WIS program helps newcomer land a job

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This article was published 18/08/2016 (3677 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Moving to a new country, newcomers face many challenges that include culture shock, language issues and the daunting task of finding employment and providing for their families both here in Canada but also back home.

Westman Immigrant Services’ Employment Facilitator, a provincially funded position, assists all newcomers, new Canadian citizens and those on open work permits to secure employment and build employment skills.

This service is provided to our clients in a number of different ways: one-to-one services, group presentations, networking with employers, developing bridging programs through the community college or university, and providing assistance to help them succeed.

The employment program offers a variety of employment services that are geared specifically to newcomers. Among those services provided are resume writing, cover letter, interview skills and job matching.

One of our daily tasks is to keep informed on the local job market and let our clients know when suitable jobs come up. We also assist internationally trained professionals in their quest to have credentials recognized.

Here newcomers are guided to regulatory bodies that will thoroughly assess the applicant’s previous education degree and provide the appropriate instruction needed for the applicant to eventually become a licensed professional.

Within the Welcome to Brandon program, we have the opportunity to present a Canadian culture workshop where newcomers get a quick look at how to find work in Canada. Furthermore, throughout the year we offer a variety of workshops, including resume development, cover letter, interviews, job search, career planning and Canadian workplace culture.

Our services are not confined to Brandon. Occasionally an invitation has been extended out to us to visit various communities in the Westman region to offer a credential recognition workshop.

Our office keeps in touch with local employers in order to find out what their labour needs are so that we can match client’s skills and training with those needs.

We also invite employers to come in and offer presentations for our clients where they provide information about the skills needed at their particular company and language level required to get the job done well, and safely.

Some employers will also offer tips on how to have a successful interview — some of my clients were hired immediately during these presentations. We have worked closely with some employers by providing them a venue to address a large group of newcomers to discuss their employment needs and benefits of working for them.

In some of these sessions we had interpreters come in to ensure that the information was clearly understood and our newcomers could make informed decisions.

Part of our role is to meet with college and university officials to discuss the needs and skills that newcomers bring with them and then have the institutions develop bridging programs that recognize the newcomer’s previous education and work history and provide further training that will assist the newcomer to be in a better position to continue on in their particular career path.

Part of our mandate at Westman Immigrant Services is to help our clients succeed and we see them doing that every day.

We all know that the diverse richness of our community has flourished and that we are seeing many newcomers now either working in the city or starting and running their own businesses. It is apparent that the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well among those that are new to our community.

Every indication is that we will see more new faces in business and employment as time goes by.

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