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Edmonton???
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16-07-2011 2:01am#1
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I'm lazy so I'll copy and paste my answer from another threadWhy Edmonton?
While I remember we flew to Edmonton Alberta, here are some of the reasons why:
1. Alberta has been leading Canada’s recovery from recession, due in part to its natural resources. It produces a lot of oil and natural gas so is quite a wealthy province. It is also expected that Alberta will have a labour shortage. We were pretty confident that we could find work quickly here. I was hedging my bets between IT and, as a last resort, site work – but I got work in IT within six weeks. My wife was looking for work in finance as a large number of corporations have headquarter in Edmonton and she got a job pretty much straight away.
2. The cost of living was less here than either Vancouver or Toronto. Rents are cheaper. We are quite happy in our large 19th floor apartment that is only 20 minutes walk from downtown, with views over a golf course and the river. All this for significantly cheaper than our small one-bed in Dublin 4. The wages are less but we still have more disposable income than we had in Dublin.
3. Edmonton is a small city, roughly the same population as Dublin. Its size means it is very easy to navigate. A bus from one end of the city to the other will take you no more than an hour. The public transport is top-notch with buses every 10 minutes during peak times. The locals think they have a traffic problem but I have never seen what I would consider a bad jam. I keep telling them they should be in Dublin at rush hour!
4. It has one of the largest numbers of parks in North America. A five-minute stroll has us beside the river – you wouldn’t know that you were in a city at all. There are loads of walking and biking trails.
5. Edmonton is pretty much in centre of Alberta meaning we are within easy reach of awesome places such as Banff and Jasper national park. Jasper is a couple of hours west and Banff is a couple of hours south-west. Both are amazing places with stunning views from the Rockies and lots to do.
taken from an article I wrote here:
http://irishalien.com/2011/01/25/a-g...onton-alberta/
Getting Started
We were lucky enough that we had some cousins here who put us up when we arrived so that took a little of the pressure off.
First thing to do when you get here get your Social Insurance Number sorted. Do a quick Google for your local Service Canada branch. Turn up there with your passport with visa attached. A simple form later you will be issued on the spot with your SIN. It will be denoted as a temp number because it starts with a 9 so an employer will know straight away that you are not a permanent resident. You should receive your card in approx three weeks but it is activated straight away for use
Next pick a bank provider that suits your needs. There is a bewildering array of options and fees so study the options carefully and find the package that suits you best. We turned up at TD trust with our Passports and proof of address. They require 2 forms of ID but luckily they accepted our Visas as a second form. We walked out thirty minutes later with our debit cars and bank accounts up and running. We also got our online banking set up that day which was great
We then went to Alberta Service Bureau and registered for Alberta health care. It is only supposed to kick in after 3 months but ours was activated instantly. It entitles you to free GP visits among other benefits so it is well worth registering for
Once we settled we found ourselves an apartment close to the downtown, 19th floor overlooking a golf course so it doesn't really feel like we are in the city at all. Price wise it was a lot cheaper than our rent in Dublin and includes all services except cable and broadband.
Your Irish drivers license will not be accepted here past 90 days.
You need to do your test to get it swapped over to an Albertan license.
You also will not be able to buy a car without a Canadian driving license.
Jobs
First things first, format your CV (or resume!) to Canadian specs here is a good place to start: http://www.cvtips.com/resumes-and-cv...a-resumes.html Try to keep the resume to the guidelines in this webpage. I also tried to tailor my resume based on the type of job I was applying for. If you are on a one year holiday visa try to not mention the fact that you are on this type of visa. I always called mine a 12 month work permit and recruiters seemed happy enough with that. There is no point lying about your status as the first digit of your Social Insurance number will tell the employer how long it is valid for.
