How to Market Your International Education to Employers

by Jodi Tingling

As you immigrate to a new country, you bring a wealth of international experience and a global perspective with you. At most companies, your diversity will be embraced and valued. However, you may face some barriers to entering the job market because employers may not initially recognize your international education. Employers are often unfamiliar with international education institutions and how they compare to the Canadian or U.S. educational systems. As a result, employers may pass on opportunities to hire skilled immigrants and miss out on hiring from a skilled talent pool.

As a job seeker, you can take a proactive approach to market your international education to help mitigate those lost opportunities. It is essential that employers understand how international education can add value to their business. You can advocate for and market your international education in a way that appeals to an employer’s desire to bring on a candidate with the talent and skills to meet their business needs. Marketing your education can make a significant impact on launching a successful career in the U.S. or Canada by addressing a common barrier: lack of recognition of international education.

First Steps

Many newcomers bring with them a vast skill set and education from their home country. This can be viewed as an asset, particularly for employers who are looking for skilled talent to grow their business. The first step you can take to help employers understand your international education is to get a credential evaluation.

A credential evaluation is a useful tool that you can present to employers. The report compares your academic accomplishments to standards in the U.S. or Canada. A credential evaluation helps institutions like schools, employers, licensing boards, and immigration authorities better understand your educational background. In completing a credential evaluation, you are providing employers with a familiar point of reference: local degrees they know and commonly see on résumés. If you do not have a credential evaluation, consider getting one to help employers recognize your education.

Marketing Your Education

If you already have a credential evaluation, you are off to a great start! This means you can begin to market your education to employers. Under the education section of your résumé, state that your credentials were evaluated and put the equivalency of your education, as indicated in your credential evaluation report.

For example, if your education was evaluated and your results reveal you have the equivalence of a four-year Canadian bachelor’s degree, you can add the following tagline to your résumé under your degree: Evaluated by World Education Services (WES), as equivalent to a four-year Canadian bachelor’s degree.

Adding this tagline to your résumé helps provide employers with the information they need to clarify your education level. Some employers may request a credential evaluation to verify the job candidates’ international education. When applying for positions, ensure you are prepared; read the company’s website to understand the employer’s expectations and requirements, including whether or not you need a credential assessment to apply for the role.

In addition to adding a tagline about the equivalency of your education to your résumé, be sure to attach a copy of your credential evaluation report to your employment application; include it when you attach your cover letter and résumé. This also gives employers an in-depth breakdown of your education and its equivalency. This takes away the guesswork for employers and helps them better understand your education.

Marketing via Social Media

Employers often use LinkedIn to recruit potential job candidates and screen job applicants for a specific role. They will look at your profile to determine if you may be the right fit for the position they are trying to fill.

You can use LinkedIn to market your international education. When creating your profile on LinkedIn, under the education section, find your school’s official name and logo. Add this to your profile. When employers look at your education section they can simply click on your school name to find more information. Additionally, use the description box under each program to state the equivalency of the degree. If you haven’t had a formal evaluation completed, you can include course names to demonstrate relevancy and similarities to Canadian or U.S. programs.

Marketing While Networking

When speaking with a recruiter or an employer, explain the value of your international education and experience. Be sure to emphasize how it will benefit their team. Do your research when approaching employers, so you can offer an insightful perspective on what you can bring to their companies. For example, do you have previous training in an area of technology that has not yet been introduced in Canada or the U.S.? Offering international expertise can help you gain a competitive edge. Doing your research and providing solutions to employers based on your international education is a great way to market your skills.

Tool to Use

If you have not had your credentials evaluated, or if you are in the process of getting them evaluated, you can still help employers understand your international education. The Degree Equivalency Tool can help employers recognize your education. Although this is not an official way to verify your credentials, it will let you see how your international credentials compare to degrees in the U.S. or Canada. You simply enter your educational information and it will produce the results instantly. Once you understand how your education compares, you can start to articulate this to employers.

Next Steps

By helping employers understand your international education, you can improve your employment prospects. Marketing your education can make a difference in whether you make it through the initial screening process. Employers typically take less than 20 seconds to review your application for employment. Make the decision to hire you as easily as possible by incorporating references that are familiar to hiring managers.

