international student applying for part time job in Canada

Things to Consider Before Applying for Part-Time Jobs in Canada for International Students

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You can have the best part-time jobs in Canada as an international student. If you want to know if you are eligible to work off-campus and what documents are required, I recommend checking the rules and regulations in working off campus . It provides everything you need to know.

In this blog, I will share more about the considerations you need to know before applying for part-time jobs. I will also share my best tips to get a rewarding, high-paying part-time job in Canada.

What are some of the part-time jobs available for international students?

There are many available part-time jobs for international students in Canada. You can check my post here for some of the popular job resources. Choosing a part-time job that will work well with your school schedule is always a challenge. Getting used to commuting, work around my program schedule, and overall, just getting the hang of what I needed to do as a full-time student, a wife, and a mom.

I took a part-time job only during the last term of my program. I did not want to stress myself with too many responsibilities in the first few months in Canada. 

My first part-time job in Canada was in an IT firm as a sales associate cum account manager. While in Toronto studying full-time, I was also working part-time for my employer based in Vancouver. Yes, it is possible to work remotely even when your employer’s address is in a different province provided there is no restriction on your study permit.

READ ALSO:

Best Resources of Part-time Jobs for International Students in Canada

CELPIP Tips & Tricks to Get a High Score Even When You’re Super Busy

How to get a rewarding, high- paying part-time job as an international student?

Here I will share some of the steps you can follow. These were the exact actions I took while I was job hunting. As I need to attend to my daughter, I only considered remote jobs available for international students in Toronto and Vancouver.

Seneca international student applying for part-time jobs in Canada

Tips for international students before applying part time jobs in Canada

Here I share the steps you can follow to get a rewarding, high-paying part-time job as an international student in Canada.

These were the actions I took while I was job hunting. As I need to attend to my daughter, I only considered remote part-time jobs available for international students in Toronto and Vancouver.

1.         Decide which province you want to settle down.

Other important factors to consider: the ease of pathway for obtaining your permanent residency in a particular province, the cost of living, the job opportunities available in your chosen career, the company stability, and lastly, the community safety (and this is just my preference).

2.        Decide which industry and career you want to pursue and be in for the long term.

It may as well be your first on the list if not the second. Why did I say this? Based on my experience, I recommended you be very clear about what you want your career life to be. As an international student, you need to be strategic in your plans and approach while given the opportunity to work part-time. And do your best to find a part-time job that will help you or lead you to the career you want to pursue after graduating from your program. 

Most of the time, I hear many international students don’t take this approach, and they end up working part-time in a field they don’t like to earn extra bucks to pay the bills. While I understand some circumstances force you to gain money quickly, you need to look at the bigger picture beyond your life after graduating. The truth is, it’s hard to focus on getting a rewarding career if you are doing other jobs that don’t contribute to your long-term career aspiration.

3.         Plan and plan well.

Once you figure out what career you want and the province you like to settle in. The next important thing is (and this is mostly not given so much emphasis by many students when exactly you need to hunt for jobs. What I mean by this is that your goal is to obtain a job immediately after your graduation. 

As I mentioned earlier, I only applied during the last term when I was already about to graduate. Our professors then told us to hunt for jobs at least six months before graduating. Then, I thought six months way too early to find a job. There must be a logical reason why they recommended the six-month time frame. 

Six months before you graduate, you need to have a firm decision of what kind of job or career you want. You should already know this even before you decide to take the program you chose. You will then have a better sense of the market and industry you want to be in, trends in hiring, the specific requirements they are looking for in a candidate, etc. 

There can be certifications or qualifications you need to do to get a new job in any role and industry. You can arrange in advance and fulfill the qualifications the companies are looking for in a particular position you want to pursue.

international student planning to get a part time job

4.         The next best thing to do is to get yourself organised.

You can do this by having a tracking sheet with important details such as the job positions you are targeting, the source or links where you found them, etc.

5.         Leverage your past work experiences (even though you gained them overseas).

As an international student and a newbie, you probably have some limiting beliefs such as:

– you need to start at an entry-level position because you don’t have Canadian work experience yet 

– you may be thinking you are just a student, and companies may not take your past work experiences and credential overseas seriously. 

Those types of thinking are not very helpful and will only put you in a position you probably will not like in the future. 

Lastly, the best mindset in job hunting is to have that 100% trust and confidence in yourself and what you can offer. Never discount your past work experiences in your home country or outside Canada. Those are valuable experiences that you can offer to the company. During the interview, your job is to highlight that to your prospective employer.

If you have relevant training or experience in the role you are applying for, then convincing them on why they need to hire you will be easier for sure.

“Don’t be afraid to start over again. This time you are not starting from scratch, you’re starting from experience.”

Are there any other advice that worked well for you? Let me know in the comments below so that more tween moms can benefit.

READ ALSO:

Best Resources of Part-time Jobs for International Students in Canada

CELPIP Tips & Tricks to Get a High Score Even When You’re Super Busy

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