Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - August 2010
A new program being offered through York University is aiming to help immigrants to find work commensurate with their skills and education. However, what separates the Internationally Educated Professionals Bridging program is that it is aimed specifically at immigrants who are qualified for work in non-regulated fields.
Many immigrants come to Canada, and are forced to find work in lower-skill jobs. This is most often due to problems in foreign credential recognition, and numerous programs across the country work to bridge foreign-trained professionals with employment in their licensed field.
However, skilled immigrants in unregulated professions, such as managers, accountants, marketing and finance executives, have been lacking the same sort of support, and have often found themselves stuck in lower-paying positions or unemployed for long lengths of time.
The new program at York hopes to fill this void. It has accepted 67 students, all of whom hold university degrees and the majority have at least five years of experience in their respective field. The program helps them to develop their language skills and introduces them to professionals working in the field who can help them to start building a network of contacts.
�Networking landed my first interview with a potential employer last week,� said student Mohamad Sjamuan, who despite having a Bachelors degree in Engineering and a Masters degree in Management, has been unable to find suitable employment in Canada. �I didn�t get the job [interviewed for], but it shows I am heading in the right direction.�
Source: Globe and Mail
