When I first landed in Canada, I thought my biggest challenge would be the weather. Little did I know, finding a job would feel like an endless uphill battle. I’m pretty sure you have heard plenty of stories about the struggles an international student faces when they come to Canada.
Finding a job (part-time/ full-time), working extra hours to meet basic needs, juggling social life and student life, never ending changes in student policies, balancing out homesickness and the guilt of building a life- the list is endless.
I was in a similar place.
So how did it get better? I divided it into phases below:
1. How am I going to pay my bills?
I was completely jobless for the first 6 months in Canada and I did it all. I carried my resume wherever I went and constantly heard “we’re not hiring at the moment” or “ you don’t have any Canadian experience.”
I hit websites like Indeed, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, ZipRecruiter and so many other job boards, edited my resume according to what the job requirements were, connected with recruiters, even aced interviews but somehow the email I ended up receiving always started with “Unfortunately we are not moving forward with your application…”
So like any other person who would get frustrated, I started applying everywhere mindlessly thinking at least one of them will pick me.
Then came unsolicited advice from people and relatives. “You should try this..” or “Have you applied at..?” and my face would try to hold back a “What makes you think I didn’t?” expression.
I know they were trying to help but at some point the irritation and frustration got to my mind and evidently, I let it take over.
This went on for a very long time.
The thing is, I just wanted a part-time job to pay my bills. I wanted to divide my attention to building a career and because of the impatient person that I am, I saw this entire job market differently because I expected immediate results.
2. What can I do better?
So I took a pause for a bit and chose to break my head over how I can let people see the kind of value I bring to the table.
I started with upskilling and here’s how I did it (I’m still working on it because there’s always room to learn)
- I divided my day into two-halves : Classes during the day and worked on achieving certifications, attended webinars, courses and volunteered at night.
- Got my SmartServe.
- Shamelessly asked people for references and absorbed learnings from them.
- I made sure that I surrounded myself around people who had the same driven mindset about their future as me. (This played a part in pushing myself to do better.)
- I created a routine that helped me take care of my mental well-being and health. (a walk for 30 mins except during winters)
- Took up gigs that were unpaid but made sure my work was noticed.
In being completely honest here, I didn’t see any immediate progress no matter how many influencers I followed on LinkedIn or Instagram because everything takes time and unfortunately, nothing ran on my timeline. (factcs of life).
Instagram because everything takes time and unfortunately, nothing ran on my timeline. (facts of life)
3. Some good news! Finally but..
Moving to the Summer of 2024, I came across so many job openings and kept applying, eventually, I landed 2 jobs and 2 internships.
Now, just because I’m working doesn’t mean life got any easier. I was and still am running on a chain.
My routine was just waking up, going to work, working on Transit, TTC, the GO, coming home, going to bed and repeat.
None of which was healthy and since I acknowledged that, I chose to change my routine and added something I could look forward to when I came back home from work (yes, my bed was one of them).
It could be watching a new series or a fiction book to read and that helped.
Now just because it worked for me doesn’t mean it will work for you. I chose to actively figure out my way of improving and doing better and I’m sure you will too.
4. Okay, I’m getting paid but now what?
However, if you landed a job and are going in circles about what to do next, here’s what I did and thought of during my summer break. (financially and otherwise)
- If you can survive without it, you really don’t need to buy it.
- Save wherever you can (Eg: take lunch or snacks to work instead of spending money on Subway and Tims)
- Fix your priorities.
- Your life from your friends could be different and is completely fine if they don’t understand it.
- Take up a side hustle if you have the time- this goes a long way.
- Remember that yes, these are probably your struggles and hard days but looking ahead you will be grateful for going through all of them.
- Life on social media isn’t real so stop comparing.
5. Everything is temporary
I have no idea how I’m doing it and since these jobs are till the end of summer, I don’t know how I’m going to pay my bills but I’ll figure it out and that’s the best I can do and the only thing I can control.
So whatever you’re feeling, whether it’s stress or anxiety, it’s normal and one day you will share your experiences with someone who is just starting out their international student/ immigrant journey and feel nothing but blessed and proud of yourself for not giving up.
