OT: Living In Edmonton

[Mcnotloilersfan]

Hey guys, about a year ago I was kinda asking about working in calgary vs edmonton. I just graduated from an advanced diploma in international business management this week, and have some management experience.

I live in the worst region in all of Canada for work, so I'm considering saving up $5000-$10,000 this summer and just moving out to Edmonton to look for work.

Is it true that if I look hard enough I should have no problem finding work? and are there relatively affordable/safe areas to find apartments?

Thanks

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[soothsayer]

I think that you should be careful. It is true that Alberta has a lot of jobs, but most of those jobs are working "up north". So when people out east say, "go to Alberta, there are tons of jobs," really what they are saying is "go work on the tar sands".

I'm not trying to discourage you, but just know that the ease of finding a job in Alberta depends on what you want to do, and I'm not sure that there are many jobs available in Alberta that relate to (international) business.

 

[Dave]

That seems like a job you'd want to have lined up before you make the move. If you don't find a job during your time here, then you can just become a rigger. Surely you must be aware of the job market relative to your field of interest? You're not blindly coming out here without any idea are you?

If you want to live near the popular areas expect to be paying ~$1000/mth and up. If you don't care about where you live and if it's a bachelor you can find places in the $700 range.

A good option for saving on rent would be to find roommates on kijiji.

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

That seems like a job you'd want to have lined up before you make the move. If you don't find a job during your time here, then you can just become a rigger. Surely you must be aware of the job market relative to your field of interest? You're not blindly coming out here without any idea are you?

If you want to live near the popular areas expect to be paying ~$1000/mth and up. If you don't care about where you live and if it's a bachelor you can find places in the $700 range.

A good option for saving on rent would be to find roommates on kijiji.

I guess I should re-word what I mean about the job market. I have looked into it, and there seems to be a lot there.

Globe and Mail had an article last year ranking the Niagara region the worst for work, because for every 1 publicly posted job, an average of 100 people applied, where it was significantly less in Alberta. (saskatoon was #1 at 4 people applying per job).

So it's not really a question of are there jobs, but do people find it difficult finding work (as in they apply to 50 jobs and hear nothing back) like it can be here.

 

[Raab]

I'd say stay where you are for now and start applying to anywhere you'd consider living. For me I always found a job before moving to a new town/city. On top of that I know to many people with business degrees who don't even use them now because they couldn't find work.

 

[McGoMcD]

Hey guys, about a year ago I was kinda asking about working in calgary vs edmonton. I just graduated from an advanced diploma in international business management this week, and have some management experience.

I live in the worst region in all of Canada for work, so I'm considering saving up $5000-$10,000 this summer and just moving out to Edmonton to look for work.

Is it true that if I look hard enough I should have no problem finding work? and are there relatively affordable/safe areas to find apartments?

Thanks

Honestly your diploma would be more suited for some where like Toronto. There are lots of jobs in Alberta, but as some one pointed out that is basically in the tar sands. Not saying don't move here, there are still some good opportunties here for some one with your diploma, just saying Edmonton isn't exactly a hot bed of international business.

 

[ohheyhemsky]

I'd say stay where you are for now and start applying to anywhere you'd consider living. For me I always found a job before moving to a new town/city. On top of that I know to many people with business degrees who don't even use them now because they couldn't find work.

This. Don't move here without a job. You'll blow through your money much faster than you think, and without any prospects, you'll be even harder pressed to find any work.

Just apply every man. If you're in the worst region, then every other region, by logic, should be better. Good luck to you, but it's not a smart idea to make the move based on the potential for work.

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

Appreciating all of this advice. Everyone here is making it sound like its too easy.

 

[ohheyhemsky]

Appreciating all of this advice. Everyone here is making it sound like its too easy.

It's not that it's too easy, or even especially hard. If you're sending blind applications to various jobs across the country, it really has to do with luck and of course your resume. It's just never good to jump into a situation without having it figured out first.

You're best bet is to start applying to the hubs of Ontario before coming out West. Your location and the familiarity that you will have with prospective employers will likely be easier. It'll never hurt to jump online, check employment options and sending our resumes out here, but as said earlier, the "lots of work in Alberta" situation is really based through the work up north. Sure, there's work, but not in the field you're looking for.

Send out resumes, try and get some feedback from employers if you're not making any ground, reset, send out some more.

