Working Solutions

From The Canadian Immigrant. By Karolina Rous.

When you’re an immigrant, gaining employment in Canada is no easy task- you need every advantage you can get. Just ask Zhiwei (David) Shu. He came to Canada from China in 2007. With a strong background in telecommunications, Shu was ready and willing to find employment in his field, but he needed an edge.

That’s where the Working Solutions for Skilled Immigrants at Douglas College in British Columbia came into the picture.

"One of my friends introduced me to Douglas College; she's also a landed immigrant and had trained there. She told me about the Working Solutions program, which helps skilled immigrants start a professional career where they can exert their previous knowledge and experience," explains Shu.

"I attended a series of workshops for job searching, in which I gained a lot of information about the local employment market, job-search skills, writing cover letters and resumés, as well as interview skills. I also took an IT certification exam that was subsidized by Douglas College," he adds.

The Working Solutions for Skilled Immigrants program was established in association with the government-sponsored Skills Connect program. It provides a comprehensive range of flexible and individualized services, free of charge, to all participants. Working Solutions staff are highly qualified employment specialists experienced in assisting internationally educated professionals to find professional work in their field. They work individually with the program participants while they pursue their career goals.

"I met my career consultant regularly. We discussed my career plan, staged objectives and even my feelings about my daily life. My career consultant became the person I met and talked to. He gave me his consideration and inspired me. He made me feel warm and confident about my future. I think this is very important for new immigrants because they have to overcome a lot of difficulties and obstacles before getting settled in," says Shu.

The career consultants are employment specialists who help participants navigate their way through professional accreditation processes and familiarize themselves with the local labour market and professional practice related to their field. For a lot of newcomers, despite their experience and skills, they often face barriers to entering their field. This is a challenge the program works to overcome.

"A majority of Working Solutions participants are employed in 'survival jobs' unrelated to their background and training when they first enter the program," says Lois Taylor, the program manager for Working Solutions.

"Once they have launched their careers in Canada many participants say they feel more a part of Canadian society and can confidently call Canada their home. By utilizing their professional training and skills on the job they feel like contributing members of society," explains Taylor.

"Working Solutions accommodates employed participants by featuring evening and daytime career development workshops as well as individually scheduled meetings with career consultants who are assigned to each participant," she adds.

As Taylor explains, to date the program has served 850 clients and the numbers continue to climb. Working Solutions is also successful in fulfilling its mandate - of the 350 clients who have completed their participation in the program, 50 per cent are working in jobs commensurate with their background and training. 

"After the training and learning, I felt that I was ready and well prepared then I started my job search. Luckily, I got my first professional position in a short time," says Shu.

Thanks to the boost he got from Skills Connect, Shu now works as a field operations engineer in British Columbia. 

Working Solutions services are offered from three delivery sites in the Lower Mainland (Burnaby, Coquitlam and Surrey).

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Links:

Working Solutions
The Canadian Immigrant
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