Immigrants create networks to help them help themselves

Sailboat passes in front of the Toronto skylin...Image via Wikipedia
Suzanne WintrobSpecial to the Star
At 15, Tina Tehranchian graduated from high school and left her native Iran to study at an American university. After receiving a BA in political science and commerce and a masters in communications, she and her new husband returned to Iran. When their son was born, the couple decided to relocate again, to Canada, to build their son’s future.
The 1990 recession was a difficult time to find a job in communications, and even more so for a new immigrant. Tehranchian wasn’t familiar with any employment agencies and “all I kept hearing the same old excuse all the time, ‘You need Canadian experience’ — even though I had U.S. experience.
“But it didn’t seem to count for much.”
To make ends meet, she snagged a job in the financial industry and hoped for the best. “It suited my personality,” she said. She retrained as a Certified Financial Planner and a Chartered Financial Consultant and started building her new career.
About 10 years ago, Tehranchian began volunteering with Family Service Association of Metro Toronto, which was examining employment issues in the Iranian community.
She was thrilled to learn about the many employment agencies helping new immigrants learn the ropes in Canada.
Soon after the Iranian-Canadian Network for Employment and Entrepreneurship Mentoring (ICN) was born, uniting newly-arrived Iranians with Iranian-Canadian business owners and professionals to provide mentoring and help them secure employment.
“One of the biggest challenges immigrants face is how to translate their experiences and their education from back home to the realities of the job market in Canada, and that’s why having a mentor who’s got the exact same background as themselves can be a big help,” says Tehranchian. “It takes all of the cultural differences into account.”
Today, Tehranchian is a branch manager and financial advisor at Assante Capital Management Ltd. in Toronto.
She also sits on the advisory committee for the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council’s Professional Immigrant Network (PIN), a collection of volunteer-run groups for internationally-educated and experienced professionals. Tehranchian is PIN’s co-chair.
The 70 groups collectively represent more than 25,000 people, and host lectures, workshops and social events throughout the year to help immigrants network with their peers, find jobs in their area of expertise, and give back to the community.
Elizabeth MacIsaac, TRIEC’s executive director, says one of the obstacles new Canadians struggle with is leaving behind their professional connection, and that’s why it’s critical they build a new one quickly.
TRIEC reaches out to immigrants through community agencies, she says.
Yet few immigrants avail themselves of those services when they arrive.
They connect first with professional colleagues who share their culture, history and experiences. It’s about familiarity and trust, says MacIsaac.
This is why TRIEC united all of the groups under the Professional Immigrant Network banner recently.
“Just as one group might be doing mentoring, another might be linking to affinity groups at big corporations,” says MacIsaac. “Another might be holding regular networking and information sessions.
“They can learn from one another.”
The initiative is funded by Scotiabank, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and ALLIES, a project of the Maytree foundation.
MacIsaac says companies have expressed interest in tapping into the groups to recruit employees.
Paula Calderon, president of the Canadian Colombian Professionals Association, came to Canada from Bogota in 2001. She urges new immigrants to spend time researching opportunities and programs outside their own communities, too. She mentions TRIEC’s “networking-beyond-boundaries” event at the Toronto Board of Trade Mar. 31, which unites many Hispanic groups to network with human resource departments from top corporations.
“Nothing has the magic formula, but [researching] will definitely help them save time on how to do things and how to best approach employers,” says Calderon, client relations manager and applicant screener at Career Edge Organization.
“Doing the research on presentation and job search skills is definitely something that takes time. Being well prepared actually saves time in the search. The better prepared you are, the better you present yourself, and the easier it is to secure employment.”
Tehranchian recommends prospective new Canadians start their research well before arriving.
“Do as much homework as possible to find the community groups, to find the service agencies and the programs that you could benefit from, because there are so many free programs available!” she says.
“Try to leverage your contacts and build a network as soon as you get to Canada!”

    Next stop, Canada, in new wave of emigration from Iran

    Tehran, Iran: City Theatre. Pahlavi era archit...Image via WikipediaBy Farshid Motahari Mar 21, 2011, 4:07 GMT



    Tehran - There is almost no time when people get together in Tehran that migration to Canada is not discussed.
    The North American country has turned into the new Garden of Eden for those who see no future in their homeland of Iran.
    'I am done with my homeland, which I used to love, and I want to continue my life living in a place with no restrictions and gender discrimination,' said Haleh, a 30-year-old chemical engineer in Tehran who plans to leave for Toronto in the summer.
    She is not alone in her frustration. The number of Iranians seeking a new life in Canada has increased by at least 30 per cent in the past 20 months, according to several agencies in Tehran dealing with migration to Canada.
    Observers said one of the main reasons is the June 2009 presidential election, which was overshadowed by fraud. Street protests against the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were violently suppressed along with any hope of change in the Islamic state.
    A sociologist in Tehran said the enthusiasm before the election and the hope that Iran would move toward democracy has turned into frustration, prompting the younger generation in particular to consider leaving.
    'What we witness now is the emigration of young and educated people who see no more opportunities in Iran,' the sociologist said. 'They do not want to waste themselves here but seek a new start in a country like Canada, where they believe their potential could be realized.'
    The first emigration wave from Iran happened in the years after the 1979 revolution and the establishment of its clergy-ruled Islamic republic.
    The destinations then of those countries.
    According to officials, 5 million Iranians live abroad, but observers said the number is even higher because their children born abroad are not necessarily registered in Iran.
    A university professor in Tehran questioned how aware these offspring are of their origins. 'They probably do not speak Persian, either,' the educator said. 'They are Iran's lost generation resulting from the country's situation in the last three decades.'
    Canada has emerged in recent years as the new destination for emigration. Because of its selective criteria for immigrants, mainly educated and professionally qualified Iranians are allowed in.
    A census back in 2006 put the number of Iranians who have migrated to Canada at 92,085. The number is said to be more than 250,000 now.
    Because most of the Iranians prefer to settle in Toronto, the city has been nicknamed 'Tehranto.'
    One of the new aspects of migration to Canada is that Iranians moving there are not necessarily motivated by money because many enjoy a good standard of living in Iran.
    Ali, a 43-year old doctor, and his wife had a good double income and a comfortable life but still decided to move to Toronto.
    'I love Canada because every attempt of mine at being happy is not discouraged or dissuaded, disregarded or dis-whatevered,' Ali said.
    Mohammad, a dentist, has had his own clinic in Tehran and believes that his income at home would be more than in Toronto, where he is planning to go soon.
    'I can earn money in Iran, but what I miss is simply having choices in a country with no choices, either political or social,' he said. 'It's not a place where I want to spend the rest of my life.'
    Many Iranians planning to go to Canada saw their political choices ignored in the 2009 presidential election and their protests violently suppressed.
    'If I vote for different people and political parties and even if they lose, I still expect them to be active as an opposition and not suddenly removed from the political scenery,' said Farinaz, a 37-year-old architect, who also wants to migrate to Canada.
    She was referring to the two main challengers to Ahmadinejad in the election. They have been branded by the government as 'Western mercenaries and agents,' prevented from taking party in political activities and put under house arrest since last month.
    Iran's generation under 35 faces numerous social restrictions, especially in contacts with the opposite sex.
    'Socially, we have no choices either because we either have to get married or be preached at that having fun is immoral and having passion a sin, which even leads to earthquakes,' said Maryam, a 28-year-old student who has applied to migrate to Canada.
    She was referring to a sermon last year in Tehran in which Ayatollah Kazem Sedighi said that social immorality, such as improper women's clothing and sex outside marriage, increases the probability of earthquakes.

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