Kari Karlsbjerg's "Canadian Employment Culture" column reports every Wednesday in the Korea IT Times. First of all, the four-part coverage of the serial column for 'Month One' is as follows.
1. Series Introduction and Building Your IT Career in Canada
2. The IT Job Market in Canada
3. Professional Credential Evaluation First Step
4. How’s Your Spoken English?
Have you always dreamed about working in IT in Canada? Making this dream a reality is the purpose of this Korea IT News series. The weekly articles will provide you with the practical information you need to make this next important step in your career.
Having overseas experience has always been a very valuable component of any career progression, and there has never been a better time to find work in the Canadian IT industry.
According to a study done by the recruiting company Randstad in 2019, the rapid expansion of Canada’s tech sector has made it the fastest growing industry in the country.
In addition, Toronto has recently been named the fastest-growing market for tech jobs in the world with even more positions available than in the famous Silicon Valley in California. Big tech companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook have noticed and have been expanding their presence in Canada.
Canada has “established itself as an early leader in emerging tech specialties such as AI, clean tech and cloud services” (Randstad, 2019). However, this rapid growth is making it increasingly challenging for employers to find the tech employees it needs to meet the demand.
Therefore, if you have tech and IT skills and experience, you will find many interesting positions available. As of December 2019, these are the top eight positions ranked by employer demand in Canada:
1. developer/programmer
2. system administrator
3. IT project manager
4. QA analyst
5. data analyst
6. IT business analyst
7. help desk analyst
8. IT manager
However, there are many steps to navigate between finding an IT position in Canada and obtaining it. The process of finding and applying for a position in Canada is quite different than in Korea. There are also significant cultural differences between Canadian and Korean workplaces that you need to be prepared for. This series will get you ready with the practical information you need for finding, applying, and successfully interviewing for a new IT position in Canada.
In addition, we will orient you to the customs and culture of the Canadian workplace and important communication skills needed to succeed and thrive on the job. Finally, the series will look at developing your career network, finding new opportunities and career promotion that will take your career in Canada to the next level.
Through extensive research, interviews with IT and HR professionals and our own extensive experience assisting newcomers from Korea, this series will prepare you to reach your goal of gaining international IT work experience in Canada.
About the Author
Kari Karlsbjerg is an author of the best-selling bilingual guidebook, Everyday Vancouver, which contains all the practical cultural information and resources Korean newcomers need for life in Vancouver, Canada. Also, Karlsbjerg is the author of two bestselling books in Canada and China: "My New Life in Vancouver "and "Vancouver 365" which are bilingual (English and Mandarin).
