By Tess Guieb
Philippine Daily Inquirer
CANADA—What challenges can you expect when you arrive in Canada? I have received a lot of e-mails from readers asking me this question. Most of them are worried about making it here if they immigrate.
The first thing that comes to my mind is communication. Although I do not consider this a major issue, there are some of our countrymen who have difficulty expressing themselves in English. Understanding is not a problem as the medium of instruction in our schools has always been in English, but speaking fluently is a different matter. There is nothing to worry however, because the public schools and other government agencies offer ESL (English as Second Language) courses to immigrants.
The next challenge is education. You may have finished in a university in the Philippines and passed the board exam for your profession but when you get to Canada you cannot be automatically recognized as such. You need to have your credentials assessed to determine the Canadian equivalent for your education. You have to wait for the assessment results to find out if you still need to undergo training or take additional courses to work in your intended occupation.
Another that is closely related with education is employment. Jobs in Canada are classified as regulated or non-regulated. Regulated jobs need either a license, certificate, or registration with a regulatory body before you can be employed. Some examples are engineers, doctors, pharmacists, and electricians. Non-regulated jobs do not require these. You only need to prove that you can perform the duties expected of you by your employer.
Still another hurdle that you may face is when the company requires Canadian work experience. The best way to get this is by starting on a temporary assignment. There are a number of staffing agencies hiring temporary employees for their clients and by going through them, you would have a better chance of getting a job and start gaining experience. This will also provide you an opportunity to prove your capabilities to your employer and open the door for a permanent position. You can also do volunteer work in some government agencies to gain experience.
Compared to other Canadian cities, Vancouver is considered to have the mildest weather. When I first came, I was told that it seldom snows here. But since I arrived, I had experienced two of the worst snowfalls the city had in over 20 years. Temperatures have dipped to a record negative 12 degrees Celsius last winter. This is another challenge you have to face—the cold weather. It is not pretty bad in the summer because the temperature can reach as high as 35 degrees Celsius, but during the fall season it starts to dip. Normal fall temperature is 10 to 21 degrees and we get a lot of rain too, that is why some tourists refer to the city as “Raincouver.” In the winter, you also have to get used to going to work at 8 a.m. even when the sun has not yet come up, go home at 4 p.m. when it is already very dark, and endure temperatures from 0 to 10 degrees. The perfect solution of course is to bundle up and be ready with your umbrella every day!
Finding a place to live is also an important factor to consider. You should choose the location where you plan to settle carefully. It is important to find out if the neighborhood is safe especially if you have children. Check out the schools as well for incidents of violence, drugs, and the like. It would be wise to take all these into account because your kids will be interacting with other children in school who are from the same neighborhood.
Another challenge one can face is homesickness. We all come from closely-knit families and are used to always having get-togethers on birthdays, anniversaries, and other special occasions. Some people struggle hard to cope up with being alone. Depression often sets in and can greatly affect not only one’s outlook in life, but also performance at work. That is why most of the people I know who have migrated here on their own bury themselves at work—like taking two or three jobs so they will be very tired when they get home and not have to think about their families anymore.
Canada has accepted thousands of immigrants over the years so you will definitely find yourself in a country of people with diverse languages, accents, cultures, and beliefs. You should be able to adapt yourself to an environment with people who came from different countries who do not share the same values or traditions that you grew up with.
These are just some of the obstacles that you may have to face when you migrate but these should not make you lose hope. Faith, perseverance, and the determination to succeed will help you reach your goals no matter what!
As per some readers’ requests here are some websites that may prove helpful in giving insights on working in Canada:
Monday, September 14, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
OFWs told to respect other countries
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines' huge labor diaspora should heed other countries' cultural sensitivities after Saudi Arabia arrested 67 cross-dressing Filipino male workers, a senior presidential aide said Friday.
"When they enter their host country, they should know the culture of their host country," said Silvestre Bello, Cabinet secretary and a top aide to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Bello was speaking to reporters after learning of the arrests of the 67 Filipinos at a private party and drag show in a villa near Riyadh earlier this month.
Saudi Arabia, which follows strict Islamic law, is a temporary home to about a million of the nearly nine-million-strong Filipino work force abroad.
Bello said some Filipinos, brought up in a culturally liberal western-oriented democracy, "sometimes can't avoid the individual urge or expression of what they feel."
Manila is providing legal assistance to the 67, he added.
The US-based Human Rights Watch called on Saudi authorities on Wednesday to drop charges against the Filipinos, who face possible lashes and jail for both cross-dressing charges and violating Saudi Arabia's strict ban on alcohol, according to Philippines embassy vice-consul Roussel Reyes.
"When they enter their host country, they should know the culture of their host country," said Silvestre Bello, Cabinet secretary and a top aide to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Bello was speaking to reporters after learning of the arrests of the 67 Filipinos at a private party and drag show in a villa near Riyadh earlier this month.
Saudi Arabia, which follows strict Islamic law, is a temporary home to about a million of the nearly nine-million-strong Filipino work force abroad.
Bello said some Filipinos, brought up in a culturally liberal western-oriented democracy, "sometimes can't avoid the individual urge or expression of what they feel."
Manila is providing legal assistance to the 67, he added.
The US-based Human Rights Watch called on Saudi authorities on Wednesday to drop charges against the Filipinos, who face possible lashes and jail for both cross-dressing charges and violating Saudi Arabia's strict ban on alcohol, according to Philippines embassy vice-consul Roussel Reyes.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
More Filipino teachers off to jobs abroad
By Philip Tubeza
MANILA, Philippines—The exodus of Filipino teachers to other countries is expected to continue in the coming years, according to a labor group.
The Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK) said on Wednesday two places were the likely magnets for Filipino teachers—the United States, which would need two million teachers in the coming decade, and Arab countries, which would need at least 450,000 teachers.
