Susan Main
Moving your career to a new country
Ten months ago, Enrique Maza left his home in Lima and moved to Vancouver. Back in Peru, he worked as a translator mainly between English in Spanish, with some French and German.
Like many other newcomers, Enrique took an entry level job to earn a living while he figures out his long-term career plans. He plans to enroll in the Court Interpreting Certificate Program at Vancouver Community College next year.
“It’s related to my career and I can use my knowledge of languages there,” he says, describing his new product demonstration job at Costco.
“It’s a lot of work, involving a lot of mechanical tasks – and my back is killing me - but the bright side is that I have the opportunity to practice my English when I talk to Costo members about the products.”
Workplace Connections celebrates its first year of service
Enrique participated in MOSAIC’s Workplace Connections program in Vancouver. The program matches skilled immigrants with Canadian professionals who volunteer as mentors. Each pair works together on the newcomer’s employment goals – two hours a week for three months, via phone, email, and in person.
"A lot of newcomers have never had to look for work in the same way you look for a job here," says program coordinator Astarte Sands, who researched, developed, and launched the new program in September, 2008, funded by the B.C. Ministry of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development.
“Sometimes you would be looking at making a whole different career choice. If you're a doctor, the chances of you working as a doctor are very, very slim and very costly and time-consuming,” Astarte says. "There's a lot of barriers in terms of what Canadian employers want. The people have arrived, they've got skills, and they're led to believe they will find work – but Canadian employers are reluctant to hire anybody without Canadian experience.”
Adjusting to a new workplace culture
Tiffy Riel was a TV producer in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia before she moved to Vancouver two years ago. She is now in the Masters of Business Administration program at Simon Fraser University, after working with Workplace Connections mentor Felicia Granger, a marketing specialist for Kodak.
“I applied for school because I was getting a lot of feedback that they wanted Canadian education and I don't have that,” Tiffy says. “That's why I decided to pursue my masters and see if that expands my opportunities for getting a good job here."
Felicia was one of the first mentors in the program and she will soon be on her third match.
“You provide them an insider point of view on working in Vancouver," Felicia says. “Newcomers in the program are very job-ready in terms of language, but obviously that's just the beginning of really getting a sense of what it's like to try to find a job in a brand new culture.”
A focus on resumes, job search skills, and interviews with employers
Mentor Kim Crow is on her third match, focusing on resumes, job search, and practising interviews.
“Part of the reason I'm in HR is that people's work lives affect the rest of their lives too,” says Kim, a CHRP who works as a generalist at NGRAIN Corporation. “If you're happy at work, you're happy everywhere else.”
Fanny Boulesteix – a language teacher who moved to Vancouver from Rennes, France - asked Kim to proofread the English version of her resume and help her identify potential employers. Within two weeks of receiving her work visa, Fanny was hired as an instructor at Douglas College and Alliance Francaise.
"Kim was a great mentor. We managed very well together,” Fanny says. “It was helpful in the sense that it was a good way for me to check that I was going in the right direction."
Mentoring is a good way to earn CHRP recertification points
Mentoring in Workplace Connections counts towards recertification points that HR professionals need for CHRP recertification. One hour of mentoring equals 1.5 points to a maximum of 70 points every three years. They must earn 100 points every three years after their first CHRP designation. In BC, the designation is conferred by the BC Human Resources Management Association (BC HRMA), a founding member of the Canadian Council of Human Resources Associations. Other professional development activities that BC HRMA provides include teaching classes, leading seminars, and writing articles.
Anjana Moitra is the Mentoring Chair of the Advisory Council for the BC HRMA Coastal Vancouver region. She describes what HR professionals gain from mentoring in a program like Workplace Connections.
“By mentoring with a newcomer, you will have first hand experiences you can take back to your organization's human resources management,” Anjana says. “Mentoring with newcomers most directly affects your diversity awareness. It provides you with a real time experience and understanding of a recruitment pool that otherwise goes misunderstood and / or unexplored.”
For more information, please email mentors@mosaicbc.com or 604.254.9626. For more information on BC HRMA's Professional Mentoring Program, please contact mentor@bchrma.org.