Canada InfoNet participant Jasmine talks about her immigration journey, job hunting in Canada, and what online mentoring did for her.

Hello, my name is Jasmine and I landed in Canada in July 2022.

I started my permanent resident application back in my home country, Malaysia in early 2020. Due to Covid-19, I lived with both hope and anxiety each day waiting for my application to be approved. On one hand, I was excited to start a new life in Canada and live the Canadian dream; on the other hand, I was afraid that my application would be rejected.  I was over the moon when I finally received the approval in March 2022.  This was soon followed by anxiety over the big move to a country I had not been to, halfway across the globe and I threw myself into conducting research to prepare myself. While going through an immigration blog, I came across pre-arrival services and registered with Canada InfoNet.

Having a Ph.D. in Biotechnology, I have a background as a University lecturer, and have worked with the Government on policies and with business chambers. I was keen to be employed in a similar field in Canada.

I was greeted warmly by the staff at Canada InfoNet and was assigned to an employment counsellor. We started with an introduction call and worked on an action plan to prepare me for my arrival in Canada. We communicated frequently through email, and when I had doubts, I knew I had someone to approach for information. The pre-arrival services by Canada InfoNet benefitted me the most in terms of the guidance on Canadian-style resume and cover letter writing.

My tip to those of you who wish to apply for a job in Canada, is just make sure that you communicate and seek advice from your employment counsellor before sending out your cover letter and resume. This is very important as employers are very concerned about the formatting style. As I was planning to land in B.C I registered with S.U.C.C.E.S.S  B.C as well and found their webinars very helpful.

Another service that Canada InfoNet offered me was the mentoring program and I was assigned to Benjamin as my mentor. My mentor was an approachable and knowledgeable person, he guided me on Canadian-style resume writing and interview tips, shared his migration story and tips on how he landed his current job.

The greatest impact that he made was his encouragement that kept me motivated and positive throughout my preparation stage. He taught me that for most immigrants, at first, life in Canada may be different from what is expected but I have to persevere and keep moving forward to get my dream job and continue towards my goal that brought me to Canada. I am really glad that I participated in this program. I still keep in touch with Benjamin on LinkedIn and it is our plan to meet each other in person someday. Hence, I urge all the newcomers to talk to their assigned employment counsellor, share your needs/ plans and register for the mentoring program if possible.

Wishing you a smooth and safe landing, take care.