) is networking. This is because it opens the door to both jobs that are officially advertised and those that are not.
Being in the country already allows you to network more effectively with local businesses. You’ll be able to go out, meet people, communicate, and make social and professional contacts.
Being in the country already also allows you to take advantage of opportunities to showcase your abilities. When needed, you can offer assistance to people or volunteer for something, and you just could impress somebody into recommending you to an employer.
Next, we’ll look at what difference having a Canadian education makes and how you can study in Canada.
Having Canadian Education Vs Not Having Canadian Education
You need to understand that your “work experience” is simply something that demonstrates your competencies or ability to do the job. Employers want to hire competent people. And to help them determine that you are that competent person, they’ll want to see that you’ve performed well on related jobs in the past.
But there are other ways to demonstrate competency. One such way is a solid educational background. Canadian employers trust the country’s education system so much that if you graduate with good grades from a Canadian institution, you’ll be considered competent for jobs relating to your training.
Thus, a Canadian education will most likely get you a job in the country even without official work experience in your home country.
For this reason, one of the best ways to immigrate to Canada without work experience is the study permits. If you apply to study in a Canadian institution, you can obtain a study permit to live in the country for the duration of the study.
After your study, it may be possible to apply for a Post Graduation Work Permit which allows you to work in the country. The length of the PGWP equals the length of your study. So, if your study permit is for a 3-year program, your post-graduation work permit will allow you to work in Canada for 3 years.
A Canadian study permit opens the door to Canadian expertise, and these will weigh heavily in your favor when applying to immigration programs for permanent residency.
Final Thoughts
Work experience is very important to finding a job anywhere because it communicates your competency to employers. Thus, it can be difficult to get a job anywhere without job experience but it is not impossible.
Finding a job in Canada if you do not have work experience in your home country can be very difficult if you are not yet in Canada. So, you may want to immigrate to Canada before you start job-hunting. You’ll be able to find a job by networking with locals and taking advantage of opportunities to showcase your abilities.
Thankfully, there are few immigration programs for legally moving to Canada without work experience. These include study permits and family sponsorships. These allow you to start forming roots in the country and build work and permanent residency. If you have any questions about immigrating to Canada then contact us and we’ll find you the best immigration program for you.
