# looking for jobs in bc or alberta



## michael1599 (Mar 13, 2011)

Hi,
first post for me,my wife and i have our resident visas and hope to move to bc or alberta soon,any advice on finding jobs,we are both currently police officers in the uk and are looking for jobs in security
any advice or help appreciated


----------



## gringotim (Jan 5, 2011)

michael1599 said:


> Hi,
> first post for me,my wife and i have our resident visas and hope to move to bc or alberta soon,any advice on finding jobs,we are both currently police officers in the uk and are looking for jobs in security
> any advice or help appreciated


I think you first need to decide where you want to live, and then look in that area for jobs. Pay is very high in parts of Alberta, especially near the oilfields, (Ft MacMurray etc) but then the cost of houses in thru the roof, so its six of one , half dozen of the other. Alberta and BC are vastly different, what type of winter weather do you like/dislike, most of Alberta and northern and eastern BC have very harsh winters compared to the Vancouver, Lower mainland and Vancouver Island areas. Alberta has lower taxes, but can have higher housing costs, depending on the area. What type of lifestyle do you like? What type of security jobs are you interested in? ie: store security, roving security, inside or outside security, alot of police forces are not RCMP, so maybe continueing as police officers. Most security jobs I see advertised are not very high paying, usually $10-12hr, occassionaly upto-$15hr. Do you like small or big cities? There are so many things I would look at before deciding where to go.


----------



## kimo (Feb 12, 2011)

michael1599 said:


> Hi,
> first post for me,my wife and i have our resident visas and hope to move to bc or alberta soon,any advice on finding jobs,we are both currently police officers in the uk and are looking for jobs in security
> any advice or help appreciated


I won't pretend to understand Canada'a immigration rules, and I can only go by what I have read on this forum, some of which I know is inacurate, but since you are looking for a job, I can only assume you are not being sponsored by an employer, so does that mean you are on "the list" of skilled workers, and if so, does your visa allow you work at a job other than being a police officer? just like if you get a skilled worker visa as a plumber or electrician isn't that the occupation you have to partake in when you get here because that is why they gave the visas in the first palce. Maybe I'm wrong, and you can enlighten me on your situation. And as the other poster mentioned, security jobs are for the most part, not high paying jobs, my nephew works security/loss prevention at a mall in Victoria and only makes $14 hr and he has been there for about 6 years.


----------



## michael1599 (Mar 13, 2011)

kimo said:


> I won't pretend to understand Canada'a immigration rules, and I can only go by what I have read on this forum, some of which I know is inacurate, but since you are looking for a job, I can only assume you are not being sponsored by an employer, so does that mean you are on "the list" of skilled workers, and if so, does your visa allow you work at a job other than being a police officer? just like if you get a skilled worker visa as a plumber or electrician isn't that the occupation you have to partake in when you get here because that is why they gave the visas in the first palce. Maybe I'm wrong, and you can enlighten me on your situation. And as the other poster mentioned, security jobs are for the most part, not high paying jobs, my nephew works security/loss prevention at a mall in Victoria and only makes $14 hr and he has been there for about 6 years.


Thanks for the info,yes we got our visas because of past trade skills,however we can do whatever we want on landing,however ive have certain skills which will probably lead to some form of vip or executive security detail,we intend to live in southern vancouver island and to be honest would do any job that would allow us to do that,we dont really have any job plans in mind at the moment ,other than we wish to do something different to policing
thanks again for the reply


----------



## michael1599 (Mar 13, 2011)

gringotim said:


> I think you first need to decide where you want to live, and then look in that area for jobs. Pay is very high in parts of Alberta, especially near the oilfields, (Ft MacMurray etc) but then the cost of houses in thru the roof, so its six of one , half dozen of the other. Alberta and BC are vastly different, what type of winter weather do you like/dislike, most of Alberta and northern and eastern BC have very harsh winters compared to the Vancouver, Lower mainland and Vancouver Island areas. Alberta has lower taxes, but can have higher housing costs, depending on the area. What type of lifestyle do you like? What type of security jobs are you interested in? ie: store security, roving security, inside or outside security, alot of police forces are not RCMP, so maybe continueing as police officers. Most security jobs I see advertised are not very high paying, usually $10-12hr, occassionaly upto-$15hr. Do you like small or big cities? There are so many things I would look at before deciding where to go.


Thanks,
we are looking at southern vancouver island outside of victoria,small town life would suit us just fine,we love the outdoor lifestyle with quality rather than quantity
thanks for replying


----------



## gringotim (Jan 5, 2011)

michael1599 said:


> Thanks,
> we are looking at southern vancouver island outside of victoria,small town life would suit us just fine,we love the outdoor lifestyle with quality rather than quantity
> thanks for replying


Look at the Duncan/ Cowichan Valley area, less than an hour north of Victoria and less than an hour south of Nanaimo, but yet with all the ammenaties you would need, Like WalMart Supercenter, Home Depot, Canadian Tire etc etc. Population of the valley is about 70,000 but very spread out, so you can imagine the kinds of business's there would be to serve that amount of people. The city of Duncan is the business hub of the valley, but numerous smaller towns as well. if you like Tim Hortons coffee, Duncan it has 3., We also have one of the highest average temperatures in Canada. For more info Google, Duncan, and or Cowichan Valley,


----------

