Top 10 hot jobs sectors in Canada for UK jobseekers

UK unemployment figures for April 2013 revealed that 2.56 million people were out of work – 7.9 per cent of the working population. Many people are looking elsewhere for job opportunities and because other European countries continue to have their own unemployment problems, increasingly jobseekers are turning their attention to North America and in particular pursuing job vacancies in Canada.

Specific sectors of the Canadian job market are experiencing growth and it is these areas that are attracting skilled UK workers.

Energy

With 2.3 projected job openings for every jobseeker by 2020, job vacancies in Canada for mining, oil and gas supervisors are likely to be most in demand, particularly in the oil-rich areas such as Fort McMurray in Alberta.

Construction

One of the fastest growing job markets in the country, Canada is in need of able construction workers, especially welders and electricians, and construction managers. As a result of the current shortage of skilled labour, Canadian immigration has been targeting British workers.

Information technology

Technology continues to advance rapidly and jobs in IT are plentiful for those with the right knowledge and up to date skills. Online business and industry specialist Canadian Business ranks software engineers and computer engineers among the top 30 jobs in 2013 in terms of projected growth and salary levels of employees.

Manufacturing

Although some types of manufacturing have seen a decline in recent years, there are plenty of job vacancies in Canada for those in engineering, including aerospace engineers, civil engineers, mechanical engineers and industrial technicians.

Catering

Canada is a popular tourist destination – in 2011 there were 15.6 million international visitors and the UK represented Canada’s largest inbound overseas market. For this reason, jobs in catering in hotels and restaurants are popular among British workers.

Leisure and hospitality

Linked to the growing hospitality industry, foreign workers often are able to find jobs with a difference as skiing instructors in the Canadian Rockies or at the country’s most popular resort in Whistler, British Columbia.

Railways

Jobs for railway and transportation supervisors already feature in the Canadian Business list of top 50 jobs and the number of vacancies is set to increase in 2020, when there will be 1.24 job openings for everyone seeking employment in the field.

Health services

Head nurses and healthcare managers are second on the list of the current top 50 jobs and by 2020 they are still in the frame with qualified candidates very much in demand. People who are trained dental hygienists will also fare well in terms of both immediate and projected requirements.

Education

Surprisingly, teaching is not a transferable occupation, as Canadian regulations require certification from the province in which a teaching vacancy is advertised. This means foreign teachers have to retrain at a Canadian university to be able to teach. However, jobs in education administration at all levels are predicted to grow and are well paid.

Entrepreneurs

In January this year the Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister, Jason Kenney, announced a new programme to recruit innovative immigrant entrepreneurs to help stimulate the economy. The new Start-Up Visa Program supports skilled individuals to set up their own businesses, providing lots of opportunities for imaginative entrepreneurs in many different fields.

This article was contributed by Jobmanji – a  job search engine in Canada. 

Fuelling your career abroad

Fuel your energy, mining or engineering career by meeting overseas employers

Open any newspaper (or more likely these days, browse online via your favourite Apple device) and you’ll see the energy, mining and engineering industries are booming around the world. Fuelled by global demand for resources; government investment in infrastructure; or – in the very specific case of Christchurch, New Zealand – an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rebuild a city, these industries are thriving.

Yet they’re also suffering from acute skill shortages, due in part to an ageing workforce beginning its downshift to retirement or a lack of students being enticed to train. Increasingly, those countries affected – such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand – are looking overseas to fill these skill gaps. Internationally recognised qualifications coupled with world-class experience means employers from these countries are keen to meet skilled professionals from overseas.

Explore your overseas opportunities

This November, you can meet a range of energy, mining and engineering industry employers at the Opportunities Overseas Expos in South Africa (Johannesburg) plus the UK and Ireland (London, Dublin, Aberdeen and Manchester).

You could meet Cameco. They’re a leading uranium producer from Canada who’ll be at the Jo’burg expo, looking to recruit construction managers (mining), senior metallurgists, senior project managers and senior engineers. EMS Recruitment and the Present Group from Australia will also be in Jo’burg, seeking senior mining engineers and head geotechnical engineers, amongst other roles.

Brierty Contractors from Australia will be in London and Manchester searching for civil project engineers and managers and quantity surveyors, plus more.

New Zealand opportunities include OMV New Zealand – a leading oil and gas producer based in the beautiful Taranaki region – who’ll be visiting London and Aberdeen. There’s also Truck Investments Group in Dublin and Manchester, looking for ready mixed concrete delivery drivers and heavy goods vehicle mechanics, amongst others.

Finally, if you’d like to be part of the Christchurch rebuild, come along and meet representatives from the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team. Leading multi-national companies Beca, Downer and Opus will be in London, Manchester and Dublin offering engineering and construction roles in Christchurch and throughout New Zealand.

Find out more

More job roles and further details of the industries represented at the Opportunities Overseas Expos, plus event dates and locations, can be found at Working In Events.

What is FIFO?

