| Immigrants may be down in the current economic downturn, but they are not out
By Andrew Czerwinski
Immigrants comprise a significant source of talent for the Canadian
workforce. In 2006, almost 60,000 immigrants entering Canada had
a Bachelor’s degree, and over 20,000 had a Master’s
degree. This represented a significant increase since 2006 for
those immigrants considered highly skilled.1
In the Toronto Star’s opinion page on March 9, 2009, Harald Bauder said
that foreign workers and immigrants will be the hardest hit by the economic downturn,
as they are the last to be hired and the first to be fired.2 However, immigrants
can turn their educational achievements to their advantage during the current
recession by obtaining the Canadian equivalency for their degrees earned outside
of Canada. Credential evaluation reports, which state the Canadian equivalency
of international degrees, are conducted by organizations such as World Education
Services.
Most immigrants will find out that their international degree
is equivalent to a similar degree earned in Canada, while some
immigrants will find out that they
need to complete more courses to meet Canadian standards for the degree. With
this knowledge, immigrant job seekers can increase the likelihood of employment
in the future job market by taking one of several strategies now.
First, they can consider what careers may be in demand as the
economy recovers. For example, www.ontariojobfutures.ca has
information on employment trends
and on essential skills required for a variety of occupations. With such
information, they can determine whether upgrading their training
would assist them with
their
career goals. Immigrants who want to go back to school will be one step ahead
if they have the Canadian equivalency for their degree, because it will clearly
tell admissions offices what academic prerequisites they have.
Also, many professional associations in Canada provide licensing
or certification in their specific occupation. For example,
to be recognized by the College
of Occupational Therapists of Ontario, the requirements include a Bachelor
of Science
degree in Occupational Therapy or an academic qualification considered
equivalent by the Registration Committee. An academic degree
earned in another country
would have to be evaluated as equivalent to this degree. Immigrants will
take a significant
step towards getting a job in many of these regulated professions by having
an evaluation which demonstrates the required equivalency.
Internationally-trained individuals who have an evaluation report
which states their Canadian equivalency should include this
information in the
resume
they send to employers and recruiting firms. Further, they should consider
sending
these resumes to those firms that deal with the kinds of jobs they will
be looking for in the future economic upturn, even if jobs are not immediately
available.
If employers and recruiters are thinking ahead, they will be keeping
resumes for future consideration, because economic growth may
occur before the
end
of 2009.3 If job numbers in the future go back to previous levels, statistics
show
that by 2011, there will not be enough workers born in Canada to fill
these jobs.4 By determining who are good job candidates now,
employers and recruiters
will
have a head start on recruiting them when the time comes.
1 Citizenship and Immigration Canada, “Facts and Figures 2006: Immigration
Overview.”
2 Bauder, H., “Economic Crisis bears down on vulnerable immigrants,” Toronto
Star, March 9, 2009, p. A13.
3 www.bmonesbittburns.com/Economics/current/focus.pdf .
4 Statistics Canada, ”Canada's immigrant labour market,” September
10, 2007.
Andrew Czerwinski is the Manager of Employer Services at World
Education Services (WES), which evaluates and authenticates
academic credentials of newcomers to
Canada. WES has been operating since 1974, and is the largest and one of the
oldest credential evaluation services in North America. WES Canada is recognized,
and funded in part, by the Government of Ontario, and is a member of the Alliance
of Credential Evaluation Services of Canada (ACESC).
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