|
New 'playbook' guides employers on the value of hiring immigrants
Editorial by Christian Saint Cyr
National Director / Canadian Job Development Network
.
Earlier this fall, the Institute for Canadian Citizenship (ICC) released a new report titled, 'Talent to Win: Employer perspectives on immigrant underemployment and the immense upside of solving it', gathering employer-specific insights into their challenges when recruiting workers, their attitudes towards recruiting immigrants and newcomer value in meeting their staffing needs.
.
The research provided ICC with a unique perspective and a stronger understanding about how employers can do a better job of recruiting immigrants.
.
"Companies across Canada are less competitive than they could be, and short-changing shareholders by leaving exceptional immigrant talent on the bench," said ICC officials.
.
With these new insights in mind, officials developed a new Employer Playbook for recruiting and retaining newcomers to Canada which shows Canadian companies several ways they can boost their financial scores with the help of immigrants already in Canada and keen to get in the game.
.
According to a seasoned investor and executive interviewed for the new report, Canada’s business leaders “don’t grasp how so much of the world is beating us.”
.
Within 'Talent to Win: A Playbook, for Canadian business leaders', the authors provide specific steps and strategies local employers can adopt to become better at recruiting immigrants and excel in growing their organization.
.
In writing the playbook, the ICC notes that among employers it's a common misconception that hiring immigrants means hiring from abroad and providing immigration support. To the contrary, there are hundreds of thousands of immigrants who are already in Canada and working well beneath their skill level.
.
Within the Playbook, the document provides eight specific steps employers can take to become better at recruiting immigrants. These include:
-
Collect the Data: Routine collection of data including country of origin and year of arrival better inform senior leaders and enable them to make changes that improve performance.
-
Spread Success: Proof-of-profit is a compelling argument, even for colleagues reluctant to change their hiring practices. -- Share your successes!
-
Cultivate Ambition: A workplace characterized by a pervasive hunger to innovate and improve is one where immigrants will fit in best. Newcomers can be particularly valuable in supporting international expansion as "global navigators," for example.
-
Cultivate Humility: Open your teams' mindset to the reality that immigrants have plenty to teach us.
-
Create Specialized Immigrant Hiring Teams: For large enterprises, it is very advantageous to create a specialized team responsible for recruitment, navigating the immigration and work permit systems, training hiring managers, and supporting immigrant employees across the enterprise.
-
Get Creative: The construction firm that broke its labour shortage by creating single language teams blew past its competitors.
-
Remember the Whole Person: Remember that an immigrant's ability to contribute often depends on personal factors like whether their kids are doing well, and whether the whole family is happy with life in their new community.
-
Advocate for Immigration Reform: A more agile and nimble immigration selection policy, which more closely aligns with and adjusts to real needs in the economy, will also prove highly beneficial to employers and immigrants alike.
.
One suggestion the report underscores is the value of 'Cluster Hiring' where immigrants are specifically sought-rather than a valued component to a varied hiring strategy.
.
Employers that use cluster hiring to diversify their workforces have found a competitive advantage. These cohorts help employees build confidence and networks and create efficient conditions for training, development, and the provision of targeted supports. This ensures that newcomer employees have a clear understanding of what's expected of them and provides them with a peer group to turn to for advice and support.
.
For my own part, while I see the value of hiring immigrants, I also believe diversified employers are stronger employers. Diversity isn't just having a workforce of immigrants but also diversity in the ages of employees, diversity in experience, a balance of gender and a balance of immigrants, Indigenous and Canadian born talent. When employers become too reliant on any one population, it leaves them more vulnerable to unexpected challenges.
.
While the playbook and the report provide many valuable insights into the attitudes and expectations of employers as well as tools to help them become better recruiters, what I like best about them is that it's a document created from the insights of employers for employers.
.
Sharing these two documents with employers can go far further in articulating the value of recruiting immigrants than our best arguments.
.
We’ll be discussing the best approach to marketing newcomers to employers at our #MotivatingMondays meeting of the Canadian Job Development Network, Monday Dec. 9th at 8:30am Pacific; 9:30am Mountain; 10:30am Central; 11:30am Eastern; 12:30pm Atlantic and at 1pm in Newfoundland.
.
On the morning of Monday December 9th, 'Click this Link' to join the session LIVE.
| 
