Canada: Jobs in Vancouver.

scotty91

I'm heading to Vancouver for the summer and would really like to have a job sorted before heading over. Any advice on how to go about doing this?? any good job seekers websites I should check out? Thanks in advance!

kiwijbob

all I know is that Vancouver is one of the hardest cities in Canada to get a decent Job in

IMightKnow

It depends how you define "decent".

We went over as a group of 9 last summer and all got jobs pretty quick, mostly in cafes/restaurants/shops.

If youre happy to do that kind of work you'll be fine. Don't plan on making money to bring home with you though!

Craigslist is a pretty good source.

Any other questions ill be happy to help

kiwijbob

agreed but in referring to decent I meant a career type of job.

rachelg11

does anyone know where the best place to stay in vancouver would be if you were just going over for the summer? somewhere cheap and cheerful?

conall.doherty

IMightKnow wrote: »

It depends how you define "decent".

We went over as a group of 9 last summer and all got jobs pretty quick, mostly in cafes/restaurants/shops.

If youre happy to do that kind of work you'll be fine. Don't plan on making money to bring home with you though!

Craigslist is a pretty good source.

Any other questions ill be happy to help

Where abouts did you stay? we've got a space in a frat house in UBC but thinkin it may be a bit far out and wondering is there any place better to look in?

Where abouts did you find work. Was it just a case of going around asking managers and handin in CV's?

Is there any decent networks or places to get short term mobile contracts?

Any advice would be appreciated. thanks

IMightKnow

Apologies i meant to reply ages ago. ok so

1. we stayed in a frat in unc. it was 300 each a month and loved every minute of it. yeah its at least 30 mins commute but the public transport is so good that you get over it. the craic is unreal on the bus back to ubc after a night out. otherwise a neighbourhood like kits would be a good place to live. downtown can be crazy expensive.

2. theres no problem getting summer jobs, just dont go telling them youre only going to be here for summer if they dont specifically want seasonal staff.

3. places to get a job= cafes, theres thousands of them. the Blendz chain are always hiring, 4 of my friends worked in different branches. restaurants but you might need experience. bars you wont get unless your cv is very impressive, bar staff make a mint over there. Shops are also an option but expect more thorough interview processes and potentially less hours and worse pay.

4. The mobile you want is WIND. its 25$ a month. if your phone cant take the sim the phone is about 50 i think. your 25 gives you unlimited local(they work things totally diff than here) calls, texts and free facebook. Local means any network or landline as long as its in vancouver. we had everything we wanted in that 25$ and in fact we got a deal that only the first month was 25 the other 2 were 20.

5. i glanced at somewhere there you mentioned buying a car to travel down the coast. I would be shocked if you ever achieved this im sorry to tell you. we did the coast by flying bellingham to vegas for about 60euro and then made do with greyhound buses to LA, San Fran. Theyre grand for what you pay.

6 You didnt ask but buy all your groceries in No Frills. food is really expensive there and no frills is the best of a very bad lot.

Any other info im missing?

conall.doherty

sweet mate.

all sounds good. 3 of us staying in a frat aswell. hopefully therell be plenty of jobs around town.

Did you know many people who lived in kits? we got to pay all our summer rent upfront for this frat so kind of committed to it within 24hrs of arriving.

The thought of arriving homeless and having to trek about to find private rental for 3 months isnt very attractive though.

DazzlerIE

In my experience, most places want you to sign a contract for 6-12 months in Vancouver for accommodation

conall.doherty

Where can you buy these WIND sim cards? Do you just sign up on a monthly basis?

IMightKnow

There's a good few wind stores about, 2 at least in town and 2 along the bus route from to ubc. We bought the phones and sim cards from them. It's technically a contract but you go in once a month to pay your 25 and then your phone works for a month. So to quit you just don't buy another month. But it's a contract in that you don't have 25 "credit" to use, that's just the cost of it

lain

Hey guys i was wondering if anybody who has been in Vancouver for a while would know if i could survive on around 1000$ for a month there?? i was suppose to go over for a year at end of year but didnt get my application in in time for the Visa so thinkin of heading over soon for a month to check it out for next year but dont know if im being really unrealistic with the amount of money id be going over with. id be living with my boyfriend so that might make things a bit cheaper accommodation wise.

Thanks!

JohnMearsheimer

lain wrote: »

Hey guys i was wondering if anybody who has been in Vancouver for a while would know if i could survive on around 1000$ for a month there?? i was suppose to go over for a year at end of year but didnt get my application in in time for the Visa so thinkin of heading over soon for a month to check it out for next year but dont know if im being really unrealistic with the amount of money id be going over with. id be living with my boyfriend so that might make things a bit cheaper accommodation wise.

Thanks!

If you're not paying for accommodation you'll probably be ok. You probably won't be doing any shopping on that money. Buy yourself a travel pass for the month, it's $81 if you're staying in zone one. It's good value if you're going to be travelling around Vancouver for a while. That leaves you $900.

lain

JohnMearsheimer wrote: »

If you're not paying for accommodation you'll probably be ok. You probably won't be doing any shopping on that money. Buy yourself a travel pass for the month, it's $81 if you're staying in zone one. It's good value if you're going to be travelling around Vancouver for a while. That leaves you $900.

thank you for replying! hmmm we probably would have to get our own accommodation...i was looking up Craiglist for rooms to rent and seen some for around $600 a month and was thinking between us that would'nt be too bad but that would leave us with roughly $600 each after accommodation and the travel pass. does that seem like very little for food and i guess paying for touristy stuff?.... and as much as id like to, i definitely wouldnt be doing any shopping!

JohnMearsheimer

Sorry, I thought your boyfriend was already living over there and was all set up. To be honest I wouldn't really be that comfortable spending a month in Vancouver with just 600 dollars in my pocket. It's one of the most expensive cities in the world. It cost me about $1000 a month just to exist there between rent, food and transport. Any social activities were on top of that. You probably won't be eating out or having too many nights out on your budget. For example, a beer costs about 7/8 dollars plus tip. I suppose you could survive there for a month but I'm not sure how much of a good time you'll have. Could you try 2 weeks instead?

lain

JohnMearsheimer wrote: »

Sorry, I thought your boyfriend was already living over there and was all set up. To be honest I wouldn't really be that comfortable spending a month in Vancouver with just 600 dollars in my pocket. It's one of the most expensive cities in the world. It cost me about $1000 a month just to exist there between rent, food and transport. Any social activities were on top of that. You probably won't be eating out or having too many nights out on your budget. For example, a beer costs about 7/8 dollars plus tip. I suppose you could survive there for a month but I'm not sure how much of a good time you'll have. Could you try 2 weeks instead?

ya we would both be going over with a $1000 each. so ya i suppose that is very little i just wasnt too sure and was trying to figure out how expensive it is. maybe the 2 weeks would be a better option.

just wondering how much did it cost you roughly for rent plus bills per month and were you sharing with others?

thank you for replying so soon iv been wrecking my head the last while trying to figure out what to do and if we could afford it or not

JohnMearsheimer

lain wrote: »

ya we would both be going over with a $1000 each. so ya i suppose that is very little i just wasnt too sure and was trying to figure out how expensive it is. maybe the 2 weeks would be a better option.

just wondering how much did it cost you roughly for rent plus bills per month and were you sharing with others?

thank you for replying so soon iv been wrecking my head the last while trying to figure out what to do and if we could afford it or not

No bother. I was paying $650 in rent a month, my bills were included in that. I was living with one other person. You might just be better off skipping the reccy trip and just put the money it would cost towards the costs you'll have when you actually move over. You'll need every penny!