electrical engineering in Canada 7

[nmnm87]

Hi all , just to finsh my masters in EE and my topic is in indoor propagation memasurment techniques amd systems , to find a job what can I do , all want 5-7 years experince and no one in canada will give my experince , shall I sacriifice what I learned , it is a very difficult decison , any advice from comapnies and engineers in canada in ym field to help me plz
thnaks

 

[arunmrao]

The first thing you should learn to get a job anywhere is to type in simple english without any mistakes.
GoodLuck in your search for a job!

 

[RDK]

Entry level jobs are seldom if ever advertised.

Just follow this simple three step process to getting a job.

1) Make up a pile of resumes. (Get them letter perfect with no typo’s or misspellings or grammar errors, get professional assistance in writing one.)
2) Research the engineering firms in your area, know what each one’s strength and weaknesses are, who is in charge of the electrical department and what some current and major past projects are.
3) Go to the key individuals at the researched companies, dazzle them with your brilliance and knowledge of their firm and the local industry and ask for a job.

Step three may have to be repeated many times until successful.

The beauty of this process is that it works for any and all entry level jobs with no regard for discipline.

Good luck (which is what’s left after the sweat of hard work evaporates.)




Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion

http://www.kitsonengineering.com

 

[buzzp]

Visit company websites your interested in. Entry level jobs are rarely posted on a help wanted page they are often found in new graduate section on company specific web pages. Career fairs put on by your school is another good source of finding that first job.

 

[RDK]

Advertising in the paper can cost a thousand or so per insertion. Using a headhunter can cost $10,000 or so.

This is simply too much for the companies to pay out to recruit junior unproven personnel who will often not stay long or even be productive for a while.

They hire new grads the most economical way, usually word of mouth, walk ins, unsolicited applicants or applicants from job fairs.

Use these routes to reach the decision makers who do the hiring. Remember that your best chance of getting a job increases with the more resumes out there. Several hundred would not be out of line.

Because if you’re not working then you might as well be working on finding a job. Treat it as a full time 40+ hours per week task until you find something.



Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion

http://www.kitsonengineering.com

 

[Guest0527211403]

On top of the already good advice you've received here, I would also suggest becoming active with a local branch of a professional organization (IEEE Canada for example) and helping them to organize meetings, events etc. You don't necessarily have to find speakers or sit on the executive committee, in fact, the very best thing to start doing is to hand out nametags. Helping with the logistics of organizations like these in this way is often a good way to put yourself in the right place at the right time.

Don't expect an immediate payoff for the time invested, but the friends and contacts you make by working with these organizations sometimes last a lifetime.

 

[moltenmetal]

nmnm87: if I understand you correctly, you're discovering that immigrating via the grad student route is no guarantee of successful entry into the Canadian workforce as an engineer, though it may improve your chances versus seeking work with only the credentials you have obtained in your home country. You should know that the mere posession of a Canadian engineering Master's degree is no guarantee that you will find engineering work in Canada. This is especially true if you are missing other obvious skills that employers need, like the ability to converse fluently in English or French, both verbally and in writing.

If your English isn't good, why would an employer take a chance on you even if your technical skills are excellent? If the answer is merely that you will work for a few thousand or even a few tens of thousands of dollars per year LESS than someone who doesn't have this deficiency, that's not enough of a lure for most current employers unless they are desperate for your particular technical skills. The supply of desperate employers is pretty minimal in the current oversupplied marketplace. A large fraction of Canada's engineers work for firms in which there are fewer than five engineers, and many of those who hire engineers are not engineers themselves, further complicating your problem.

Look at

http://www.geocities.com/martinsmoltenmetal/index.htm

to get some perspective on your situation in composite terms. You are applying to work in a massively over-supplied marketplace. For your best chances of success you need to get outside the major population centres of Toronto and Montreal where there are literally thousands competing for the same jobs you are looking for. It is quite likely you will have to put your engineering dreams aside for a time until you master the communication skills and cultural/business understanding necessary to work successfully as an engineer in Canada. Or you might find a job tomorrow- who knows- thousands of recent immigrant engineers ARE successfully integrated into the marketplace yearly. (the problem is that fifteen thousand more come each year!)

What Canada has provided you with is an opportunity to integrate into an unregulated economy in whatever capacity you can, not a guarantee of a better life. I wish you the best of luck in making the most of that opportunity.

 

[CarolinaPE]

I am sure it is a frustrating experience but keep in mind we all started with 0 years experience and found jobs. I can remember attending a job fair while in grad school and one of my classmates said "these people all want the guy that just quit" (indicating they all wanted someone with experience). It still makes me laugh to this day. That was 1998 when he said that and the economy was HOT! Employers today seem picky but I think they always have been with varying degrees based on the economy, either pretty picky (good economy) or extremely picky (bad economy). All that being said it will happen for you if you are persistant. Try job fairs, look online, in papers, join technical societies (attend the monthly dinner and rub elbows), etc. All the above advice from other posters seems sound. Good luck!

