I was nervous and excited at the same time when I first started my in-person classes at Camosun. Everything was overwhelming; time management was an issue and it is still a big concern for me.
As an international student I’m taking my best shot at handling my post-graduate student life and my part-time job. Back at home in India I never had to work; that was commonly the culture there. Parents would send pocket money on a monthly basis, just enough to survive while getting my bachelor’s degree.
Now, if my parents send the same pocket money, I can’t even buy myself decent groceries here with it. So I’m doing what the rest of the international students and local students do here to earn their rent or tuition: working part-time. This article is all about my job-hunt experience in Victoria.
I had to find work as soon as I reached Canada on August 17. That was the thing I was most worried about, because I had used up all the savings I had back from India on travelling to Canada and while I was in quarantine in Qatar.
I needed money to earn my September rent, as we know that the housing market in Victoria is not good, which makes the minimum rent high here. So after a great stroke of luck I found a basement room for $600 rent, including utilities; I have one roommate.
Everyone told me I had grabbed a great deal. I was shocked because in India I could rent a bungalow with this sort of money.
Well, I knew that to sustain and survive in an expensive city like Victoria I had to find work as soon as possible. One of the things that I did was search jobs on Indeed and Facebook Marketplace.
Through Facebook I found a Subway job listing; I applied and the employer called me for an interview. I went in for the interview and got the job. I never went to Subway much back in India. The menu was quite vegetarian there, I guess.
I had to learn how to make sandwiches, use the cash register, and greet customers. I worked there for a few weeks until I could find a better paying job because Subway mostly pays minimum. The job market in Victoria is such that everyone is hiring now, especially for students who want part-time work.
I decided to find a server job; the first place I sent my resume to was a restaurant near my home. I got an interview and now I work at a really awesome place where I’m enjoying working and I get paid enough to manage my rent and my groceries.
Sometimes it’s the best to move to a better job so we can learn new things and meet new people… and pay the rent.