Hirantha Nandasena gave a presentation at the Canada Job Expo in Toronto on November 27th 2012 about his book "Success in Toronto". He provided advice to immigrants on managing feelings, finding jobs through reputable staffing agencies, volunteering and gaining experience in roles related to desired careers, taking cooperative education programs, joining professional associations, building a supportive network, and saving $800 per month to feel financially secure. The notes are intended to summarize the presentation but may not be a perfect representation as they were taken in real-time.

1. Success in Toronto
Notes from presentation by
Hirantha Nandasena
at Canada Job Expo
Toronto
November 27th 2012
“Notes from Success in Toronto” by Maira Bay de Souza is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

2. Before we begin ...
Items in this font are the notes I took of what the
presenter said
Items in this font are my own comments

3. Introduction
Hirantha is an immigrant and author of the book
“Success in Toronto”
He also has a website with the same name:
successintoronto.com
At the presentation he was having a draw for a
free copy of his book, but you can also get it
from the Toronto Public Library.

4. Tips on managing your feelings
1) change what you can
2) experience what you couldn't experience in
your home country
3) focus on **solution** to problems
Very helpful tips.
I have already been doing some of that on my
own, and they really help.

5. I want a job
Places that help you find a job / good staffing agencies:
- manpower
- the people bank
- tosi employment services (now called the Bagg Group)
- kelly services
I have heard about many employment scams, so it's good
that he is giving the names of places we can trust.
It's hard to know who to trust when you are new and
don't know anybody.

6. More job advice
- volunteer for at least 3 months in an area that is related to the position you are looking
for (example: volunteer to be treasurer for events at your kid's school if you want a job
as an accountant)
- if you have to get a survival job, also look at things that can be related to your desired
job (continuing with the accountant objective, take a survival job as a supermarket
cashier)
- think about taking a co-op course (this is offered by several universities: Ryerson,
George Brown, etc)
- join a professional association
I'm not sure if it's the same thing as co-op, but several universities also offer bridging
programs for newcomers:
- Ryerson
- George Brown
- York University
There is also the career bridge program, which is very good.
In my opinion, the great thing about Canada is that there is lots of help for newcomers!

7. Other tips
- have at least 5 friends that will help you find a job
- get advice from people who have been here for at least 5 years,
and who are positive about Canada
- save 50K in 5 years = $800/month. This is important in order for
you to feel like you have achieved something financially.
Good advice.
Especially the positive mindset. Your own negative
thoughts can drag you down, so it's important to
have other people to pull you up.

8. Disclaimer
The notes presented here are what I understood from what the
presenter communicated. They might not be 100% accurate, as I
was taking notes and listening to the presentation at the same
time.
All the information I am quoting from the presenter is his
intellectual property. I am reproducing it here under the fair use
policy, for quoting purposes only.