The Board of Directors of Career Edge Organization is pleased to announce the appointment of Naguib Gouda as its next President and Chief Executive Officer. Naguib will be officially joining Career Edge Organization next Monday, December 17th, 2012.
“Naguib is a highly skilled executive with extensive corporate experience and a lifelong commitment to volunteering for community organizations,” says Matt Holland, Chair of Career Edge Organization’s Board of Directors.
The Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC) is pleased to announce the call for entries for the 7th Annual Immigrant Success (IS) Awards, sponsored by RBC. Each year, TRIEC presents the IS Awards to recognize innovation and leadership in integrating skilled immigrants into the Greater Toronto Region labour market.
If you or your organization deserve to be recognized, don’t miss your chance this year. Employers and individuals are invited to apply or submit a nomination by Thursday, November 15, 2012 at www.isawards.ca.
Last night, senior business leaders, human resources professionals and former interns of Career Edge Organization (CEO)’s paid internship programs gathered at the TIFF Bell Lightbox to celebrate the annual CEO Achievement Awards. This year, the awards centered on the partnerships with employers and community organizations that have supported and advanced the impact of CEO’s paid internship programs.
“Career Edge Organization is more relevant today than it has ever been,” said Matt Holland, Chairman of the Board for CEO. “The growing number of underemployed and unemployed youth is approaching historical highs, reminiscent of “jobless recovery” of the early 1990s when Career Edge Organization was founded, and requires the same level of response by our society.”
This past spring, Career Edge Organization’s VP, Donna Smith, presented the results of our third installment of Gen Y research at Workforce One-Stop 2012, a new event for employers and educators looking to leverage the skills and knowledge of workers joining an increasingly diverse Canadian workforce.
Building on two successful years of employer targeted Gen Y research, Donna’s workshop explored “twenty something” insights for employers, enabling them to better attract, retain, and develop young Canadian talent in their organizations.
Working with Angus Reid Strategies and Porter Novelli in 2009, our first installment of Gen Y research revealed that one size strategies do not fit all, as we identified four distinct segments of recent grads that each call for unique recruitment efforts. In 2010, our research drilled deeper to gain groundbreaking insights to find out what Gen Y look for in a “great place to work.”
Last week, Career Edge Organization (CEO) attended the 2nd Annual Career, Education & Settlement Fair presented by Canadian Immigrant and Scotiabank in association with Centennial College.
At the fair, we met many newcomers and recent immigrants seeking job hunting tips, information about accreditation and upgrading of education, and additional resources to support their settlement in Canada.
For many internationally qualified newcomers that stopped by the CEO exhibitor booth, today is the first Canada Day that they will be celebrating since immigrating to Canada.
I got a chance to speak with Biju George, an internationally trained technical sales professional from India. With over 20 years of experience, Biju and his wife moved to Canada three months ago and are now in the process of settling in the GTA and laying the groundwork for a successful career transition.
Biju explained that he is looking forward to joining in today’s festivities, saying, “Having only moved to Canada within the past couple of months, my wife and I are looking forward to celebrating our first Canada Day by going to the Pride Parade and visiting High Park for the celebrations.”
We would like to take this opportunity to extend a warm welcome to newcomers like Biju, and wish a Happy Canada Day to everyone who calls this country home.
Earlier this year, Rogers TV launched Introducing Toronto, a rich and informative weekly series that portrays the journey of recent immigrants who call Toronto home. The show presents the settlement and employment resources available to newcomers that can help them better integrate into Canadian society and its workforce.
In the fifth instalment of the series airing next Monday, June 18th at 8:30pm, Introducing Toronto takes a look at Career Bridge, an internship program that connects employers with internationally qualified newcomers looking to gain Canadian work experience that is consistent with their professional skills and expertise acquired outside of Canada. Next Monday’s show also focuses on Bike Host, an activity that introduces Toronto to newcomers via cycling. Lastly, Young Newcomers with an entrepreneurial streak get guidance from the Canadian Youth Business Foundation and Introducing Toronto discovers how a theatre program is helping youth to better adapt to their new city.
Click here for more information about Introducing Toronto!
JVS Toronto has leveraged the power of partnerships through its new program that aims to help internationally qualified professionals integrate into Canada’s architectural workforce.
Immigrant Professionals Leveraging Architectural Knowledge for New Opportunities (I-PLAN) is a bridging program that addresses key barriers faced by internationally trained architects, including lack of Canadian experience and the lack of sector specific job search support and advice.
As a non-profit community organization that works in strong partnership with government and business to assist people from all walks of life achieve their educational and employment potential, JVS has established a unique partnership with Ryerson University’s Chang School of Continuing Education, the Ontario Tourism Education Council, and Career Edge Organization to support the delivery of I-PLAN.
