So you have finished your 24 months, waited through the terribly long processing times for your open permits or Permanent Residence and you’re looking for a live-out job.  Alternatively, you may be a newcomer live-in caregiver or nearing the end of your program looking ahead to working on a live-out basis.  What can you do to prepare yourself to secure the best possible live-out caregiver position? Check out our top five transitional steps to take before moving to this market.

5. Always keep good records of your experiences, including but not limited to obtaining detailed reference letters from your employers.  When applying to an agency or marketing yourself personally to new employers, this type of information is invaluable for your agent or new employer to make a good assessment of your experience, qualifications and abilities.  Your “portfolio” is one of your biggest assets in the search for new employment.

4. Maintain good relationships with your past employers so they are willing to speak as your reference.  Even if you have disagreements, if you stay a long time in a job, the family obviously saw something great about you and trusted you in the job.  However, some caregivers leave jobs on bad terms after long employment relationships.  This can often be unavoidable with abusive employers, but you need to take every step possible to ensure they are willing to speak on your behalf.  Showing years of experience in Canada with nobody to attest to it can be a red flag to employers who are looking for somebody new.

3. Upgrade your credentials in your spare time.  Some take Personal Support Worker courses, others take Early Childhood Education or Assistant courses.  For child care related applicants, we recommend exploring courses such as the one offered by the Mothercraft Insitute.  For elderly and disabled care applicants, look in to Health Care Aid training courses as sometimes Personal Support Worker curriculum is very basic and not as attractive to employers.  Updating your CPR and First Aid credentials on a regular basis is also a great asset.

2. Apply for USA travel VISAs.  One of the most attractive assets to a family is the ability for a nanny to travel with them to the USA or tropical destinations, and the USA travel VISA facilitates transit through or entry to most destinations.  Other specific VISAs for different countries can also be obtained throughout the course of employment if needed.

1. Get your drivers license and practice, practice, practice.  To give you an idea, at our agency we have tons of live-out non driver applicants but almost no live-out non-driving jobs.  If you are a newcomer to Canada, get started with your driving certification and practice as soon as possible.  If you are planning the transition to live-out but have not yet started to learn to drive, start right away!  You will get a better salary, have access to many more jobs and will experience benefits of the ability to drive for errands, personal trips, and work related activities.  Families often have multiple children in different schools as well as activities, so your driving experience will come in very handy and just may be the deciding factor between you and another applicant they are considering.

Hope this helps!  As usual, don’t hesitate to contact us at 416-221-6000 to ask any employment related questions.