Welcome to Canada – A Career Success Story by Ramon Rodrigo
My wife and I began considering the idea of emigrating from the Philippines in 2001, amid worsening political and economic conditions. Even though we had a good chance of living comfortably there, we felt we had to put the long term future of our children first.
Upon obtaining the application forms from the Canadian Embassy in Manila, we immediately began gathering all pertinent documents. Upon submission, which took us some months to accomplish, we waited three long years before finally getting a letter of approval. In between those three years was a lot of uncertainty. We held back on any major investments back home that needed our direct supervision, as we constantly convinced ourselves that ‘it’ was just around the corner. We were not about to quit 5 minutes before the miracle happened! Those three years were also a time of big dreaming – if many things in the present were on hold, we had huge expectations for how life in Canada would quickly make up for it.
We packed up and shipped out in less than two months and arrived in Vancouver in June of 2005.
Our major concerns as immigrants, which the Canadian Immigrant Magazine so aptly outlines, were housing, communication, transportation and employment. As soon as we had a place to stay and telephone and internet connections, we began searching for jobs. I have advanced degrees and a pretty successful career track record so I thought I would find work with relative ease as I always had. I sent over 150 applications without result and was becoming both concerned and discouraged.
Then I chanced upon Careers Today and began a comprehensive career management program with Minto Roy. At first I was a little resistant to all the assessments and homework – I kept saying that I just wanted a job, not a career education. Minto told me I did not come halfway around the world for a job – I came for a new life which would need the foundation of a real career, and if I could be patient for a few weeks of strategic career development work, it would pay off. It was hard to hear him. Interviews were scarce in the beginning and when I did get a foot in the door, my lack of Canadian work experience would most certainly swing it back shut. But I kept doing what Careers Today told me to do, even when it didn’t make sense to me, and soon interviews started trickling in. At one point, I had to do 4 interviews in one day!
By then I had developed the focus and confidence to handle my strengths, and my weaknesses, and I could tangibly demonstrate the direct relevance of my international experience and the value I could offer a company – a skill taught to me by my career manager.
By mid-September, I had 3 standing offers for posts in my field of expertise – marketing. Even though they were not quite at the level I had reached in Manila, all were good jobs which could give me stable and adequate income to meet my family’s needs, and all had opportunities for advancement. After tough but careful deliberation, and some coaching in how to negotiate a better offer, I accepted a job at a strong Canadian company with promising room for growth.