Transcript
Speaker: there is this overemphasis on Canadian work experience and a lot of the time that's actually just a euphemism for we don't want to hire somebody from who is not from here and so as a new immigrant you really have to be swift in being able to build that Canadian experience into your CV because without it a lot of the times you will get overlooked you will get
Speaker: passed over and folks will not be able to get over that mental block of the fact that you have very heat transferable skills.
Speaker: Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Career Slay Talks podcast. My name is Brenda Dougley. And in this podcast, I share tips, tricks, and ways, as well as interview guests on how to really slay your career as a Black professional in Canada, as well as the African diaspora. But of course, this podcast is open to anybody and everybody, and you're more than welcome to take some nuggets from the conversations that I share here.
Speaker: So today I would like to share with you strategies for success as a new, maybe a new and not so new immigrant. I would probably consider myself a geriatric immigrant. I immigrated to Canada. Well, I came to Canada to study 25 years ago, believe it or not. We look good, but yeah, 25 years it has been. And I came as an international student, and so I didn't really
Speaker: plan to stay. I initially came for college. So I did, if those of you who know the International Baccalaureate Program, I did two years of IB.
Speaker: out in BC. Following that, I got a scholarship to study at UBC, the University of British Columbia. And so beautiful campus, amazing institution, a few issues, but let's not go into that just yet. And so I spent, I did my undergrad there, so I was there for five years. And at that point in time, I did this whole back and forth. Should I stay in Canada? Should I go back home to Kenya, which is where I'm born and raised?
Speaker: And eventually, I think the wise thing to do, and this happens often to us as immigrants, is that you want to give yourself options. And so at that time, I'd been in Canada for a good seven years. And so it just felt like the wise thing to do is not just move home, but at least become a little bit more settled and at least have the permanent residency, especially as an option, because you just never know.
Speaker: And so long story short, I ended up doing my master's and then that was around the time of the recession, the 2000 recession post Bush and Obama era.
Speaker: And so I did what Africans do when in doubt, do more school. So I started a PhD and it was during the PhD that that season that I met my husband, not in the PhD, but I met him in Ottawa. And then we got married and the rest is history. So Canada became home. I think I've seen things from two different vantage points for me as an international student.
Speaker: the journey professionally was quite different because the first step was having the papers. And Canada is a little bit different from the States in that there isn't a whole underground economy that depends on people working illegally. I think things tend to be fairly straightforward. In the last 25 years and even just 10 years, Canada has come up with really
Speaker: clear pathways to permanent residency and citizenship, but it wasn't always the case. And so, career -wise, you're always limited. I remember when I had my social insurance number that started with a 9, and that basically meant that it was temporary, and a lot of employers
Speaker: would not want to give you a job or an opportunity because you're temporary. They don't know anything about you. Can they really trust you? And that was really challenging. And on the other hand, I can talk a little bit about my husband. He's a very private person, so I don't want to put all his business out there. But he immigrated into Canada as a professional, right? So he's a health professional by training. And so he moved here already a permanent resident.
Speaker: And I think some of the challenges he faced was that lack of transferability. So for me, for the longest of time, the biggest challenge was not being an international student at that time. You couldn't even work off -campus. You could only work 10 hours a week. So you have certain barriers that prevent you from even being able to build that work experience that you need to propel your career.
Speaker: For my husband, it was degree equivalency and folks not being able to recognize his health professional training in Canada and the sense that you have to kind of start from scratch and basically build from scratch.
Speaker: I want to talk about ways that you can really leverage and skip the delay in your journey, especially as a new immigrant, but this advice also applies to more seasoned immigrants. For a new immigrant, the advice I'm going to calibrate that by saying the advice that I'm providing is really specific to the Canadian context. One of the things that's really particular about the Canadian context is that they keep talking about
Speaker: Canadian experience and I think it's something that's really unique to Canada that might not be the same in other countries where you immigrate. There is this overemphasis on Canadian work experience and a lot of the time that's actually just as euphemism for we don't want to hire somebody from who is not from here and so as a new immigrant you really have to be swift in being able to build that Canadian experience into your CV
Speaker: Because without it, a lot of the times you will get overlooked, you will get passed over and folks will not be able to get over that mental block of the fact that you have very key transferable skills.
Speaker: So the first way that I'm recommending that you really bridge that gap is through education. Finding a training, a diploma, something that complements the training you already have. So if you are a complete professional from your country of origin,
Speaker: and you're moving here as a professional. If, for example, you've got a bachelor's level of education, my strong recommendation is that you do a master's. And the reason is that the education system in North America is quite different from the different education systems that we have back home. And entering into the education system is a really great way of reorienting yourself, your training,
Speaker: to the Canadian context. Now, say you already have a master's. My advice to you would be that you either do a postgraduate diploma or a certificate program that complements the training and the education that you already have from back home. And this tends to be fairly quick. So I am absolutely not suggesting that you do a PhD. And that's a whole other podcast episode. And I've seen this happen a lot of the times where
Speaker: Sometimes what gets in the way for people is pride, especially if you had a 10, 15 year career back home, the thought of having to start over can seem really not just daunting, but demoralizing. That being said, sometimes it is the fastest way to get to bridge that gap. This is where, you know, you have to be really strategic about the program that you pick and make sure that one, it is a program that
Speaker: that is in demand. You have to be realistic about how much years of education you're willing to do. So I've seen people go into nursing. You have to really be willing to do the four -year degree program or whatever the length of the program is. But really looking, I've seen people do college certificates.
Speaker: and flourish in doing that. And so I really encourage you to look into your educational options because it's a really neat way to bridge the gap. And while it seems like I don't want to go back to school, what I've seen is that it is a way that can really help you bridge that gap and build you the Canadian references that you need in order to propel your career to the next level.
Speaker: The final point maybe I'll say is then to resist the urge to go with the flow, to go with where everybody is doing. Everybody is doing nursing. Again, don't get me wrong, nursing is amazing and we need nurses. But I've seen people who know in their heart and their soul that they don't want to take care of people and they don't want to be nurses. But who go into it because everybody's going into it or is the shortcut in their mind.
Speaker: which I don't think it is because it is a lot it's hard work, it's not easy money. It's amazing work it's fulfilling work. But it's not always aligned work and it's not always work that lines up with, with, like there are a lot of compassionate people who are going into
Speaker: um career paths where you just know that you're not meant for it and so be willing to do something different i think you don't always have to go with the flow so there's so many career options whether that's like dental hygienist like even if you want to stay within the health field
Speaker: There's so many subcategories of things that you can do within the healthcare field. That's not the one that everybody is doing. And so don't not be afraid to differentiate yourself. Be willing to try different things. Be willing to go through different career paths. And so I would really say resist the urge to go with the easy
Speaker: And I put that in quotes, easy path. Be willing to differentiate yourself and do something that's completely unorthodox and different and never tried before, because you'd be surprised you could be the one who's opening people's eyes to career paths that they might not have previously considered. And sometimes that's a way of specializing as well that can make you kind of stand out and be the unique voice in that niche. And so be willing to not to go against the flow against the current.
Speaker: and try something different that maybe other immigrants in your circle or other professionals in your circle have not gone through because you might just well be the trailblazer in that field. I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you've not yet liked the episode, please do like and follow me on social media. Also follow the podcast at CareerslayTalks on Instagram.
Speaker: And I really encourage you to go back and listen to the previous episodes and let's slay together.
