TRIEC’s Professional Immigrant Networks initiative supports immigrant-led professional associations to help their members find employment. But how does this work in practice?

The Association of Filipino Canadian Accountants (AFCA) has been a long-standing member of PINs. We spoke to AFCA member, Danny Genove, who was recently employed by the City of Toronto about his experience as a part of the AFCA family. Here’s what he had to say.

D. GenoveI met Mr. Julito Longkines, the previous president of AFCA, in October 2012 right after I arrived in Toronto. I immediately joined AFCA and have been an active member ever since.

I joined a mentoring program co-sponsored by AFCA. The program really helped me get acquainted with the corporate culture and the hiring process especially in preparing the resume and cover letter.

I was in my final year in the process of obtaining a CMA designation and I talked to AFCA about my desire to move to a new job. You need practical experience to get this accreditation and my role with my previous employer could not be considered for this. AFCA sends job vacancies to interested members and that’s how I came to find out about the vacancy at City of Toronto.

The current AFCA president Mercy Gonzales sent me the job vacancy – she had received the posting through Professional Immigrant Networks initiative (PINs). I sent them my resume on the same day. I got an email inviting me to interview after a week and in two weeks I got the offer letter.

For newcomers to Canada, I would advise them to network and meet people, get a designation or complete further studies and always have an updated resume ready – an opportunity can present itself at any time.