Innovative Tools & Strategies to Support Employers in Hiring Global Talent

0:03

um wonderful

0:11

good morning everyone and thank you for joining us here today for our member Workshop hosted by the world Education

0:18

Services Wes my name is Jennifer O'Donnell I'm one of the senior managers

0:23

of the membership engagement team here at the Toronto region Board of Trade

0:29

as we begin I acknowledge the land that is home to many diverse First Nations

0:34

Inuit and maybe's peoples our offices are located on the traditional territory

0:41

of many indigenous Nations who believe in intergenerational responsibility for

0:47

our well-being of today and tomorrow we have just a few housekeeping

0:52

announcements before we begin I'd ask everyone if you feel comfortable uh turn on your camera it's always

0:59

easier to present uh speaking to individuals but uh if you're if you're

1:05

not in a position to do that we completely appreciate that settle in feel free to turn off your cell phones

1:13

and ringers and lastly we'll be taking questions at the end of the presentation

1:18

we have a q a segment however I would encourage everyone to add your questions as the presentation goes along that way

1:26

we can it Spurs conversation you might be thinking something similar to another

1:31

individual and it's just a really great way to start having dialogues of the

1:37

content that's being discussed today enough of me talking let's get started

1:42

today we are joined by several experts who will enhance your knowledge in

1:48

assessing credentials and skills to help you recruit hire and maintain immigrant

1:53

Talent without further Ado please join me in welcoming Helen

2:00

Woodle senior program and policy advisor from Wes Helen

2:08

thank you Jennifer good morning everyone and thank you so much for joining us

2:13

today as Jennifer introduced my name is Helen seifualde I'm the senior program

2:18

policy advisor on behalf of West I would like to thank the Toronto region Board

2:24

of Trade for helping us organize this Workshop as an immigrant myself I believe that

2:30

today's topic is so important and timely and I'm so pleased and honored to be

2:35

moderating this session for those of you who are not familiar with West please allow me to say a few

2:42

introductory words Wes is a non-profit social Enterprise dedicated to advancing the economic and

2:50

social integration of immigrants refugees and international students in the US and Canada

2:56

West has been a global leader in academic credential services for nearly 50 years

3:02

and in addition to credential evaluation we also do social impact work through

3:08

policy programming and philanthropy as Jennifer introduced we will have some

3:15

presentations and we will also have time for Q a but before we proceed with the

3:21

presentations please allow me to set some context to guide our conversation

3:29

as you can see on this slide and as you may know several factors are reshaping

3:35

the current labor market landscape when we look at our demographics we have

3:40

low burst rate and aging population by 2030 nearly 5 million Canadians are

3:47

expected to retire so this means that there will be fewer young people to replace them and

3:54

immigration will be the key drive for labor force grows we all know note we also know the

4:00

current labor shortage crisis across so many sectors in the first quarter of this year over

4:07

800 000 job vacancies were reported and majority of the job vacancies were in

4:13

healthcare and social assistance where we see a large number of newcomers immigrants and refugees

4:19

and the unemployment rate is going up which is currently 5.2 percent

4:25

I don't have to explain how technology and AI are impacting the labor force

4:32

landscape in the next 10 to 15 years it's expected that AI will affect up to half of all

4:40

Canadian jobs which will necessarily impact the skills required in the labor market

4:46

the kovid pandemic is also another factor which is changing the labor force

4:52

landscape including digitization of the workforce also as a nation we are competing with

5:00

other jurisdictions such as Germany Australia and UK who are

5:05

competing for new talents given all these new trends more than

5:10

ever immigration is so crucial to address the chronic level shortage crisis and drive Canada's economy

5:18

that's why the government of Canada continued to increase the number of newcomers each year as you can see on

5:25

this slide this is the latest immigration levels plan announced by the federal government in November last year

5:33

and ircc the ministry for immigration is planning to bring nearly 1.5 million

5:39

newcomers over the next three years and when we look at the different categories almost 60 percent of new permanent

5:47

residents will be admitted through economic pathways so this means that

5:53

there is no shortage of talented people who want to move to our country Canada

5:59

and when we look at the profile of these newcomers majority are young highly

6:04

educated and experienced and they are ready to contribute to the labor market economy

6:12

this provides employers with a unique opportunity to employ immigrants who

6:17

hold prior experience and knowledge without lots of training so if we don't take advantage of this

6:25

experience and skills of newcomers there will be a huge loss for our country according to the conference Board of

6:32

Canada study as a nation we may lose almost 25 billion dollars in earnings

6:38

due to underemployment and unemployment of newcomers so to this Workshop will highlight some

6:46

Innovative tools and strategies that will be helpful for Employers in hiring Global Talent

6:53

so now it's my pleasure to introduce our speakers first we have Kevin Kamal who

7:00

is our director for institutional client relations and Kevin will be speaking on

7:05

International academic credentials assessment next we have our colleague Daniel

7:10

cervangiel who is the associate director for employer initiatives and Daniel will

