Job search for new immigrants in Canada is a long process. The job seekers send resumes, receive or do not receive responses, participate in job interviews, trying to showcase their skills to their best advantage, willingly agree to any feasible offer, having one particular goal in mind – to establish their roots in Canada.
While leaving through such a challenging plight, I came across the name OACETT (The Ontario Association of Certified Engineering Technicians and Technologist) and sent the required documents to apply. Let’s have a look on what exactly is certification and why do we need it.
First of all, when I landed in Canada in January 2011, I didn’t have too many choices to start with. Although I started sending my resumes two months before I left Ukraine for Canada. 20 out of 200 resumes that I had sent were apologetically declined, and I also received 2 invitations to come and register in person with employment agencies. Upon arriving, I had methodically browsed 20 employment agencies and filled out tons of useless papers. At every place I went to, I took the production safety test (Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System). I had some luck in 2 weeks and was accepted as an armchairs assembly worker. It was hard, but at least I had enough money to survive for starters. Thus I had been working hard my full time job, which hardly left any time for further job search, I made a decision to focus specifically on a job search relevant or similar to my qualification – Mechanical Engineer, M.E. I had my degree translated into English as well as an experience of working as a process engineer on my resume. I kept sending my resumes and at the same time had been focusing on polishing my English language skills to bring it up to professional level. In several weeks I started to receive real invitations to come for an interview. That is when I first realized the importance of having certification. In relatively decent and big companies, after passing the mandatory English proficiency test (or some grade 8 level math assignments test as well), I was asked to show some professional licenses and certificates (these not to be confused with educational credentials). Having heard that I didn’t have any, they would make a sad face and cast their eyes down. So when I came across the OACETT website it didn’t take me long to make up my mind and apply.
This organization is a self governing body (which means that it is run on member fees and by the members). Since it would be hard for a novice to grasp the whole concept of this organization and take in all the nuances, let’s just talk specifically about certification. The main goal of the certification is to verify the professional level and English language proficiency.
The whole process of filling out the application form (which can be downloaded from their website) does not take long. The problems might arise from obtaining the past and current jobs recommendations. These jobs, by the way, have to be at least somewhat relevant to the qualification that you have. (The situation is quite ludicrous: to find a job as an engineer one has to be certified, and in order to be certified one needs experience of working as an engineer.) One also needs to provide notary verified education transcripts; if you don’t have it, it easy to obtain such a verified translation from one of the many translation agencies, and it will cost you around $100. After you put all the required documents in a nice folder, you have to take it to the address mentioned on the website and pay your initial $176 fee. (Further on I will stick to providing the numbers relevant for Engineers certification only, and please note that fees differ depending on the type of certification required.) The documents have been reviewed for up to three months, but as many other bureaucratic processes in Canada it might, actually, take longer. During this period you will be asked to pass the mandatory Professional Practice Exam, which is comprised of three parts: ethics, professional practice and legislation. The main task of this exam is to train you how to behave in different professional situations (or rather straightforward – how not to lose your job or even go to jail because of some human error). The cost of such an exam is $275. You will also be asked to pay $225 membership fee (it is an annual fee). In case you pass the exam successfully, this is about it; actually, all you have to do is waiting for the documents reviewing results. Personally, I had been assigned the Level 2 accreditation – the production engineer (there are three levels altogether – technician, production engineer and engineer)/ I am 24 years old, and I have Master’s degree in Engineering as well as 2 years of relevant experience, but the reason why I was assigned the Level 2 is, in my opinion, the lack of professional experience. One needs 4 and more years of experience to qualify for the third level. I didn’t want to lie because my age was obvious, and no one would believe that I had been asked politely to gain 8 more months of professional experience in Canada.
It is worth mentioning that the engineers who have more than 4 years of professional experience and are permanent residents in Canada may apply to PEO (Professional Engineers Ontario). The procedure and fees are similar. PEO is an older partner of OACETT and provides certification for engineers in different fields. Each province has organizations similar to OACETT and PEO. Certification can also be transferred from province to province for a small fee, which is very helpful.
As a conclusion, I will answer the main question – is the certification worth it in regards with finding a good job? It does not guarantee a job but heightens the chances to find one. Also it attests the level of education received, and it is a very important point. In the end, it is all up to you, but do keep in mind that you are in a different country, and the rules here are set pretty straightforwardly here. One of such rules is the mandatory certification in a specific filed.
Sincerely, Vitally Goncharov