Continue to be proactive about marketing your international education and develop a marketing strategy that is right for you. Employers need to understand your education to hire you.

Thinking about getting your academic credentials evaluated? Learn about what a credential evaluation can do for you and the different credential evaluations we offer here.

How a Credential Evaluation Can Help You Find Employment

by Jodi Tingling

One of the most important job search skills is understanding the perspective of an employer. Most employers use job postings to describe the specific skills and attributes they seek. However, if you want to stand out from other applicants,  you should think past the job ad.

Additionally, if you are an internationally educated professional, you may need to submit a credential evaluation with your job application. This will help you quickly verify your overseas education and qualifications.

In a recent article on how to market your international education to employers, we described the steps involved in advertising your international education, and why it is important for employers to understand your education before they can hire you. By learning how and why employers use credential evaluations, you can better meet their needs as a candidate.

The Screening Process

Employers typically describe the key requirements of—and qualifications for—an open position through a job posting. To appeal to employers, job applicants need to demonstrate how they meet a role’s specific criteria and qualifications; you will typically share this information through your cover letter and résumé.

Many employers require that applications be submitted via the company website. They may include additional screening questions such as, “Are you educated outside of Canada?” This query may prompt others, such as, “Have you had your credentials evaluated?” If you check “yes,” they will then ask you to upload a copy of your credential evaluation report.

A human resources department, hiring manager, or third-party organization contracted by the employer will carefully review all incoming applications. They will ensure that candidates meet the role’s specific requirements. Then, employers will consider the applicants that most closely meet the qualifications. For example, if you fail to provide your credential evaluation, or if it shows that your level of education is not suitable for the position, you will not move on to the next round.

Meeting the Requirements of the Role

Meeting a role’s minimum requirements is, for most employers, standard protocol and is sometimes even essential for public safety and quality assurance purposes. For example, the Toronto Transit Commission, one of the City of Toronto’s largest employers, requires applicants for transit operator positions to have a minimum education level of grade 12. For applicants educated outside of Canada, it accepts equivalency documents from three of the six credential evaluation organizations in Canada, including World Education Services. Internationally educated candidates cannot move forward from the first round of screening without an evaluation that documents the Canadian equivalency of their education. Requiring this step helps to verify that applicants meet the minimum requirements of the role.

Similarly, in some major financial institutions in Canada, particularly in higher level roles and in positions that require a security clearance, requirements can be strict. Candidates must provide evidence that they meet the specific criteria in the job posting. If not, the employer does not move forward with their application.

Understanding whether the skills and qualifications in a job posting are necessary (and not just assets) will provide insight, as well. This will help you determine whether you truly qualify for the role and will help you explain your candidacy. Required qualifications are must-haves for a position; qualifications advertised as assets are not. Make sure you know the difference and can meet at least the minimum qualifications before you move forward with your application.

Background Checks

Depending on the position offered and the employer’s business needs, some employers conduct background checks.

A background check can be used to:

• Verify a candidate’s experience (through reference checks)
• Confirm that there is no criminal history (through a criminal record check)
• Understand an applicant’s credit history (through a credit report)

But a background check does not verify your education. To do this, an employer might ask a job candidate for official transcripts, a copy of their diploma or degree, or a credential evaluation.

WES credential evaluations verify a candidate’s international education by demonstrating its equivalency in Canada. One employer we spoke to uses credential evaluations to verify the accuracy of claims made on employment applications. Another uses credential evaluations to determine a new hire’s level of employment and salary. As stated by a human resources representative we work with, “We leave it up to the experts to determine the Canadian equivalency and whether the credentials are from a recognized, accredited institution.”

Not all employers conduct background checks. However, when the risks of a position are great, background checks may be necessary. Examples of high-risk jobs include those involving finance, infrastructure, or the health and safety of the public.

Hiring Decisions

As stated above, employers also use credential evaluations to better understand an applicant’s international education. Without a credential evaluation, it can be challenging for hiring managers to assess your level of education and specializations.

For example, if you are a teacher, a credential evaluation can help a school determine what subjects you are qualified to teach. The school can also determine what level you should teach and what salary you qualify for, based on past experience.

