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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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silkhighway
Joined: 24 Oct 2010
Location: Canada
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 Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 11:46 am Post subject: |
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| Weigookin74 wrote: |
| OBwannabe wrote: |
OP, what degree do you have? Anything that would help you break into some industry here in Calgary?
Like anywhere...networking can get you a long way. Depends on personality. What kind of work would you like to do if you had a choice? |
Nothing special. A basic Business Degree. I did some bank related call center jobs briefly, some restaurant management, and some inventory, along with other odd jobs. Just noticed really low unemployment in Calgary. That's why I had wondered. Living in the maritimes and never being able to break in kind of gives you an esteem issue. Korea was good and is still ok. But I worry about what the place will be like in a few years. I had kept hoping things would turn around here, which is dependant on the US economy. But that doesn't appear to be happening anytime soon. I have emailed with the accounting profession in Alberta. But will need to do some further studies and take some weekend course they offer too. Not sure if that's an avenue or something else business or financial related. But, I won't start anything until I'm debt free. |
You'll definitely get work. It just really depends on what you're willing to do. It might take a year or two to go from "a job" to an entry-level career, but I can't imagine any salaried employee making less than 45K/yr in Alberta. It's a province overflowing with opportunity but it's also very expensive, so you'll need to make that and more. That said, given median household incomes, Calgary is a much more affordable city than Vancouver or Toronto. |
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OBwannabe
Joined: 16 Feb 2008
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| Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 1:17 pm Post subject: |
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| silkhighway wrote: |
| Weigookin74 wrote: |
| OBwannabe wrote: |
OP, what degree do you have? Anything that would help you break into some industry here in Calgary?
Like anywhere...networking can get you a long way. Depends on personality. What kind of work would you like to do if you had a choice? |
Nothing special. A basic Business Degree. I did some bank related call center jobs briefly, some restaurant management, and some inventory, along with other odd jobs. Just noticed really low unemployment in Calgary. That's why I had wondered. Living in the maritimes and never being able to break in kind of gives you an esteem issue. Korea was good and is still ok. But I worry about what the place will be like in a few years. I had kept hoping things would turn around here, which is dependant on the US economy. But that doesn't appear to be happening anytime soon. I have emailed with the accounting profession in Alberta. But will need to do some further studies and take some weekend course they offer too. Not sure if that's an avenue or something else business or financial related. But, I won't start anything until I'm debt free. |
You'll definitely get work. It just really depends on what you're willing to do. It might take a year or two to go from "a job" to an entry-level career, but I can't imagine any salaried employee making less than 45K/yr in Alberta. It's a province overflowing with opportunity but it's also very expensive, so you'll need to make that and more. That said, given median household incomes, Calgary is a much more affordable city than Vancouver or Toronto. |
I agree with Silk....with a business degree you will do well with some hard work and networking. It may take time...but that's what paying your dues is all about. In terms of work, Alberta is the land of opportunity. Until the price of crude drops that is. |
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silkhighway
Joined: 24 Oct 2010
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 1:34 pm Post subject: |
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| OBwannabe wrote: |
I agree with Silk....with a business degree you will do well with some hard work and networking. It may take time...but that's what paying your dues is all about. In terms of work, Alberta is the land of opportunity. Until the price of crude drops that is. |
It may be oil that is driving the growth in Alberta, but Calgary and Edmonton have probably the most diverse economies in Canada. If you are not directly tied to the oil & gas industry, you'll be fine. And if you are, you'll be fine too but just more in a boom/bust cycle. This is assuming we don't see some major innovative and disruptive technology replacing fossil fuels in the next thirty years, which is not likely. |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 3:13 pm Post subject: |
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| silkhighway wrote: |
As a castaway urbanite in a Western town myself, I can relate to one's gripes about Calgary..actually more so. I'm a solid 5 hour drive away from the nearest city bigger than 100K. However when it comes down to it..I love my job in a career I never would have walked into off the street in Toronto or Vancouver and I'm building a solid life here. I can either gripe all day about the lack of amenities, culture, bad weather, etc., or I can do my best to take advantage of what this place has to offer. There's awesome hiking, camping, swimming -- it has it's moments of beauty here in it's own way.
