The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas

What started in Halifax as a new idea for connecting skilled immigrants with established professionals has grown into a successful program. Connector has now been replicated and adopted in other cities across Canada, including Toronto.

Recently, TRIEC’s Connector Program Coordinator, Anna Kostecka, visited Halifax to meet up with representatives from other communities across Canada who have started the same program in search of ideas to incorporate into the TRIEC’s Connector pilot. She tells us how she got on.

On March 19 and 20, I visited Halifax for the first meeting of the Connector community. Although I was greeted by the snowstorm that hit Atlantic Canada during that period, it was a wonderful meeting where I was able to connect with representatives from Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver and Waterloo, who are a part of the growing Connector community.

It was great to see so many communities across Canada participating in the event. I got a lot of insight hearing their stories and experience. For example, The Vancouver community will be working with smaller communities across British Columbia, as well in their own city, to launch the Connector program. Ottawa is piloting the program with its employer partners and is combining it with its mentoring program.

I will definitely be using some of the ideas I learnt during the event to improve TRIEC’s Connector program. Alongside my wonderful experience in Halifax, I am also pleased to say that we just completed the first meeting between a participant and a connector in Toronto. The Connector program was launched in February, and the first participant and connector were introduced in March. We received positive feedback from both parties – a connector and participant.

Being involved in the Connector pilot, is a great networking opportunity when you get to meet a professional (in this case, the connector is the Vice President at CIBC) and receive feedback about the resume as well as some useful tips, and get a chance to be introduced to new connections.

It is definitely a bright start to what we hope will be an amazing journey for the program and its participants.

Anna, and other stakeholders involved in building the Connector in the GTA, will be blogging regularly about the program’s progress – watch this space for the next instalment! If you’d like to find out more about how Connector works, visit the program pages on this website.

Watch a video from The Greater Halifax Partnership about how Connector works.

Anna Kostecka, Program Coordinator, TRIEC Connector