Finding a job and working in Canada

Your first job interview and the hiring process

Job interviews in Canada
Canadians tend to be friendly and generous with superlatives. During interviews, you may hear very positive feedback—you’d be “a perfect fit,” your resume is “awesome,” etc. Maybe you did ace your job interview and maybe you’ll get a call back right away … but the recruiter or hiring manager may never call again as well. Occasionally, you will be “ghosted” after being led to believe you had every chance to get the job. You can follow up once, then move on if you don’t get a job offer. Maybe another candidate was more qualified, maybe the position was filled internally, who knows.

“You’re hired, welcome on board!”
Did an employer make you an offer? Congratulations! After you accept it formally, you will have to provide your SIN (for income tax reporting purposes) and maybe bring a void cheque to set up direct deposit for payroll.
Not all employers make you sign an employment contract—large companies with a HR department might ask you sign a bunch of policies but smaller employers may skip this practice, and it’s not illegal to do so. How do you know your terms of employment, then? The Canada Labour Code sets out minimum standards that federally regulated employers and employees must follow and there are employment standards for each province/territory.

Just make sure to get your pay stubs. They show your gross income, net pay, employment insurance, vacation pay and other deductions.