7:16

be sharing with us some Innovative tools and strategies to hire Global Talent

7:21

last but not least we have basil rambly who is the co-founder and director for

7:27

economic Mobility from jumpstart Refugee Talent which is one of our partners and

7:34

basil will speak on solutions to the Global Talent crisis thank you so much and now I'll pass it to Kevin Kevin over

7:41

to you uh good morning everyone Helen Jennifer thank you so much for that introduction

7:48

and I will be speaking to our International academic credential evaluation services

7:56

and the next year you may want to know we will be celebrating our 50th Anniversary uh initially we started in

8:04

1974 in New York City um from beginning we were not for-profit

8:09

organization and we continue to have that kind of a business model for our operation

8:15

um we really want to get to uh your your section for your comments and your questions so I'm gonna kind of speak um

8:23

for the to a few of the highlights that it affects um it kind of highlights our

8:28

Canadian operations so um you may want to know that in 2000 um we we started the Toronto office and and

8:37

actually we we started the business in Canada based on the RFP by the Ontario

8:44

government then the ministry of training colleges and University so there was a

8:50

RFP in 1999 this was one of the respondent and

8:55

finally we got the contract to deliver this service in Ontario and because of

9:00

that RFP we had a limited funding from the Ontario government and in fact that

9:06

funding lasted about 10 years I think the next kind of a milestone in Canada

9:11

is 2013 then we became a designated credential evaluation service provider

9:18

for the federal government for immigration purpose and when I say immigration really it is uh I'm speaking

9:26

about um the the economic class immigrants who come to Canada based on point system we

9:34

are not used for family class and all of those other categories and we hopefully there will be time to explain this in

9:41

comments and questions I think the next Milestone is 2018 in Canada when we

9:46

launched our West Gateway program uh this is kind of a this is still

9:52

credential evaluation however it is it is addressing the needs of displaced

9:58

individuals and I will speak to this at the end of the session

10:06

um some some I I thought you will be interested in these data really like we are looking at the 2022 uh profile of

10:14

our applicants as you see the right in both Canada and us

10:19

um Visa VSS very large number of applicants over 400 000 and the data on

10:28

US and Canada they are kind of Stark um uh you see that in U.S we are mainly uh

10:33

doing this uh this credential evaluation for higher education purpose that means

10:39

international student really international student getting admissions in the US and in Canada 84 of our

10:47

applicants or customers are using us for immigration purpose

10:52

I really like the data on the other side of this of this slide it is giving you

11:00

kind of a picture of okay from that 300 000 in Canada that we assisted where are

11:07

they falling as far as the discipline as far as program of studies

11:12

um the as you see a a large number it is a 25 business business and management 16

11:21

engineering or stem and 14 in health health care and and all of that

11:29

um this data really became even more interesting to me yesterday then ircc or

11:36

federal government for the first time they had an Express entry draw strictly focus on Healthcare

11:44

professionals although yesterday through Express entry they invited 500 individuals to apply or or what they

11:52

call Ita and from that 500 there were 35

11:58

separate Healthcare occupations that they invited a prospective prospective

12:05

candidates candidates in the express entry to become permanent resident it is

12:11

very these uh these disciplines these Majors or specializations are going to be even more relevant as far as

12:19

immigration Trends again yesterday ircc announced that next week they may have

12:25

their first draw for stem category that is engineering Science and Mathematics

12:34

so we are the VR our services are used not just by employers also by

12:40

Professional Licensing bodies like the engineers uh the the CPAs

12:46

um or the teachers both at the elementary level and early childhood education also we are used by

12:54

universities and colleges for admitting either International students or

12:59

immigrant students you may have you have heard this before right very large number of immigrants those who land land

13:07

in Canada as permanent resident they will do continuing education to kind of establish their their Canadian profile

13:15

and Canadian experience and of course we are used by federal government for

13:21

immigration purpose and we are not the only one by the way there are four other services that ircc has designated to

13:30

provide this credential evaluation for immigration purpose

13:36

I thought you'll be interested to know like when we say employers are using our

13:41

service and we'll give you kind of a selected list of employers who are using Us in Ontario and this is again strictly

13:49

limited to Ontario um kind of segmented by private and public I think generally you may say

13:56

that we are most used by public sector and there is a reason for that most

14:02

public sector kind of entities they have credentialing policy they want to be

14:08

transparent on their hiring process they they will require credential evaluation

14:14

that just to make sure that everybody is competing at the same kind of a level or

14:19

at the same um kind of a entry level and all of that yes normally we are used

14:25

more by by public sector especially at the federal level for hiring purposes

14:33

um I we always look at the purpose of our operation really the purpose is to

14:41

facilitate recognition of international academic credentials that is the purpose

14:47

that is a bottom line like we believe we play a facilitative role

14:52

to to facilitate the recognition of international academic credentials and

14:58

the real recognition is that in fact belongs to employers or belongs to Professional Licensing bodies we play