Good luck man!

 

[Jumptheshark]

I'd say stay where you are for now and start applying to anywhere you'd consider living. For me I always found a job before moving to a new town/city. On top of that I know to many people with business degrees who don't even use them now because they couldn't find work.

I have always done the opposite and found creative ways to get a job-- some very high paying when I needed to use my degree and some not so much

getting a degree is only 1/6th of the battle--actually knowing how to use it is the rest

 

[doubledown99]

My advice is get a Linkedin account.......Linkedin will send you job openings by email and you can apply and try to get a job before moving out here. They also only send you jobs that fit your education & experience criteria so you don't have to go through a bunch of useless openings either.

Based on your diploma I would also say look for Government of Alberta jobs. I believe Innovation and Advanced Education is aggressively trying to help AB businesses expand and with SR&ED projects. They are trying to help businesses expand internationally so that would appear to suit your education. I don't know this 100% but I have some friends that have applied for some high paying jobs with them. Not sure if there are openings or not but check it out for yourself.

Calgary has most of the business headquarters so that would be an excellent place to look as well.

You also may want to check out some recruiters and head hunters. They get paid for finding qualified candidates so they do all the work for you.

I'm sort of busy today so sorry I can't help more. I'll try to come back to this thread next week and see if I can provide better information. Good luck

 

[soothsayer]

I have always done the opposite and found creative ways to get a job-- some very high paying when I needed to use my degree and some not so much

getting a degree is only 1/6th of the battle--actually knowing how to use it is the rest

This is so important. It's advice that seems so simple, but it is something that is completely lost on so many people. There is a great danger with thinking that your degree is a train on which you just ride the rails into a job, but it really is largely just a springboard (although, not always). Many people don't work in a job that relates directly to their degree, but that is ok!, because there are so many interesting jobs that don't directly correspond with any particular degree.

 

[Groucho]

Can we not call them tar sands? It's not 1987.

 

[krazy kanuck]

I was born and lived in Central Ontario and worked in the GTA most of my life. I have a business degree from a school in Ontario and moved out to Edmonton about 18 months ago for a progressive opportunity outside of the energy sector.

The most opportunities are in the energy sector, but there are more opportunities here in general. The first time I went back to Ontario I went for 24 hours for a charity golf tournament I'm involved in. I drove from Pearson, up to Newmarket (birthplace or Connor McDavid to keep the hockey angle going) for breakfast with Mom, over to the tournament at Lionhead in Brampton, out to Scarborough to pick up Leaf tickets for the auction, Back to Lionhead, and then back to Pearson. I saw more "help wanted" signs at Edmonton International Airport then I did in all that driving around (and through) Ontario's biggest city.

As others have pointed out though, that doesn't necessarily mean jobs that would utilize the skills that you've learned in school. I'm assuming "International Business" covers a lot general business courses (statistics, economics, communications, leadership etc.) so there should be opportunities in both Calgary and Edmonton. It depends on what you are looking to do...do you want to work in banking, energy, government, insurance, technology?

I looked at opportunities in both Calgary and Edmonton, and I prefer Edmonton. Calgary has the mountains, we have the river valley. I think that the number of universities makes things a little more multi-cultural and contributes to a neat arts scene. The Whyte Avenue area kind of reminds of me Queen street. Neither city is anywhere near being as big as Toronto but I like it here. It's considerably more affordable than Toronto, and hardly has any traffic (Calgary does have bad traffic - not as bad as Toronto, but bad enough). After 78km / 1 hr 45 minute commute for the past 20 years, the 15km / 20 min commute was a big feature here. Cost of living (especially housing, property taxes, sales taxes, and income taxes in the higher brackets) are a LOT lower than Toronto. Housing will be more than Niagara region. It's colder but it's sunnier and snows less (a LOT less than Barrie or anywhere else in the Ontario snow belt). It feels a little American in some ways (political climate and franchises)...not necessarily better or worse but different...also you'll have to get used to not buying bags of milk...

The biggest thing I miss (other than family and friends) is baseball...

Like others have said I would recommend visiting both cities and deciding which you like best and trying to line up interviews for opportunities that might interest you.

Hope that information is somewhat helpful, feel free to DM me with specific questions. I may also be able to help you further depending on your qualifications and the field that you want to get into.