 

[nmnm87]

Thanks for all ur advices , I am very fluent in english , my professor in university liked my job , even some guys from nortel viewed my job and they liked it , willl this help
thnaks

 

[nmnm87]

canada is a suprising country , for engineering where are the jobs at alla there is nothing why , must new immigrants work labours all there life

 

[mpparent]

"there life" equates to fluent english?


Mike

 

[ziggi]

In most places good to excellent English skills are required, it's unfortunate for those who have little skill in the language, and it may seem like a trivial requirement for a career which essentially specialises in numbers. However the majority of specifications and engineering dialogue is in English. Employers want to be certain that no mistakes occur due to miscommunication. Thus you will have a difficult time unless you considerably improve at least your English writing skills.
I'm sure the same situation will apply to me if I were to try and find work in your home country, I doubt many employers will look twice at me if I had a hard time with the local language.
The best advice I can give you is to either find an excellent English speaker (excellent is NOT fluent, it is BETTER than fluent) to type up a good cover letter for you, and to enrol in some advanced English classes, or to spend alot fo time watching English shows on TV and repeating the words.
Good luck.

 

[RDK]

Stay away from the TV if you want to learn proper formal English.

The majority of them use a lot of slang and improper grammar.

To improve your English skills the only TV shows are the highly acclaimed ands well written ones such as West Wing or the news shows (actual news shows, not the entertainment ones.)

Read a lot of good literature. Not only the classics (which may teach you archaic usage) but the well written ones by authors like John Grisham.

Don’t worry too much about any accent unless it makes it difficult to understand what you are saying. Most Canadians will be very tolerant of an accent.

Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng

Construction Project Management
From conception to completion

http://www.kitsonengineering.com

 

[ziggi]

RDK,
I think any TV show is an excellent way to learn a language, slang or not, actually hearing and repeating words helps you to learn a language better than just reading the words and pronouncing them (how do you know you're pronouncing correctly if you haven't heard the word).
Besides slang is a prevalent part of the English language and like it or not it is commonly used.

As for formal English....how many people do you know that talk like the news anchors?

One of my good friends came from the middle east and managed to learn near perfect (ie. Canadian ?) English in very little time just by watching TV shows and repeating the words, I find that my Spanish language study improves when I watch Spanish shows and repeat the words.

 

[nmnm87]

mparent cant get you?

 

[nmnm87]

mparent I did a typo whats the problem

 

[GregLocock]

No mate, you don't do typos, you don't bother to check your posts before you hit submit. As a sign of respect for your fellow engineers at least try to check your spelling and grammar when posting.

Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[moltenmetal]

nmnm87: Just so that you get the message clearly, your posts indicate that your own opinion of your ability in written English is very different than the opinion of several native speakers and writers of English, myself included. As an example, your informal manner of posting using "u" and "ur" texting slang doesn't make you look cool and is inappropriate for a professional forum such as this. Your posts don't have the occasional typo- they're riddled with spelling errors, errors in capitalization and punctuation, and tenuous grammar at best. I sincerely suggest you put some effort into improving your written English to improve your possibilty of employment. Take this as criticism and be hurt by it if you must, but you would be better to take it as a cue to improve your written language for your own benefit- that's how it was intended.

 

[flch95]

not to thread jack but i'm also thinking of moving to canada. i'm also in electrical engineering in the power systems field. since the EE field is over saturated, what would you suggest as an alternative?? i'm very open to retraining and living anywhere.

 

[456xyzabc123]

I completed my Bachelor's and Master's degree in EE from Canadian Universities, I'm fluent in English (came to Canada when I was 14 with family and was educated in english by english-speaking teachers when I was in school before coming to Canada) and I still found it difficult to find an EE-based job. I've been searching for jobs for 3 years with no luck. I was upset and unhappy about this for the longest time (My cumulative GPA was 3.3 for the Bachelor's degree... it was 3.7 in my last two years of my Bachelor's..indicating that I really enjoyed the specialized courses in the EE program. So far I've yet to get a chance to gain industrial experience in any of the vast areas of EE. Its a sad story.

My intention however is not to paint a picture of doom and gloom. Infact my friend (he finished his bachelor's abroad and his masters in Canada found a job recently and is doing well for himself. But all that I'm saying is that its not impossible but very hard. Especially if you're in the VLSI/embedded systems/FPGA design stuff.

The fact of the matter is that availability of jobs for engineers or any other profession are defined by markets and the rules of demand and supply. The trick is to find a job or a career that is in demand in canadian markets..if thats indeed were you want to live....no point of learning agricultural techniques for growing palm trees if you reside in the arctic circle.

This is why I've recently decided to diversify my EE background and get some training in the petroleum industry as its very big in Canada and is expected to only get bigger.

As for language, yes get training for it...( in my opinion, english is one of the easier languages......) the best way to learn any language is to practice with other people.

good luck with ur job search!

halherta