It's the lucky people who already have a job lined up for them when they move to a new city. For the rest of us, a move means hitting the pavement with a stack of resumes and a hopeful attitude. However, if you don't know the city well it can be difficult to know where to start. Who's hiring? Which companies would even need someone with your skills? Unless the job is posted online, you won't know where your applications would do the most good. Therefore we recommend that as soon as you arrive, you sign up with a Montreal Agence de Placement, which can help match you up with an employer.

Placement agencies exist to match up employers with people who are looking for work, so when you apply to an agency you only have to do one application and one interview to be considered for dozens of jobs. This saves you considerable time and effort. There are also many jobs that are available through the placement agency only, as their agreement with the company means they won't have to compete with independent applicants. No amount of online searches or job bank browsing will turn up jobs that are earmarked to be filled by a placement agency. Companies do this because it's easier for them to hire someone to hire their employees than it is to do it themselves, especially if the positions are temporary.

If you're planning on looking for work in Montreal, we highly recommend you have at least a working knowledge of French. Montreal is a bilingual city, with many people speaking English, but most employers will want you to be able to serve any customer, whether they be Anglophone or Francophone. Be prepared to interview in both languages and to present certificates from your language school proving that you have mastered your second language.