Immigrant IT pros face a tough job market in Canada

Lack of Canadian experience forcing many to start on lower rungs of the employment ladder

Thousands of highly-skilled IT professionals come to Canada every year, hoping to land a top job in their field. But unfortunately, some begin their Canadian careers at Tim Hortons instead.

Technical skills are, generally speaking, universal. But a common problem newcomers encounter when searching for their first job is their lack of Canadian experience. Oleg Dolghii, a 32-year-old immigrant from Moldova, worked as an IT manager for a large financial company back home. He had high hopes for his new professional life in Canada. As far as he was concerned, his qualifications spoke for themselves.

But he was in for a rough ride. “I didn't know before coming here that Canadian experience is a really important factor here,” he says.

Dolghii thought he'd find something in his field; if not a managerial position, then at least a network administrator job. But after 20 interviews in three months, all he could find was an low-paid IT support job, facing constant pressure to work night shifts and commuting two hours back and forth.

He says he was lucky to even land that job. He speaks four languages (Moldovan, Russian, English and French), which was an important qualification for an IT support role. He speaks sympathetically of other immigrants with IT skills who spent their first year working at a coffee shop.

Eventually, he found his way to Stafflink Solutions Ltd., a Toronto IT staffing firm that places many new immigrants. Fortunately for Dolghii, as it turned out, because some staffing firms don't even tell job-seekers how important experience in Canada is. He's now working on contract at CIBC in a technology support centre.

“We support internal banking software,” says Dolghii. “It's like network admin, but first-level network admin.”

Tim Collins, CEO of Stafflink, says despite Canada's multiculturalism and acceptance of different cultures, employers can be sticky on the issue of Canadian job experience. Sometimes job-seekers wind up so frustrated that give up and go home.

With the right skills and enough persistence, though, they can get their foot in the door. One of the key things to understand, says Collins, is while the technical ability might be present, there can be an adjustment phase to a new working culture.

“If they're programming in Oracle in Russia or if they're programming in Oracle in India they have the same technical skills,” he says. “The challenge is the methodologies that might be used here or the processes that are used here can differ. So, I think some of the employers, then, can be hesitant because there might be a little bit more ramp-up time or time to train those people.”

Of course, things are easier for people who have worked for large multinational companies, he adds.