今天偶然看到这个帖子，作者跟我一样都是在美国准备到加拿大的，加拿大真的是”艰难大吗“想到我的案子也快结束，可能也要面对这位老兄的遭遇，习惯了美国的低物价，欢迎大家讨论一下
IMPORTANT!! PLEASE READ: DO NOT COME TO CANADA
« on: August 25, 2012, 08:42:24 pm »
Quote
THAT'S RIGHT!
Unless you have a job waiting for you in Canada, do not come here. It will be a nightmare from the first day. When the excitement of traveling wears off and your feet hit the ground, you'll find a very harsh reality: You will not be able to find a job!! Forget your degrees, your credentials, and your experience. Nobody cares for them here. Absolutely nobody. Certainly no employer has been interested in mine, and I've sent applications by the cartload every day for the past three months since I arrived. Three months of applying for jobs (with a Master's degree in pure mathematics in my resume) and nobody has called me for an interview. Nobody. Not even for a bank teller position (for which I did have experience from my days in the US). Who would want someone with a graduate academic degree for a teller position? Probably not many as I'm overqualified. I was told by employment counselors to remove the degree from my resume. And then what? Apply for a job as a dishwasher? Reluctantly, I followed their advice and did that. Nothing happened. Still no employer called. What makes it worse is that (unlike the US) employers here don't take paper applications in person. You can't just go in to a store, see the manager, introduced yourself in person and present an application with a resume. Everything has to be done online, and your application (if it gets viewed at all) gets viewed by impersonal regional recruiters (not the manager of the place you're applying to). In other words, all they see is an online application for somebody with a foreign name. They never see you in person. Hence, you never get contacted. Period.
With my skills, I never thought I'd have to meet employment counselors but I kept an open mind and met them anyway for any piece of advice they might have about job applications. Their advice has been completely useless, and at times downright insulting. "Why don't you volunteer?" They say. "It's how you get a job." As if it's not bad enough that Canadians don't care for immigrant qualifications, they have to insult us by asking us to give our time for nothing. The way I answer these insulting suggestions is by saying "Umm, excuse me, when I walk into a grocery store, do you volunteer to give me a loaf of bread for free? I guess not. Then don't ask me to give my time in exchange for nothing."
I don't want to scare you but if you don't already have a job arranged upon arrival, this is what you're going to face here. Recognition of foreign credentials isn't even the problem itself. The problem is that employers just aren't interested in immigrants (credentials or not). You're despised just for being foreign. I realize that right now you just want to get out of the hell hole you think you're living at (India, Pakistan, or whatever it is), but believe me, when you get here you'll have a completely different attitude about this country. My first few weeks here I stayed at a youth hostel in downtown Toronto and what I saw was that people from Britain and Ireland (i.e. those with British sounding names) were getting jobs easily despite the fact that they were here only on a temporary tourist visa (they weren't permanent residents). I am a permanent resident of this country, but then I don't have a British name, and that's more important when it comes to getting jobs here than your immigration status. Canadian companies have absolutely no interest in contacting you. The only time they actually contact you is when they want to sell you their products. Believe me, Canadians are the most selfish, heartless *censored word*s on the face of the earth. You'll agree with me when you come here and see for yourself.
For those of you entering Canada from the US, like I did, get ready for shock. If I had known what this place was going to be like, I would have never left the States. I was living better in the US as a graduate student. I landed in Canada in early June and I started missing the United States from the first day here. That's right, the first day. That's the day I found out that in Canada a dozen of eggs costs $3 whereas in the US I was paying $1.60 (mind you, the US and Canadian dollar are on a one-one course of exchange right now). This example is typical of all prices all across the board in Canada. Everything here costs more than in the US. I mean the exact same item in Canada will cost anywhere from 30% to 300% more than it does in the US. Someone here told me I was going to get used to this over time. I said "No, I'm not going to get used to paying $4 for a pack of cream cheese for which yesterday I was only paying $1.80 in the US. What I'm going to have to get used to is not buying cream cheese any more at all." Other things I found out on my first day in Canada: dairy (milk, butter, cheese) is double the US prices, the sales tax in Ontario is 13% (and I thought the 8% sales tax I was paying in Kansas, USA was high), and when you try to get cell phone service they rip you off with roaming charges (which is ancient history in the US where all minutes are treated the same nation-wide, i.e. no more roaming)
This is not just over groceries. EVERYTHING costs a lot more than in the US here, even government services. I exchanged my US driver's licence (which still costs US $21 in the state of Colorado) for an Ontario license which cost me CAD $75 (more than three times the price of the US licence). Gasoline costs 30% more than in the US so if you're going to drive, and you thought the US gas prices were high, wait until you fill up your gas tank here. The minimum wage is just a tad bit higher than in the US but the difference is wiped out by the higher income taxes. Oh, and if you're going to be starting work from a minimum wage job, keep in mind that 98% of minimum wage jobs are part-time jobs. That is, you won't be given anywhere near the 40 hours of work per week that you need just to be able to pay rent and feed yourself. And for that *censored word*ty minimum-wage, part-time job they want you to be available at their disposal 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (they're real *censored word*s). It's a truly awful place. Believe me, you get screwed royally here in Canada. And when you ask Canadians why the hell the prices are so high compared to the US (especially now that the the two dollars trade one for one) they just shrug and don't seem to be bothered by the difference in prices. I have never seen a more pathetic people. Indifferent to every problem. Not the least bit interested in resolving their issues. I don't know what would make the blood of these people boil.
