Korean Job Discussion Forums

[betchay]

I came across this article as I was searching for information about immigrating to Canada. I've been suggesting migrating to the country to my Korean husband, so I can get closer to my family in the US. I wonder whether the stories here are the inescapable reality for immigrants or just a few isolated incidents...

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20051119/w5_broken_promises_051119/20051121?hub=WFive

[Wangja]

I didn't read 'em all .... one was about an Iranian pharmacist who bitched about having to qualify in Canada before setting up shop as a pharmacist.

I think most would consider that a reasonable thing to have to do.

It probably applies to doctors too. I hope.

[Moldy Rutabaga]

[....]

[khyber]

if it was just a matter of "qualifying" that'd be fine...take a few tests...even take a canadian class for a year and then tests or whatever.
But, as i understand the situation (which may be TOTALY hearsay but...) doctor's certificates from abroad don't count at ALL (from some countries)...

I agree with "qualifying"...but i DON'T agree with complete disregard for training in the country of origins.

3 years is a LONG time for someone coming from another country...who would have left canada to do ANY ESL work if it woulda meant having to RETRAIN once in that native country.


the engineer gives kind of a disheartenning job as it seems to say less about "training required" and more about some more deep rooted problems in canadian professional industries....(look at what happenned to him?

in any case...it doesn't sound good for canada here

[dulouz]

I enjoy bashing Canaduh and perhaps they deserve it in this instance but as a move-about worker I've learned to make many dozens of phones calls to ensure I really do have a job or at least to elucidate my employment/business value before I move or go out on a limb like the people in the article have done. The immigrants showed poor judgement.

The Canadian gov't however, is genuinely evil. I think they just lied to these people.

[Free World]

[SarcasmKills]

It's more of a fear of losing the national healthcare in it's present form.. which is a very possible under a Harper-led government..

Americans vote their leaders based on stem-cells and gay marriage, we choose ours based on health care... whatcha gonna do?

[Bulsajo]

I didn't read the linked article I don't need to. It affects everyone, immigrants and Canadians. It's really pathetic and shameful. If you are a professional, you are encouraged to come to Canada. But they don't ever tell you that you can't actually practice your profession in Canada without taking a lot of time and spending a lot of money on re-training. Whether it's legitimate massage therapists from Korea, doctors from South Africa, Nurses from New Zealand, Phmarmacists from Iran, the story is the same. We have the best *beep* ing educated taxi and pizza delivery drivers in the world.

[RachaelRoo]

Do NOT come to Canada hoping to find opportunities and a better life. It will not work that way.
In the last few years (maybe 15 or so?) the cost of living has risen dramatically and wages have not. Taxes, such as the hated new 'Health Tax' in Ontario, only make matters much worse. Jobs are getting harder to find and the quality of jobs is frequently disappointing. Employment laws are lacking and poorly enforced.
Why would you want to come to Canada? If you just want to be closer to family in America, then go there.

I'm from Toronto (the most popular choice for new arrivals) and these stories are definitely not the exception, they are the norm.

[Octavius Hite]

The problem is not that we don't need immigrants or that we don't recognize qualifications (that is a problem but not the real one) anyone who watched the story will see that we (the Canadian system) award points based on university degrees (amongst other things). The problem is that we don't need physicists or engineers, we need truck drivers, dishwashers, oil workers etc. Add to this the fact that canada has the lowest unemployment rate in 30 years and the hottest economy in the G8 (damn those dastertly Liberals, we need the Conbservatives to screw that up and but quick) so the market for Phd's just isn't there. The government isn't lying or being racist it's just that we WANT well educated immigrants but we NEED uneducated ones.

[JongnoGuru]

I'm getting images of yellow- and brown-skinned semi-skilled labourers pumping oil, delivering pizzas, and tucking in old, anemic, white Canadians (with PhDs and dentures) at a nursing home.

[anae]

It is very difficult for skilled immigrants to work in their fields. They often need to be retrained. One of our Korean friends went back to college to obtain his accounting certification. He is now employed in that field. His wife had to volunteer as a computer programmer for a few months in order to obtain the necessary Canadian experience to land a paid job. However, another friend landed his job at a Canadian bank from Korea. My husband had internationally recognized Windows certification and was given his first opportunity by my cousin's brother in law. (My dad always said it is not what you know; it is who you know.) He has since had a few positions with various IT firms.

Canada seems to have a disconnect between their immigration policy and the opportunites or qualifications deemed necessary. I think it is shameful that we encourage educated people to move here and then tell them when they get here that they need to jump through impossible hurdles. People need to be properly qualified to practice their profession, but there is no need for a practicing doctor in India to be sitting in a first-year chemistry class.

[PEIGUY]

[Wrench]

Man I knew guys on the oil field that made twice as much as doctors. Hell some made as much as surgeons.

I know a pressure welder that made close to 150k a year. I know couple snubbers that make 70 dollars an hour.

Problem with Canada is that we are over educated, there are so many people with MA/BA that the market is saturated. What they need to do is start weeding out more people for unies.

I truly believe that people need to get recertified in Canada. I've met so many shity foreign doctors I don't know how they got the med licence to practice in Canada.

[Bulsajo]