Featured

 🔨 Alberta is paying skilled trades professionals $5,000 to move to the province. It hopes to lure 2,000 skilled trades workers away from BC, Ontario & Quebec. Last year it succeeded in bringing 55,000 new residents from other provinces. This year it hopes to attract the most in-demand professions by offering higher wages, the lowest taxes in Canada, and somewhat affordable ( for now) housing. (CityNews)

Opportunity: If you’ve felt the struggles of the job market, looking for the best opportunity to move to Canada and are interested in Skilled Trades professions, this is YOUR SIGN.

For a full list of professions that qualify for this bonus check this link (Alberta is Calling)

🥕 This month, a part of Canada is boycotting Loblaws. The country’s oligopolistic grocery chain has been posting record profits, while most Canadians are struggling to afford food. The grocery chain has been caught in price gouging and lack of transparency and people are fed up. (Globe and Mail)

Context: Loblaws owns about 29% of Canadian grocery chain market. This boycott aims to bring more traffic to local small grocery shops and further emphasize the pressing issue of lack of competition in Canada. A recent report has shown that nearly 8.7 million Canadians live in food-insecure households.

 🇪🇺 Europe is following Canada’s suit in rebounding from a recession. Germany, the euro zone's largest economy, returned to growth in the first quarter with a bigger than expected expansion. Spain and France have also shown healthy numbers growing slightly faster than expected (Reuters)

⛑️ International student work hours cap is back. Starting September 2024, the international students cap will be brought back to pre-pandemic levels. Students will only be allowed to work 24 hours a week. This change comes amid other changes the government is making to slow down on aggressive immigration numbers. (CTV)

🎩 Career Tips

80% of jobs are available through the hidden job market.

To tap into the hidden job market, networking is key. The best of the best in networking don’t look for work - work comes to them.

The thing is, Canadian employers are conservative and prefer hiring those who they can trust. You can build that trust and reputation through:

• creating value for others

• previous successful projects

• colleagues and managers, who you’ve had a positive experience with

Look at Hollywood. Directors hire all the same actors they have worked with before. Martin Scorsese often works with Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, Tim Burton loves working with Johnny Depp and the success of the duo of Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy won them both Oscars this year.

If you do your job well and spread the word about it, you will be invited to the best gigs.

If you are a newcomer, networking is even more important. Many newcomers feel shy or anxious when it comes to reaching out to people they don’t know or never worked with.

But there is no need to feel anxious. Networking is a norm in Canada. Even a simple small talk can lead to building meaningful professional connections. You are expected to reach out to people, talk about yourself and the value you can bring. Capitalistic societies are built on a value exchange: knowledge, resources, money.

You can start networking here:

• LinkedIn

• Professional communities (eg Professional Engineers Ontario)

• Job fairs & conferences (Industry or profession specific)

• Facebook groups and Reddit channels (your home country communities and newcomer communities like ours can be a great place to start)

Have you heard about the 6 handshake rule? Any person you want to reach, is just 6 handshakes away. There is always a way to reach someone who can give you a solid lead to a job opportunity.

Where should you start? LINKEDIN

1. Get a LinkedIn profile and get a professional looking picture with a neutral background

2. Fill in your education and experience sections to help the algorithm connect you with people you may know

3. Join professional communities in your industry in your province or city

4. Follow companies where you would like to work

5. Follow recruiting agencies and recruiters hiring in your field

Next e-mail, we will share how to reach out to strangers though LinkedIn in a way that can help you get the references you need.

🍰 Timbits

• World’s richest investor is eyeing Canada as his next investment (What would it be?)

• TD bank stock dropped 8% and is facing $2B fines due to money laundering and drug trafficking allegations (US probe)

• The most expensive house in Canada just dropped its price (Twice)

• 1 million Canadian seniors just got free Dental Coverage (what’s included)

• Niagara Falls named the best tourist attraction in Canada (who’s surprised?)

• Here’s the top cooking recipes from the First Nations (Yum)

 💵 Deep Dive

The biggest mistake taxpayers make with their tax refunds is impulsively splurging on unnecessary expenses as soon as the money comes in.

Here’s how to approach the extra cash this month:

💼 Job Highlights

📍Capital Power, Alberta-based power producer, has several roles open in Accounting and Technician department in Alberta and Ontario.

📍CEVA Logistics, a global freight and supply-chain firm with facilities in Ontario and Quebec, is hiring for several roles in logistics, facility operations, procurement and dispatch.

📍Toronto and Region Conversation Authority is hiring for a number roles like Park Attendant, Hydrogeologist, Field Staff.

They also have a number of summer jobs available: Lifeguards, Camp Counsellors, Park Maintenance staff, and Engineering and Restoration Services team members.

📍Bushell Transport, a family-operated freight trucking company in Alberta is hiring for mechanics/technicians.

📍 Enerflex, an international sustainable infrastructure firm, is hiring for numerous positions in Field service technicians, engineering, analytics and project coordination.

Audodesk, a world-class design software behind AutoCAD, Maya, 3Ds Max, has 100+ positions open in Canada in Program & Product Management, Development an UX Design.

Which industries do you want to see more job postings for? Respond to this email to let us know.

AI Cartoon of the Week

Submit your AI Cartoon Prompts by responding to this email!