- Jen -

hey all!

i'm looking at moving to Canada for work at the beginning of next year, and basically need some help, i'm thinking of going to BC, Once i get a visa, i can enter the country without having a job lined up, but i have no clue how hard it would be to find a job once i'm there, or it would be better to make contact with employers while i'm still at home ?

Has anyone got any links to good job searching websites, and sites to look at housing rentals, i just want to get an idea on how much minimum wage, cost of living is etc...

thanks in advance

Quarterley

I think minimum wage in B.C. is $8.00 Canadian. That's around $5.33 US.

Government of British Columbia

You can search for a lot of resourceful links from the government site. For example, you can click on "Residents" and it'll give you a list of resident topics with links for each one. You can choose Owning/Renting a Home and go from there.

Labour Market Information

You can get occupational profiles and job descriptions and how they compare across Canada in terms of wages and availability.

JobFutures.ca

Info about jobs in Canada; like salaries and job outlook/hiring prospects.

Canada International

Services for Non-Canadians; click "Going to Canada" and you will get several topics like "Immigrating", "Newcomers", "Finding a place to live" with info links.

Moving to Vancouver

Not sure where in B.C. you are going to, but if you plan on going to Vancouver, you can check it out.

Job Boards:

http://www.jobbank.gc.ca/
www.workopolis.com
www.monster.ca
www.brainhunter.ca
http://www.bcjobs.net/
www.hotjobs.ca
http://www.canadajobs.com/
http://working.canada.com/victoria/index.html
http://working.canada.com/vancouver/index.html
http://www.bcjobs.com/
http://www.infojob.net/bc/bc.html
http://www.bcpublicservice.ca/postings/
http://www.gigajob.com/en-CA/

If you can give me more specifics about your plans, like where in B.C. you are moving to or what industry you want to get a job in...I can try to find more links for you.

Jay

nice of u Cin to help Jen out with so much info.

Jen: glad to know that u'll step into canadian territory...and just so u know...it rocks here unlike U.S

elisheva

Yeah uh I think all the sites have been covered now Good luck with the move! Vancouver's supposed to be beautiful, and Canada in general is great of course

- Jen -

ahh..thank you so much your a legend

I havnt really figured it all out yet, i'm mainly just trying to determine whether it is possible for me to do...

Job wise, i'll have a degree in Business Management, and experience in Hospitality/retail/sales, so anything in those areas would be good, i'm not really trying to build a career (although it would be nice) Its mainly just to have a bit of a working holiday

so i've been told

the fact they give out Work Visa's really easily to young Australians is awesome ,they do it on a first come, first serve basis, first 7500 Aussies to apply, get the 12 months visa

FinleyN1derland

Quarterley

Visiting Canada:

http://www.travelcanada.ca
http://canadainternational.gc.ca/gtc...Canada-en.aspx
http://gocanada.about.com/od/transpo...ada_by_car.htm
http://www.canada.worldweb.com/

Visiting Some Cities in Canada

Visiting Toronto:

http://www.torontotourism.com/visitor
http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/visitors/

Visiting Montreal:

http://www.montreal.com/tourism/general.html
http://www.tourisme-montreal.org/B2C/00/default.asp

Visiting Vancouver:

http://vancouver.ca/visitors.htm
http://www.tourismvancouver.com/

Visiting Calgary:

http://www1.travelalberta.com/calgary/

Visiting Edmonton:

http://www.edmonton.com/tourism/page.asp?page=359

Visiting Niagara Falls:

http://www.niagarafallsvacationinformation.com/
http://www.niagarafallslive.com/Niag...ravel_Tips.htm

Or.....do you know where in Canada you want to go?


Jen! I'll get back to yours later when I have more time!

- Jen -

thanks hon!, take your time, i'm just grateful for any help

Jay

what would this board be like without u Cin.

anyways...hope everything works out for u Jen. i've never been a planner type of guy..i mean things never go the right way.

Quarterley

So Jen, you want to do business admin. in hospitality/retail sales industries?

AngelDevil

Visit Montreal. It rocks way harder than any other Canadian city

And good luck with prospective job hunting, Jen. I haven't been to B.C before, but Canada is a good place to live.

soulstarshine

Vancouver is a beautiful city. I still have to go there one day. And the night life in Montreal is craaaazy.

lost lullaby

Erm, yay Calgary??

The only time I'd come to Calgary is during Stampede (I'm not sure when it is this year.. it's usually in late July).. which is totally awesome! You can see all the hot cowboys (, I recently read that cowboy groupies are called "bunnies". ) or go on rides, see a live show (they usually book pretty good bands, and it's free w/ admission!).. eat good food..

If you're into sight-seeing and such, Banff (in Alberta) is really cool too.

I think it's pretty obvious, I don't travel much. It's usually Banff or Vancouver for me.

Bizatch

Yay Calgary! I live in Calgary. And Stampede is awesome... This year it's running from July 8th to 17th (info from calgarystampede.com). And yup we get some pretty good bands to go on the Coca Cola Stage... Last year I went to Sum 41 & Nelly Furtado, which were both awesome. Ooh and another fun thing about Stampede is the free breakfasts everywhere. Like seriously, anywhere in the city you go, you'll find a free pancake breakfast during Stampede.

Hmmmm... What else can I say to pimp Calgary? Uh... We have the *infamous* Red Mile... Mention the Flames and everyone still gets happy thinking about all the fun times last year.

- Jen -

yeah, anything really in those kind of areas, cos i've had the most experience with them, but when it comes down to it, i will pretty much do anything, i want to do this as a working holiday rather than building a career...

I have been looking at rentals, and wages and everything, just to see how much i would have to earn to live comfortably, so it was mainly minimum wages i was interested in, I earn $18 an hour at the moment, which is a little over minimum wage for me in Australia, is Canadian minimum wage based on age ? or is it just a flat wage rate.. cos if i'm only gonna earn $8 an hour, i'm going to have to look at going into a more professional area, and hope to get paid a bit more, i dont think i will be able to live very well on only $8 an hour