I won't kid you, getting the visa is one thing, finding a job once you're here is another. From what I can tell it is almost impossible to get a job from a distance - i.e. before you get your Landed Immigrant papers unless you are in a very specialised field.

Employers are loathe to even interview you unless you have permission to work here - they can apply for a work permit for you but it is a bit of a hassle and why do it when they can probably find a Canadian or Landed Immigrant to do the job - in which case the permit won't be granted anyway.

I can certainly recommend coming here on vacation to get a feel for the job market and to start networking and making contacts. However do not succumb to the temptation to work illegally, if you get caught you will have screwed up your chances of the visa altogether. I can't stress this enough - don't mess about with the rest of your life for the sake of a few weeks or months of work.

Having said all of that - how do you find work?

Network This is probably the best way to find work. Certainly it's the way we did and most of the new immigrants we know. Hang around on newsgroups or discussion groups that relate to your occupation, also national discussion groups, hobby groups. Anything at all that will get people to know you. If possible make a webpage with your resume and make sure you have the address in your signature file so that it goes out on every e-mail you send. Note however: do not put in your full address or Social Insurance number to protect your own identity. Contact professional associations and join. Use your computer to print up business cards and hand them out to everyone you meet. Socialise. Volunteer. Consider a part-time or temporary job. All of these things can lead to full time permanent employment.

Newspapers Though the papers appear to be full of jobs I understand from people who know more about these things than I do that less than 10% of the jobs available are advertised this way. And to make matters even worse, sometimes they are advertising even though the job has actually already been filled but they do it to satisfy union or legal rules about job placement. Most newspapers have a set day a week when the most job ads appear.

HRDC aka Service Canada this is the government agency. to be honest we didn't find it to be a lot of use. The jobs on offer tend to be minimum wage but it's worth a visit, who knows, everything helps. also that was when we first arrived in 1996. They have improved it with regard to navigation and links to helpful tools but the jobs still tend to be very limited as far as I can see. Not least because of their categorisation system. You have to fit into a particular category (box?) and increasingly as we have mixed skills and experience we simply don't fit into little boxes. If they could make it more fluid or add functions to allow employers to find job seekers with various talents and skills rather than strict job titles I think it would be much more effective. In my never humble opinion of course!

Job sites The are many of them. How effective they are is debateable. Use them but never forget that they are in business to make money. Unlike the HRDC you are not their customer. The employers, the people they sell the services (ads and access to your resume), they are the customers. You are the widget that they sell. You are the commodity. As long as you keep this firmly in mind they are good tools. I can also tell you from personal experience with one particular job site that some of the people who manage and work for them are also tools........ ;o)

Employment Agencies There are many in every city across Canada. Certainly in the IT industry they have enormous success in placing people and I know of two people personally who had several job offers within a week of registering with an agency. Both were computer programmers. However there are agencies and there are agencies. The ones which handle placing factory workers can be quite appalling too. I urge you to ask around before signing up.

Taxes - brace yourself

Well folks, they're high. Not as high as some Scandinavian countries but certainly a lot higher than the US. About on a par with the UK I suppose, all told.

I can't give you examples of how much tax you will pay on any given salary because it varies according to where you live. One must pay federal income tax and (in most provinces) provincial income tax. The end of the tax years is the same as in the US - end of December - with tax due by April. Like the US you can claim all kinds of things, including (bless their little enlightened cotten socks) child care costs - something I could have done with all those years ago when my children were little and I was paying through the nose for child care back in the UK. Ah well.

I strongly recommend that you employ an accountant to do your taxes for you. It really is not at all expensive for the average family and worth it anyway. They know what they're doing, you don't. I got audited the first year we were here because the automated system could not understand why I didn't exist in January - we landed in February and had no income anywhere in the world in January. Computers don't like zeros. Then I got audited the second year because I had been audited the first year. Then they sent another audit letter the third year but when I called I was told they were cancelling it. Apparently the computer had flagged me by mistake.

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