Looking for a job/career

[gloszz]

Not sure if I should post here but may as well try.

I recently lost my job and have been unable to find one as most of the jobs I ha applied for, the requirements are "visible minority, indigenous or immigrant". I do not meet those requirements but applied anyhow. I hold two diplomas: one from Architectural Technology and another from Business Administration Managemnt. I'm now working on my Bachelor of Technology in Construction Management.

All I'm asking for is, if any of you know your company is hiring and I may meet their requirements, please let me know and I will apply. I have applied to too many postings and have not been called for an interview yet.

Thank you in advance!

[Flanny]

Where are you looking?

Flanny

[Norwest Alta]

Short term and don't pay very well but sure could use someone to rake rocks out of the driveway ditch and clean up the yard. Got some fencing to do to. For fun we could build a tree stand or two. You could ride in the tractor with me while we disc up a old pasture.

[srs123]

Your problem is not immigrants. You picked something that is hard to find a job with. No one will give you a job in construction management without at least 5 years of experience in the industry.

Am an engineer and deal with RFPs RFQs SOQs EWPs EWPs and contracts on daily basis and I would be very nervous to have a junior on most of our jobs.

My advice is to try and get a job in construction doing anything and work your way up from there. Or find a job with architectural technology with a landscape architectural firm.


Good luck

[mattthegorby]

When they say that they encourage applications from those groups they are not saying that they are preferentially hiring, just that they will not discriminate.

The job climate is tough out there.

Good luck!

[gloszz]

Originally Posted by srs123

Your problem is not immigrants. You picked something that is hard to find a job with. No one will give you a job in construction management without at least 5 years of experience in the industry.

Am an engineer and deal with RFPs RFQs SOQs EWPs EWPs and contracts on daily basis and I would be very nervous to have a junior on most of our jobs.

My advice is to try and get a job in construction doing anything and work your way up from there. Or find a job with architectural technology with a landscape architectural firm.


Good luck

Well my resume reflects that. I worked as a painter for residential and commercial projects for 6 years and as an operations manager for a construction management company for 1.5 years. We did the Federal Building in Edmonton, most of the schools built by Clark in the past 3 years etc. I'm a junior but have as much experience as any 25 year old can.

[gloszz]

Originally Posted by Flanny

Where are you looking?

Flanny

Indeed.com, kijiji and the government of Canada job bank. As well as a few other job post websites

[boah]

Originally Posted by gloszz

I recently lost my job and have been unable to find one as most of the jobs I ha applied for, the requirements are "visible minority, indigenous or immigrant".

Anytime you run into this, report it to canada labour board. You are being denied an employment opportunity because of your color or race.

[Dewey Cox]

Please don't take this the wrong way, but the part where you complained about not getting jobs you applied for because of someone else's fault didn't look good.
It turned me off, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
Leave that part out and you leave a whole different impression.

Keep pounding the pavement. You'll get something.
Good luck!

[srs123]

Originally Posted by gloszz

Well my resume reflects that. I worked as a painter for residential and commercial projects for 6 years and as an operations manager for a construction management company for 1.5 years. We did the Federal Building in Edmonton, most of the schools built by Clark in the past 3 years etc. I'm a junior but have as much experience as any 25 year old can.

That's pretty good experience, but the market is saturated. My company just hired 2 jr engineers one of them with a master's for $21 an hour. Competition is fierce. So you have to be willing to take whatever.

Keep looking, and work on your resume.

[EZM]

The term you used "requirement" threw me here ......... to be clear .......There is no "requirement" for you to be a "visible minority, indigenous or immigrant" in order for you to be qualified (or disqualified) from a job posting.

In fact "immigrant" isn't listed under Canada's laws as they relate the the Employment Equity Program - although it does list aboriginal and visible minorities the other two categories are women and people with disabilities.

There is no classification for immigrant.

The program is in place ONLY for those organisations where the federal government has tendered work, or a industry which is federally regulated.

This means it applies to less than 1% of the organisations out there.

The program only gathers this information for census purposes, and, in fact, the hiring managers will not usually have access to that information at all.

