Teaching the teachers

Teaching in BC is one of those regulated professions that requires membership in a governing body. In this case the BC College of Teachers is responsible for reviewing applications from foreign-trained teachers.
This article examines the issues and describes a Simon Fraser University professional qualification program which helps immigrant teachers to make the transition to BC classrooms. 

Is a foreign credential a barrier to employment ?

Sadly for some employers it appears to be. An article in the Montreal Gazette touches on this issue.
The foreign credential issue, to be sure, is one part of the problem. Employers have trouble assigning value to a degree obtained from a foreign academic program with which they are not familiar.
Forty-four per cent of companies in a [...]

Personal Stories

As we’ve examined earlier in this blog, foreign-trained engineers have an involved and lengthy process to go through in Canada in order to receive their professional designation. The Potential to Prosperity website provides 17 video profiles of engineers who went through the process. There are videos for Civil, Electrical, Environmental and other engineers from many different countries. Watching these [...]

Camosun College Trades & Technology Recruitment Expo

Some of our clients will be interested in attending the Camosun College Trades & Technology Recruitment Expo on Tuesday April 3rd. Some of the employers exhibiting include 3D Geomatics Inc, Flynn Canada Ltd., Department of National Defence and the Victoria Shipyards Co. Ltd. Check out the events page on the Camosun website for more information [...]

The “stickyness” of email addresses

Remember when we had to choose our email address many years ago ? Few people might have been aware that our email address would “stick” to us like glue as we moved through our careers.
An address that might have made sense to us as a teenager or young adult may now send the wrong message [...]

Top 10 interview mistakes

People make all kinds of mistakes during job interviews. Some of them are minor but others are too big for employers to overlook. An article from Reuters looks at some of the worst mistakes that have been reported. A couple of examples are excerpted below. Check out the link for the full list.

Candidate answered cell phone [...]

In the driver’s seat

The transportation sector is one of many that is facing a shortage of skilled workers. The workforce is aging and fewer young people are interested in this career which means that many of the projected job openings will go unfilled. 
 Employers in this sector are looking abroad in the hopes that immigration can provide a supply of skilled [...]

Emotions and culture

This report from Science Daily shows how culture can be determining factor when interpreting facial emotions. According to the cited research:
East Asians seem to have a more holistic pattern of attention, perceiving people in terms of the relationships to others,” says Masuda. “People raised in the North American tradition often find it easy to isolate a person from its [...]

Top 20 employers for new Canadians

Some companies and organizations are ahead of the game when realizing that hiring skilled immigrants is one solution to the labour shortage in Canada. Those companies that open their doors now will have a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
“Instead of viewing immigrant jobseekers as a risk, these employers have come up with ways of hiring, training [...]

Immigrants arrive better educated

Canada held a census in 2006 and StatsCanada has been releasing the data bit by bit for the last year. Reading census data is an important part of understanding what is happening in the Canadian economy and labour market.
The latest release deals with employment and demographic information. You can read some of the highlights here. Today’s [...]