15:05

facilitative or role but when an employer hires uh someone partly not the

15:12

whole thing right we know that partly because of the equivalency report we

15:18

have provided that is a recognition and again that is what I mean that the true recognition belongs to employers

15:24

Professional Licensing bodies and academic institutions I think here it is um it is it is good

15:33

that I speak a little bit more about how we are used by employers first we are

15:39

used for hiring purposes again the job application or the job posting will

15:46

indicate that there is a requirement there's a education requirement and

15:51

there is when there is such a requirement some employers will require credential evaluation another way we

15:59

have been used by employers is for promotional opportunities they may have existing staff who are internationally

16:06

educated and now there is a promotional opportunity in their company in their

16:12

organization and they want to make sure everybody is competing on an equal footing so they will ask the candidate

16:19

to submit a credential evaluation from this or perhaps from another service

16:24

a third and very interesting um uh the kind of reason that we have been used by employers is uh is for

16:32

Sally error salary adjustments um in fact I remember the very first few months that we started in Canada back in

16:39

2000 we were used by a major public sector entity not to for not for hiring

16:47

purposes they were using us to adjust the salary level for their existing

16:53

employee if an employee provided what we call a so-called positive Canadian

16:59

academic equivalency some employers call this salary adjustment I know in another

17:06

Province actually they refer to this as wage support again

17:11

um the the the exercises to make sure everyone internationally educated or domestic

17:18

educated they are placed in a right grid for right salary level

17:23

now I will speak uh to this slide here I'm giving you a very general a very

17:31

general high level uh process How We Do credential evaluations again please bear

17:36

bear in mind that this is a very high level there are a lot of details there there

17:42

are a lot of steps there in each boxes and and if there is if there is time at

17:49

the end we can talk about it so first uh how we do International academic credential evaluations is first really

17:56

we have to start with the overseas institutions they are the one who has a repository of the academic documents

18:04

normally especially post covid those documents are are transmitted to us

18:11

electronically we made a huge effort after pandemic to make sure that we have

18:18

digital partnership with overseas institutions the next step is we verify

18:23

the academic documents we verify the authenticity of the academic documents

18:29

and that is a very significant step in our operation if we determine that the

18:36

documents are authentic we they are not authentic we stop there to that is their

18:41

stop if the documents are fine we move to the evaluation kind of a stage where

18:47

we look at the whole degree we look at the courses we look at the scope of the

18:52

program we look at whether or not like there were there were how many courses

18:58

were theoretical they were practical or internships and all of that and then we

19:03

compare all of that information toward Canadian or U.S standards

19:09

next the equivalency is determined normally and I'm going to show you a

19:15

sample very soon that you will see at this the the kind of the format of our report the equivalency will determine

19:21

because in Canada we have three years bachelor's degree and normally when we determine that it is a bachelor's degree

19:28

in parenthesis we will emphasize that whether or not it is a three years or four years bachelor's degree we always

19:36

share the evaluation Report with the candidate or with the applicant because

19:41

we believe that is a kind of a passport for their settlement process in Canada

19:47

and if a candidate selected an employer to receive their report we send the

19:53

report directly to the employers this is a confidence building measure that we

19:59

send the report directly to the employers that way there is a confidence that the report itself is legitimate

20:07

believe it or not from last September we have seen a lot of our reports

20:13

a lot of our reports are forged the names are Fords the different elements

20:18

are forged so again when an employer receives the report directly from us

20:23

there is that confidence that the report itself is legitimate

20:31

sample evaluation report I'm terribly sorry if this is not very legible but as you see

20:37

it is that the Canadian academic equivalency is highlighted and then we

20:43

talk about the other elements of the credential especially especially we will indicate the major and I think that is a

20:51

point of interest for a lot of employers when they are hiring job applicants

20:56

especially like in in like say say like in medical labs when they are hiring a

21:01

biochemist or biologist they really like to see that area of specialization

21:08

this is our basic report and this is our detailed course by

21:15

course report this is a kind of a report that Professional Licensing bodies will

21:21

require for for for for putting someone's through licensure this is kind

21:26

of a report that academic institutions at The Graduate level will require now

21:32

the really the difference between the previous report is um as you see we will list all the

21:38

courses um one has fulfilled through the whole program and then really the value the

21:45

real value of this report are those credit columns and grades those credits

21:52

are now as you see those are converted we use a method to convert credits we

22:00

use different methods to convert grades the real value again it is those credit

22:05

hours and and the grades those are converted Canadian semester credits and

22:11

those are converted based on a 4.0 scale

22:18

um 50 years in operation we have a very robust database really like everyone in

22:25

this sector knows about vesus database and our database is automated and not

22:30

very recently really we we automated our database in 1997 or 1998. I imagine uh

22:38

in 50 years we collected a lot of data as I'm highlighting some we have

22:43

information for we have information on on the education system of of over 240

22:51

countries or jurisdictions if you are curious to know what is jurisdiction like for instance Hong Kong and Macau