This program also does not allow you to be discriminated against as either one of those classifications any more or less as it does if you are white male.

Discrimination, regardless of what you are (or are not), is illegal.

You are having a tough time finding work because times are tough out there - not because "immigrants" who are not as experienced or qualified as you are getting your job.

[gloszz]

Originally Posted by Dewey Cox

Please don't take this the wrong way, but the part where you complained about not getting jobs you applied for because of someone else's fault didn't look good.
It turned me off, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
Leave that part out and you leave a whole different impression.

Keep pounding the pavement. You'll get something.
Good luck!

Not really complaining, just kind of weirded me out that right on the government job bank website it was mentioned. I'll try to finding it because by the wording it made it seem like those are the only candidates they will consider. As a matter of fact my cousin did not get a promotion because he was the wrong type of immigrant, and he works for revenue Canada.

Yea I agree the economy is bad, but the last job I got interviewed for they straight up asked me why are you applying for a freezer sticker with such a resume? Sometimes I feel overqualified and under qualified at the same time.

[Newview01]

Location? I know someone who may be hiring.

[gloszz]

Originally Posted by EZM

The term you used "requirement" threw me here ......... to be clear .......There is no "requirement" for you to be a "visible minority, indigenous or immigrant" in order for you to be qualified (or disqualified) from a job posting.

In fact "immigrant" isn't listed under Canada's laws as they relate the the Employment Equity Program - although it does list aboriginal and visible minorities the other two categories are women and people with disabilities.

There is no classification for immigrant.

The program is in place ONLY for those organisations where the federal government has tendered work, or a industry which is federally regulated.

This means it applies to less than 1% of the organisations out there.

The program only gathers this information for census purposes, and, in fact, the hiring managers will not usually have access to that information at all.

This program also does not allow you to be discriminated against as either one of those classifications any more or less as it does if you are white male.

Discrimination, regardless of what you are (or are not), is illegal.

You are having a tough time finding work because times are tough out there - not because "immigrants" who are not as experienced or qualified as you are getting your job.

No i never said immigrants are taking my jobs haha! I'm sorry if it came off that way but I was just surprised they had that in the job posting. I may have read it wrong but I'll try to find it.

[gloszz]

Originally Posted by Newview01

Location? I know someone who may be hiring.

Edmonton area

[pinelakeperch]

It's tough out there. I'm a young guy with a Master's degree and it took me a while to get established. Keep at it, and don't get discouraged. It'll happen. Never hurts to take a interim job in between. It'll keep your mind fresh and keep you motivated.

[gloszz]

Originally Posted by pinelakeperch

It's tough out there. I'm a young guy with a Master's degree and it took me a while to get established. Keep at it, and don't get discouraged. It'll happen. Never hurts to take a interim job in between. It'll keep your mind fresh and keep you motivated.

I agree. The one issue I see that I get asked why I am applying for entry level jobs at Walmart and other similar jobs with an education. It's odd they ask you at an interview and why they care but apparently they can tell they will waste time an a money on someone that will quit the first opportunity they find a better job or the eveonomy pick she up. It's understandable.

[Bub]

I thought you said Canada sucks on numerous occasions and you were leaving to Poland or whatever? No jobs there either?

The diplomas you mentioned are very difficult to find a job with. Like a few others said, the competition is extremely high, especially with Business Administration diploma. Good luck! I don't know anyone hiring at the moment, except perhaps for some farm help and whatnot.

[gloszz]

Originally Posted by Bub

I thought you said Canada sucks on numerous occasions and you were leaving to Poland or whatever? No jobs there either?

The diplomas you mentioned are very difficult to find a job with. Like a few others said, the competition is extremely high, especially with Business Administration diploma. Good luck! I don't know anyone hiring at the moment, except perhaps for some farm help and whatnot.

I can't recall crap talking Canada to be honest. It's also not a good idea for me to look for work in Poland when I need to return in September to finish up the Bachelor. And yea there are lots of jobs there, especially for people that speak English.

[Newview01]

Originally Posted by gloszz

Edmonton area

Sorry can't help.

