No Job Offer? No Problem!
After spending over 15 years in the immigration industry, speaking to thousands of prospective migrants and assisting over 7000 families relocate overseas, there is one glaring misconception that most wannabe migrants have when considering a new life abroad.
Many applicants investigating immigration for the first time, start off by "seeing what's out there" in terms of job and career opportunities. Hey, that's exactly what I would do. My thought process would be as follows. " I want to make a new life for myself and my family abroad. In order to do that, I need to make sure we can sustain ourselves financially. I therefore need to look for companies that are prepared to employ me before I go over "
This is the thought process of hundreds of thousands of prospective migrants across the globe. No job = no get on plane. I mean, why would I begin the process of relocating my entire family at huge cost without securing a job before?
But hang on here..... Why would a company even BEGIN to consider employing you from abroad if you don't have the rights to conduct work? Think about it for one second and place yourself in the shoes of the employers sitting overseas. Why would that employer want to commit themselves to a lengthy, cumbersome and quite frankly debilitating work permit process when they could just look a little harder and employ a local citizen with rights to work? Not to mention the length of time they will need to wait before your work visa is approved... It's just unrealistic to think you have a good chance of making this process work. There are too many hurdles, too much admin for the busy employer and your CV, which you sent them with great excitement, will 99.99% of the time, end up in the recycle bin. That's what happens. We see it day in and day out working in this industry.
HOWEVER.......... Imagine you applied for that job with a permanent residency status? ( A lawful permanent resident is someone who has been granted the right to live, work, study or conduct business freely in a particular country ) - Would your CV end up in the bin like 99.99% of your overseas counterparts? The answer is no. If you had the right skillset, would you stand a good chance of securing that job? The answer is yes.
By securing permanent residency BEFORE you start looking for work abroad, you are increasing your chances of securing work by 90%. These are the statistics we have pulled by assessing the data of all unsuccessful candidates without permanent residency status compared to those who HAD permanent residency status prior to applying for work. The differences are astounding.
Now you might be asking yourself, " But isn't this risky? How do I know that my application, even with working rights, will be good enough?"
When clients ask me this question, I explain to them something very interesting. In South Africa, where most of our applicants come from, there is a 28% unemployment rate. This means there are too many people compared to positions available in corporate and government sectors. In countries like Canada, there are too many jobs available. This means that the number of vacant positions outweigh the number of skilled individuals that are able to take up those positions... There is an oversupply of jobs. This means that employers are desperate. Very desperate!
I bring you the General Skilled Migration Visa for Australia and the Federal Express Entry Visa for Canada. Both of these visas are available to candidates who satisfy the correct points criteria ( made up of your age, qualifications, work experience and English language ability ), who have the financial resources to migrate and who are considered professionals in their respective trades. These visas were introduced to provide a solution to the shortage of skills that are in high demand in Canada and Australia.
Once secured, candidates are able to freely apply for work and stand a much better chance of securing work given that they are able to walk into any position the following day. On top of this, as permanent residents, one would benefit from all the social, medical and economic perks one would experience by being a citizen. All except the right to vote or join the army.
If you are a skilled individual and you are looking to relocate abroad, PLEASE do not fall into that same trap that 90% of wannabe migrants fall into in that they feel they need to secure a job before applying for their visa. Make your life simple and do it the other way round.
For more information on how New World Immigration can assist, please make contact with us on +2721550951 or jump right in and complete our free assessment on our website - We would be extremely happy to talk to you about your journey abroad and explain how you can benefit from our extensive knowledge on this unique process.
by Robbie Ragless, Director