• When Dapo Bankole moved to Canada in 2012, he had years of IT experience under his belt.
• But he struggled to find a professional job for months and did minimum wage work to make ends meet.
• Bankole said he thinks companies weren't hiring him because he lacked Canadian experience.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Dapo Bankole, 47, about moving to Canada from Nigeria. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

My Canadian Dream began in 1993. I was living in Nigeria, where I was born, and had to sit an exam. My brother's friend drove me there. A few months later, I asked after him and was told he moved to Canada.

It was the first time I heard about someone relocating to a new country. I dreamed of doing the same.

I studied biochemistry at university and completed a postgraduate program in computer science. I worked in IT for around 12 years in Nigeria, where I gained experience in computer engineering, billing administration, and team management

My desire to relocate heavily influenced my life. When I courted my wife, I told her about my dream because I didn't want it to be a problem for her. I started getting myself ready to move by gaining IT certifications through a Canadian society.

In 2012, I moved to Canada with my wife and two children after successfully applying for permanent residency in the country.

But it ended up taking me around nine months to find a professional job. I struggled to get my foot in the door and provide for my family's basic needs. I feel I was overlooked because I didn't have Canadian work experience.

I applied for professional jobs in Canada but didn't hear back

We arrived in Canada in 2012 and stayed with my sister, who had moved there ahead of me, for two months before we got an apartment.

My wife worked in a bank in Nigeria, but when we moved she decided to pursue her hobby of making clothes, so she went back to school to go into fashion design. Meanwhile, I started job-hunting.

I applied for professional jobs, such as analyst and project manager positions, but it mostly was crickets. I wasn't hearing anything back.

Peers who were also immigrants asked to look at my résumé. I'd put Nigeria all over the place, someone suggested I remove it. When I did, I started getting follow-up calls.

I felt I wasn't getting opportunities because of my lack of Canadian work experience. Recruiters didn't say it directly — it was subtle. In phone conversations, recruiters would ask where my experience was based. I'd explain it wasn't in Canada, and the conversation would continue, but they'd never get back to me.

It became glaring that companies weren't hiring me because I lacked local experience, but I'd never get it if they didn't hire me. It's a chicken-and-egg situation.

I took on minimum-wage work. We struggled with our basic needs.

After a month or so of job-seeking, I started applying to lower-wage jobs as well. Living in Canada wasn't cheap, and I needed to stop depleting my savings.

I worked at a call center for CA $10 an hour for around two months. Then, I got a job as a grocery store clerk doing night shifts. I also did evening shifts unloading cargo from planes at the airport.

I kept my days free to pursue more professional opportunities. I didn't want to get stuck in a low-wage job. But it meant I hardly saw my kids. They were asleep when I got home and went to school when I was asleep. They started speaking to me less, and it made me question why we left Nigeria.

We were comfortable in Nigeria, but we lived in a basement in Canada. We struggled to cover our basic needs. There was a day when I only had around $10 left and had to decide whether I'd use it to buy food or put gas in the car. I'd never been in that situation.

Moving back to Nigeria at that stage would have meant starting all over again there, so we decided to push through the pain of integration.

I received help from a mentorship program and was eventually hired as a business analyst

During my struggle to get a professional job, my confidence levels crashed and I started to doubt myself.

Through an organization that offered loans to immigrant professionals, I received some money to attend a short training course. I interacted with professionals on the course who listened to me. I found myself leading conversations and felt my confidence being restored.

I also joined a mentorship program that reaches out to companies on your behalf. They didn't have a magic wand that automatically gave people jobs, but it leveraged social capital on behalf of immigrants like me.

They helped me get an unpaid opportunity, which led to a full-time offer for a business analyst job. I was able to keep doing my night shift work to make money in the interim and actually kept my grocery store job for months afterward for extra income.

Even though the road isn't completely smooth, it always becomes easier once you have that initial foot in the door.

I stayed in the business analyst role for around two years before I was headhunted by another company to work as a senior business analyst. In 2015, I started my own business. My team of six builds software and consults with organizations on software and implementation.

Employers should give people like me a chance

The program I did gave me an in-route for Canadian experience, but I don't think it's right to filter out candidates who don't have Canadian experience.