[Dick284]

Give Power Engineering a try.

[gloszz]

Originally Posted by Dick284

Give Power Engineering a try.

Haha maybe I would but I have been in school for 7 years and have to find a job to support a wife. Can't be an eternal student.

[Homesteader]

Originally Posted by Dick284

Give Power Engineering a try.

You just had to say it

[AndrewM]

Modify your resume to match the job you are applying for. Eliminate the education or parts of it if applying for a Walmart job. You don’t have to put everything on your resume. But the pertinent information only. Good luck.

[Deadeye2u]

" Employment groups: Employment groupsIndigenous people, Newcomers to Canada, Veterans Visible minorities "

This was posted verbatim from a Government of Canada listing.

Then if you click the question mark which explains it states:

"This employer has indicated an interest in hiring employees from these groups. If you are a member of these groups, you are encouraged to indicate it in your application.

All interested applicants are encouraged to apply."

So, does this mean as a white male that I am a visible minority or invisible minority?

[fed]

As of tommorow at noon I'm unemployed. It sucks. My boss had a stoke and is unable to communicate with us. The lawyers have stepped in and shut us down. I've worked for him for 18yrs or more and it sucks. You need to find what your good at and go with that. Even if it isn't what you have an education for. You may have a degree or something but an employer is gonna overlook these things like you said if applying for a job that dosnt require them. Why hire you for this amount when he can hire a fresh out of high school guy for less. If I were you I'd leave the city's and look more rural if possible. Better lifestyle and usually more work available.

[MountainTi]

Originally Posted by Deadeye2u

" Employment groups: Employment groupsIndigenous people, Newcomers to Canada, Veterans Visible minorities "

This was posted verbatim from a Government of Canada listing.

Then if you click the question mark which explains it states:

"This employer has indicated an interest in hiring employees from these groups. If you are a member of these groups, you are encouraged to indicate it in your application.

All interested applicants are encouraged to apply."

So, does this mean as a white male that I am a visible minority or invisible minority?

Means your privilege is discounted

[raab]

The first thing you need to do is take responsibility for you not having a job. Don't blame the employer, foreigners, etc... Your in this situation because of yourself.

The second thing you should do is get the book 60 seconds and your hired by Robin Ryan. It's about 100 pages and well worth the investment. I've gotten every job I've interviewed for since reading the book.

The third thing you need to do is find a company you want to work for. Once you find a company apply for any position that you can live with knowing you'll get where you want to be in the future. This works because you build experience in the company/industry. And you have a leg up on any competition if the job you want opens up.

[RavYak]

Welcome to the club...

I am a Mechanical Engineer in Training. I had 2.5 years experience my last unemployment stint and I spent almost a year and a half looking for engineering work before I finally got my foot back in the door. I applied on over 250 jobs and only had 4 interviews the whole time...

Things are picking up a little bit but I imagine that construction management is going to be a tough position to find right now. Construction has slowed down a lot in recent years and there are lots of experienced guys out of work. You are also in a tough place only having 1.5 years experience as most companies prefer to hire experienced people and the few that don't often prefer new graduates.

I see you mention that you are also going back to school in the fall. That makes things even harder since no company will likely hire you for construction management related summer work unless you can organize a work placement through school.

All I can say is apply on anything and everything that looks like it might help you out. Since you are going back to school I'd focus on just trying to find the best paying job. To me the obvious choice would be looking for work as a painter since you have significant experience in that field. Leave off your diplomas since they will just hurt your chances and if you aren't worried about getting a good reference or reemployed by the company don't tell them you plan on going back to school in the fall.

You may even want to leave off the operations manager position if you think you can come up with a semi reasonable excuse to fill the gap on resume(or use a functional resume instead of chronological resume so the gap doesn't show).

Unless things pick up I think you will still have trouble finding work even once you get your degree.

[Big Racks]

Not too late to change directions. Nav Canada is always hiring, take the aptitude test for ATC. It’s worth a shot and there’s no harm in trying. Not many can do it, but if you can the rewards are pretty dang good.