Blog

Skilled immigrants have struggled to know how their international education or competencies are being evaluated and recognized during the hiring process. It can often be difficult for internationally trained talent to know what skills, education, or even experience employers are looking for when hiring in Canada. Understanding this gap, Canadian employers have been seeking new […]

With participants in our pre-arrival program now beginning to land in Canada, IEC-BC’s Facilitating Access to Skilled Talent (FAST) is seeing significant results. Recent evaluation within FAST participants point to a success rate of 67% of landed clients finding work in their field between 1-4 weeks upon arrival. Of these workers, incomes range between $38,605 […]

Canada’s tech sector is growing. The Information & Communications Technology Council’s (ICTC) Labour Market Outlook projects around 216,000 digital talent demand by 2021, highlighting that skilled immigrants are key in filling this labour gap.  However, the job market is competitive, and newcomers need to be well prepared to find meaningful employment in Canada.   Earlier […]

FAST is Canada’s only occupation-specific career preparation program designed to give incoming immigrants a better understanding of the workplace and get them connected to industry professionals – even before they land. Last month, we welcomed some of our FAST alumni who have recently arrived in BC. They shared their journey with FAST and how it […]

Job opportunities in Nanaimo, British Columbia, are mostly from the local government.  The service, retail and tourism industries are also big contributors to the local economy. (Photo Credit: “2011” by Jo-in-BC is licensed under CC BY 2.0) Paul Foers is an engineer from the UK who moved to Canada in September 2017.  Before he arrived, he participated […]

Barely a year since its expansion, the Facilitating Access to Skilled Talent (FAST) Program is seeing positive results. This IEC-BC initiative helps skilled immigrants prepare for their Canadian career – even before they arrive here.   Initially designed to support newcomers in skilled trades, the program expanded in June 2017 to respond to the talent […]

Immigrating to Canada with work experience in biotech? You may have the needed skills to work and succeed in Canada’s bio-economy.

Looking to work in BC’s booming tech sector? We had a chat with Talent Specialists Jocelyn Meyer and Anthony Azar from Traction on Demand, North America’s largest independent Salesforce consulting and application development firm. They shared six things newcomers need to succeed in BC’s growing IT industry: 1. Culture Fit Employers often look for candidates […]

British Columbia has a new tool to help fill some of the 934,000 job openings expected through 2025. The Immigrant Employment Council of British Columbia (IEC-BC) announces the expansion of FASTBC.ORG to help skilled immigrants become better prepared for work in Canada, and connect employers with internationally trained workers. Initially designed to facilitate access to […]