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You’ve heard it said, probably until you’re sick of it, that the best way to find a job in Canada is through networking. Sure. Wonderful. Except when you’re new to Canada, or not even there yet, you don’t exactly have a network, do you? And trying to build one is like looking for a needle in a haystack. How on earth do you find people in Canada who work in your field and who might actually be useful to you?

Well, there is a way, and it’s through using the professional networking website LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com). Don’t know it? Check it out. Unlike other networking websites such as Facebook, MySpace or even LoonLounge, LinkedIn focuses 100% on what people do for a living and how well they do it.

When you create an account on LinkedIn, you build a profile. That profile will be similar to your resume: it will show the jobs you’ve held, the successes you’ve had in those jobs and the progression of your career. You can also ask people who have worked with you to give you testimonials, which will appear on your profile.

All well and good – but what happens then? Well, nothing, if you just sit back and wait for things to happen. Make connections, first of all with people you know – because you never know who they might know. Look at their connections – the people they have added as ‘friends’, or professional contacts, on LinkedIn. Maybe there’s someone on that list you would like to be connected with – so that’s when you ask your contact to ‘introduce’ you.

It doesn’t stop there. Another great strength of LinkedIn is groups. Check out groups for your profession, to start with. You can narrow this search down to country (Canada), or to province, if you know where you plan to live. I have newcomer job-seeker clients who have joined local or regional groups for IT professionals or engineers, for example. Once you’re in a group, you have something in common with other group members, and therefore a reason to contact them or ask them questions. You can join in discussions in the group, or ask questions to the group as a whole. You can learn about issues affecting your profession in the region.

There are also general groups for geographic regions. For instance, I am in London, Ontario, and here there are two networking groups for professional people through LinkedIn. These groups organise occasional face-to-face meetings, to allow members to connect. If you’re already in a group for the city where you intend to move, you’ll have a built-in network awaiting you when you arrive, with people you could call on for advice and meetings you can attend to get to know people.

All these are excellent reasons why LinkedIn usage has gone up by 20% in the last year!

Here are a couple of excellent articles about using LinkedIn productively.

http://blog.linkedin.com/2009/04/09/matthew-schwartz-msj-grab-recruiters-attention-with-these-8-simple-linkedin-tweaks/ : a recruiter talks about what employers like to see when they read a LinkedIn profile – and more and more employers check job candidates out online before deciding to interview them! This article will help you to ensure that your profile reflects your abilities as strongly as possible.

http://webworkerdaily.com/2007/06/15/20-ways-to-use-linkedin-productively/ Other ways you can use LinkedIn to help you with networking, job-seeking, company research and many other useful tasks.

A few final tips on making the most of LinkedIn:

• Make sure that your profile is not only complete, but error-free! I’ve seen many profiles with typos, spelling and grammar errors, and that kind of thing gets noticed. If you’re still learning English, ask someone, preferably a native speaker, to look it over for you and make suggestions. (And, no, much as I’d like to offer, I simply don’t have the time to do this for you. Sorry!)

• Make sure that any testimonials are also written in clear, error-free English (or French, of course, if you’re aiming for Quebec). If you’re trying to impress a Canadian employer, this matters.

• Check your LinkedIn mail at least a couple of times a week, if you don’t have alerts delivered to your email. You might have requests to connect with people, or even people approaching you with questions, and you don’t want to give a bad impression by not replying.

• Start showing your LinkedIn profile on communications, perhaps as a signature in professional emails or in posts on (serious, not social/partying) blogs or discussion forums. It gets it looked at. Many job-seekers now include the URL of their LinkedIn profile in their resume. You can customise your URL to include your name – there are resources online to explain how to do that.

• As on any other forum: don’t ask people for jobs! It embarrasses them and gives them a bad impression of you. DO ask them for suggestions, or for information – for example, if you connect with a manager in a company in your field, ask what qualifications or experience they look for when hiring, or ask if they would take a look at your profile and suggest any experience or training they think would make you a stronger candidate. Ask questions to check out local labour markets, as well; for example, if you’re in a group for software engineers, ask where in Canada the demand is highest for this occupation and what the most in-demand skills are.

• Any networking website is only as useful as what you’re prepared to put into it. If you don’t USE LinkedIn – to find connections, join groups, research companies and so on – then there’s no point in being on it. In online networking or marketing, people don’t come to you; you have to come to them.


See you on LinkedIn!

The Conference Board of Canada, a non-profit organization that follows economic trends in Canada, recently held a workshop with stakeholders from multiple communities across Canada regarding the necessity of attracting and retaining foreign-trained workers.

