About

Author of several books on Amazon and Medium blogger.

NO ONE told me that when I moved to Canada employers would want you to have ‘Canadian experience’ because, frankly, they were more xenophobic than advertised. Fact is, ‘Canadian experience’ is important sometimes, say, if you’re coming from a country where things are radically different - the Iranian electrical engineer I attended a resume-writing class with probably had more of a professional culture shock than I did because the Iranian electrical infrastructure, as I understand it, is markedly different. But I was coming from the US, speaking the language, and with a ton of sales experience near-zero different than what I’d encounter here in the Vast Foreign Country of Canada.

This is what makes it so hard to get a job when you first move here, even for Americans. It may be different now, I’m here sixteen years now. I tell my immigrant friends that if they speak any other languages to let employers know because maybe they need an Arabic/Italian/Norwegian/Marathi speaker or whatever. The federal government has since come down on employers for requiring this as you no longer see ‘X years of Canadian experience required’ in job ads, but I can’t promise it’s not still being practiced.