The Reference

The job posting was perfect. Tomás read it on his phone at two in the morning, in the kitchen of the restaurant where he washed dishes, and he read it again at three, and again on the bus home at four.

Maritime Electric, Halifax — Electrician Apprentice. Paid training. Will support apprenticeship registration. Experience with residential wiring an asset.

Tomás had eight years of experience with residential wiring. In his home country, he had been a licensed electrician with his own small business and two employees. In Canada, his licence meant nothing until he passed the exams in Nova Scotia, and to take the exams, he needed hours of supervised work with a Canadian company. It was a circle with no door.

This job was the door.

He sent his application that morning, before he slept. Three days later, a woman called Brenda from Maritime Electric phoned him. The interview went well; Tomás could tell, because the owner, a big man called Gary with a grey beard and hands like his own, spent twenty minutes asking him technical questions and nodding at every answer.

At the end, Brenda said, "We'd like to move forward. Could you send us the names of two references? Canadian references, ideally. People who can speak about your work and your reliability."

"Of course," said Tomás.

On the bus home, he realised he did not know a single person in Canada who could do that.