Work experience for graduate student???

[Mykola]

While I was doing my master's in US I worked 10hrs/week as a Graduate Research Assistant for two years (according to university records). After graduation I continued working at the same department but now as Intermittent Lab Assistant, I worked 40hrs/week for 7 months. Then I came to Canada as a graduate student, again I am employed as a Graduate Research Assistant and I am officially working 12hrs/week for the last 16 months.

Now my two questions are:
- can my working experience in the US be counted as a continuous for one year?
- when I calculate total duration of my work experience do I really convert time that I spent working part time so that it is equivalent to 37.5hrs/week. For example, working for two years 10hrs/week corresponds to only 6 months of full time job? Is this what they ask for in the work experience section?

These questions is the only thing that holds me from applying as FSW now. In case I can claim that I have two years of work experience I can get 17 points for this criteria and my total score will be 68. Otherwise I'd have to wait 8 more months to get 5 additional points for studying in Canada for two years.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

 

[rupeshhari]

Yes 37.5/2 hours of work per week is equivalent to 6 months of full time work.

So you should count the number of hours.

I think if you can show that all your RA work was done without break even if it is part time over many years, it is considered one year full time experience. But just ask PMM to make sure.

Good luck.

 

[rocky272727]

While I was doing my master's in US I worked 10hrs/week as a Graduate Research Assistant for two years (according to university records). After graduation I continued working at the same department but now as Intermittent Lab Assistant, I worked 40hrs/week for 7 months. Then I came to Canada as a graduate student, again I am employed as a Graduate Research Assistant and I am officially working 12hrs/week for the last 16 months.

Now my two questions are:
- can my working experience in the US be counted as a continuous for one year?
- when I calculate total duration of my work experience do I really convert time that I spent working part time so that it is equivalent to 37.5hrs/week. For example, working for two years 10hrs/week corresponds to only 6 months of full time job? Is this what they ask for in the work experience section?

These questions is the only thing that holds me from applying as FSW now. In case I can claim that I have two years of work experience I can get 17 points for this criteria and my total score will be 68. Otherwise I'd have to wait 8 more months to get 5 additional points for studying in Canada for two years.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

As per the Op Manual for FSW

be full-time work, which, according to R80(7), is equivalent to at least 37.5 hours of paid work per week. Full-time work experience requirement may be met by the equivalent in part-time paid work experience, e.g. two part-time jobs held simultaneously. Experience can be calculated by adding up the number of weeks of full-time work, i.e. 37.5 hours per week in one job or a total of at least 37.5 hours per week in more than one job, in one or more of the NOC categories. Periods of work of less than 12 months during the 10 years immediately
preceding the date of the application may be added together and divided by 12 to calculate the number of years.

If you can show this, then it should count provided it falls under either occupations listed in the National Occupational Classification (NOC) under Skill Type 0 or Skill Level A and B.

FYI - I Think Research Assistant will be - 4122 Post-Secondary Teaching and Research Assistants which falls under Skill type 0, A and B