Rose De Veyra: Not just another immigrant story: Sharing knowledge to build immigrant inclusive workplaces

It’s become cliché to tell stories of immigrant professionals that, for lack of Canadian experience, are stuck driving a cab or working behind the counter at a coffee shop. The underemployment of immigrant professionals is an important concern, but it is not the only new immigrant story.

Consider for example, the story of Carmen. Carmen arrived in Canada several years ago with an advanced degree and several years of experience as a teacher. Now, she is in a successful career, moving up in her organization and has developed an extensive professional network.

This story might not be as sensational, but it offers important insights for understanding how to better include skilled immigrants in the workplace. The following factors helped contribute to Carmen’s success:

• She took responsibility for implementing her job search, and leveraged available resources such as local employment service providers
• She joined a mentoring program and had a mentor who shared his time and networks
• A recruiter looked beyond Carmen’s lack of Canadian experience and saw the transferrable skills she had to offer
• Carmen’s supervisor and co-workers helped to uncover the skills and knowledge that she brought to the team
• Her employer provided her with training and development opportunities so that she could grow and fully contribute her skills and knowledge
• Carmen, herself, sought new avenues to learn and adapt

Working in an organization like the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC), we have the opportunity to see stories from immigrants and employers unfold first hand. Over the past six years, TRIEC has uncovered and shared many of these stories and developed them into learning and training tools. Now, the recently launched TRIEC Campus (www.trieccampus.ca) brings these tools together in an online learning hub designed to support the creation of workplaces inclusive of skilled immigrants.

Carmen’s story illustrates that success can happen when both the employer and the new immigrant employee are proactive. The TRIEC Campus offers courses and resources that can help both employers and skilled immigrants in the integration process.

Designed for everyone from leaders setting organizational policy, HR and training and development professionals, to managers, skilled immigrants and their co-workers, the resources include e-learning modules, videos and discussions guides. Topics covered range from effective communication and team work to recruitment, selection and talent management practices to enable effective participation in today’s culturally diverse workplaces.

Much of what goes into building a workplace inclusive of skilled immigrants isn’t as intuitive as one would think. From where an employer posts their ads, to how they screen resumes and their onboarding process, they can limit their ability to tap into the immigrant talent pool and build an inclusive workplace. For new immigrants, the first ninety days at a new workplace can be a steep learning curve on all fronts – their new job, their new employer and the nuances of Canadian workplace culture. The TRIEC Campus has resources to help with all these challenges.

Through learning and development, each person can develop the skills they need to successfully contribute and lead in the culturally diverse workplace. Carmen’s success story can be repeated when employers learn about and implement inclusive recruitment and onboarding practices and skilled immigrants understand how they can contribute to their own success on the job. By sharing stories like Carmen’s and learning from each other, we can constantly reflect on and adapt to our evolving workplace culture. The success of Canadian organizations will depend on how effectively we are able to do this. 

To access the TRIEC Campus, register at www.trieccampus.ca.

This story appeared on the Sector in Conversation blog of Ontario Trillium Foundation 

Rose De Veyra, Manager, Learning Initiatives, at TRIEC whose recent initiative the TRIEC Campus – www.trieccampus.ca – offers complimentary, self-paced resources to support professionals in today’s culturally diverse workplace. Resources – including e-learning modules, videos and discussion guides – cover effective communication and team work as well as recruitment, selection and talent management practices to create workplaces inclusive of skilled immigrants.