by Elena Chernaeva, ERIEC Project Coordinator
On Thursday, June 25th, 2015, ERIEC hosted the fourth Smart Connections event with a focus on Alternate Career Paths. Over 170 internationally educated professionals convened at the Delta Edmonton Centre Suite Hotel. They had the opportunity to meet with 7 major employers, educators and guest speakers from the Edmonton business community.
Our schedule for the day included informative presentations from Supply Chain Management Association, Concordia University of Edmonton and Beacon for Change Inc.
In his welcome address Doug Piquette, Executive Director of ERIEC shared with the audience his vision about the changing work environment. He encouraged participants to explore various options through “leveraging their assets and skills” in order to successfully integrate into the Canadian labour market.
Arnold D’Souza, Marketing Coordinator at Supply Chain Management Association (SCMA) spoke about the skills for the new era of Supply Chain Management and why would engineering and finance professionals consider joining the SCMA.
Dr. Karen McDonald, Dean, Graduate Studies and Program Development from Concordia University of Edmonton presented a very interesting Alternative Career Pathways for Newcomers with information about professional development opportunities offered by many educational institutions in Edmonton.
Dune Nguyen MBA, CMC, PMP, Leadership Facilitator & Management Consultant, and President of Beacon for Change introduced the Project Management career path with valuable information in a quite entertaining manner.
“Thank you very much for the excellent presentations and valuable tips. I think this event was very meaningful and arranged very well. I learned a lot today” said one attendee.
Participants shared with ERIEC staff that they have also learned a lot from the HR Panel Discussion: Looking for a Job? Prescreening Process, The Job Interview, and On-boarding.
I’d like to express my deep gratitude to our top HR panellists. Special “thank you” went out to Violet Poon from Edmonton HR Cluster who skillfully moderated the panel. Thank you all for sharing your expertise and insider knowledge regarding the “secrets of hiring”, as well as for your open feedback and valuable insights and tips. It came as no surprise to me that I would have a hard time wrapping it up at the end of the session. People could have kept talking with all of you for at least another couple of hours!
Thank you all for participating and for supporting the immigrant professionals’ community!