• zephyreks
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    1 year ago

    Canada is really attractive, but most immigrants think Canada is made up solely of Toronto and Vancouver.

    • shannduin
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      1 year ago

      It’s because the jobs are concentrated in those areas. Yes, other provinces have some work but relative to Toronto and Vancouver it’s pretty light. I got lucky and moved to Kitchener last year, but what i really wanna do is live on Vancouver Island. Some day!

      • zephyreks
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        1 year ago

        Remote work showed that offices can be pretty much anywhere.

        • MyNameIsSkittles
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          1 year ago

          Most immigrants coming into the country won’t be able to secure a fully remote job right off the bat. Most need Canadian work experience first before getting anything but an entry level customer service job

        • shannduin
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          1 year ago

          Many companies are walking back their permissive remote work policies which adds a layer of uncertainty for immigrants when considering living outside of an urban centre.

          • corsicanguppy
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            1 year ago

            Many companies are walking back their permissive remote work policies

            I interviewed today. I told the guy that the Commute policy WILL drive the costs up, as I’ll want that separate add-on to cover the policy, like a CoLA clause. The math is simple, and will work out to a bit of a bump per day if that day is mandated onsite.

            But they’re competing against a job I have that is paying X and the “100% remote” is in the contract in plain language, among other factors. I feel for them, as it’ll be harder to get actual talent like the astounding people I work with, when all they can offer is some cruel dotcom wage-slave term set. (according to my spreadsheet, it’s gonna be double just to make par).

            Rule1: Always charge 'em until ya like 'em.

            • shannduin
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              1 year ago

              Yeah, I wish companies would get their heads out of their butts and realize that people were just as productive working remotely as they were in the office for most jobs. We live in a world of distributed teams! Even at my company, my team is in Seattle, Mountainview, Sydney, and Boston! It logically makes no sense anymore to mandate in-office work, yet they’re doing it because they always have

          • zephyreks
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            1 year ago

            Sure, but it means that companies can start looking to expand into cheaper urban centers.

            • corsicanguppy
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              1 year ago

              it means that companies can start looking to expand into cheaper

              Yeah, everyone gets that it’s a benefit to the employer to run with WFH staff, but it’s often a struggle for old-school manager who validate their existence through home-room attendance. My current employer had to re-up a contract during CoViD, and the only change was a pay bump to handle inflation and “100% WFH” (in legalese).

              And the employer sold the desks - sometimes to staff - and released the space it was renting. So easy. One guy is onsite to receive Fedex, and there’s a few ‘hotel’ desks that see regular use.

              • zephyreks
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                1 year ago

                It’s not even just WFH staff: instead of having expensive office space and high COL, you can pay less and rent an office in Saskatoon.

                • corsicanguppy
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                  1 year ago

                  That’s a very good point. For the footprint you must have, it lets a company choose to relo to a place that can use the tax revenue and looks far better on paper.

                  … but then the ‘100% remote’ clause needs to be etched into stone, lest the management decide to “just” pull everyone back in to an office far away from their current home or abandon their jobs!

                  But yeah, the cost of office space in the flat land is potentially so much lower, that I’m surprised smarter people than me at business - and there’s a lot - haven’t jumped on the opportunity to improve shareholder value or something by a relo to some place better.

                  • zephyreks
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                    1 year ago

                    The smarter people don’t want to work in Saskatoon, unfortunately

      • dirkgentle
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        1 year ago

        To add to that, most immigrants coming through the skilled worker’s programs work in specialized professions that are heavily concentrated around major urban centers.

        If you look at the cut-off points for the last two years, the trend has been really high, mostly focusing on people under 30, with high level of English/French, and master’s or PhDs.

      • corsicanguppy
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        1 year ago

        what i really wanna do is live on Vancouver Island.

        Moved away for work. The market is okay in ONE region.

        Work with me to transform Ocean Falls into a Remote Work Mecca. Two mixed-use towers and we’re done.

        • shannduin
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          1 year ago

          Oh you moved to the boonies boonies haha. Love that the Wikipedia page for Ocean Falls has a photo captioned “An uncharacteristically sunny day in ocean falls”

          • corsicanguppy
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            1 year ago

            Noo, Ocean Falls was a ghost town once the sole employer moved out with the pound-foolish reduction of manufacturing in this region. I only learned of it from my wife’s dad’s stories of growing up in this remote community; and then learned it’s a unicorn town with a surprisingly advanced infrastructure and travel potential that gives it massive potential for restoration as a quiet, remote community for select workers and some eco-tourism operations.

            So it’s a common schtick to champion it as a prime candidate for reopening and investment, since it has the infrastructure to support a small but dense population with modern mixed-use buildings and ship-based trade, even though the population has been essentially 3 people for decades and there’s no road in.

    • corsicanguppy
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      1 year ago

      most immigrants think Canada is made up solely of Toronto and Vancouver.

      To be brutally honest, I suspect most Torontonians and Vancouverites kinda feel the same. Sometimes Ottawa.