High Agency Is the Newcomer Career Skill Nobody Can Give You

Newcomers are often told to network, improve their resumes, learn Canadian workplace culture, and build confidence. All of that advice can be useful. But it often misses the deeper skill underneath successful career transitions: high agency.

High agency is the ability to act without waiting for perfect instructions, perfect confidence, or perfect conditions. It is the habit of creating options instead of only applying to the same roles as everyone else. It is the difference between saying “nobody is helping me” and asking “what can I try next with the information I have?”

For newcomers in Canada, this matters because the labour market does not always explain itself clearly. Statistics Canada data shows that recent immigrants are finding work faster than previous cohorts, but barriers remain. Among recent working-age immigrants who faced difficulty finding their first job, 42.2% cited not having enough Canadian work experience or references, while 38.3% cited lack of connections in the labour market.

Those are not small barriers. But they are also not barriers that improve through waiting.

Many newcomers hear “networking” and imagine awkward coffee chats, LinkedIn messages, and professional events where everyone is pretending not to need something. But volunteering can be one of the strongest forms of networking because it gives people evidence of how you work.

At an event, people hear your pitch. In a volunteer setting, they see whether you arrive on time, follow through, communicate clearly, solve problems, and treat people well. That kind of proof can be more persuasive than a polished elevator speech.

The goal is not to volunteer forever or work for free in place of paid labour. The goal is to enter rooms where people can observe your reliability and judgment. In a labour market where newcomers often struggle with references and local connections, visible contribution can shorten the trust-building process.

Newcomers often apply to the best-known employers in their field: the big banks, big consulting firms, large tech companies, hospitals, universities, government agencies, or global brands. Those employers can be good targets, but they also attract the most competition.

A high-agency job search looks wider. It includes mid-sized companies, fast-growing firms, suppliers, nonprofits, regional employers, startups, professional services firms, and companies adjacent to your sector. A finance professional does not only need to target banks. A project manager does not only need to target construction giants. A tech worker does not only need to target household-name companies.

The practical move is to build a list of 30 to 50 target organizations where your role could exist. Then map the people inside those companies: the person doing the job now, the likely hiring manager, recruiters, team members, alumni, and anyone with a weak connection to you.

Cold outreach is not wrong. Bad cold outreach is wrong.

A message that says “I saw a job posting, can you refer me?” is easy to ignore because it gives the recipient no reason to care. A better message shows that you know who the person is, understand something about their work, and have a specific reason for reaching out.

This does not need to be dramatic. Mention a project, career move, shared background, recent post, or role-specific question. The point is to make the person feel like they are being contacted as a human being, not as a doorway.

Expect low response rates. That is normal. The goal is not to make every message work. The goal is to improve the quality and volume of your attempts.

The Government of Canada’s Skills for Success framework includes communication, collaboration, adaptability, and problem solving as core workplace skills. These are not separate from networking. They are part of it.

A strong network is not built by asking strangers for jobs. It is built through curiosity, repeated contact, useful conversation, and trust. This matters especially in Canada, where referrals and informal endorsements can shape hiring outcomes even when job postings look formal.

For newcomers under financial pressure, this can feel frustrating. Of course people want a job quickly. But the more desperate the interaction feels, the harder it is for trust to form. Curiosity often opens more doors than urgency.

AI has changed job search behaviour. It is now easier to generate resumes, cover letters, LinkedIn summaries, and interview answers. The problem is that if everyone uses the same tools in the same way, everyone starts to sound the same.

That does not mean newcomers should avoid AI. It means they should use it carefully. AI can help with research, interview practice, resume structure, and company analysis. But your final materials still need to sound like a real person with a real career story.

As applications become more automated, human connection becomes more valuable. A warm referral, a specific conversation, or a person who has seen how you work can differentiate you in a way a generic AI-assisted resume cannot.

Getting the job is not the end of newcomer adaptation. The first 90 days matter because they shape how people interpret your competence.

In the first few weeks, observe. Learn how the team communicates, how decisions are made, what “urgent” really means, and who knows how things actually work. Culture is not the values page. It is the pattern of behaviour.

After that, contribute visibly. Deliver what you said you would deliver. Ask clear questions. Make your work easy to trust.

Then begin to own parts of the work. Document a process. Improve a small system. Take responsibility for something that makes the team’s life easier.

This is often what people mean when they talk about “Canadian experience.” Sometimes it is a real requirement. In many roles, though, it is shorthand for workplace adaptation, communication, and trust.

Until next time,