22:58

for us it is jurisdiction we have information from over 59 000

23:04

institutions we have information from over 35 000 academic credentials and over 80 and

23:12

about 84 84 100 grading scales are in

23:18

this database to date in Canada we have we have assisted over uh 200 200 2.5

23:26

million applicants um as as well as we have evaluated over

23:32

3.5 million academic credentials

23:38

you may be very interested in this tool we have and it is a very uh it is free tool by the way anyone can can go to our

23:46

website and really test this tool um it is available for HR departments to use

23:52

it for um or kind of pre-screening their job applicants this tool if you go to

23:58

our website um by entering some key information about an academic credential from 160

24:06

countries and these are degree level uh credentials not diploma level by

24:12

entering some key information about the academic credential you will be able to

24:18

instantly view our opinion I have to emphasize this is our opinion our

24:23

opinion of a Canadian equivalency for an international academic credentials we

24:30

know that this database is heavily used by applicants when they prepare for a job interview

24:37

if they don't have formal evaluation reports from us they do this

24:43

exercise and they get a printout and take it to a job interview just to show

24:48

to the prospective employer that they have their academic credential from from

24:55

another country is comparable to a Canadian degree the as you see there is that fine print

25:01

in the the in the bottom of that um output that we are sharing with you and

25:06

and that fine print is really bringing attention that we are providing this uh

25:11

academic equivalency without reviewing any academic documents that is our

25:17

disclaimer and this is uh this this Canadian equivalence is provided without

25:22

reviewing any documents now about our Gateway program

25:29

um it is really one of the most unique programs in North America both in Canada and U.S if you if you recall I was

25:38

mentioning that for our standard evaluation process we receive academic

25:43

documents directly from the source now we know in the real world there are so many individuals especially

25:51

displaced individuals or refugees they will not have access to their official

25:56

academic documents and for that this has designed this pathway that these

26:03

individuals can get credential evaluation from this based on the

26:08

photocopies of the documents they may have in their possession at this moment

26:14

this service is limited to Canada studied in seven countries you see the

26:20

list of the countries again this is very unique program for for those who who do

26:25

not have access and I and I and I have to emphasize kind of a legitimate access

26:31

they don't have legitimate access to their official documents if you know anyone any candidate a job especially

26:39

job candidate job applicant from these countries refer them to us there is a

26:45

limited subsidy on this too sometimes they don't pay the full fee to receive

26:51

this credential evaluation thank you so much and I very much look

26:58

forward to hear your comments and questions and now I'm gonna pass to my

27:03

colleague Danielle to uh to speak thank you thank you very much Kevin and good

27:10

morning everyone

27:17

no you can go back to the last slide um that was not a

27:22

um an audio issue those were six seconds that I passed six seconds is the average time that it

27:30

takes a recruiter to review a resume that is it if you think about it we

27:35

spend 30 times longer microwaving popcorn um and it is because research suggests

27:41

that we are bombarded with 11 million of pieces of information at any given time

27:46

however our brain can only handle 40. um so naturally our brain create

27:52

shortcuts so that we can make decisions quickly without overwhelming the brain and this creates bias that we are

27:59

unaware of this is what we know as unconscious bias have you ever found yourself as a

28:06

recruiter saying I can't quite put my finger on it but it's just a gut feeling I have about

28:12

this candidate I know that I have um and as recruiters and hiring managers

28:17

we need circuit breakers we need these reminders to check on our shortcuts on

28:24

our biases um West has developed in partnership with over 150 employers across the

28:31

country and many organizations that have proven tested resources over the years an employer Playbook that provides

28:38

employers with some of those easy to implement tips that can make a difference in the inclusion of

28:44

immigrants in workplaces the Playbook is meal sized which is meant to be a go-to

28:50

resource as needs arise uh next slide yes thank you

28:58

um so in this slide you will see um that the employer Playbook includes strategies and tools throughout the four

29:05

stages of the employment cycle recruiting hiring onboarding and integrating it includes a total of 20

29:11

strategies and tools about 16 checklists and templates and we also have three

29:19

localized versions for the employer Playbook those are for the greater mountain

29:24

region Waterloo Region and Durham regions in Ontario and these are

29:30

localized versions provide high level synthesis of community services and resources that are available to

29:37

Employers in those specific communities so if any of you are currently working in any of the communities I mentioned I

29:44

invite you to visit the specific versions of the of the Playbook because there's a lot of really good work that

29:50

is available uh and resources that are available to Employers in those regions

29:56

um it also includes employer testimonials and I know that many of you will also be those people that could be

