Buying a Used Car

Buying a Used Car

Great post from our friend Frank and Sue; they have 4 teenagers, so must be well practised at buying used cars and giving driving lessons!

10 Things You Need To Know About Jobhunting

I first posted about job hunting some time ago, and a request for job hunting tips reminded me that this is a hot topic that needs updating regularly.  So, although I am not currently looking for a job, here are some ideas from one who survived the job search and is now one of the managers who might just be deciding your future!

Tip 1:  When we moved here, I budgeted for 3 months out of work.  It took 6 months.  Everyone I have spoken to since has said “It always takes 6 months to land a job here.” Why?  I don’t know.

Tip 2:  A Canadian resume is like a British CV, but there are subtle differences.  I eventually landed a job going with a Functional layout, rather than the traditional Chronological, but if you don’t want me to get all technical, just research on all the great web resources and get the resume right.  It is best to get someone to read through both your resume and covering letter (each application needs a fresh covering letter and resume targetted to the specific position and, most importantly, addressed to the right person and company); spelling and grammar mistakes make a big dent in the first impression.

Tip 3:  I didn’t bother getting my qualifications converted before we moved here because it’s very expensive and I’m a generalist, but after 5 months unemployed, I was prepared to pay!  I translated my qualifications on my resume, to give prospective employers some idea of the levels (GCSEs = High School Diploma etc).  If you are a specialist, it pays to get the conversion documents before you start applying for jobs.

Tip 4:  You will need an internet connection from the start.  I used all the main search sites (workopolis, monster, vancouverjobshop), and checked all the recruiting pages of the companies or local government agencies I wanted to work at.  The Provincial and National sites are great (bcjobs, Government jobs, workbc), and a lot of companies use Craigslist, although you must beware of the many scams posted there.

Tip 5:  The job search landscape seems different to me – it’s a highly unionized workforce, but personal recommendation is the way to go.  Networking and forcing introductions pays dividends.  The job hunt process is more personal too – follow up applications with a phone call, follow interviews immediately with a thank you email or card – things that felt pushy in the UK but are expected here.  Now that I am doing the recruiting, I push good prospects to send me their resume and I network to spot the next great addition to my flock.  I heard on the CBC News today that 80% of jobs in British Columbia are “hidden”.  That is, they are never posted, but are filled through networking, personal recommendations or head hunts.  A common tactic is to contact the company you want to work for and request an informational interview with someone in your chosen area (use the company website to find the right name).  Gather information about what qualifications they are seeking and how best to present yourself.  At best, they will like you and offer you a job.  At worst, they will refuse to see you (politely, because we are Canadian).

Tip 6:  The traditional view is that you will take a career and salary step down when you emigrate.  You should expect this.  Even with outstanding written and spoken English and great qualifications, even in the multicultural melting pot of Vancouver, employers are cautious of the unfamiliar.  I couldn’t see how I could be unfamiliar – we were all speaking the same language, and using the same skills after all.  That was until I started sending my first emails at work, and receiving puzzled requests for translation – many of our quaint old phrases haven’t made it across the pond, but you can win over anyone with a carefully placed “Blimey.”

Tip 7:  I joined a couple of agencies to get some temping work, and was very disappointed.  Perhaps my timing was wrong but I eventually got picked up by a local college for the general clerical pool.  A far cry from the HR Manager position I was looking for, but 6 months is a long time for someone who has never been out of work in her life.  My husband was recently laid off when the company he worked for went out of business.  They paid for a career consultant to work with the employees, but with little success.

Tip 8: It depends what you are looking for, but like house hunting, it can help to drive around the area within a decent commuting field, looking for suitable companies, and for Hiring Now signs.  This really works if you are interested in retail or looking for part time work close to home.

Tip 9:  Work BC was recently overhauled and revamped.  This is part of the Provincial Government’s scheme to focus on employment for all, and replaces many of the specialized job search services with more general offerings.  The website has an interactive map of office locations as well as many online services.

Tip 10:  Consider the growth areas.  If you have not entirely set your heart on Vancouver, you might find that your particular skill set is in demand somewhere else in BC.  Kelowna is a growing city with some great opportunities, and in a beautiful part of BC near to the Okanagan with its wonderful climate, vineyards and fruit orchards.  Further into the interior, the weather grows increasingly extreme, but that’s where the logging and oil are, plus a big demand for all essential services like teachers and medical staff.  Vancouver Island is also an option; Nanaimo is pushing itself as a growing city and there are opportunities there.