As one of the program components, I-PLAN participants complete a mentoring and internship placement supported by Career Edge Organization (CEO). Through CEO’s Career Bridge paid internship program, I-PLAN participants connect with employers that recognize and value their international education and work experience.
While the program is a great option for internationally qualified architects looking to launch their careers in Canada, employers can also benefit by tapping into this pool of highly qualified, internationally experienced talent through a flexible, low-risk hiring solution.
Career Edge Organization is proud to be a member of this partnership, and we’re looking forward to supporting I-PLAN participants as they pursue Canadian careers in architecture.
Click here for more information about JVS and the I-PLAN program.
Since the launch of the Career Bridge paid internship program in 2003, over 1,700 skilled immigrants have gained valuable Canadian work experience consistent with their professional experience and education, with over 80% of interns landing full-time employment in their field post-internship.
At this evening’s Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC)’s 6th Annual Immigrant Success (IS) Awards, we are absolutely delighted to have the Career Bridge program recognized as the winner of the CBC Toronto Vision Award for Immigrant Inclusion. This award recognizes a unique initiative that breaks down employment barriers for skilled immigrants and has the potential to affect change beyond one organization, while also having a wider impact because of partnerships.
While we are very proud to be the recipient of this award, we certainly recognize that this could only have been achieved with the support of our many partners – host employers, community agencies and educational institutions – and senior business leader champions. We have also attributed the success of Career Bridge to the quality of talent and the supportive onboarding that is an integral element of our successful internship model.
One employer highlighted in the TRIEC IS Award video, the City of Toronto, has hired over 80 interns since 2003 as part of its HR strategy to reflect the diversity of Toronto’s communities. Through Career Bridge and related strategies, the City of Toronto is actively embedding best practices on the hiring and integration of skilled immigrants. Career Bridge is now active in 14 divisions at the City, all of whom keep returning to the program because of the quality of the talent it brings them.
Furthermore, Career Bridge has recently partnered with the Canadian Immigrant Integration Program (CIIP), a project that facilitates skilled immigrants’ transition to Canada by starting the process before they arrive. Career Bridge supports and accelerates CIIP’s efforts by virtually pre-screening their clients who are job-ready and Career Bridge-eligible. Through this relationship Career Bridge is able to tap into the CIIP client base to identify talent consistent with our host employers’ needs. Career Bridge has the capacity for national reach as a result of the partnership with CIIP and its community focal point partners. A number of CIIP clients have registered with Career Bridge and have found internships shortly after arriving in Canada.
Looking forward, we hope that more employers recognize and use the Career Bridge paid internship program as an effective hiring and retention strategy for qualified, global talent. With the continued and growing support of employers, Career Bridge will remain a sustainable and optimum path to permanent employment for internationally qualified newcomers.
At the end of this month, Donna Smith, Vice President of Career Edge Organization, will be leading a workshop at The Conference Board of Canada’s Workforce One-Stop 2012 conference, a rebranding of previous conferences focusing on workforce training and career development (most notably, the National Consultation on Career Development and Workforce Learning, aka NATCON).
At last year’s NATCON conference, we presented our second instalment of employer-targeted Gen Y research. Our myth-busting presentation identified what workplace culture actually means to Gen Y, the impact it has on grads’ career planning, and the kinds of research they do to seek and select their employers of choice.
Yesterday, Canada’s Top 100 Employers announced the 2012 winners of the Best Employers for New Canadians competition in a special editorial feature in the Globe and Mail. This competition recognizes the employers with the best initiatives and programs that support newcomers entering the Canadian workforce. In part of this recognition, we were very pleased to see that 30% of the winners listed were selected partly due to their participation in the Career Bridge paid internship program.
Career Edge Organization (CEO) would like to take this opportunity to congratulate and commend these Canadian employers who have provided leadership in recognizing and valuing the skills, credentials, and global perspectives that internationally qualified professionals bring to the workplace.
We would also like to offer special thanks and congratulations to the employers that have either expressed an interest in connecting with CEO to fulfill talent strategies for internationally qualified professionals, or have formally partnered with the Career Bridge program to support the onboarding of new Canadians through paid internships, while maintaining a strong commitment to an inclusive and welcoming corporate culture:
BMO Financial Group
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC)
Deloitte & Touche LLP
Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning
KPMG LLP
Loblaw Companies Ltd.
Mississauga, City of
Mount Sinai Hospital
Ontario Public Service
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)
St. Michael’s Hospital
Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD)
Telus Corp.
Xerox Canada Inc.
York, Regional Municipality of
