Brasil News
March 11, 2009

Carlos Soares came from Sao Paul with the same objective of every other immigrant that comes to Canada to start a new life. He wanted to live in a country with a quality of life that offers good opportunities for work. He brought his family and it didn’t take long for him to encounter the real difficulties that newcomers face in the country.

Although he had a stable financial situation working in sales in Brazil, Carlos worked in cleaning and construction upon arrival. The job search in sales was only possible after a course he took through Sheridan, in partnership with a program from TRIEC.

“I came for a better quality of life and to flee violence” said Carlos. According to him, the decision to move to Toronto was because he had friends here, and that helped his integration. But getting used to a new way of living was no the most difficult obstacle.

For Carlos, the biggest obstacle was the lack of Canadian experience on his resume. “I sent out 150 resumes to diverse businesses without any answer and I got tired so I went to work in a restaurant, cleaning offices, and doing drywall and painting.”

Carlos’ labour market inclusion was only possible though Job Finding Club, a course delivered by Sheridan. “They teach you how to cater your resume to job postings and develop activities to help to boost one’s self-esteem. “ he said in reference to the Mentorship program which puts immigrants in touch with successful professionals.

The Job Finding Club lasts one month with classes once a week, but it is not the key to entering the Canadian labour market. According to Carlos, “the tools only help if the person uses the maximum effort, and the instructors talk about job search being a 24 hour job.

In the Job Finding Club and in Mentorship one of the advice given to participants is that we need to keep in mind the objective. This is because it is common that the newcomers dedicate themselves to profession that different than the one they had in the country of origin. “Just the fact that I was able to find  job in my field in an economic crisis made me happy,” said Carlos that returned to activities like sales the first day of March after an 8 month job search.

Reference: Brasil News