I personally know a few people who got jobs in Canada a few years ago. They got minimum-wage jobs (which was at 9.50 CAD an hour) and they worked more than 40 hours a week earning around 2,000 CAD a month.

They did not speak English at all (or maybe little).

The positions were housekeeping positions, cleaning positions, factory laborer positions.

I do not know how easy it is to get a job in Canada now because I think it is in recession.

But you must know someone to get a job there. Have you got friends and relatives in Canada? In fact, it would be easier if people had a social network (family, friends) to get a job in *any country*.

No, I’m Algirdas from Lithuania, Mathieu posting above seems to be French, though I’m not sure:))

Yeah, maybe so, to some extent, but I saw a lot of people working in Australia who spoke English with terrible accent or spoke really bad English but that didn’t prevent them from getting a job (that includes simple jobs like in fast food chains or jobs like sales consultants in stores), well maybe they were a bit more lucky than I am, I don’t know:)) My English is pretty good and almost lack of any really evident accent but I still don’t think it’s the first thing the employer looks at))

Any success stories with Canada? I’ve always wanted to stay for some time in Montreal, any good chance to get some summer/temporary employment for an Australian citizen?

Are you Matthew (the person who replied this entry earliest)?

Well it’s not just you with the story of “coming back to the previous country and got a job”. Many people got jobs once they have returned to their countries.

The reason is when you are in your country of origin (and you are one of the people in majority), getting a job is much easier because you apply jobs to your own people and your own people want to hire you because you are one of them.

Australia is a more racist place when it comes to employment compared to the US, the UK, and Canada.

In both the 3 countries mentioned above, people don’t even have to speak English to get jobs. Of course it is hard to get jobs in those countries too because they are in recession. But before recession, it was easy (I witnessed those who did not speak English gained jobs in those countries).

In Australia, the ability of speaking English alone may not get them a job.

Unfortunately they will say a lot of unpleasant things when someone who does not look and does not sound Aussie apply for jobs at their place.

The comments from employers can be anything ranging from languages, not enough experience, too much studies, poor communication skills, etc. The real reason which they cannot tell job applicants by law is they just don’t want them.

Australian employers should realise that everyone who is Australian citizen/resident deserves the rights to get an employment no matter what backgrounds they come from.

I’m with Centrelink and JSP now, I honestly follow all the requirements and attend all the appointments. I know I’m not the only one, and there are heaps of cases like mine in the employment hubs, but I’m turning 25 this year, and half of life’s already gone, that’s why I really don’t know what to do, cos I’ll be 30 soon, and the employment chances are just floating away..Maybe I need to return to Europe?

I’m pretty sure my resumes and cover letters are good, as I have good linguistic background and have done deep research on Australian documents standards. But still the last interview was in July 2010..

To meet the locals is probably the hardest thing fo me, cos I’ve had 2-3 unpleasant experiences when I was told my English accent is non-Australian, and I spoke badly, though I speak pretty good and fluent English..That’s why I’m now mostly afraid to talk to new people and sometimes ashamed of my european descent, when I’m talking to an employer on the phone that thought comes again and I start stuttering etc.