Dear Colleagues,

1. Learn the basics of how to build an effective resume

2. Identify skills that need to be communicated on your resume

Transferable Skills (2 Hours)

1. The ability to identify your skills is essential when job searching

2. Learn to identify your skills

3. By identifying your skills you are able to communicate effectively in job search correspondence and to the employer during the interview

4. 85 % of job searchers can not effectively communicate their skills to an employer

Cover Letter Writing (2 Hours)

1. Cover letters are an important part of the job search process and function as an initial selling tool

2. Learn the do’s and don’ts of cover letter writing

3. Participants learn how to write an effective cover letter

Job Finding Strategies (All day)

1. Learn how to uncover the hidden job market

2. Learn how to build and use your networking skills

Career Portfolios (1 ½ Hours)

1. Learn how to create a career portfolio

2. Learn how career portfolios “Wow” employers during interviews

Introduction to Canadian Work Force for Internationally Trained Individuals (3 Hours)

*Employment Standards Act*Occupational Health & Safety*Human Rights & Unions

Accessing Your Professions and Trades for Internationally Trained Individuals (3 Hours)

*Labour Market Information *Regulated & Unregulated Occupations and Trades*Unions*Professional Associations

How to Access Professions & Trades

Presenting Yourself Professionally -  For Internationally Trained Individuals (3 Hours)

*Dressing for Success*Understanding Cultural Diversity*Communicating Effectively*Effective Job Search Strategies

2) COSTI -  York Region Employment Resource Centres

Hello everyone,

Please see attachment regarding our schedule for the month of November.
Attached see a file Nov04schedule.doc

Thanking you in advance,

Jacquie Quinnell
quinnell@costi.org 

Assistant Manager, COSTI York Region Employment Resource Centres

Skills for Change

Evening ESL/Work Search for
Internationally-Trained Engineers

The ESL/ Work Search for Internationally Trained Engineers course will teach you the English language skills necessary to conduct an effective job search in the engineering sector.  This program is intended for Internationally -Trained Engineers who are either unemployed or are working in non-engineering occupations and would like to find work as engineers or engineering technicians or technologists

Seminar

“Foreign – Educated Engineers Admission Guide to Professional Engineers in Ontario”

November 8^th 2004, 6.00 p.m.
Location-  http://www.kelk.com/New_Site/directn.htm
Presentation of Prof. Stelian George-Cosh, MASc., P.Eng.,
Professor of Conestoga Institute of Technology, Kitchener

Entrance $17.00 dollars (Guide incl.)

In the News

Some interesting points of the Speech from the Throne (October 5, 2004) Ottawa

The Government’s actions on behalf of Canadians will be guided by these seven commitments:

1. to be unwavering in the application of fiscal discipline, the foundation of so much of Canada’s success over the past decade;

2. to promote the national interest by setting the nation’s objectives and building a consensus toward achieving them;

3. to pursue these objectives in a manner that recognizes Canada’s diversity as a source of strength and innovation;

4. to aim for tangible, practical results for Canadians and report to them so that they can hold their governments to account;

5. to defend the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and to be a steadfast advocate of inclusion;

6. to demand equality of opportunity so that prosperity can be shared by all Canadians; and

7. to assert Canada’s interests and project our values in the world.

Together, we can move Canada forward.

Efforts to improve the recognition of foreign credentials and prior work experience have yielded too little progress. Looking to the growing contribution that will be required from new Canadians as our population ages, this Government will redouble its efforts, in cooperation with the provinces and professional bodies, to help integrate them into the workforce.

The Government of Canada has made substantial investments—more than $13 billion since 1997—that have built a strong foundation in basic science and technology, including the Canada Foundation for Innovation, health research and other initiatives to create leading-edge capabilities. It will continue to build on this strength.

1000-25 Sheppard Avenue West Toronto, ON  M2N 6S9 Tel:    416 224-1100; 1-800 339-3716 Fax:    416 224-8168; 1-800 268-0496 www.peo.on.ca Enforcement Hotline: 416 224 9528 Ext. 444

Media Release

New Internet Portal to Improve Access to Licensure in Ontario for International Engineering Graduates

Toronto - (October 26, 2004) - Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO), the licensing and regulating body of engineering in the province, is pleased to announce that it has received funding of nearly $2 million over two years from the Bridging Projects Fund of the Ontario Ministry of Colleges, Training and Universities to develop an innovative internet portal anticipated to dramatically improve access to licensure for international engineering graduates (IEGs) in the province.

The portal will include the following features:

1.  Interactive fact sheet - An interactive fact sheet will navigate the end-user through the engineering licensure process through a series of questions that will provide customized, meaningful and relevant information.

