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Celebrating Black History Month

By Events and news

February 1st marks the start of Black History Month – a time where we celebrate and honour the achievements, stories, and legacy of Black Canadians. We are invited to learn about the contributions Black Canadians and their communities have made and continue to make within our society.

“Coming from a place where there are many ways in which African culture and festivals are celebrated, it is interesting to know that contributions made by people of African descent are recognized and celebrated in Canada as well.”

– Lola Pitan, Talent Specialist, Career Edge

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New Year Resolutions

By Events and news

For many of us, the New Year is a chance to not only reset and reflect on the year that passed, but also to set goals, create milestones, and plan for growth over the next 365 days. Considering the eventful, tumultuous, exhausting (and sometimes confusing) last couple of years, mental health, self-care, and work-life balance has shot-up the resolution lists for a lot of us. As for organizations and employers, taking care of their employees and ensuring a healthy and safe work environment will continue to be the priority for the year to come.

For Career Edge, welcoming the year of 2022 meant continuing our mission of creating meaningful, valuable, transforming, life-changing internship opportunities that empower individuals and launch careers that matter. As an organization, this is what we’re committing to for the year to come: Read More

national internship awareness month

National Internship Awareness Month

By Events and news

Aspiring stars travelling for auditions, delivering their best performances to impress casting directors, with dreams of launching a successful career in their trained art – it’s not just Hollywood, it’s National Internship Awareness Month.

Like the preceding, annual Academy Awards, National Internship Awareness Month recognizes and celebrates the benefits of auditions, reaped by both its employers and jobseekers. For the second year, NIAM aims to dispel myths surrounding internships to shine light on how unknowns can become stars. And because many casting directors have misconceptions about hosting auditions, NIAM also attempts to generate buzz on how they, through offering temporary tryouts, can find the right talent to produce a Best Picture nomination. Read More

Join us at the Cannexus15 National Career Development Conference

By Events and news

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Career Edge is proud to be a Supporting Organization at the Cannexus15 National Career Development Conference, to be held at the Ottawa Convention Centre, from January 26 – 28, 2015.

As a Supporting Organization, our President, Naguib Gouda, will host a networking breakfast session where attendees will discuss paid versus unpaid internships.

At this Cannexus Connections session discussion questions will include:

  •       When are unpaid internships acceptable?
  •       What’s the difference between unpaid internships and volunteer work?
  •       Why do paid internships matter?

Cannexus15 Conference delegates will also be informed and inspired by three exceptional keynote speakers:

  • Jaime Watt, Executive Chairman, Navigator Ltd & Public Affairs Commentator
  •       Dr Nancy Arthur, Professor & Associate Dean Research, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary
  •       The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, 26th Governor General of Canada

In addition to the above, the Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling (CERIC) will culminate their 10th anniversary celebrations at Cannexus15 with Spark!, a series of TEDx-style talks on diverse topics that will provide the “spark” for you to think differently about your work.

Ready to register? Click here to register as a Regular Member of Supporting Organization and select Career Edge from the list of Supporting Organizations for a 5% discount on registration. If you would like to learn more about the event visit www.cannexus.ca.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Career Edge celebrates 2,000 internships for IQPs

By Events and news

Last week marked another milestone in Career Edge’s history, as the Toronto-based social enterprise celebrated the placement of its 2,000th internationally qualified professional (IQP) through its Career Bridge paid internship program.

Career Bridge was launched as a pilot project led by the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC) in 2003, and has since grown into an effective, low risk hiring and retention solution for leading Canadian employers.

“When [Career Bridge] started its work with immigrants, it was our hope that through internships many immigrants would find suitable employment,” says Ratna Omidvar, President of Maytree, the founding organization behind TRIEC. “Career Bridge has been instrumental in providing a pathway to employment for over 2,000 internationally trained immigrants.”

In collaboration with employers of all sizes, across the private, public and not-for-profit sectors, Career Edge facilitates the employment of IQP candidates in paid internship positions that complement their level of education and experience. RBC, Bell, St. Michael’s Hospital, City of Toronto, and the Ontario Public Service (OPS) are among the hundreds of companies that have leveraged the Career Bridge program to find well-qualified talent, demonstrating leadership in bias-free employment.

Participants of the Career Bridge program are those who have been in Canada for less than three years and have between 5 and 10 years of work experience abroad. Although they meet or exceed the qualifications for many job opportunities in Canada, a lack of Canadian experience has been a substantial barrier to employment for these job seekers.

Employers that offer meaningful work opportunities through Career Edge’s internship program for IQPs are committed to removing the “Canadian experience” barrier. This enables program registrants to compete for employment opportunities on a level playing field.

“As an internationally trained professional and a new immigrant to Canada, I faced a lot of challenges in my career planning, one of which was getting Canadian workplace experience required for engineering licensing,” said Yaghoub Norouzi Banis, an intern at the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. “The internship program provided me with an exceptional opportunity to overcome this challenge and I had the good fortune of being welcomed at the Ontario Parks for this position.”

Career Edge maintains strategic alliances and partnerships with a number of industry associations, post-secondary institutions, government agencies, and community organizations to help bridge the gap for IQPs like Yaghoub. Partners like the Canadian Immigrant Integration Program (CIIP), TRIEC, Toronto Region Board of Trade, Maytree Foundation, and York University have expanded the capacity and augmented the impact of the program in Ontario and across Canada.

“With the support of a vast network of leading Canadian employers and partnering organizations, I’m proud that Career Edge has helped to successfully launch the careers of 2,000 IQPs,” says Naguib Gouda, President of Career Edge. “This proves that paid internships truly represent a sustainable and optimum path to permanent employment for internationally qualified professionals.”