Mohammad Sarker, an intermediate transmission line engineer with SNC-Lavalin Group, decided to come to Canada in 2009 from his native Bangladesh because he felt it was a more secure environment.

Photograph by: Dean Bicknell, Calgary Herald, For The Calgary Herald

Workers from all over the world are increasingly targeting Canada to find jobs in the wake of sluggish economies elsewhere, according to some recruiters who report noticing a recent spike in the number of workers coming to Canada from struggling countries such as Ireland and others with high unemployment rates.

"We started noticing it in 2010 (and) what was really noticeable was the number of people coming from Ireland," says Sandra Miles, president of Vancouver-based Miles Employment Group. "I have never seen so many people from other parts of the world - from all over."

Since January, an "unprecedented" 6,500 applicants from the U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand alone have applied to Miles.

Mohammad Sarker decided to target Canada as a place to live and work because the Bangladeshi, who's trained in mechanical engineering with a master's degree in materials engineering, saw good job opportunities in the energy sector.

"I thought that Canada is the most stable compared to the U.S. and some other countries," says Sarker, an intermediate transmission line engineer with SNC-Lavalin Group Inc.

"This is the first world, so that's the reason (for immigrating) because life is very secure here and you can get a better job with better opportunities," says Sarker, who immigrated to Calgary in May 2009.

Part of the reason for the rise in the number of international workers coming to Canada is recent changes to the working holiday visa program, which makes it easier for people from Commonwealth countries to come and work in Canada while travelling or studying.

A recent change in B.C. was also announced that the provincial government will take steps to increase the number of international students who can study in B.C. by 50 per cent over the next four years as countries and provinces compete for a larger pool of foreign students and foreign-trained, skilled workers.

Even the Americans, who also face higher unemployment levels than Canadians, are contacting agencies such as Miles with the hope of finding a job. Based on last year's trend, she expects numbers to increase at the beginning of the year. "There is generally a spike from January to March," Miles says.

Amid global uncertainty about the eurozone and a continued sluggish U.S. economy, Canada is emerging as a bright spot for employment prospects - at least for now. A protracted downward trend elsewhere would inevitably impact Canada, but it has fared the best when measured against many developed nations.

For highly skilled, global workers such as Sarker, it made sense to choose Canada over other countries to settle.

He knew it wouldn't be a free ride. In fact, it was a long and hard journey to get to where he is to-day. After arriving, he took a job working at a grocery store to pay his family's bills before finding a higher-paying job that allowed him to save money while getting his engineering credentials recognized.

He contacted the International Qualification Assessment Service in Alberta and did some education upgrading to getting equivalent certification in Canada.

He later applied to the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta for professional accreditation and was hired by SNC-Lavalin in June.

Shahid Ahmad also saw the value of Canada's "booming" economy when compared to other parts of the world.

Trained as an electronics engineer in his native Pakistan, he immigrated to Canada in 2004 when he landed in Mississauga, but had to go back to Pakistan for family reasons. When he returned in 2008, he came to Calgary because of its vibrant job market and economy.

"I saw a number of other countries offering immigration, but Canada is one of the safest countries in the world," says Ahmad, also an engineer with SNCLavalin. "I know Calgary is one of the most booming cities in the world due to this oil exploration and the immense resources Alberta has."

He found it difficult to acclimatize at first, but eventually overcame the barriers of a lack of Canadian experience, a network or a full understanding of cultural nuances.

With Canada set to rely entirely on immigration for the future growth of its workforce within the next decade, both Ahmad and Sarker will increasingly represent a more diverse cultural and ethnic makeup of the country's workforce.

derek.sankey@telus.net