30:04

featured in our Playbook there's a lot of really good work happening across the country so if there's something that has

30:09

worked for you in recruiting and more inclusive recruiting practices

30:15

retention practices please post them in the chat because we're always looking for those best practices also feel free

30:22

to share any pain points that you may face as an employer um we will be posting the link of the to

30:29

the playbook in the chat uh an invitation to browse through the resource and also bookmark it so that

30:36

you can access it as you need it um in this next slide uh you will see a

30:42

screenshot of what the Playbook looks like so there is a very easy to navigate menu

30:48

um and um we we did it in a way and we Workshop it in a way that it really provides you

30:54

with the Nuggets of information that you need when you need it when you need it so for example if you click on recruiting uh you will see that

31:01

automatically will take you to the section uh that's divided in three main categories so let's say for example you

31:08

click on Essentials versus non-essential skills in there you will have a brief description of what we mean by it as

31:15

well as a couple of resources that you can download and access easily on your devices whether that is mobile or laptop

31:24

um I wanted to spend some time uh with all of you just sharing a few of the strategies and those that are contained

31:31

in the Playbook um one of the first steps to recruiting immigrant Talent is learning to write

31:36

inclusive job descriptions um The Playbook talks about how to separate essential from non-essential

31:42

skills um and and and it is important to state which ones are not required but consider

31:48

an asset and you may Wonder uh why does this matter specifically for uh immigrant populations

31:55

um there's a study that was conducted in 2018 by Harvard Business Review that found that men will apply to a job if

32:03

they have 60 percent of the qualifications whereas women will only apply when they meet 100 of the

32:10

qualifications and our experience and my personal experience says the same is true for newcomers so it is very

32:17

important to highlight what are those essential duties and differentiate them from the non essential that are they

32:24

nice to have but do not directly impact the outcome of the roles Effectiveness an example

32:31

will be being bilingual in both official languages essential for the job or not depending on the region where you're

32:38

you're having operations um another thing that we mentioned in the Playbook is to avoid long

32:45

um and or complex words uh technical terminology jargon and acronyms

32:50

um in your job descriptions um if you see in the in the as we move

32:56

into uh hiring moving beyond unintended buyer Slide the Playbook list several

33:01

ways to address bias in recruitment so about the panel of interviewers and how different views Generations cultural

33:07

backgrounds can help reduce bias I'll talk a little bit more about this in a minute also preparing questions in

33:14

advance and sharing them with another co-worker to test them out for clarity this may help you see whether some of

33:21

the questions may be indicating a bias or may require to be raised to be more culturally

33:28

sensitive also using a competency-based test to assess the art skill I know that

33:33

this is something more common for those of you in the in the trades and and more

33:39

technical professions but there are lots of really good resources that are included in the

33:46

Playbook to support you in in assessing different skills and not rely only on

33:52

years of experience as a predictor of performance um in the next slide you we talk a

33:58

little bit about the importance of diversity in the hiring panel

34:03

um this is an invitation to consider how diversity in this screening panel may

34:09

also actually offer a different perspective from yours um often we hear from small employers

34:14

that this is not an easy thing to do because you know we're doing everything

34:21

and finding a few colleagues to interview candidates is just not realistic uh there are some suggestions

34:27

in in the Playbook about how to go about it in some communities employers are actually inviting some external Partners

34:35

to be sitting at the interview sometimes it's a settlement agency that will be joining in the interviews to support

34:40

with uh with questioning and with identifying some potential gaps and support as well the the employer in

34:48

diversity I should say includes a range of factors anything from gender age live

34:54

experience race cultural background and more um The Playbook also provides a very

35:01

thorough checklist highlighting the important things to consider when reviewing resumes uh the first thing is

35:07

about the overall readability spelling and grammatical errors um errors in resumes are often views as

35:15

a lack of attention to detail as a sign of a potential work ethic that they can they may bring to your company

35:21

however it is important to remember that there are different forms of English there is a UK the Canadian the UK the US

35:29

the Australian and a person whose first language is not English may not have mastered the language fully but can

35:36

still communicate at a level that is acceptable to com competently do the job

35:42

this is an invitation to not Overlook a great candidate because of their perceived lack of English proficiency

35:50

length of time at previous job is another very important consideration as

35:55

I said measuring acquired skills um going beyond the the length of time

36:01

spent at a job and focusing more on the hard skills and assessing those hard

36:07

skills through other mechanisms uh type of positions held in the title of those

36:13

positions also very important consideration when dealing with people that have been working and being

36:18

internationally um and people candidates may not have

36:24

necessarily held the same job in another organization but that doesn't mean that may not bring complementary skills that

36:30

broaden their expertise um gaps in employment history become very important uh when we're talking

36:36

about immigrant job Seekers uh often times um those cops may be perceived as the

36:44

candidate maybe being unreliable or maybe likely to quit their their job soon however the reality is that that