It's a mistake going from Seoul to Podunk town Canada and expecting that life could be the same..it can't. I think people even find Toronto and Vancouver slow after a stint in Korea. |
I find Atlanta bloody painful after Korea, and it's supposedly one of the more exciting cities in North America. Something about soju, maybe. |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 3:52 pm Post subject: |
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| silkhighway wrote: |
| It may be oil that is driving the growth in Alberta, but Calgary and Edmonton have probably the most diverse economies in Canada. If you are not directly tied to the oil & gas industry, you'll be fine. |
Really? Really taking in the Alberta propaganda? I'm from there and I've got to disagree... lol
One way or another most businesses are tied to Oil in Alberta. If not directly, they are catering to it. Luckily they have like a 100 year cushion, but I'll be long dead by then, but after that I dread to see what my home province will be like. |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 3:55 pm Post subject: |
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| I think what he might mean is that you don't have to focus on the oil and gas industry, per se. Car sales, gyms, restaurants, etc... They all benefit from oil money, but it's not like you need O&G skills to work there. |
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silkhighway
Joined: 24 Oct 2010
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 7:24 pm Post subject: |
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| Captain Corea wrote: |
| I think what he might mean is that you don't have to focus on the oil and gas industry, per se. Car sales, gyms, restaurants, etc... They all benefit from oil money, but it's not like you need O&G skills to work there. |
Right. And also that a lot of the infrastructure and development built on oil revenues isn't likely to go away. In a time when oil prices slump, Fort Mac might become a ghost-town, but Edmonton and Calgary will likely remain financial, transportation and distribution hubs, and home to many corporate headquarters. |
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OBwannabe
Joined: 16 Feb 2008
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| Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 9:15 pm Post subject: |
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If oil slumps...it's felt everywhere eventually.
Jobs are lost...houses are being sold. People move away for work and the price of housing drops. It happened in the 80's and can happen again.
Education sector will suffer too. |
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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 9:23 pm Post subject: |
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| OBwannabe wrote: |
If oil slumps...it's felt everywhere eventually.
Jobs are lost...houses are being sold. People move away for work and the price of housing drops. It happened in the 80's and can happen again.
Education sector will suffer too. |
Maybe Trudeau, part II, will come into his own and bring back the "National Energy Program". Deja Vu? Calgary shrinking? Ha ha. |
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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 9:28 pm Post subject: |
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| I think if I walked around Calgary praising the national energy program, I'd probably get lynched. Doh! |
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silkhighway
Joined: 24 Oct 2010
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 9:30 pm Post subject: |
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| OBwannabe wrote: |
If oil slumps...it's felt everywhere eventually.
Jobs are lost...houses are being sold. People move away for work and the price of housing drops. It happened in the 80's and can happen again.
Education sector will suffer too. |
Yes, but two things. The economies of Calgary and Edmonton are much more diverse now than they were 30 years ago, and two, you could say that about any industry in any location. Look at the slump in manufacturing in Ontario. Toronto and Ottawa are still desirable places to live, but Ontario as a whole is having a rough go of it right now. |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 10:29 pm Post subject: |
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| silkhighway wrote: |
| OBwannabe wrote: |
If oil slumps...it's felt everywhere eventually.
Jobs are lost...houses are being sold. People move away for work and the price of housing drops. It happened in the 80's and can happen again.
Education sector will suffer too. |
Yes, but two things. The economies of Calgary and Edmonton are much more diverse now than they were 30 years ago, and two, you could say that about any industry in any location. Look at the slump in manufacturing in Ontario. Toronto and Ottawa are still desirable places to live, but Ontario as a whole is having a rough go of it right now. |
I'll admit they are more diverse than 30 years ago, but...
I'd say the key for Alberta is try to attract as many immigrants as possible. It 's usually immigrants that run those little shops, and hopefully a handful of them have children that start the foundations of world-beating companies all based in Alberta. Actually anywhere in Canada. Good luck trying to get a Korean to name a house-hold Canadian company, cause there are none. |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 11:37 pm Post subject: |
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| Weigookin74 wrote: |
| I think if I walked around Calgary praising the national energy program, I'd probably get lynched. Doh! |
Yeah, when I was young, the name Trudeau would always be followed by curses and spitting - he was frakkin despised. To this day, it always catches me off guard to hear a French Canadian speak in my hometown (with the obvious accent). |
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Ginormousaurus
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
Location: 700 Ft. Pulpit
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| Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 10:01 am Post subject: |
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| silkhighway wrote: |
| Captain Corea wrote: |
| I think what he might mean is that you don't have to focus on the oil and gas industry, per se. Car sales, gyms, restaurants, etc... They all benefit from oil money, but it's not like you need O&G skills to work there. |
Right. And also that a lot of the infrastructure and development built on oil revenues isn't likely to go away. In a time when oil prices slump, Fort Mac might become a ghost-town, but Edmonton and Calgary will likely remain financial, transportation and distribution hubs, and home to many corporate headquarters. |
People don't realize just how massive the oilsands operations are. There are hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars invested up here. Oil prices would have to slump for several years before companies would cut their losses and abandon the Mac. Things can slow down of course (eg. expansions put on hold, etc.), but the oil is still going to flow. Long-time players in the oilsands have been around 40+ years and have weathered the cycles even when the highs of the past were way lower than anything we're likely to see again. |
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Ginormousaurus
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
Location: 700 Ft. Pulpit
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| Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 10:03 am Post subject: |
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| Weigookin74 wrote: |
| Maybe Trudeau, part II, will come into his own and bring back the "National Energy Program". Deja Vu? Calgary shrinking? Ha ha. |
Oh no you di'int!  |
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