The group said teacher shortages, growing populations, and expanding educational systems in many other countries coupled with the dismal work conditions and salaries at home could push local teachers to go abroad.
“Demand for teachers across the United States continues to remain high even if the North American country’s economy is in a deep recession,” said Annie Enriquez-Geron, PSLINK general secretary.
“There are estimates that the United States will need to employ an additional two million teachers in the coming decade to maintain its current educational standards and closer to three million if it strives to improve them in order to stay globally competitive," she added.
Geron said more than 10,000 foreign teachers are recruited by the United States every year to fill its demand.
“There is also very high demand for new science and math teachers in the US with estimates by the Business-Higher Education Forum in Washington putting the figure at 200,000 at the least," she added.
In the last 10 years, around 4,000 Filipino teachers—mostly math, science, English, and special education teachers—left the country. This figure included only new hires for teaching jobs and did not include those who left the country for work other than teaching, the paper said.
The top destinations were the United States, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, the paper added.
According to a UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (Unesco) study, Geron said, the Arab states will face “the greatest teacher shortage in the drive to provide every child with a primary education by 2015 as the region will need to raise the current stock by 26 percent and create another 450,000 teaching posts in less than a decade.”
“As more developed countries face a graying workforce, they are increasingly resorting to the recruitment of skilled teachers from less developed countries. This phenomenon had already been foreseen by (European) countries since the ’90s, warning that aging teaching forces may eventually lead to shortages,” Geron said.
“For instance, more than 60 percent of all primary teachers are over 40 years of age in Canada, Italy, and the Netherlands; and more than 40 percent are over 50 years old in Germany and Sweden,” she said.
Geron said another factor contributing to teacher shortages in more developed countries was the declining interest of their nationals in entering the teaching profession.
According to a survey conducted by the temporary staffing agency Manpower Inc., teaching is the second hardest job to fill in the US. Many of their nationals, the study said, would rather pursue other more financially rewarding careers than become a teacher. Low salary and unattractive working conditions were often cited as reasons not to enter the teaching profession, Geron said. (But for a teacher from a developing nation, salaries would still be significantly more than what they earn at home.)
“Unfortunately, instead of addressing employment conditions of the teaching sector, governments of more developed countries are finding it more convenient and economical to recruit migrant workers, many of whom are offered lower pay and contractual jobs that deprived them of their due benefits,” she added.
Geron said the dependence on migrant skilled teachers in developed countries was leading to aggressive recruitment strategies by their governments, recruitment agencies, and the private schools themselves.
“There have even been governments which have created special agencies just to recruit teachers from other countries. Private teacher recruitment agencies in the United Kingdom have mushroomed to more than 100 while there are more or less 70 in the United States,” she added.
MANILA, Philippines—The exodus of Filipino teachers to other countries is expected to continue in the coming years, according to a labor group.
The Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK) said on Wednesday two places were the likely magnets for Filipino teachers—the United States, which would need two million teachers in the coming decade, and Arab countries, which would need at least 450,000 teachers.
The group said teacher shortages, growing populations, and expanding educational systems in many other countries coupled with the dismal work conditions and salaries at home could push local teachers to go abroad.
“Demand for teachers across the United States continues to remain high even if the North American country’s economy is in a deep recession,” said Annie Enriquez-Geron, PSLINK general secretary.
“There are estimates that the United States will need to employ an additional two million teachers in the coming decade to maintain its current educational standards and closer to three million if it strives to improve them in order to stay globally competitive," she added.
Geron said more than 10,000 foreign teachers are recruited by the United States every year to fill its demand.
“There is also very high demand for new science and math teachers in the US with estimates by the Business-Higher Education Forum in Washington putting the figure at 200,000 at the least," she added.
In the last 10 years, around 4,000 Filipino teachers—mostly math, science, English, and special education teachers—left the country. This figure included only new hires for teaching jobs and did not include those who left the country for work other than teaching, the paper said.
The top destinations were the United States, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, the paper added.
According to a UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (Unesco) study, Geron said, the Arab states will face “the greatest teacher shortage in the drive to provide every child with a primary education by 2015 as the region will need to raise the current stock by 26 percent and create another 450,000 teaching posts in less than a decade.”
“As more developed countries face a graying workforce, they are increasingly resorting to the recruitment of skilled teachers from less developed countries. This phenomenon had already been foreseen by (European) countries since the ’90s, warning that aging teaching forces may eventually lead to shortages,” Geron said.
“For instance, more than 60 percent of all primary teachers are over 40 years of age in Canada, Italy, and the Netherlands; and more than 40 percent are over 50 years old in Germany and Sweden,” she said.
Geron said another factor contributing to teacher shortages in more developed countries was the declining interest of their nationals in entering the teaching profession.
According to a survey conducted by the temporary staffing agency Manpower Inc., teaching is the second hardest job to fill in the US. Many of their nationals, the study said, would rather pursue other more financially rewarding careers than become a teacher. Low salary and unattractive working conditions were often cited as reasons not to enter the teaching profession, Geron said. (But for a teacher from a developing nation, salaries would still be significantly more than what they earn at home.)
“Unfortunately, instead of addressing employment conditions of the teaching sector, governments of more developed countries are finding it more convenient and economical to recruit migrant workers, many of whom are offered lower pay and contractual jobs that deprived them of their due benefits,” she added.
Geron said the dependence on migrant skilled teachers in developed countries was leading to aggressive recruitment strategies by their governments, recruitment agencies, and the private schools themselves.
“There have even been governments which have created special agencies just to recruit teachers from other countries. Private teacher recruitment agencies in the United Kingdom have mushroomed to more than 100 while there are more or less 70 in the United States,” she added.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
Posts