36:52

people leave the workforce for a variety of reasons um for example the Visa process for

36:58

immigrant professionals can be lengthy and there that can be delaying their

37:04

ability to secure work an employment gap um similarly refugees people in in

37:12

displacement situations may actually have to be my moving from country to Country and so that limits their ability

37:19

to have a stable job and Lease employment gaps so all of these things can be addressed uh during the interview

37:26

and an invitation on education Kevin mentioned how to the the free to use

37:33

tool that he shared can help employers understand the International Education or at least equivalency even though it's

37:40

not a full assessment report in those by West but also the Playbook is an invitation

37:46

to move Beyond education only for the that is required for the position and take into consideration both education

37:53

and work experience now moving on to retention uh there's

38:00

tons of research that shows how attrition levels are lower dramatically when

38:06

candidates are well on boarded so the six first months within a company are critical for retention

38:13

um and so there are um challenges that newcomers uh all

38:18

employees but specifically newcomer employees may be facing to learn the written and Unwritten rules of this new

38:25

community so orientation should be designed to set expectations clarify workplace policies

38:31

and procedures and and that's why the Playbook includes a whole section on mentorship and other peer supports model

38:38

um I wanted to spend a minute just to share a great uh way to enhance the new employee transition through a body

38:45

system which is an informal body that helps to ensure a successful integration into the workplace some interesting tips

38:51

around selecting individuals that are role models that can lead by example but

38:56

also are culturally sensitive and if possible who speak the same first language as the new employee

39:03

um now that you've hired a new staff member another critical consideration is how to approach the onboarding so the

39:10

the next resource that I wanted to share with all of you is what we call the three piece um the three pairs the three p's refers

39:17

to people performance and paperwork um this is important across the board for all of the the new hires however for

39:25

immigrant employees it may be particularly important to be intentional about all of these so people who should

39:31

they meet and why uh what would the meetings look like uh share all of that

39:37

with your with your new recruits so that they they know what to expect what is

39:42

what is uh to be expected out of these meetings because you cannot give for granted that this is something that will

39:47

happen in other workplaces uh they may have been part of uh in terms of performance so include job shadowing

39:54

setting expectations providing feedback HR checkings coaching and other training uh are things that uh oftentimes are

40:02

very um common in international work settings or in North American work settings but not necessarily across the globe and

40:09

same thing goes for paperwork so including the orientation a handbook on policies resources all of the forms I

40:17

always like to give this example because when I first came to Canada from Spain which is my home country

40:22

I I was told that I needed to fill in some forms for my benefits and I had no

40:28

idea what benefits were because that is not a thing in Spain you get everything covered through government

40:34

um employment programs and and Healthcare System so to me was something

40:41

new and and even the designation of a beneficiary form was like something I was not aware at all

40:48

um so very important to to highlight all of those things to your new camera employees the next slide uh is talking

40:55

about um and I think I will wrap uh wrap up with this one

41:01

um a very important consideration around what it means to include immigrant selling data workflows in the workforce

41:07

and this goes beyond recruiting and interviewing and onboarding because inclusion is equally about helping

41:15

your existing stuff grow with the new Talent as well as about helping the new

41:21

employee adjust to the team and the new environment basically inclusion requires

41:27

a two-way street right it's uh request leaders to meaningfully prepare the workplace to include and incorporate

41:33

this talent and I like to end this presentation with this consideration because successful retention that cannot

41:41

solely rely on the ability of a newcomer employee to adapt to them to the the

41:48

system they're entering is about or finding a place that is open to change

41:53

that is open to learning from the new skills and and culture and experiences

41:58

that the person is bringing into the company uh here you see a resource that is

42:03

adapted from higher immigrants Ottawas Employer Guide to integrating immigrants into the workplace an invitation to have

42:10

a look at it um I I feel like many of us have often worked in homogeneous models

42:18

um but the goal is to move to the diversity model in the workplace and and that is everybody's role and everybody

42:24

has a role to play um I will leave it there but I'm happy to answer any questions at the end of

42:29

the presentation and uh I'll turn things over now to uh bustle um for his side of the presentation

42:35

thank you great thank you so much Daniel for this really helpful presentation and I've

42:41

gone through this uh the booklet and I do advise everybody to really have an in-depth look into it uh so first my

42:49

apologies if there were any background noise I am actually in an airport but I will be taking you through a very short

42:55

presentation and hopefully just leaving a few minutes for some q a for any of these presentations uh so again my name

43:02

is Ambassador rubbing I am the director of economic Mobility with jumpstart Refugee talents

43:08

and uh Chris what are we trying to do here uh so apparently there are a little

43:14

over 100 million refugees around the world and in Canada alone we have right

43:20

now A little over one million job vacancies and what we're trying to do is really create this win-win situation as