You don't need Canadian experience to succeed in Canada. You only need experienced people who are ready to do whatever it takes to fit in and deliver on the work priorities. We should give people a chance to prove themselves.

Immigration shouldn't make people suffer. It should help them transfer their skills, which can positively impact the economy.

Do you have a story about how relocating to a new place impacted your career? Email Charissa Cheong at [email protected]

• A JetBlue passenger opened an emergency exit on a taxiway in Boston, the FAA said.
• One witness said that the man was arguing with his girlfriend before the incident.
• A pilot told air traffic control that the passenger was subdued by an officer on board.

A JetBlue passenger delayed his fellow travelers after opening one of the plane's emergency exit doors.

The incident occurred while Flight 161 was preparing to take off from Boston Logan International Airport on Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.

It added that the Airbus A320, heading to Puerto Rico, was on a taxiway when the passenger opened an emergency exit. This also caused the slide to deploy.

Fred Wynn, a passenger on the plane, told local CBS outlet WBZ-TV that he was sat just in front of the man and his girlfriend.

"Boyfriend and girlfriend were arguing behind in me," Wynn said. "Boyfriend got mad, got up walked down the center aisle, grabbed the emergency door, ripped it off, completely off."

He added that the man was handcuffed by an FBI agent before state police boarded the plane and escorted him away.

In an audio recording archived by LiveATC.net, one of the pilots tells air traffic control a law enforcement officer subdued the passenger.

"I can hear all the passengers screaming. Looks like they tried to grab him before he went out," he added.

Data from Flightradar24 shows that the flight took off almost three hours later than scheduled and landed in San Juan at 3:17 a.m. local time.

Passengers on other flights told WBZ-TV that they were also delayed because the runway was temporarily disabled since the slide was deployed.

According to FlightAware data, 95 flights, or around 17%, were delayed at Logan Airport throughout the day.

Massachusetts State Police told CBS that one person was detained after the incident.

"Shortly before takeoff, a passenger who wanted to deplane opened an aircraft door suddenly and without warning," state police said. "Other passengers restrained the individual until troopers arrived on scene to detain them for further questioning."

JetBlue and the Massachusetts State Police did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent by Business Insider outside US working hours.

• BYD released a video of its $233,000 electric supercar leaping over potholes and road spikes.
• The Yangwang U9 comes with intelligent suspension that allows it to "jump" up to six meters forward.
• The U9 is part of BYD's efforts to diversify into luxury EVs as it looks to take on Tesla.

BYD's most expensive EV has a novel way of dealing with potholes.

The Chinese Tesla rival launched its first supercar, the $233,400 Yangwang U9, last year and has now shown off the luxury EV's ability to "jump" over potholes and road spikes in a new video.

In the video, released on BYD's Weibo account on Monday, an autonomously-driven U9 accelerates to 120 km/h before using its suspension to launch itself up to six meters forward over a pothole, a set of road spikes, and a chalk flag.

BYD is known for its ultra-cheap electric vehicles, such as the $10,000 Seagull, but like other Chinese automakers, it is now expanding into higher-end luxury vehicles.

The company began selling the U9, which has a top speed of 192 mph and can sprint from 0 to 62 km/h in just 2.36 seconds in February 2024.

The luxury EV can charge from 30-80% in just 10 minutes and is packed with futuristic features.

Its DiSus-X intelligent suspension allows the U9 to leap over small holes, "dance" to music, and drive with only three wheels, as the company showed off at the vehicle's launch last year.

BYD's Yangwang brand offers its most high-end models. The Yangwang U8 hybrid SUV, which BYD began selling in April 2023, comes with an onboard drone and can even float on water for short periods.

While the Tesla rival's luxury offerings frequently turn heads, BYD's in-demand affordable EVs and hybrids have turned the company into arguably Elon Musk's most potent challenger.

The Chinese automaker announced record annual sales earlier this month and is expanding into a host of new markets. BYD announced on Tuesday that it was sending nearly 5,000 electric vehicles to Europe aboard its third purpose-built container ship.

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The Japanese electronics giant says it did not negotiate with the hackers responsible for the attack.

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