Some of the most popular job hunting websites are www.monster.ca , www.workopolis.com and www.kijiji.ca. http://www.jobbank.gc.ca/ is also quite good it aggregates jobs from a lot of other sites. I would suggest setting up RSS feeds in Google Reader or the like from the jobs sites so that you can see all suitable jobs in one place and fairly easily scan through them.
http://www.informationmarchetravail....d=43&lcode=eng is a good resource to check out what you can expect to earn in your profession in different areas of the country.
I would estimate about 90% of the jobs I applied for I never heard from again, maybe 5 replies from a total of about 40 applications.. Some of those replies arrived months after I applied
The HR departments here are big into checking qualifications and references so it’s good to have supporting documentation for degrees\diplomas etc and arrange with your references beforehand so that they can expect the call. Its best to get an email and phone number for your references. that way the HR department can email and set up a time to call.
I also had to have a background check done when I started my job. I was only in the country for 6 weeks at the time so it wasn’t a major deal but worth bearing in mind. The cost of this check was taken from my first paycheck. It was approximately 50 dollars, just to make you aware the company MAY make you pay for it.
It took me six weeks from starting to look for a job to my first day. My wife however had more luck she got a job within our first week in Canada, this was in a finance customer service role. She did this for a couple of weeks but wasn’t enjoying ti so she left that and got a job with a major bank here (comes in handy for free fees and whatnot!)
One thing I found when doing interviews, don’t bother with the false modesty and the “I’m alright at that” kind of thing. They will expect you to big yourself up in the interview. Don’t be afraid to discuss your achievements and strengths to the max. I have noticed that with my colleagues here in the office none of them are afraid to tell you what you are good at!
Canadians are big into networking so make sure to get your Linked-in and Monster profiles updated and upload your resumes there also.Another note on networking, you can’t beat talking to people. I was talking to a guy in a supermarket queue who offered me an interview for his company based on a ten minute conversation. Just goes to show opportunities can be anywhere!
So that's my advice for getting started so Your Mileage May Vary
Here are some Pros and Cons of living here:
Pros
1, Very friendly and helpful people
2, Really good public transport
3, Cost of living lower than Ireland, granted our wages are less here but our disposable income is higher
4, Beautiful scenery a stones throw away
5, Good health care
Cons
1, Some things very expensive here: Car insurance springs to mind, some food products (chicken is a good example)
2, Winters are extremely long and cold, you go weeks with temps of -10, Coldest we have seen was -37 that was nippy - wear lots of layers and cover your nose and mouth is my advice.
3, Flights are expensive internally, we had hoped to see lots of Canada but flights are hugely expensive compared to what we were expecting
4, I am still paying off some loans and bit and pieces in Ireland, the value from the Canadian dollar is is quite bad by the time it is converted to Euro
All in all we do really like it and we are now starting the tricky process of getting sponsored so we can stay on. But that's a post for another day!
Retail jobs would be easy enough to come by there's a good few malls and they seem to hire almost year round
Factory work I'm not so sure about, there is a good few refineries and oil related industries as well. check out the jobs links above to give you a better idea0 -
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whats the stampede like?? is it "the greatest show on earth" ?:D
Alberta is like the Texas of Canada...cowboys, oil and beef. Greatest show on Earth might be an exaggeration on the organiser's part but it's a good laugh all the same
It was weird seeing proper cowboys and guys with mullets that look like mechanics from Alabama. We don't get that in Cork 
I was in the Ranchman cowboy bar last night and Vince Vaughn was there line dancing. That was a bit surreal. I'm all countried out! 0 -
JohnMearsheimer wrote: »Alberta is like the Texas of Canada...cowboys, oil and beef. Greatest show on Earth might be an exaggeration on the organiser's part but it's a good laugh all the same It was weird seeing proper cowboys and guys with mullets that look like mechanics from Alabama. We don't get that in Cork I was in the Ranchman cowboy bar last night and Vince Vaughn was there line dancing. That was a bit surreal. I'm all countried out!
was only looking at videos of it on you tube, looks a bit rednecky but a laugh all the same, might try and make it to it next year plenty of cowgirls at it too;)0 -
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