New immigrant, New challenges

My name is Nitinkumar and I have immigrated from India. Before I moved to BC, I have been working at Subway as a Restaurant supervisor in Saskatchewan. After working for one and a half years in Restaurant, I moved to BC and want to start my career in Accounting again. But, the first month was very hard as throughout the month I was unable to find a job as I had no Canadian work experience in the field.

I was on the verge of losing my hopes when a friend of mine suggested contacting WorkBC Surrey-Newton for employment services. So, I booked an appointment and on the very first day, I got to see my employment counsellor, who guided me on how I should proceed with a detailed action plan and also explained the wage subsidy program offered by WorkBC. Luckily, just two days later I got a call from an employer for an interview. However, the employer was looking for someone who has some experience in Canada.

That is when WorkBC’s wage subsidy program helped me land my job in the company, as this program not only supports the employees but also helps employers by providing some financial assistance, while the employer provides the training to the employee.

Now that I have found employment, I did not have the time to take the remaining workshops as per my action plan, but I wanted to attend a few more, especially interview skills, and learn how to network. These workshops were a great help for me and a great tool to understand the local labour market and how to make targeted resumes. WorkBC offered me these workshops online through Moodle so I can continue to gain the tools and resources offered by WorkBC while I am also working full time.

 In the end, I would say that WorkBC is a helpful tool for newcomers and especially for those who are shifting their careers to a different field. A big thank you to the WorkBC Team, especially my counsellor who explained everything in depth.