2.  Self-assessment and competency matching tool - This on-line tool will allow individuals to conduct a self-assessment to indicate the extent to which their education, knowledge and experience match the requirements for licensure in Ontario. It will also allow them to match their competencies to related occupations and to obtain an early, realistic sense of the equivalency of their academic credentials.

3.  Resource and training links - The portal will provide access to PEO resources such as application guides, practice exams and interview videos. In addition, the portal will link international engineering graduates to resources and training opportunities provided by other organizations in Ontario.

4.  On-line coaching and mentoring - An on-line coaching and mentoring program will permit international engineering graduates the opportunity to access licensed professionals throughout the application and licensing process. Through the continued and valuable assistance of PEO member volunteers, it will also facilitate the development of networking opportunities and an understanding of the Canadian context.

“The fact that one-third of the 65,000 professional engineers licensed by PEO received their education outside Canada is a positive sign that our ongoing access initiatives are having an impact,” says PEO CEO/Registrar Kim Allen, P.Eng.

“However, through the innovative use of internet technology, this endeavor will allow access to interactive information, assessment tools and Canadian contacts that will be of significant help to internationally educated engineers on the path to licensure in Ontario.”

The web infrastructure that will be created to support the portal will also have the added benefit of facilitating ongoing communications between PEO and IEGs to obtain feedback, evaluate progress, and identify additional barriers and future initiatives.

It should be noted that while the lack of a professional engineering licence does not preclude entry into the engineering workforce, it can limit IEGs in realizing their full potential and maximizing the benefit for the Ontario economy.

“This initiative builds on PEO‘s mandate of protecting the Ontario public by ensuring all professional engineers are qualified for licensing, regardless of where the applicant is from,” adds Allen.

Professional Engineers Ontario administers the Professional Engineers Act by licensing professional engineers, and setting standards for and regulating engineering in Ontario so that the public interest is served and protected. Rigorously educated, experienced, and committed to a Code of Ethics that puts the public first, licensed professional engineers can be identified by the P.Eng. after their names.

For additional information or interviews, please contact:

David Smith, Media Specialist,
(416) 224-9528, ext. 402; 1-800-339-3716, ext. 402; dsmith@peo.on.ca

Lobbing for International Trained Engineers

On October 16^th ABEC was presented again as observer at the meeting of PROMPT – Policy Roundtable Mobilizing Professions and Trade, where was released a second paper of the study– Internationally Educated Engineers in Canada -‘Recasting Equity’ 

The full text you can see on the website of PROMPT:
http://www.promptinfo.ca/frames3.html

PROMPT Purpose

PROMPT’s long-goal is to improve the economic and social integration of immigrants to Canada who are professionals and trades people in regulated fields.  PROMPT works towards this long-term goal by developing policy recommendations and advocating for policy change related to access to professions and trades.  PROMPT seeks to become the recognized collective immigrant voice on policy issues related to access to professions and trades.  PROMPT is the first initiative of its kind in Ontario.

'In The Public Interest:
Immigrant Access to Regulated Professions in Today's Ontario' 

"PROMPT offers a blueprint for change through five recommendations to government and other regulatory stakeholders to enhance accountability in the area of access to licensure for immigrant professionals. This policy paper was released on the first meeting of PROMPT- 29th of September 2004." 

On October 16^th was released the second paper.

‘Recasting Equity’ 
A Conceptual Framework

Executive Summary

At present, over 200,000 people arrive annually in Canada in the firm expectation of making it home. They represent the transnational movements of people, ideas, production, investment and authority that characterize a globalize world. In this transnational flow, gains in rights in some areas are often offset by risks to rights in others in an interaction between the two political traditions of citizenship and human rights. Reconciliation of these two traditions, this paper argues, can be obtained by a broadening of focus of policy-makers to global democratic governance as it affects immigrants to Canada. The case-analysis of skilled immigrants to Canada, as described in this paper, forms the basis for achieving a model of human-centered governance for  Canada that lends itself to globalization.

Skilled immigrants to Canada identify themselves as part of a global flow, a context which has not been formally grounded in policy debates. For Canada to globalize at the national and local levels, democratic governance structures for this real context of identity and existence of skilled immigrants need to be acknowledged. At the same time, there needs to be recognition that skilled immigrants are in Canada as part of a national strategy to modernize its workforce within a global context. Yet, paradoxically, the experience of immigrants in recent decades has been that of under employment and unemployment, as well as poverty, created in large part by the de-legitimization of their skills, values, and experience.

Canada can justifiably and proudly boasts of its progressive legislation. It has, however, compromised its ability to provide its immigrants with the equality due to them as members of its society and failed in its capacity to optimize on the benefits to the nation from the equitable participation of immigrants in the labor force. It has done so by not incorporating its own rationale for its immigration policy within the wider, global context in which immigration takes place. Canada has further compounded the situation by not ensuring the legislative flow of the principle of equality from federal to provincial levels and by not meaningfully instituting rights, equality and equity legislations within its mainstream institutions.