Bonus Tip:  Do as much work as you can before you arrive, arranging introductions  and networking through Linked In or GMail.  Join professional associations to get into discussion forums and arrange some social or professional development events when you arrive – it makes you feel like you are being proactive and gets you into the work environment quickly.

Tangentially, children…

Sometimes I wander off the point a little.  My friends and colleagues are used to this, so you, dear reader, must get used to it also.  Today’s post is not about emigrating to Vancouver or the wonders of British Columbia but about parenting (the last time I did this was Eating the Elephant).

We like our children to at least attempt to be helpful.  I am a traditional parent who, when I see a pack of squabbling weasels, will find work for them.  I give out chores.  Yesterday Laurel, eldest weasel, was mooching about in a teenage way, while I was shifting a truckload of top soil into the vegetable garden.  “Laurel” I yelled “Can you bring me the seed potatoes which are sprouting on the windowsill?”  She did.  She took my seed potatoes, carefully sorted into groups by variety, piled them all into one container and brought them to me.  “Which ones are the Warba?” I asked “Huh?” she said.

Later I was marking out a circle for a new bed.  I asked her to make a string compass – peg, piece of string, hammer peg in ground, lay paving stones in circle marked by end of string.  She created her compass from a stretchy piece of fabric, and marked 2 lines on it.  One half of the bed was measured to one line, then she got bored and moved to the other side and used the other line.  It’s an interesting shape, but it’s not a circle. Huh.

In the evening, I asked her to make some cookies for lunch boxes.  “If you want to make triple chocolate ones, swap 2 tablespoons of flour for 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder” I suggested.  This evening, after dinner, she was nibbling at one.  “These are very solid and bitter,” she complained “must be all the cocoa powder.”  “How much did you put in?” I asked.  “I swapped the flour for cocoa, like you said.” “What?  ALL the flour?” “Duh, yeah. Like you said.” “I said 2 TABLESPOONS!” “Huh.”

Then she went off to practise a bit more slouching.  Huh.

Sending The Good News Home

A few weeks ago we finally got round to mailing the 2011 Roundup DVD back to friends and family in the UK.  This annual event is months in the making, as I sweat and stress over which images, which films, which music to use to fully bring across the essence of the year that has just passed.  I lie awake at night worrying that I have used more pictures of one child than another, that I have not put enough emphasis on one guest’s visit compared with another, and will insult someone.  No matter how hard I try, I know my father will hate my choice of music.  So why bother?  I actually love putting together the annual round up and we all love watching the short movies.  This year the girls were fascinated by our 2009 movies, when they were all so small and squeaky, so it’s a great way to share their growing up with those who see them so rarely now.

Then, on Saturday, I was chatting with my BFF – her in Worcester, me in Coquitlam.  She said the DVD had arrived, she and her children watched it and since then they have all been very depressed.  “Why don’t we go ice-skating, Mum?” asked her 11 year old.  “You do so many amazing things, and we feel so boring” she complained.  I thought about this for a while and I have realized that we are all falling victim to …. The Facebook Effect.  Let me explain….

We have friends on Facebook who arrived in Vancouver shortly after us.  They have amazing children who are always smiling, always happy to be out with their parents at every event and every cool place in town.  They eat at wonderful restaurants, go to parties with a diverse crowd of friends, ski, sail, camp and snowshoe (often in the same day).  We are very jealous, and question why we are not so interesting.  The Facebook Effect has caught us.  When I last spoke to our friend, she complained bitterly about the effort it took to persuade her daughter to come out with them – the sulks, the arguments, more sulks.  I tried not to look pleased, but this is not the story we get from FB.  Of course, we all post the best pictures; not to be smug but to share the news and the great places to be.

So I told my friend in Worcester about the bad days, and I explained that we have the same problems we had in England – there’s a ton of great stuff we could be doing every day, but we can’t afford to do it.  We still have to make lunch boxes, wash and iron clothes, stop the leak in the basement and replace all the mouldy drywall.  We still have to shop carefully for the bargains, and we still wish we could win the Lottery.  We still disagree to the point of yelling at each other and threatening to walk out, but now I’m not sure where I’m walking out to – I could go home to Mother, but it’s very difficult to maintain a righteous anger when you are cooling off in an economy seat on a 10-hour flight.

I’m already planning next year’s DVD.  During the year I am going to take photos of us doing our homework, commuting to work and having sulks.  Then I’m going to set it to something by The Smiths.  That should keep everyone at home happy.

When You Get Right Down To It….