Clothing, utensils, personal hygiene items, etc. you're going to have to shop at discount stores, and even there you have to look for special sales, otherwise they're going to be paying double the US prices. I took leisure walks at the Eaton Centre mall on weekends, looking at the designer clothing stores and couldn't help wondering who on earth pays these absurd prices when jobs are so scarce. You can't even complain about the high prices to anyone here because they only have one response for you: they remind you that Canada is number one in the world because it has free health care (as if government health care has anything to do with the higher prices of, say, McDonald burgers). It's amazing how stupid this society is: a society that is completely deluded about how good it has it and in absolute denial of its real problems (does North Korea ring a bell here or is it just me?)
Believe me, Canada is NOTHING you imagine it to be from pictures, videos, and stories. At least it won't be to you. All you'll be thinking about is how to avoid ending up on the street when you've run out of all your savings and still haven't gotten a job. Seriously, if you don't like your home country and want to get out desperately, I understand that, but consider another country where you'll be valued more (or at least a country where you have relatives/friends you can stay with until you get on your feet). Canada will be a nightmare. Trust me now and you'll thank me later. It's easy to write me off right now as just another disgruntled, unsuccessful immigrant but when you come here and face the horror of daily life yourself, you'll think of me.
IMPORTANT!! PLEASE READ: DO NOT COME TO CANADA
« on: August 25, 2012, 08:42:24 pm »
Quote
THAT'S RIGHT!
Unless you have a job waiting for you in Canada, do not come here. It will be a nightmare from the first day. When the excitement of traveling wears off and your feet hit the ground, you'll find a very harsh reality: You will not be able to find a job!! Forget your degrees, your credentials, and your experience. Nobody cares for them here. Absolutely nobody. Certainly no employer has been interested in mine, and I've sent applications by the cartload every day for the past three months since I arrived. Three months of applying for jobs (with a Master's degree in pure mathematics in my resume) and nobody has called me for an interview. Nobody. Not even for a bank teller position (for which I did have experience from my days in the US). Who would want someone with a graduate academic degree for a teller position? Probably not many as I'm overqualified. I was told by employment counselors to remove the degree from my resume. And then what? Apply for a job as a dishwasher? Reluctantly, I followed their advice and did that. Nothing happened. Still no employer called. What makes it worse is that (unlike the US) employers here don't take paper applications in person. You can't just go in to a store, see the manager, introduced yourself in person and present an application with a resume. Everything has to be done online, and your application (if it gets viewed at all) gets viewed by impersonal regional recruiters (not the manager of the place you're applying to). In other words, all they see is an online application for somebody with a foreign name. They never see you in person. Hence, you never get contacted. Period.
With my skills, I never thought I'd have to meet employment counselors but I kept an open mind and met them anyway for any piece of advice they might have about job applications. Their advice has been completely useless, and at times downright insulting. "Why don't you volunteer?" They say. "It's how you get a job." As if it's not bad enough that Canadians don't care for immigrant qualifications, they have to insult us by asking us to give our time for nothing. The way I answer these insulting suggestions is by saying "Umm, excuse me, when I walk into a grocery store, do you volunteer to give me a loaf of bread for free? I guess not. Then don't ask me to give my time in exchange for nothing."