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

Maybe look towards some of the smaller cities. Grande Prairie is ranked #1 for small buisness. I just looked quickly at the job postings around here and found a decent job that seems to fill some of your criteria within 30 seconds of looking through the postings.

You don't have to live in a crappy little town forever if you desire to live in a bigger city like Edmonton. However, it will allow you to get your foot in the door and gain the valuable work experience necessary to land a top job down the road.

 

[Kayen]

Can we not call them tar sands? It's not 1987.

Having worked up there,
I prefer to call it Mordor.

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

also you'll have to get used to not buying bags of milk...

I don't miss buying bags of milk. 50% of the time i don't cut the corner of the bag properly and i always get spillage.

 

[Magnum23]

As a business grad from u of a it took me a little while to find a decent job to jump start my business career. In a nutshell edmonton is not a white collar city and even prestigious sounding jobs not pay that well. I would recommend Calgary as it is a more business oriented city

 

[T-Funk]

Can we not call them tar sands? It's not 1987.

Honestly curious here, do we call them oil sands, or is there some completely unrelated term to tar sands/ oil sands?

 

[krazy kanuck]

I don't miss buying bags of milk. 50% of the time i don't cut the corner of the bag properly and i always get spillage.

Yeah, neither do I actually. I do miss having the roads cleared though...but I suppose that is one of the reasons why the taxes are lower.

 

[krazy kanuck]

As a business grad from u of a it took me a little while to find a decent job to jump start my business career. In a nutshell edmonton is not a white collar city and even prestigious sounding jobs not pay that well. I would recommend Calgary as it is a more business oriented city

There are a lot of energy sector head offices in Calgary, but I disagree with the generalization above. There are more government jobs and more universities in Edmonton than there are in Calgary. There are also a significant number of "white collar" jobs in the private sector as well. Although I suppose it depends on what you think "not pay well" means. Oil money is different than just about everything else...

As I said earlier, best thing to do is visit the cities, look at opportunities at companies you might like to work for, assign values to each and go from there...decision analysis 101.

 

[Groucho]

Honestly curious here, do we call them oil sands, or is there some completely unrelated term to tar sands/ oil sands?

Oil sands is preferred nomenclature. Tar sands is a very outdated term and is mainly used to make the industry seem dirty by lobby groups.

Having worked up there,
I prefer to call it Mordor.

I've worked up there for a long time too. I work a small SAGD lease right now and its cleaner than most auto shops (not to mention Refinery Row, I've worked there too) I've been in around the city.

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

Thanks again for the opinions everyone. Especially from those who moved from Ontario out west.

I know people in Calgary, and I lived in Cochrane when I was really young so we still have family friends there.... but it's bad enough living in Leaf country. If I go out west I would be so much happier in Edmonton. My dad told me how annoying it is listening to flames fans in Cowtown. haha

And yes I should have been more specific about my diploma. International Business isn't necessarily the field I'm looking into. It just mean that some of my courses in operations or marketing had a 10-20% focus on looking outside of our borders, and there were a couple cultural courses. But I'm educated for marketing, management, communications and operations.

Also I absolutely agree that the diploma/degree is just a fraction of the work.

Again, very much appreciated from everyone.

 

[miso]

Oil sands is preferred nomenclature. Tar sands is a very outdated term and is mainly used to make the industry seem dirty by lobby groups.

Preferred by who? The tarsands label derives from industry. Marketing PR felt, as you stated, "it makes the industry seem dirty". Those that use the tarsands label either don't make the distinction, or they use the label just to tick-off the proponents of spewing ever increasing amounts of CO2 emissions.

 

[miso]

Thanks again for the opinions everyone.

Keeping with an Oiler theme here, why would you want to come to Edmonton? Granted, there's a relatively newish hipster crowd that actually thinks Edmonton has something to offer, but the climate should be your principal criteria in shaping your choice and resultant quality of life. Notwithstanding the dull architecture and an ever sprawling city, it's devoid of a real thriving central core. But it's got a ton of pick-me-up trucks! It's just snowed again which will simply act to shorten the always short warm weather/growing season. It won't green up around here for another month, and the city won't have all the winter crap cleared from roads/boulevards/sidewalks until at least then. Meanwhile, it's a depressing city of swirling dust with no greenery/flowers.