The Edmonton Region Immigrant Employment Council (ERIEC) believes bringing employers and skilled immigrants together is critical to challenging employment issues and barriers and will help to build bridges within the Edmonton region. One of ERIEC's key approaches is to align and work with a broad cross-section of community stakeholders. The following is a ‘snapshot’ of our program progress to date!
ERIEC Career Mentorship Program
ERIEC Career Mentorship Program – Occupation specific mentoring for skilled newcomers has proven to be an effective tool in providing access to professional advice and networks that improve access to the labour market. The Career Mentorship Program is a collaborative effort between the Edmonton Region Immigrant Employment Council (ERIEC), immigrant service providers and corporate partners that brings together professional newcomers (mentees) and established Canadian professionals (mentors) in occupation-specific mentoring.
Increasing access to mentoring improves employment opportunities for professional newcomers, which in turn addresses labour market issues and results in greater value added to the regional economy. In this fiscal year, we have coordinated 91 professional mentor matches to date and will work hard to meet our target of 100 by March 31st, 2014.
Speed Career Networking Events
These events focus on information sharing and time-efficient networking between local professionals (mentors) and internationally-trained professionals (mentees) who have recently settled in Edmonton and are “job-ready”. This is not a recruitment event or a job fair. The mentees who attend these events recognize this and are expected only to expand their professional networks and learn more about pursuing a career in Canada. Mentors (employers) benefit by being exposed to some of the international talent currently available in Edmonton and the global perspectives these professionals can bring to our marketplace. From April 1 to December 31st we have successfully coordinated 10 events in collaboration with our immigrant agency and employer partners.
Internationally Trained Professional Sector Overview
Stay tuned. We look forward to sharing more updates with you along the way!
ERIEC Team