Employers are most interested in hiring immigrants when they have hard-to-fill vacancies: usually highly specialized roles or highly in-demand occupations. When economic, labour market or business conditions ease these pressures, the interest wanes. With an aging workforce, impending mass retirements, and decreased enrollment in related educational programs, internationally trained workers will play an increasingly significant role in meeting the sector’s labour force needs. It is important for employers to create long-term recruitment strategies to maintain employment equilibrium, otherwise organizations will experience marked peaks and valleys in terms of employee demand that create large cohorts in specific age groups. Maintaining sustained levels of employment and diversifying job pools will mitigate the impact of mass retirement; internationally trained workers can support these organizational efforts.
Plugged In: Accessing the World’s Talent Resource Kit
Internationally trained workers (ITWs) are people who were educated and trained in other countries and whose work experience was gained outside Canada. They may be:
- Immigrants
- Refugees
- Foreign students living in Canada
- Citizens of other countries willing and able to work in Canada; or
- Canadians who trained or worked outside of the country
Electricity Human Resources Canada (Electricity Sector Council, at the time), with the support of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, started this project to help employers recruit and retain ITWs. The result was Plugged In: Accessing the World’s Talent—a resource kit adapted from components of existing ITW recruitment and retention guides to focus the material on the electricity and renewable energy sector. The kit also contains resources and regulations specific to provinces and territories, as well as best practices that currently exist within the industry.
A resource kit adapted from components of existing ITW recruitment and retention guides to focus the material on the electricity and renewable energy sector.
Some of the resources and tools you will find in this kit include:
- The business case for the recruiting ITWs
- An overview of the recruitment process
- Licensure/Certification requirements
- Tips for integrating ITWs into the workplace, including an Orientation Checklist
- Examples of best practices, including a summary of promising practices
Resources Developed by EHRC
National Occupational Standards (NOS) & Essential Skills Profiles
EHRC has developed several national occupational standards and essential skill profiles for benchmark occupations related to electricity generation, transmission and distribution, as well as renewable energy.
Succession Planning
The Report on Succession Planning Best Practices and Tools for the Canadian Electricity and Renewable Energy Sector not only details the best practices for succession planning but also identifies the difficulties that are often faced when putting these best practices into action.
Knowledge Management & Transfer
EHRC has provided a number of strategic recommendations that will aid industry members in ensuring effective knowledge transfer planning processes are adopted within their organizations, particularly for their critical, scarce and ‘long lead-time hire’ positions.
Labour Market Intelligence
LMI studies provide clear and up-to-date labour market information, which paints a clear picture of the industry’s current workforce while providing a valuable glimpse into future issues and challenges.
Resources Developed by Others
Hire Immigrants
Hire Immigrants provides cultural considerations and understanding when hiring, integrating and integrating new immigrants.
Job Bank
Service Canada’s Job Bank is Canada’s one-stop job listing website, the Job Bank connects job seekers and employers online, at no charge.
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada website provides a directory of immigrant serving agencies/services (including language training and assessment) for newcomers to Canada, with links to provincial, territorial and local services.
National Occupation Classification
The National Occupational Classification helps workers to understand job requirements and employers to write job descriptions.
Provincial Nominee Program
Permanent residence application forms, and information for workers nominated through the Provincial Nominee Program.
Other Publications
- Attracting, Retaining and Integrating Skilled Immigrants: An Analysis of Canada’s Leading Employers. Allies-Maytree. January, 2011.
- Hiring and Retaining Foreign Workers: Information for Employers Considering Hiring Temporary Foreign Workers. Government of Alberta. March 2010.
- Hiring International Workers in Atlantic Canada: An Employer’s Guide. Atlantic Provinces Economic Council. March 2010.
- Immigrant-Friendly Businesses: Effective Practices for Attracting, Integrating, and Retaining Immigrants in Canadian Workplaces (report) The Conference Board of Canada, November 2009.
- Instructor Curriculum Framework for a Working in Canada Seminar. Engineering Qualification Recognition Model. University of Manitoba. March 2008.
- Recruiting, Retaining and Promoting Culturally Different Employees (book) Lionel Laroche and Dan Rutherford. Butterworth-Heinemann. 2006.