Job Hunting Resources - Calgary and Surrounds

As is the case all over the world at present, Canada is working its way through an economic downturn. Here in Alberta, we are not insulated from that although we do find that the attitude of your typical Albertan and the media here is relatively positive, compared to what we heard from the UK media when we were back there on holiday recently.

Eamonn felt it might be useful for those coming to Alberta if he did a bit of research on job hunting resources. In this task, he received tremendous support from McBride Career Group Inc...
McBride Career Group
McBride are contracted by the provincial government to provide services that...
a) assist the unemployed in accessing meaningful employment opportunities,
b) assist working Albertans in their career development goals and
c) support employers in the hiring, training, development and retention of capable employees.

McBride's contacts page details offices across Alberta, but including Calgary, Okotoks (on Elizabeth St) and High River (12th Ave SE)...
McBride Contacts

One way in which McBride can help is to critique your resume with a view to helping you sharpen its appeal to Albertan employers. They also run workshops that help with this.

For those yet to arrive in this part of the world (who therefore cannot meet with McBride representatives face to face), they directed me towards a couple of great resume writing resources...

A Resume Checklist ...and Resume Templates and Examples ...and what looks like a fantastic resource for those NOT yet in Canada...the opportunity to have your resume reviewed by a career counsellor after submitting it online

More generally, there are links to a myriad of employment related top-tips sheets.
Top-Tips

There is a wealth of information on job hunting in the excellent booklet...Advanced Techniques for Work Search

Also, the Working In Alberta booklet has lots of useful information aimed at those newly arrived in the Province or planning to move here to work.

Turning to resources elsewhere, as many folk know, we have posted extensively on the BritishExpats website. This features an excellent WIKI which has much good advice on job hunting.
Job Hunting Instructions
Job Hunting - Canada

The Calgary Catholic Immigration Society (CCIS) also have links to lots of useful resources...
CCIS

IF you need to consider having your qualifications assessed for equivalency in Canada, the International Qualifications Assessment Service (IQAS) can help.
An alternative is World Education Services...WES

Both of these take a considerable number of weeks to process your assessments and this may involve you in contacting a variety of educational establishments, so DO THIS WELL IN ADVANCE of you needing the outcome for job applications. Note also that these are both chargeable services.

For those coming to Alberta to practice a trade.
Trade Secrets
Within this site, you can learn about the varying certification requirements for different trades
A to Z of Certifiable Trades

We hope these resources are useful for you.

Kind regards,

J&E