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Promising Practices: Connecting Internationally Educated Professionals with Sector-Appropriate Employment

Presentation to ICE CommitteeNovember 21, 2012

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What Is TWIG?

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Toronto’s Opportunities and Priorities: A Local Labour Market Update

04/10/20234

Who we talk to: TWIG stakeholders

04/10/2023

Other research

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04/10/2023

Sifting Through the Sands: Unpacking the Hourglass

6

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Routes to Employment

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The intent of the research was to clarify the practices that are working well in terms of meeting the needs of highly skilled IEPs so they attain appropriate employment.

The study focuses on information gathered from 35 organizational and staff interviews.

The emphasis was on front-line workers and their abilities to deliver bridging programs

Promising Practices:

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Many sources were consulted in the course of the research including: The Conference Board of Canada Colleges Ontario Public Policy Forum Toronto Immigrant Employment Data Initiative,

(TIEDI), York University Progressive Career Planning Institute

Literature Review

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Skills Sets and Knowledge of Front-line staff Soft skills identified as core skill set for

employment counselors, job developers and program managers

Coaching support seen as critical Key Competencies – marketing, sales and

networking abilities Sector Specific knowledge/sector specific

experience

Findings from the Research

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Most successful programs include language and communication learning related to sector – not generic ESL

Some programs have on-line pre-training for technical programs – can be challenging for IEPs

Technical Language & Communication Skills

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Post-secondary institutions seen by clients as most legitimate and credible but don’t always provide culturally sensitive counselling

Non-profit providers are useful for IEPs looking for general information rather than sector-specific training

Providers

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Key to successful bridging – more that it happens upfront the better; engaging employers in design and delivery of program helps

Employers may need “education” in the business case for hiring IEPs

Employers report not wanting to be contacted by many providers, central database preferable

Employer Engagement

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Providing support to employers may aid in employee retention – resources must be allocated

Promising practices include visits to workplace, holding workshops for employers on managing and retaining IEPs

Post Employment Support

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Sector specificity is critical In non-regulated sectors emphasis was on

employment In the regulated sectors programs focused

on helping clients prepare for qualifying exams and licensing

Sectoral Differences: Regulated and Non-Regulated

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Strong leadership and management support lead to success in attaching IEPs – “management encourages us to expand our knowledge and experiment”

“Always looking at how to improve”

Leadership & Management Support

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Employer engagement through agency’s built-in network

Inclusion of strong partners - mentoring Holistic and comprehensive – including

technical, communication and employability skills

Collaboration - CASIP

Models

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Mentoring Coaching Practicum Employer Engagement

Common Components

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Involving employers in all aspects of program design and development

Collaborate or collective approach to employers Mentoring, internships, job placements Staff training Staff with sector-specific knowledge and experience Post employment support Validity and accessibility of labour market

information

Lessons Learned

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For more information www. workforceinnovation.ca

Phone: 416 934-1653

Fax: 416-934-1654

Address: 215 Spadina Avenue, Suite 350Toronto, Ontario M5T 2C7

Thank you