43:27

employers look to tap and try to fill some of those gaps we want them to look at these refugees that are currently

43:33

stuck in countries where they do not have durable Solutions they're in places think of the Venezuelan in Colombia or

43:39

Assyrian and Lebanon they're in countries uh that where they face a lot of barriers they're always at risk of deportation and going back to the

43:46

country where they initially escaped and this is one program that we're doing in Canada in a very close partnership with

43:52

our sister organization that'll be on boundaries and we collaborate as part of a larger ecosystem so I'll be focusing

43:58

on Canada and on Toronto but there are also similar programs we're working on in the UK in the US and in other

44:05

European regions as well as Australia if any of you is interested in that as well I can introduce you to some colleagues

44:10

and one thing to keep in mind that we have helped prelocate a little over 1

44:16

000 refugees uh over the last couple of years to these different destinations

44:24

now the way that we do our work uh we really that we do it through a lot of

44:30

different facilitative measures and the program itself is in a very close partnership with ircc with immigration

44:36

Refugee and citizenship Canada in fact the program is really ircc's program well with penal battery and jumpstart

44:43

Refugee talents collaborating and helping Deliverance close partnership with the government so there are a lot

44:50

of facilitative measures that typically prevent refugees from accessing economic Pathways keeping in mind the way that we

44:57

do it is by accessing you can see them on the right some existing provincial Pathways in Ontario that would be the

45:03

oint but as of this month the federal government ircc has launched a dedicated

45:09

Federal pathway uh for just our program which is again it's called the economic Mobility Pathways pilot EMP

45:16

and we're very very excited about it because it has made our life a lot easier keeping in mind and that's when

45:23

they relocate to Canada through this program they actually arrive as permanent residents as PR so as an

45:29

employer the candidate themselves will not have to be concerned around long-term retention uh it's really a

45:35

great durable solution for both the candidate and the employer currently the processing timeline is taking a little

45:41

under six months which is incredibly expedited when especially when considering that this is a PR pathway

45:48

candidates also have access to various services including loans that are issued

45:54

by different partners that we're working with that do not require any previous credits and those include windmill micro

46:01

lending and some ircc options as well these slides will be shared with you so

46:06

you'll be able to view some of those other benefits that they can access through this pathway

46:14

questions now the candidate pool that we're working with we are working with a pretty large pool right now with over 65

46:22

000 candidates that have signed up to our database they do come from very diverse professional backgrounds you can

46:29

see their skilled trades we have almost 30 000 candidates but we have a lot of Engineers all the 6000 Engineers a lot

46:36

of tech professionals and we've really Source Canada's a variety of occupations and we've worked with companies of the

46:43

size of a CGI and Tech and where with or in one sector but we've also worked in

46:49

construction we've worked in manufacturing we worked in hospitality and then in the bottom left you can see

46:56

some of the regions where these candidates are currently residing and where they're coming from I saw a lot of

47:01

these refugees are coming from the Middle East from Latin America East Africa South and Southeast Asia

47:12

maybe now the process itself just like with any economic Mobility uh program

47:17

there are multiple steps but we've cultivated a lot of strong Partnerships to really ensure that as an employer as

47:25

well as the candidate you have all this all the support needed in every single step so typically we'll have a

47:31

one-on-one call and I'm happy to schedule those with all of you after this and we will go through all the

47:38

details here and we'll get into an agreement over all the details and then you would be assigned a recruitment

47:44

partner uh once once we've agreed all that you would just share with us the

47:50

job descriptions as simple as that then we will list shortlist some candidates based on the job descriptions based on

47:55

what you share with us we will put them forward we will ensure they're eligible for immigration before we put them

48:00

forward for you we will assess them for skill sets but as well as immigration

48:06

requirements from there we want to ensure that you're able to accommodate

48:11

your existing uh hiring process all these interviews are done virtually

48:17

the recruitment partner will help set up these calls as well and then from there once you've done these technical

48:22

assessments these interviews do issues job offers and we move into the third stage with the visa application some

48:29

employers do that in-house but we really work with uh one of the largest in fact

48:34

the largest immigration service provider in the world and that's fragment to have seconded they specialize in corporate

48:41

integration and that's a Content full-time staff on our team to help with that and offer incredibly discounted

48:48

rates at that started that really one thousand dollar per application which compares to their typical rate of over

48:54

six thousand dollars per application so fragment will typically file that visa application keeping you and the

49:01

candidate positive how things are progressing once the Visa is issued we transition into the settlement stage

49:06

this is where we connect the candidate with settlement local sponsorship groups settlement organization we want to make sure that they have access to all the

49:12

support we needed with things like getting their IDs for their kids at school maybe their parts are doing ESL

49:18

school and so on and finally with a post arrival we want to make sure that over the next 12

49:23

months that you have and the candidates both have all the support that you need and this and all these steps really