Community leaders discussed how they have made immigration work positively in their communities. Mayor of Chatham-Kent, Randy Hope, noted that his community now has citizens from over 70 different countries. The mayor of Brooks, Alberta, Martin Shields, stated that his community has individuals from 59 different countries, 380 of which have recently received their Canadian citizenship.

Many smaller communities are still struggling to attract and retain foreign-trained workers, however. The McCain foods ltd. is a large company is located in Florenceville, N.B., that is struggling to fill its 20 vacant information technology positions. Many other company representatives stated that they were facing the same difficulties. All members agreed that the federal government should be doing more to assist companies to find and train foreign workers.

Many large companies are located in smaller communities in Canada. These smaller communities are a good option to consider when moving to Canada, as good jobs are often easier to find in these areas.

A new initiative called Hire Immigrants Ottawa has joined 44 local employers working to remove barriers and false perceptions around employing skilled immigrants.

The group consists of employers in healthcare, IT, Finance and other publics sectors.
The groups surpassed their target hires of 55, having hired 561 skilled immigrants to date.
Hire Immigrants Ottawa has noted that immigrants will account for 100% of Ottawa’s net labour market growth by 2011. Therefore, initiatives like this one will become increasingly important to the economic development of the area, as Ottawa employers will need to understand how to hire foreign workers.

Trevor Wilson, a keynote speaker and employment diversity specialist, praised the initiative and encouraged more local employers to follow their lead. “[Ottawa] gets some of the best immigrants this country has,” he said. “For you not to take advantage of that is not only a missed opportunity, it’s bad for business.”

Learn about becoming a Temporary Foreign Worker in Canada: http://www.loonlounge.com/immigration-facts/#b

Learn about Ottawa with the Virtual Canada Explorer: http://www.loonlounge.com/virtual-canada-explorer/

The Foreign Credentials Referral Office (FCRO) has produced a new manual for soon to be Canadians detailing how to find work in Canada.

‘Planning on Working in Canada? An essential workbook for newcomers’ was published in partnership with Citizenship and Immigration Canada. The guide hopes to provide newcomers with complete information on what is required of them in order to being working in Canada.

The guide provides information on:

-Living in Canada, in particular settlement service providing organizations
-The requirement of knowing either French or English in order to work in Canada
-How to find a job in Canada, including details on becoming certified and/or licensed to practice trades
-What work related documents are required in order to apply for Canadians jobs
-Education and training credentials, credential assessment and how to find out what credentials are required in order to work in your profession in Canada

The guide is available free online. Visit www.credentials.gc.ca

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Le Bureau d’Orientation Relatif aux Titres de Compétences Étrangers a mis au point un nouveau manuel destiné aux futurs Canadiens afin de leur fournir des informations détaillées sur les moyens de trouver du travail au Canada.

Vous souhaitez venir travailler au Canada ? Conçu spécialement pour les nouveaux arrivants, un manuel essentiel vient d’être publié en collaboration avec Citoyenneté et Immigration Canada. Ce guide doit fournir aux nouveaux arrivants toutes sortes d’informations concernant les conditions qu’ils devront remplir pour être en mesure de travailler au Canada.

Ce guide donne des informations sur les thèmes suivants :

-La vie au Canada, en particulier les organismes d’aide à l’établissement
-Les connaissances requises en français ou en anglais pour travailler au Canada
-Comment trouver un emploi au Canada; comment obtenir une certification ou une licence professionnelle
-Quels sont les documents d’emploi nécessaires pour postuler à un emploi au Canada
-Diplômes et compétences, évaluation des compétences, équivalences de diplômes, quelles sont les équivalences nécessaires pour trouver du travail au sein de votre profession au Canada…

Ce guide est disponible en ligne à l’adresse suivante : www.competences.gc.ca/index.asp

Coming to Canada as an international student may be the key to becoming obtaining Canadian employment and becoming a permanent resident.

A recent article in the Montreal Gazette discussed how employment recruiters are spending more time on university campuses than ever before, searching for the best and the brightest future employees in recent or soon to be graduates from the many internationally recognized academic programs Canadian universities offer.

The most heavily recruited departments include health sciences (especially nursing), engineering, management, and environment as well as students with specializations in French language, math and science as specializations for private school teaching positions.

The Canadian Experience Class (CEC) immigration program enables expedited permanent residency for applicants who have lived in Canada, either as an international student, or as a temporary foreign worker.

Coming to Canada as an international student not only makes one eligible for expedited immigration under the CEC, but also gives you better exposure to Canadian employers.

Learn more about the CEC on the Immigration Facts page, in the Canada and Immigration tab, here on LoonLounge.

The Financial Post has released its current list of Canada’s top 100 employers.

