Hello everyone,
I am currently in Canada on a visitor visa / stamp. I'm from the UK. I came here on an LMIA work permit as an Oil & Gas Recruiter in Calgary in October 2015 but was laid off in March 2016 because quite frankly the oil collapse meant there was zero recruitment happening pretty much all over Alberta.
I went home in May 2016 for a week for family reasons and when I returned my closed work permit was taken out of my passport by border control and they gave me a 6 month stamp lasting til mid November.
I met my Canadian girlfriend in January of this year and we've been living together since 1 May.
I have become very friendly with the directors of an advertising company who work in the ground floor of our building and have had an incorporated business for many years now. To cut a long story short, they like my style and humour and would be keen to employ me as an Advertising Copywriter. I have a legal background (before I got into recruitment) and they do also need someone who is able to conduct legal research on advertising laws in different countries around the world, as their clients are global and this company is recruited often to advertise in those countries too. Plus they think my personality is a good fit for the role coming up with ad slogans/ brand names / long-form copy for products and websites etc.
They've stated they will be prepared to embark on the LMIA process. We've researched a lot online and we are fully aware of how we need to state the business problem that they're having (i.e. the need to hire a good writer with international experience and preferably a legal background) so they're in the process of drafting a job advert.
However, they only pay their other staff $25 an hour (a team made up of Digital Designers, Producers, admin staff). I've looked at the wage requirements on the ESDC website and it states that the employment must be for a minimum of 30 hours a week, and the minimum wage they must offer is the Prevailing Wage of $32.45 (NOC 5121 Writers Median Wage in Calgary). Obviously this puts them down the High-Wage LMIA route and they'd have to do a Transition Plan which they're fine with, however I cannot see them offering me $32.45 an hour! They don't really even have enough work for me to fulfil 30 hours a week, so hiring me for 30 hours a week on a $32.45/hr salary puts me into the same yearly salary bracket as their other employees (all with a good few years experience).
At first they wanted to offer me less than $25 (the overall Alberta median) because we thought this would put us down the Low Wage route and make the process easier, however I now know this is not the case.
My question is, can they follow the High Wage route (as required because the Copywriter median is above the Alberta median) but then go ahead with only advertising a $20/25 an hour anyway on the job ad and ultimately in my contract? I don't think this is the case but I would really appreciate a concrete answer.
Any other tips/suggestions will be appreciated too!
Thanks!
I am currently in Canada on a visitor visa / stamp. I'm from the UK. I came here on an LMIA work permit as an Oil & Gas Recruiter in Calgary in October 2015 but was laid off in March 2016 because quite frankly the oil collapse meant there was zero recruitment happening pretty much all over Alberta.
I went home in May 2016 for a week for family reasons and when I returned my closed work permit was taken out of my passport by border control and they gave me a 6 month stamp lasting til mid November.
I met my Canadian girlfriend in January of this year and we've been living together since 1 May.
I have become very friendly with the directors of an advertising company who work in the ground floor of our building and have had an incorporated business for many years now. To cut a long story short, they like my style and humour and would be keen to employ me as an Advertising Copywriter. I have a legal background (before I got into recruitment) and they do also need someone who is able to conduct legal research on advertising laws in different countries around the world, as their clients are global and this company is recruited often to advertise in those countries too. Plus they think my personality is a good fit for the role coming up with ad slogans/ brand names / long-form copy for products and websites etc.
They've stated they will be prepared to embark on the LMIA process. We've researched a lot online and we are fully aware of how we need to state the business problem that they're having (i.e. the need to hire a good writer with international experience and preferably a legal background) so they're in the process of drafting a job advert.
However, they only pay their other staff $25 an hour (a team made up of Digital Designers, Producers, admin staff). I've looked at the wage requirements on the ESDC website and it states that the employment must be for a minimum of 30 hours a week, and the minimum wage they must offer is the Prevailing Wage of $32.45 (NOC 5121 Writers Median Wage in Calgary). Obviously this puts them down the High-Wage LMIA route and they'd have to do a Transition Plan which they're fine with, however I cannot see them offering me $32.45 an hour! They don't really even have enough work for me to fulfil 30 hours a week, so hiring me for 30 hours a week on a $32.45/hr salary puts me into the same yearly salary bracket as their other employees (all with a good few years experience).
At first they wanted to offer me less than $25 (the overall Alberta median) because we thought this would put us down the Low Wage route and make the process easier, however I now know this is not the case.
My question is, can they follow the High Wage route (as required because the Copywriter median is above the Alberta median) but then go ahead with only advertising a $20/25 an hour anyway on the job ad and ultimately in my contract? I don't think this is the case but I would really appreciate a concrete answer.
Any other tips/suggestions will be appreciated too!
Thanks!