Canada, through its experiment in diversity, has arrived at a new plateau of development. To take its place of pride on the global stage, Canadians need to take into account new international realities - realities that have arrived crucially through immigrants who seek their place of equality within the mainstream through the consideration of a model of human-centered governance.

 Oct. 26, 2004. 01:48 PM

Ontario budgets $2M to help foreign engineers

CANADIAN PRESS

The Ontario government will spend $2 million over two years on a project that will help internationally trained engineers continue their careers in Ontario.

"Many newcomers to Ontario bring with them a wealth of experience and impressive qualifications," said Mary Anne Chambers, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities.

"Through this project, we are making it possible for them to use their skills and training and contribute to the economy to provide their families with a high quality of life, and help us build strong communities," she said.

The project will be developed by Professional Engineers Ontario, the regulatory body for the province's engineers.

It will provide internationally trained engineers with online mentoring and coaching, and access to relevant courses and services offered by post-secondary institutions and community-based agencies.

The project will also develop an interactive website that will provide potential immigrants with information about requirements to become licensed in the province, and details about the job market.

The website is expected to be online by next summer.

In addition, Professional Engineers Ontario will develop a college course for international engineering graduates that will be the equivalent of the 12 months Canadian work experience that's required for a permanent licence.

Last year, Professional Engineers Ontario received more than 2,000 applications from internationally trained engineers and granted 105 provisional licences. The organization expects it will grant 50 per cent more licences as a result of this project.

Over the past four years, about 40,000 internationally trained engineers immigrated to Ontario. About one-third of licensed engineers in Ontario were educated outside Canada.

Oct. 27, 2004. 01:00 AM

Foreign engineers get $2M in aid
Program to ease transition to the Canadian job market

`We need their skills, education and experience': Minister

PETER EDWARDS
STAFF REPORTER

Roberto Floh laughs when he recalls the tough times he faced upon moving to Canada from Chile a quarter-century ago.

Floh, then a father of two preschool children, was unable to find work in the chemical engineering profession and ended up supporting his family by working nights cleaning a slaughterhouse.

Now, one of his children has a degree in medicine and the other an MBA.

Yesterday, Floh, 59, was praised by Mary Anne Chambers, Ontario's minister of training, colleges and universities, for his leadership and commitment in helping other foreign-trained engineers find work in their fields in Canada.

"It's a very good feeling," Floh said yesterday, after Chambers unveiled a $2 million program to help make the transition to the Canadian job market easier for other engineers who received their training outside Canada. She made the announcement at a meeting of the Toronto City Summit Alliance, a coalition of business, government, community and labour groups advocating a new role and financial deal for cities.

Chambers said foreign-trained professionals like Floh are essential to helping Canada compete globally. "In today's competitive economy, we need their skills, education and experience," she said.

The alliance also announced the development of a new website,
http://www.torontoalliance.ca/, to stimulate ideas and communicate information.

The engineering initiative provides mentoring and coaching for internationally trained professionals, and includes the Ontario Portal for International Engineering Graduates, an interactive web-based tool that can be accessed overseas and provides information about what it takes to be licensed professionally in Canada.

The government estimates that some 10,000 internationally trained engineers will access the portal each year.

"They will make it a lot more focused," said Floh, who now runs Arch Industrial Products Inc. in Thornhill and is a volunteer on the experience review committee for the Professional Engineers of Ontario.

In other announcements yesterday, Dr. John Evans, chair of Torstar Corp., which owns the Toronto Star, and of MaRS Discovery District, said an effort is under way to pull together research-focused universities, colleges, hospitals and industries across the Golden Horseshoe to make the district a world centre for research and industry.

Some Recruiters Links

Mr. Steve Hope – Senior Researcher and Recruiter
http://www.multec.ca; Tel: (416) 244-2402, ext. 130, Toll Free: (888) 244-8466

Ms. Dorothy Ashworth – Project Manager
http://www.brunelmining.com/; Tel: (416) 244-2560, Toll Free: (888) 244-8466

Brunel Mining a division of Brunel International
http://www.brunel-international.nl/

Canada Career Week is a great chance to participate in activities and explore resources that will get you thinking about opportunities that are out there waiting for you. Check out the CCC's Canada Career Week calendar for activities taking place near you.

http://www.canadacareerweek.com/ccw/view_act_e.cfm?sortorder=province

for Ontario:
http://www.canadacareerweek.com/ccw/view_act_e.cfm?sortorder=province#ON

Best Regards to all our Members

 Pauline Loultcheva Lawrence