I don't want to scare you but if you don't already have a job arranged upon arrival, this is what you're going to face here. Recognition of foreign credentials isn't even the problem itself. The problem is that employers just aren't interested in immigrants (credentials or not). You're despised just for being foreign. I realize that right now you just want to get out of the hell hole you think you're living at (India, Pakistan, or whatever it is), but believe me, when you get here you'll have a completely different attitude about this country. My first few weeks here I stayed at a youth hostel in downtown Toronto and what I saw was that people from Britain and Ireland (i.e. those with British sounding names) were getting jobs easily despite the fact that they were here only on a temporary tourist visa (they weren't permanent residents). I am a permanent resident of this country, but then I don't have a British name, and that's more important when it comes to getting jobs here than your immigration status. Canadian companies have absolutely no interest in contacting you. The only time they actually contact you is when they want to sell you their products. Believe me, Canadians are the most selfish, heartless *censored word*s on the face of the earth. You'll agree with me when you come here and see for yourself.
For those of you entering Canada from the US, like I did, get ready for shock. If I had known what this place was going to be like, I would have never left the States. I was living better in the US as a graduate student. I landed in Canada in early June and I started missing the United States from the first day here. That's right, the first day. That's the day I found out that in Canada a dozen of eggs costs $3 whereas in the US I was paying $1.60 (mind you, the US and Canadian dollar are on a one-one course of exchange right now). This example is typical of all prices all across the board in Canada. Everything here costs more than in the US. I mean the exact same item in Canada will cost anywhere from 30% to 300% more than it does in the US. Someone here told me I was going to get used to this over time. I said "No, I'm not going to get used to paying $4 for a pack of cream cheese for which yesterday I was only paying $1.80 in the US. What I'm going to have to get used to is not buying cream cheese any more at all." Other things I found out on my first day in Canada: dairy (milk, butter, cheese) is double the US prices, the sales tax in Ontario is 13% (and I thought the 8% sales tax I was paying in Kansas, USA was high), and when you try to get cell phone service they rip you off with roaming charges (which is ancient history in the US where all minutes are treated the same nation-wide, i.e. no more roaming)
This is not just over groceries. EVERYTHING costs a lot more than in the US here, even government services. I exchanged my US driver's licence (which still costs US $21 in the state of Colorado) for an Ontario license which cost me CAD $75 (more than three times the price of the US licence). Gasoline costs 30% more than in the US so if you're going to drive, and you thought the US gas prices were high, wait until you fill up your gas tank here. The minimum wage is just a tad bit higher than in the US but the difference is wiped out by the higher income taxes. Oh, and if you're going to be starting work from a minimum wage job, keep in mind that 98% of minimum wage jobs are part-time jobs. That is, you won't be given anywhere near the 40 hours of work per week that you need just to be able to pay rent and feed yourself. And for that *censored word*ty minimum-wage, part-time job they want you to be available at their disposal 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (they're real *censored word*s). It's a truly awful place. Believe me, you get screwed royally here in Canada. And when you ask Canadians why the hell the prices are so high compared to the US (especially now that the the two dollars trade one for one) they just shrug and don't seem to be bothered by the difference in prices. I have never seen a more pathetic people. Indifferent to every problem. Not the least bit interested in resolving their issues. I don't know what would make the blood of these people boil.
Clothing, utensils, personal hygiene items, etc. you're going to have to shop at discount stores, and even there you have to look for special sales, otherwise they're going to be paying double the US prices. I took leisure walks at the Eaton Centre mall on weekends, looking at the designer clothing stores and couldn't help wondering who on earth pays these absurd prices when jobs are so scarce. You can't even complain about the high prices to anyone here because they only have one response for you: they remind you that Canada is number one in the world because it has free health care (as if government health care has anything to do with the higher prices of, say, McDonald burgers). It's amazing how stupid this society is: a society that is completely deluded about how good it has it and in absolute denial of its real problems (does North Korea ring a bell here or is it just me?)
Believe me, Canada is NOTHING you imagine it to be from pictures, videos, and stories. At least it won't be to you. All you'll be thinking about is how to avoid ending up on the street when you've run out of all your savings and still haven't gotten a job. Seriously, if you don't like your home country and want to get out desperately, I understand that, but consider another country where you'll be valued more (or at least a country where you have relatives/friends you can stay with until you get on your feet). Canada will be a nightmare. Trust me now and you'll thank me later. It's easy to write me off right now as just another disgruntled, unsuccessful immigrant but when you come here and face the horror of daily life yourself, you'll think of me.
