How I Got a Job in Canada

I learned about SOPA thanks to a message board last year and saved the link in my favorites before even receiving my immigration visa. When I received a notification from IRCC to submit my passports, I went ahead and created an account with SOPA. I only wish I joined SOPA earlier and took all of the offered courses.

It was February 2016, I had my first online session with Andreea Glavan who patiently answered all of my questions and sent me an extensive list with useful links which I started using right away. I was planning to land in Ottawa, the nation’s capital, and so she sent me all relevant information about the city and useful services for immigrants.

When I enrolled in Job Search Strategies (JSS) online course, I was lucky to have Nery Munoz as my facilitator, as she was always ready to give me extensive feedback and reply to my numerous questions about how to tailor my resume and cover letter. Thanks to participating in the course and completing all of the assignments in a timely manner, I was able to understand what an employer is expecting from me as an employee and I  I tried to work on my resume so that it also reflected skills the employer was looking for. I actively used Indeed.ca for my job search, set up notification alerts with specific keywords for jobs in Ottawa, which I still keep receiving on a daily basis. Before arriving to Canada, I applied to around 60 jobs and received invitations for an interview from several of them. Currently I’m working at the Ottawa-based IT company, which replied to my resume while I was in my homeland.

I landed in June and within the first weeks of my arrival, I had a chance to meet the Ontario SOPA team in Ottawa. I was also lucky to meet people behind the SOPA program from various provinces of Canada and share my experience as an end-user who benefited from the program.

I would highly recommend participating in the SOPA Program, especially JSS and Canadian Workplace Integration as they would help you to arrive prepared to Canada and would provide you with necessary tools, thanks to which you will succeed in your new home.

I wish all of the newcomers good luck in their preparations and thank the whole SOPA team, especially Nery and Andreea, for being always there for me and other new immigrants to Canada.

– Temur Davronov

SOPA Ontario Client