There are many ways that recipients of an OTA for Canadian permanent residence can begin looking for jobs in Canada. Well, below are three tools to seek jobs after obtaining an ITA from IRCC. Foreign nationals often seek to immigrate to Canada via the popular Express Entry system IRCC operates.
Note: Express Entry is the application management system for three of Canada’s top economic immigration programs: Federal Skilled Trades Program, Federal Skilled Worker Program, and Canadian Experience Class.
In short, successful Express Entry applicants are invited to submit an application for permanent residence (eAPR) after they obtain an ITA from an Express Entry draw.
Applicants are given 60 days to submit their eAPRs to IRCC, after which there is a service standard which determines how long IRCC is expected to take to process eAPRs. At the time of writing, IRCC expects to process 80% of eAPRs within its service standard of six months.
During this six month waiting period, candidates who have submitted their eAPR & have good degree of confidence that their application will be approved can begin looking for a job in Canada using the three strategies.
Online Networking
Establishing a network is significant because having a strong network is crucial for effective job performance & accessing employment opportunities that might not be publicly advertised.
Networking is the practice of sharing information & ideas with individuals who share a common profession or special interest in a casual social setting.
This practice can be used to help a prospective immigrant to Canada broaden their connections in Canada, even before they arrive. This is because networking can be done through many online mediums, including social media sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.
Networking is a way to discover potential job prospects within the industry you hope to work in when you arrive in Canada while also being a valuable tool for staying updated on the news & trends in a specific industry or in general.
Although building a network might seem overwhelming, specifically for a new immigrant to Canada, online resources can be an amazing tool for understanding the significance of networking, understanding how to build & maintain professional relationships & finding resources for effective networking.
Government Of Canada Job Bank
Another one of the three tools to seek jobs after obtaining an ITA from IRCC is the Government of Canada Job Bank.
The Government of Canada Job Bank is a national employment service run by ESDC as both a website & mobile application. Operated on behalf of the Canada Employment Insurance Commission, in collaboration with provincial & territorial government, ESDC states that this Job Bank helps Canadians find work & plan their careers while making it easier for employers to recruit & hire across the country.
Providing access to over 150,000 job postings, which can be filtered by the name of the position, the location, the job type, etc., the job bank offers prospective immigrants with job search & career planning resources they can avail of even before they come to Canada.
The Job Bank is not for temporary foreign workers. ESDC & the Government of Canada have a separate tool designed to help temporary workers in Canada find employment.
Note: The Job Bank also allows users to filter & sort available postings by ‘best match’ & ‘data posted,’ which is ideal for immigrants seeking recently available positions.
Social media platforms like LinkedIn, one of Canada’s top employment-related web platforms, can be leveraged in numerous ways to help ITA recipients find employment in Canada.
In a 2023 study conducted by Toronto Metropolitan University, LinkedIn was the second most popular tool among newcomers looking for information about work prospects before coming to Canada.
Through its job search tools, including a platform that enables users to navigate through thousands of job postings through similar filters as the Canada Job Bank, & its proficient networking capabilities, LinkedIn can be a valuable resource for ITA recipients who are job searching before they arrive in Canada.
The same TMU study indicated that within the information search stage of the pre-arrival process, LinkedIn was the go-to information source for three of these information types – job interview advice, job search advice, & salary information. In addition, LinkedIn also appeared among the top three information sources for newcomers looking for information related to further education or skill training.
Proof of social media’s effectiveness, including LinkedIn, as a job search tool can be found in the positive post-arrival labor outcomes highlighted by the TMU study. Particularly, this study indicated that:
- Roughly 75% of survey respondents who said they used social media before arriving in Canada stated that the work they obtained was either very or quite related to their skills.
- Almost four in every five immigrants who secured high-paying jobs were pre-arrival social media users.
Meanwhile, the study indicated that over 75% of immigrants/ newcomers who gained precarious, low-paying jobs did not take advantage of social media before coming to Canada.