I applied for planning jobs before I came out to Calgary and I’m happy to share my experience and advice. Finding the positions to apply for was fairly simple because, as the RTPI advised me, the Canadian Institute of Planners and the associated regional organizations have good websites on which they advertise new positions. The difficulty I experienced was in getting a response to the application. I found that applying from the UK (even though I had a Permanent Resident Visa) was much more difficult than applying when in Canada, at which point you can head your CV with a Canadian address. Having a local address appears to make businesses much more comfortable as they are less likely to have to support you through a visa application, which is time consuming and costly for them.

So, my advice to anyone looking for planning work in Canada is to send a relatively informal email to the companies who have positions available and ask whether or not they would be willing to meet with you when you arrive in Canada. Also, in your covering letter with any application, state clearly that you have the relevant visas that allow you to work in a professional job in Canada. Furthermore, it is necessary to do some research into the Canadian system before putting a CV together, for instance, Canadian planners are not familiar with the term Council – they call it a Municipality and there are a number of other examples of this nature. Getting the terminology right and aligning with the Canadian system is critical to making sure that the person reading your application, who may be from HR rather than a professional planner, fully understands your experience, skills and ability and can tick all the right boxes to get you an interview.

At the moment in Calgary there is a massive shortage of all workers and the population is growing at a phenomenal rate. Many of the positions that are available here are not advertised, they are often advertised by word of mouth and filled based on recommendations, so it really does benefit you if you can get here and become involved in the Canadian Institute or a relevant organization, such as the Young Environmental Planners.

Author:

Fiona Harris

Publisher:

The Royal Town Planning Institute

Date:

15-Sep-07

Categories:

 

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