49:29

translate into a very high retention rate that we have right now globally it's at 92 percent for over 12 months

49:36

extension and in Canada number is actually a little bit higher at closer to 95 percent

49:44

and here are just some of the priority occupations that we've been finding a lot of success and that we're working

49:50

with like I mentioned a lot of Trades a lot of healthcare opportunities a lot of hospitality but by no means are we

49:56

restricted we actually are able to bring candidates to virtually most occupations that are available out there and we can

50:02

let you know beforehand based on that job description on whether this is an occupation that we can work with or not

50:09

and I believe uh yeah and that's really it from my end I tried to make it as

50:14

short as I can but happy to take any questions that I know you might also have some questions for Daniel and Kevin

50:19

but I'll take this back to you Helen thank you basil I would like to thank

50:26

all our speakers uh I know that we're running out of time but there are some questions already in the chat uh so

50:33

maybe we can take those two questions quickly one question Danielle I think it's directed to you uh based on West

50:40

observations what additional skills and experience do immigrants often possess that employers should consider during

50:47

the hiring process if you can quickly comment and also there is another

50:53

question here in the chat probably basil if you can take it this is around

50:58

negative perceptions surrounding refugees and how we can alter the perception so if you can quickly comment

51:06

on that that would be much appreciated Daniel over to you um I would say

51:12

um even even before going there um often newcomers and the uh under

51:19

misrepresent their their skills in education but because they've had negative

51:26

positive experiences in their in recruitment processes as they apply for jobs they feel that they may be over

51:32

qualified and they can get jobs because they don't have Canadian work experience so they the the reality is that

51:38

sometimes employers uh often randomly find out that

51:45

employees they've hired have a whole set of competencies and skills that they had

51:50

not reported that the during the interview process um out of fears that they may actually not get the job because it was a more

51:56

entry-level position and so forth um so the to me this is an invitation to

52:01

really have an honest conversation during the interview process around the skills and experiences that people are

52:07

bringing to the table beyond what is written on the resume and also once the person has been hired

52:14

um I have conversations you're if you have a human resources uh person uh in

52:20

your team or you're one of them have one-on-one conversations uh if you have some systems for the employee we do have

52:27

that address where you can actually fill in your own uh professional uh experience

52:33

um so that as other vacancies become available within the organization they can actually see that there is this

52:39

hidden talent pool that um that is already within the organization you can actually promote

52:44

people to different positions and roles uh so open conversation um without assuming that what you see on

52:51

the resume is all of the is the end of the story there's this much more

52:59

maybe I can jump on the second question quickly so yes uh the perception about refugees we always hear this every time

53:06

we're speaking with employers the image typically is that a refugee is someone who's living in a tent in a desert

53:12

somewhere and that's not not true right there are some refugees that are living in these statuses and there are but some

53:19

refugees were not I mean Refugee is not really an identity it's it's more of a status of where they are right now and

53:27

live and it's just an important status so a lot of these refugees are of course

53:32

you know very a lot of them are are professionals like I mentioned in healthcare and engineering and Tech and

53:39

so on and the idea of it is just all their need is an opportunity to bring

53:45

their skill sets and come here a lot of them are just living in these Urban settings in major metropolitan cities

53:51

all around the world and from Ukrainian refugees Syrian refugees the Venezuelan refugees and so on now once they're

53:58

hired yes they're you know we also see them that they can perform in very different ways some of them are a lot

54:03

more confident and they can ask and demand and showcase their skill sets and

54:09

look for ways to seek promotion but a lot of time and this is where that booklet and that guidelines that

54:15

Danielle was going after that can become really helpful is having maybe some mentorship in the in uh in the

54:21

organization itself to help encourage these refugees once they're hired uh to

54:27

be able to progress within the organization itself but I can tell you that they will be able to also showcase

54:34

their own skills ultimately and like I always tell people this is not a charity program iron refugees is not a charity

54:41

program it is a talent program it just comes with a great story

54:46

thank you basil and thank you Daniel uh so it's almost 12 o'clock so I don't want to take more time but once again

54:53

thank you so much everyone for joining us and we will be sharing some more additional resources uh from West we

55:00

have got your information from Jennifer so once again thank you and maybe Jennifer if you have a last word to say

55:07

thank you yes no thank you everyone for uh joining us today uh and thank you to

55:13

the West team for uh sharing that I know that uh Talent is uh something that is

55:20

across the board an issue for our members so this is uh very timely and

55:25

it's great to see the playbooks that you've shared um both playbooks that were referenced

55:31

in the presentation will be uh were included in the chat as well as we'll do

55:37

a follow-up email from Wes with that information so that you have their contact information should you have any

55:44

questions uh and then we'll go from so everyone have a happy Thursday have a

55:50

wonderful long weekend and thank you very much take care thank you thank you Jennifer thank you everyone have a good

55:57

day