Integrating Skilled Immigrants: Barriers or Advantages?

"Businesses need a skilled workforce to keep their amazing growth, and newcomers have the global education and experience that make a huge difference to the bottom line"-Mike Colle, former Ontario Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Markham, ON, Nov.21th, 2006.

Over the past 20 years, and after vast and exhaustive research and studies, community organizations, different levels of government and businesses across the country have come to the clear and irrefutable realization that skilled immigrants play a decisive role in the development, growth, prosperity and future of our country.

In Canada, as part of the global economy and with a multicultural population, diversifying the workforce has become imperative for businesses across the board, and not only because of present and future skills shortages.

In fact, numerous publications have clearly stated the benefits for businesses of hiring skilled immigrants.
For example, in the Employers Resource Guide, developed and published by the BBOT as part of phase 1 of its award winning project "Skills Without Borders", it was stated that by diversifying their workforce businesses:

- address their labour shortages with diverse, qualified and experienced trades people and professionals
- increase the talent pool of their workforce
- increase innovation and productivity
- achieve a competitive advantage
- meet the demands of their current markets, find new ones, better address their clients' needs and achieve a broader customer base
- improve employee relations and enhance corporate image
- reduce labour costs by saving on unnecessary training expenditures
- build inter-cultural understanding and enhance social growth, harmony, and prosperity in their communities

At the same time, four main "barriers to hiring skilled immigrants" have been identified:
- insufficient language skills
- difficulties understanding and assessing foreign credentials
- lack of Canadian experience
- Acculturation-lack of diversity awareness amongst employers and Canadian workplace culture adaptation amongst newcomers.
Consequently, the focus of all efforts, programs and services, aimed to bring down these "barriers", have been placed on:
- improving the language skills and proficiency of skilled immigrants by providing them with English as a Second Language(ESL) courses, LINC courses(Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada), Enhance Language Training(ELT), and other specific languages courses to address the communication needs in specific professions
- translating and assessing foreign credentials to compare them with the Canadian equivalent
- providing skilled immigrants with mentoring and job placement opportunities to enable them to acquire Canadian experience

Most of these programs and services have provided positive but limited results, failing to fully resolve the issue of integration of skilled immigrants into the Canadian labour market in their fields of training and expertise.
For that reason, and under the initiative and the leadership of the Brampton Board of Trade through its project Skills Without Borders, the focus of most recent efforts to overcome the hiring barriers preventing skilled immigrants has been shifted to employers.
The centre of this new approach is to raise awareness about future skills shortages and to promote skilled immigrants as a solution; the resources available to make skilled "employment ready", as well as to provide employers with the tools and training to enable them to tap into the talent pool.

Ironically, the fact of the matter is that the skilled immigrants coming to this country have been selected and approved based on the immigration criteria that assigns points for:
- language skills
-academic credentials, and
- professional experience

In other words, their acceptance to come to Canada is based on the same parameters that after their arrival in this country makes them "not employment ready" and in need of assistance.

Experience shows, in fact, that the vast majority of skilled immigrants, coming to Canada under the economic class, do not need assistance, in terms of programs and services, but rather a fair opportunity to compete for professional jobs with their Canadian born and trained counterpart.

On language skills, they bring to the workplace not only one language (English) but rather at least two languages.
On academic credentials: most studies in comparative education show that, all over the world, educational institutions have academic curricula and programs, and deliver graduates, matching or surpassing Canadian standards. And this includes numerous post secondary institutions from developing countries!

On professional experience: although, obviously, skilled immigrants do not come to this country with "Canadian Experience", they do bring years of international experience invaluable to enhance and complement the Canadian experience of Canadian born and trained professionals already in the marketplace.

In other words, language, credentials and experience are not barriers but assets that internationally trained professionals and trades people bring to the Canadian labour market!

Canadian employers need to explore this available talent pool. It just makes good business sense.

Dr. Yamil H. Alonso is Program Coordinator for The Brampton Board of Trade's Skills Without Borders project. For more related information, visit www.skillswithoutborders.com.

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