Grouse Mountain - The Peak of Vancouver

Apparently blogging about blogging is really not on.  Totally off, in fact.  Utterly not cricket in the blogosphere, wherever that is.  I learn these things from my  husband, who has been blogging longer than me and hates the fact that I get more readers.  I keep telling him that I will not sink to his level, I will not play these sick little games of whose blog is better, then I find myself obsessively comparing our stats and laughing to myself (more Mwah-ha-ha, than hee-hee-hee).

The thing he finds most difficult is that the top search, the main reason, the path that leads my readers to me is, in fact, Sushi.  Last week I wrote about the women’s locker room – surely naked women would be a more frequent search subject than sushi, yes?  It was a post I wanted to write, but I will admit that I felt pretty smug including “women’s locker room” in the tags list.  But no.  Top Search again is, of course, Sushi.  And “knitted Marmite” (if you are the knitted Marmite person, let me know if you find a pattern – I quite fancy a cuddly jar of Marmite.)

I have been writing for my own creative outlet, and for the benefit of those who might be considering taking this giant leap of faith to another country, or who have recently done so and are asking the inevitable questions (“Will I ever feel comfortable saying pants instead of trousers?”, “Will the roadworks on Highway 1 ever be finished?”, “What the heck is Poutine, and should I be innoculated against it?”*)  I’d like to feel I’m doing a small public service, but apparently I am helping those who are confused about sushi (and want knitted Marmite).

So today, I’m just going to tell you what I have been up to this week and include the word Sushi in the tags for the fun of it.  If you arrived here searching for Sushi, there’s a blog post here.

It is Spring Break this week in British Columbia, or at least in School District 41 (Burnaby).  School holidays are not standardized across the Province, so many schools have started taking a 2-week Spring Break.  Without half-term holidays, the long drag from January to July is very, very long and this is a much needed break; 2 weeks would be nice.  I decided to take the week off and, as we could not afford a real ski holiday staying at a real ski resort, I designed our own.  Every day this week we have loaded the car and driven 30 minutes to Grouse Mountain, where we have had a lesson and spent an hour or two skiing, skating or hiking the trails, followed by hot chocolate in the cafe.  The whole week has cost about $1000, which includes a private instructor for the 2 eldest children, lessons for me and Tiny Weasel, rentals and some ski passes (we bought annual passes for the girls at the end of last year, for $60 each).  Not bad, really.

Dim and I also visited our local Garden Centre on Saturday to buy a blueberry bush for the hamster’s grave (have we really been here as long as a hamster’s life cycle?).  The Garden Centre was hosting a whole weekend of speakers and free workshops on all subjects – planning your garden, arranging plants in planters, composting, and our favourite, the Forest Grove School Garden with guest speaker, our friend, the wonderful and inspirational Barb McMahon, of Sprouting Chefs.

Barb McMahon at the Sprouting Chefs stand

Barb’s passion is food – growing it, cooking it, introducing others to it in all its infinite variety, which is why she is such a key part of The McTraslerRomeroMahon Dining Club.  Three families, one English, one Canadian (with Japanese in the mix), one Mexican, with 8 children ranging from 4 years old to 16 years old, meeting monthly to experience new cuisine wherever we find it.  My children are shamed into trying new food by their adventurous and confident friends.  Any day soon we’ll be trying the Chinese Dim Sum at Yan’s Garden on North Road.  February was Korean Barbeque at Insadong, also North Road, and January at Fuji... can you guess?  Yup, Sushi!

*the answers are yes, no and don’t ask, don’t touch, avoid at all costs.

Real life, real bodies

Woman Bathing by Rembrandt

Saturdays have become an unexpectedly wonderful thing.  A few months ago, Laurel signed up for Early Figure Skating, and her program included 8.15am Saturday morning On Ice, followed by 9.15am Off Ice (lots of jumping and stretching).  I tried saying “You have a bike – deal with it”, but I just can’t be that ruthless, so every Saturday I rise, wake the Gruffalo who sleeps in Laurel’s bed, and grab my gym bag on the way out – well, if I have to be there, I might as well do myself some good.

Poirier Recreation Centre is pretty typical of the facilities in the Lower Mainland – a gym overlooking a pool, with 2 ice rinks and a curling rink attached.  There’s a nice cafe and a bar upstairs (open for the Coquitlam Express hockey games), and a couple of small extra rooms you can rent for parties or meetings.  The pool includes the usual sauna, steam room and hot tub, all included in the price of the ticket.  I bought a 10-session pass for $60 which gives me access to gym and pool for as long as I like.  During the winter I have plodded on my treadmill or eliptical trainer in front of the giant window overlooking the mountains, watching the rain, the snow, the occasional sun glitter off the frost, or the soap opera on the TV attached to the machine.

