Tag: Canada
Immigrant Youth Workforce Development Challenges and Opportunities: Key Insights from an #ImmigrantsThrive Twitter Chat
Immigrant youth have been among the demographics hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic across employment, education, and health (including mental health). The challenges highlighted by the pandemic were not new, but continued long-standing patterns, especially relating to unemployment and underemployment of immigrant youth in Canada. With this in mind, on March 30, WES convened more than 60 contributors to discuss immigrant youth workforce development in an #ImmigrantsThrive Twitter chat. Influential participants from government, service provision, and post-secondary institutions reviewed the challenges and also opportunities for increased labour market inclusion of […]
COVID-19 Response: An Update on Addressing the Underutilized Skills of Canada’s Internationally Educated Health Professionals
While the pandemic is highlighting challenges in Canada’s health and long-term care (LTC) systems, it is also shining a light on the thousands of internationally educated health professionals (IEHPs) who are licensed to practice in other countries but are unable to fully contribute their skills, education, and experience in Canada. Since last spring, WES has been working with many partners to raise awareness of the deep disconnect between the underutilization of IEHP talent and the needs of Canada’s health and LTC systems. WES has been convening with IEHPs and system stakeholders to develop and advocate for structural and policy changes that can create more access for immigrants and […]
New to the Future of Work Annotated Bibliography: Migration Trends
World Education Services (WES) is excited to partner with the Labour Market Information Council (LMIC) to add migration as a new theme to the Future of Work Annotated Bibliography, LMIC’s data source on labour market megatrends. This source makes labour market information accessible and aids strategic decision-making, enabling employers and policy makers to address current […]
One Year Later: From Hiring Event to the Front Lines
In the fall of 2019, Canadian employers grappled with one of the tightest job markets in recent history. As a result, employers in Toronto were eager to expand their recruitment efforts and fill widening labour gaps. Leveraging a model championed by Starbucks Canada in cooperation with ACCES Employment, a collaborative hiring event was co-organized by World Education Services (WES) and ACCES Employment, and sponsored by Starbucks Canada and the Tent Partnership for […]
WES Digital Badges: New Tool to Verify International Credentials
Virtual Hiring During COVID-19 COVID-19 has drastically altered the employment landscape in Canada. Although the year began with the country’s lowest unemployment rate in decades, Canada is now experiencing increasingly high unemployment and underemployment as businesses grapple with restructuring in the wake of the pandemic. For human resources (HR) professionals, this restructuring has resulted in […]
#ImmigrantsWork: Mobilizing Toward Action
Following the successful launch of the #ImmigrantsWork campaign in May, WES Canada co-hosted a second Twitter chat on July 15, 2020 to continue our national effort to crowdsource best practices for the inclusion of immigrant talent in Canadian workplaces. These practices include strategies, tips and resources to support Canadian businesses to tap into the full […]
#ImmigrantsWork Campaign: Key Themes from the Launch
On May 21, over 100 contributors joined the launch of the #ImmigrantsWork campaign through a Twitter chat. The #ImmigrantsWork campaign aims to raise awareness of the meaningful contributions immigrants have made to the Canadian economy, as well as their continued impact in Canada’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The launch convened influential voices on the […]
#ImmigrantsWork: Building Immigrant Inclusion into Business Recovery Plans
WES, with partners across the country, is excited to launch the #ImmigrantsWork campaign. Leveraging the collective voice of a national coalition, we are excited to share stories, resources, and a collection of tools to support rebuilding Canadian businesses with a focus on immigrant* integration. We have heard this endlessly: we are in an unprecedented time. […]
Leveraging Skills as a Pathway out of Displacement
There is a stereotypical image attached to the refugees that they’re a vulnerable group who need continuous support to do better in life. However, this is not always true. The reality is that there are many refugees who are skilled, as well as educated, but due to their displacement they do not have an opportunity […]
Refugee Hiring Event Is First of Its Kind in Toronto
The Toronto Refugee Hiring Event, held in October and organized by WES and other organizations, connected nearly 150 pre-screened refugee jobseekers with 15 Canadian employers. The event provided jobseekers an opportunity to interview for available roles well-suited to their skills and experience. Participating employers represented a range of different industries, offering a variety of roles […]
Toronto Stakeholders Mobilize for Action: Connecting Refugees to Hiring Employers
Since late 2015, a group of committed local stakeholders known as the Refugee Jobs Agenda Roundtable has been meeting with a goal to increase refugees’ access to employment opportunities that utilize the talent and skills they bring to the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). Under the leadership of Senator Ratna Omidvar, and her new […]
Refugee Project: Where are Applicants One Year Out?
In 2016, WES tackled a compounding issue: Syrian refugees were arriving in Canada by the thousands with high levels of education but struggling to return to work and school because they had little to no proof of their prior academic achievements. To address this challenge, WES launched the refugee pilot project to test the value […]
