I have made significant efforts in my life and career to remain in Canada. I was born here. I was raised here. I was educated here. I’ve made lifelong friends here. I was married here. I became a father here. I have children here. My partner has a career here. My parents and in-laws will require care here eventually. While I have lived in many places within Canada (Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta) I’ve essentially always lived within my home country.

However, career options for chemists in Canada are very different from those in the United States. I will not delve into why or make too many judgments on this (this could fill a book) but suffice it to say that:

• Jobs within the field tend to be scarcer;
• the majority of the available work tends to be for contract organizations as opposed to sponsor companies, and there truly are very few sponsor companies;
• the pay is often lower for similar work at a similar experience level; and
• the cost of living is at least as high, often higher than some places in the USA.

I was extremely fortunate in beginning my career to find positions that allowed me to hone my craft while remaining in Canada, first in an on-site role doing process development and manufacturing (for a company that represents an extreme rarity in Canada), followed by a remote role that placed more emphasis on strategy, planning, project oversight, vendor management, and high-level CMC work. I didn’t realize at the time, but this latter role was very nearly unique in the industry—-the combination of process chemistry, remote work, and allowing ex-US employees creates a Venn diagram with nearly zero overlap.

This role ended a couple of months ago and I am now waist-deep in what I can confidently rank as the most frustrating job search of my career. I have been turned away from multiple remote-friendly roles because of my location, and the cited difficulties of paying someone ex-US. I naively thought that most remote-friendly companies would have the same knowledge, understanding, and willingness as my previous employer on how to handle this, but I have been proven very wrong over the past two and a half months. I find myself in a position where I am being told by recruiters and hiring managers—-quite contrary to my own intimate knowledge of the topic—-that employing ex-US people for remote roles is not possible. It is very possible, but nobody seems interested in that. Add in to this that the post-pandemic shift back on-site work has winnowed out many of the previously remote-tolerant positions and the options become quite limited indeed. In retrospect this is not surprising.

After months of searching, I actually managed to find a position that was chemistry-adjacent, that would have allowed me to remain in my current location while working remotely and traveling a fair bit. I strongly and consistently reminded the hiring manager that my location in Canada would require forethought and planning from a payroll perspective, but would not pose an issue. Not only did they not begin figuring this out until I verbally accepted this job only to have the offer retracted due to “geographic concerns” before I could sign anything. This was a unique experience, I have to say!

Luckily I have still received support and understanding from other prospective employers who, while not open to remote work, understand my situation and are able to make some accommodations.

I’ve accepted a position in the Greater Boston area and I am now preparing for the eventuality of leaving Canada, and I’ve made my peace with that, but it has been a hard conclusion to come to.