Now here’s the real reason I felt inspired to write.  The Women’s Locker Room.  Immediately I can feel the surge of imagination from both my readers – and you’re wrong.  On Saturday mornings and, for all I know, at all other times, there are no cheerleaders in the Women’s Locker Room.  What there is, is a communal facility (no cubicles here – if you want privacy, go to the Universal area and fight the families for a private space).  Here we see all ages, all cultures, all shapes, all sizes, all looking after themselves in some way.  Some of the older ladies like to wear what appears to be a nightdress in the pool, or sometimes long shorts and vests.  This week I saw a woman sitting by the hot tub with a veil on her head.  Baggy old swimming costumes cover baggy old bodies.   In the showers, ladies of all ages and all conditions produce laundry baskets of products and scrub every inch of themselves, sitting naked on the tiles, doing their laundry whilst conditioning, moisturizing and exfoliating.

My very English daughters, always horrified when I embarrass them in public changing rooms by daring to actually get changed there, are speechless by this unselfconscious parade of physical difference.  I hope they get used to it.  I hope they see, as I do, the wonder of the human body in all its many forms and realize that this is why communal locker rooms are so valuable – can we teach our daughters that this is what women’s bodies are meant to do and meant to be – stretched and recovered, sagging and dimpled, scarred, tanned, mottled and faded?  We are not all the same and very few of us are as freakishly thin or tall as super models, no matter how we diet, exercise or surgically alter, but we can look after ourselves.  Not one of these people I meet on a Saturday is the same as another but we are joined in a common aim – we are at the Gym, and we are doing the best we can with what we have been given, and we are loving it.

Freewheeling

Freewheel this...!

This week at work we were discussing bike safety, and it suddenly struck me that this is only the second time in my life I have not been cycling to work regularly.  In the UK, I often chose not to use my bike (I’m a bit of a fair weather eco-warrior), but I always could if I wanted, except when we made the silly decision to live in Winchester and commute to Uxbridge every day.  Sometimes it was just plain silly to  get to work any other way – at Worthy Down, we lived 3 minutes’ bike ride from my office.  In Wales it was the best way to get around the vast base of St Athan, except on the occasion I missed the notice about the detour in force, and found myself cycling on an active airfield.  Halfway along the Southern Perimeter Road there was a telephone on a pole, and it was ringing.  I stopped and answered it, and heard the Air Traffic Control Officer, asking me just what the hell I thought I was doing?

In the past I have cycled 20 miles to my boyfriend’s house every day in the school holidays (he couldn’t come to me – he was a classical musician and far too sensitive to do anything so physical as cycling), I cycled to college, I cycled steadily to the pub and unsteadily home again, I cycled when pregnant, and I cycled with children in seats behind.  At one time, my husband cycled with one daughter on the Tagalong, another on a crossbar seat, and a third in a back carrier – 4 people on one bike!  Move over, Chinese State Circus!

When I mentioned this at the meeting, the general consensus was that cycling is not a part of the Canadian culture.  Vancouver is one of the most environmentally aware cities in the world, and there are excellent facilities for cyclists, but everyone agrees that “it’s not like Europe”.  They hold countries like Denmark and Holland up as ideals, and hope that one day we can match those levels of bike-use.  There are many bike paths, but when the roads are frequently potholed and patched and raised by tree roots, the bikes paths cannot be much better.  The weather is a factor – constant grey drizzle in the winter makes it hard to cycle, and hard for drivers to see cyclists, although summers can be great.   When cycling is not part of the culture, it means that many drivers did not start out on bikes, and therefore have little understanding of how a bike moves, how a cyclist may react or how much room to give.  A driver who has never ridden a bike on the road does not know that the cyclist will avoid stopping at all costs, especially on a hill, because the energy it takes to restart is so draining.  When we are sat in a traffic jam, warm and cosy, in our heated pods, we forget that the cyclist outside in the drizzle has just slogged up a hill and is really pissed that we have not left enough room to allow her to pass and keep going.  Add the fact that the cars are very big, even if they are not moving as fast as they might do in Europe, and there are lorries and trucks like you would not believe, and the result is not good for a cyclist.

The future, however, is looking better.  Most city plans are including more consideration for bikes, and there is a growing understanding that a bike is a good way to commute.  We will continue to teach our children how to not just ride a bike, but ride to survive on the roads, and hope that they will inspire others to follow their example.