This list is an important consideration for any LoonLounger, Canadian or aspiring Canadian, looking to work in Canada. Full details on the company, links to their websites, and the benefits of working for them are included in the article. Important to note for individuals outside of Canada are the companies that looking to hire foreign workers, and for recent immigrants to Canada the companies noted as having programs to ensure the hiring of an ethnically diverse workforce.

The Financial Post received 2,100 applications from different companies in Canada. The list was developed by assessing each company by eight criteria: physical workplace; work atmosphere as a social setting; pay and benefits; vacation and provisions for time off; communication to employees; performance management; training and skills development and community involvement.

The companies are listed randomly, not in order of ranking.

Read the complete article, and find a great Canadian company that you’d like to work for by following this link: http://www.financialpost.com/careers/story.html?id=1426269

Minister of Immigration for the province of Manitoba, Nancy Allan, recently returned from a visit to Iceland’s capital Reykjavik, where she was putting the finishing touches on a labour deal with the now bankrupt country.

It has been determined that applicants will be screen by the Icelandic labour department, and should they qualify, be admitted to Canada as a temporary foreign worker.

The program should be beneficial for both partners. Manitoba is experiencing a great labour shortage, while Iceland’s unemployment rate has skyrocketed to almost 10%.

Many Icelander’s are happy for the opportunity to work in Canada, as many have friends and family amongst the 30,000 people of Icelandic decent already established in the province.

An additional benefit comes to the Icelandic who work in Canada for more than one year. Under the new Canadian Experience Class immigration program, those workers would be able to apply for fast-tracker permanent residency in Canada.

Manitoba is not looking to fill its labour gaps with only Icelandic however. The provincial government strongly encourages any Canadian who has recently found themselves out of work to look to Manitoba for its great employment opportunities.

The Canadian government has recently develop Canada’s Economic Action Plan, which will invest $50 million over two years in programs that will speed up the process of assessing and recognizing foreign qualifications. The Foreign Credential Referral Office will handle the task of developing a framework for how the improvements will be made by September 2009.

Many highly skilled newcomers arrive in Canada and face underemployment (employment in lower-skilled occupations) for the first few years after their arrival. This is a result of tedious credential assessments and the lengthy process of updating ones credentials to meet Canadian standards that must be completed before newcomers can begin working in their previous occupation. The process often discourages newcomers, while starving Canada of the qualified professional’s skills that they are attracting.

The $50-million investment under Canada’s Economic Action Plan will do four things:

•Develop the principles that the federal, provincial and territorial governments agree will guide the recognition of foreign credentials;
•Develop standards for the timely treatment of those looking to have their qualifications recognized;
•Establish the specific occupations that will be the first priority in developing recognition standards; and
•Help people who want to come to Canada begin the process of licensure and accreditation while they are still overseas.

The announcement was made by Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, Diane Finley and Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Jason Kenney.

For more information on the Foreign Credential Referral Office, visit: http://www.credentials.gc.ca/

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Le gouvernement canadien a récemment mis au point le Plan d’action économique du Canada. Réparti sur deux ans, ce plan permettra l’investissement de 50 millions de dollars dans des programmes qui accélèreront le processus d’évaluation et de reconnaissance des qualifications étrangères. C’est au Bureau d’orientation relatif aux titres de compétences étrangers que reviendra la tâche d’établir le cadre qui déterminera la façon dont les améliorations devront être apportées d’ici septembre 2009.

De nombreux nouveaux arrivants hautement qualifiés arrivent au Canada et se retrouvent, les premières années, dans des situations de sous-emploi ( emplois en dessous de leurs qualifications ). C’est souvent là le résultat de processus d’évaluation et d’accréditation longs et laborieux qui empêchent les nouveaux arrivants de travailler directement dans un domaine de compétences équivalent à celui qu’ils avaient avant. Ce processus décourage d’ailleurs souvent les immigrants, privant ainsi le Canada de compétences professionnelles dont le pays a pourtant besoin.

Les 50 millions du Plan d’investissement économique du Canada serviront à quatre choses :

• Définir, en accord avec les gouvernements fédéral, provinciaux et territoriaux, les principes de reconnaissance des titres de compétence étrangers ;
• Définir des délais de traitement des demandes de reconnaissance et d’accréditation ;
• Faire la liste des professions spécifiques qui seront prioritaires ;
• Venir en aide aux gens qui veulent venir au Canada en leur permettant, alors qu’ils sont encore à l’étranger, d’entamer les procédures d’équivalence et d’accréditation.

L’annonce a été faite par Diane Finley, Ministre des Ressources humaines et du Développement des compétences et par Jason Kenney, Ministre de la Citoyenneté, de l’Immigration et du Multiculturalisme.

Pour en savoir plus sur le Bureau d’orientation relatif aux titres de compétences étrangers, cliquez ici : http://www.credentials.gc.ca/