Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), in partnership with the Foreign Credentials Referral Office (FCRO) and The Alliance for Sector Council (TASC),has recently launched a new resource to guide Canadian employers through the process of hiring internationally-trained workers.

The Employer's Roadmap (available at www.credentials.gc.ca) is an online tool designed to assist those Canadian employers who cannot find the employees they need among Canadian citizens and permanent residents, and need to bring in foreign workers to staff their growing businesses.

“This is a practical resource that employers in any sector will find useful in helping to meet their staffing needs and improve their competitiveness in a rapidly changing economy,” said the executive director of TASC, Andrew Cardozo. “The Employer’s Roadmap is exactly what is needed to make the process of hiring and retaining internationally trained workers a lot more efficient.”

Though hiring from abroad is more complicated than hiring locally, the process is not quite as complicated as many Canadian employers may think. The goal of the Employer Roadmap is to educate employers and give them the tools they need to hire and retain workers from abroad.

Included in the Employer Roadmap are the following:

• the benefits of hiring internationally trained workers;
• how to hire and recruit them;
• how to assess qualifications (credentials and competencies);
• how to integrate and retain employees with different professional and cultural backgrounds into the work force.

“The Government of Canada is committed to improving the labour market integration of internationally trained workers – this is essential to building a strong Canada: socially, culturally and economically,” said Canada's Immigration Minister Jason Kenney. “Employers are key partners in helping internationally trained workers find jobs in their areas of training, and this resource makes it easier for employers to assess their qualifications.”