Fly in Fly Out – or FIFO as it is more commonly referred to – is a method of employing people for remote country locations which is very commonly used in Western Australia. As an alternative to relocating entire families to often remote locations, the employee is flown to the work site for a number of days, and then flown home again.

Why FIFO?

Employers prefer their workers to be FIFO as the cost of transporting employees to site is far less than it would be to build, maintain and develop long term communities. Employees may prefer the FIFO opportunity as their families are often reluctant to relocate to small towns in remote areas.

What should I expect?

Mine Workers in Australia

Rosters dictate how long you are on site, and how long you are home. Most rosters offered are 4 weeks on site and 1 week at home – 4:1 however these rosters vary depending on the project and the site.

Usually a FIFO position involves working a shift of 10 hours each day for a number of continuous days. When on site, you will be supplied with all meals, accommodation, house-keeping – some camps also offer swimming pools, tennis courts, gyms, cable TV and unlimited internet as a way of attracting and retaining skilled staff.

Read on for more on what’s driving the industry here in Australia and how you can get your FIFO job:

Could Australian heavy construction projects be the opportunity you are looking for?

Conveyors at the Newman Hub processing centre

Australia currently has tremendous job opportunities on some the biggest heavy construction projects wordlwide.

Within the construction industry the term “heavy” refers to items produced such as iron ore, coal, oil and gas etc. Owners of heavy construction projects are usually large, for-profit, industrial corporations. These corporations can be found in such industries as Infrastructure, power transmission and distribution, metallurgical and material handling, oil and gas, chemical, power generation, mineral processing etc.

Heavy construction projects require a team of qualified individuals to ensure successful project completion. Specifically, in the fields of mechanical and structural engineering, project management, construction management, quality surveying, Health Safety & Environmental and quality assurance management. In Australia majority of heavy construction projects are located in regional areas ‘outback Australia’ therefore, fly in and fly out (FIFO) rosters have been adopted as a method of employment.

Read on for details on some of the biggest current projects here in Australia:

Skill shortages in Oz & NZ

Hi again!

Great to see so many of you (9,210 altogether!) visiting us at our Opportunities Overseas Expos in London and Manchester last month, and at our Energy, Mining & Engineering expo in Aberdeen. There’s lots of great talent out there, and many of you who came along are now going through the recruitment process and getting ready for the next exciting step of your journey.

Next up, we’ll be bringing employers from NZ, Australia and Peru to Canada for the Energy, Mining & Engineering International Jobs Expo in May, so what better time to look at the areas of skill shortage, and find out just who’s in demand at the moment.

The Aussie mining boom
Everyone’s heard about the mining boom in Aussie, so it’s no surprise to find that main areas of skill shortage are connected to the mining and oil & gas sector. With a whopping US$229 billion (AU$232 billion) of committed gas projects in the pipeline, Australia has a critical shortage of experienced engineers, tradespeople and construction workers to staff up its raft of mega projects.

Calling all Senior Engineers!
Engineering shortages are biting especially hard, as major mining projects, including the massive AU$43 billion Gorgon project, exhaust the local labour supply. Australia’s national engineering body, Engineers Australia, has predicted that the country’s engineering workforce will need to double just to keep pace with the rapid development, so if you have engineering skills – especially at a senior level – you’ll be very much in demand!

Some of the roles that Aussie employers are recruiting for in Canada include well, reservoir & petroleum engineers; principal, civil, mechanical & process engineers; drilling supervisors; hydrologists; project directors and managers; health & safety managers and engineering managers.

Other energy/infrastructure specialists in demand include transmission line practitioners, waste water and water planning engineers,  site supervisors, environmental advisors and senior planners. 

Skill shortages in New Zealand
In New Zealand, the skills shortages may not be quite as intense, but the country’s growing energy sector is still short of skilled professionals, with mining specialists, engineers and geologists high on the list of those most in demand. The Christchurch rebuild is also putting the squeeze on the labour market, with engineers and skilled trades already in demand – a shortfall of up to 30,000 workers has already been forecast during the 10-20 year rebuild period.

Some of the roles that NZ employers are recruiting for at the Canada expos include mining, petroleum, geotechnical & field engineers; technical services and production superintendents; and exploration & mine geologists. Within the energy/power sector, there are roles for project engineers & managers, power system analysts, electrical network engineers, electricity asset managers, engineering analysts and substation design engineers.

Come & see us in Canada
So, if you’re in Canada, and you’re working in the oil & gas, energy, engineering or infrastructure sectors, come along and check out the jobs available in Oz & NZ (we’ll also have some jobs in Peru – again, mining-related roles including heavy diesel mechanics and truck operators!). 

We’ll be touching down in the three Canadian cities in 2012: Calgary (5-6 May) at the Calgary TELUS Convention Centre; Vancouver (9 May) at the Hyatt Regency and Edmonton (12-13 May) at the Mayfield Inn & Suites.

Where to book
You can find out more about companies attending and the roles being recruited for at:
www.workingin.com/eme

CALGARY | BOOK NOW
VANCOUVER | BOOK NOW
EDMONTON | BOOK NOW

Hope to see you there!