Job Search Canadian Style

Knowing that CIC must be nearing the end of their first stage approval process (AIP), at least according to their processing times as posted on their website, I decide now is the time to dip my feet into the job market pool and start shopping around. CIC's process is to first, go through your file, and if everything is satisfactory by their standards, they wave their magic wand and grant AIP, or Approval In Principle. This AIP allows you to get a work permit and a temporary SIN (Social Insurance Number).

I use tools like Monster.com and the local newspaper, which inevitably leads me to recruiters. In the past, my success with finding employment has been split evenly between using recruiters and direct applications to employers, so I decide to stick with proven success, at least in the U.S. Canada proves to work the same and after just two days, I have a three interviews lined up. I am excited about this. Perhaps this will work out anyway.

I attend my interviews and some are just 'HR' interviews. The HR manager decides if you are presentable enough to actually interview with the hiring managers, department heads, etc. Some of the interviews are with the recruiters themselves who decide if you are presentable to their clients. It's all good either way. The interviews keep coming. Some are at first round stage, others I am at my second or third round. I just keep booking interviews and hoping my immigration process keeps up with me. Some employers have gone so far as to verify my education by requesting transcripts from the university itself and get references from previous employers. But, no formal offers are ever made.

I had been honest with the recruiters and prospective employers about my current status in Canada. With the recruiters, I told them upfront that I had not received authorization to work yet, but I expect it any day now. I suppose it is obvious since beyond providing them a resume, they ask that you fill out an employment application and I don't have anything to write in the SIN block. At the end of it all, I got many "Give us a call when you have your work authorization" type responses from both the recruiters and the employers.

I quizzed one of the recruiters about getting a Temporary Work Permit. This involves the employer proving to the paper worshiping Canadian government employees that they have exhausted the Canadian labor pool and can find no one else on the planet, other than me, to fill the position. Once that is done, I would send in a form, with a $150 fee and would be granted a temporary work permit. Once the permit application is processed, the employer can hire me. The recruiter, very eloquently, said, the chances of me getting an employer to sponsor me this way had the odds of slim to none, in their experience.

Not knowing how much longer CIC will take with their processing, I elect to wait it out and I stop pursuing employment until I get that elusive SIN. With my heart a little heavier, I return to taking up space and waiting.