Although having a credential evaluation is advantageous, it is up to you as a job candidate to highlight your skills, experiences, and qualifications that are most appropriate to the position. A credential evaluation helps employers understand your education, assess whether you qualify for the role, and ultimately decide if they want to hire you.

Your Next Steps

Continue to do industry research, and connect with employers to learn more about their business needs. Informational interviews are a great way to gain insight into your field, understand job requirements, and more accurately target your applications to increase your chances of getting a job offer. Learn your field’s requirements and the qualifications for your desired role. Then decide whether or not a credential evaluation will help you on your path to employment. Most likely, that answer will be yes.

Source: WES

6 Tips for Developing Your Personal Brand on Social Media

by Yetunde Oshinkale

WES Ambassador Yetunde Oshinkale is a doctorate student in educational psychology in the U.S. In this blog post, she shares six social media strategies that will help you build your network and develop your own personal brand.

You can improve how you represent yourself—your “brand”—on social media. Your online presence can be consistently professional across platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

Make the most of your social media profiles by including these six elements:

1. A compelling and attractive photo
2. A clear brand definition
3. A compelling story about your professional expertise
4. A clear focus on professional and business connections
5. An outstanding portfolio
6. Your memberships in relevant professional organizations

How to Use Social Media Sites to Their Fullest

Social networking sites also offer online meeting places where professionals can connect with current and former colleagues. These sites offer professionals the potential to increase the number of their business connections and deepen the connections they already have. The sites can also foster the discussion of business ideas and enable users to search for jobs and recruit new hires.

Social media strategies have the potential to promote interaction, engagement, and network expansion. Overall, they will increase your professional opportunities.

Top-performing professionals join LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social networking sites to engage with their peers and exchange ideas. As a result, these platforms become a vehicle through which professionals elevate their profiles. The control you exert over your presence and image on social media, along with the professionalism with which you respond to opportunities online, can impact your brand.

Use the following social strategies to promote your expertise:

• An attractive profile photo: Upload a professional, attractive photograph of yourself in which you are smiling. Crop the picture perfectly.
• A clear brand definition: Describe your areas of expertise. Demonstrate your vision, mission, and core values. Write an attention-grabbing headline such as: “Motivated, experienced, client-focused sales manager with over 23 years driving sales.”
• A compelling story about your professional expertise: Highlight your achievements—how you have distinguished yourself from your peers, and how you have contributed to higher productivity and profit at your company. Share your career objectives. The more you share about yourself, your credentials, and your core values, the more your profile will make an impression.
• A clear focus on professional or business connections: Be strategic about increasing the number of your first-degree connections—the people you know directly. The more first-degree connections you have, the more second- and third-degree connections you will have. The idea is not to amass a huge number of connections but to connect with the people who are in your field. The LinkedIn search algorithm will be able to find a place you at the top of the search results most appropriate for you. Follow a few LinkedIn influencers to keep abreast of news and insights from leaders in fields you care about.
• An outstanding portfolio: With the LinkedIn professional portfolio feature, applicants can show prospective employers much more about their capabilities than résumés ever could. You can show samples of your work and presentations via images and video you embed in your LinkedIn profile.
• Professional memberships: Including your memberships in professional organizations on your LinkedIn or Facebook page presents a great opportunity to optimize keywords in your profile. A professional university administrator, for example, could include membership in the American Association of University Administrators.

In Summary

Creating a professional online brand presence will help you stand out when competing for jobs. It will also allow you to demonstrate your goals, skills, and any other outstanding qualities. For example, those might include being a strong leader, team player, communicator, writer, or listener. By making the most of your online presence, you are sure to set yourself up for success in the professional realm where you hope to excel.

Source: WES

19 Scholarships for MS in Canada [2020]

Are you looking for scholarships in Canada?

Google for “scholarships in Canada” and you will get hundreds of pages. But you don’t get the application process, evaluation criteria and timeline to apply.

I have good news for you!

We’ve curated top 19 scholarships in Canada that you must apply, provided you meet their criteria.

We’ve covered everything that you need to know to successfully submit your scholarship applications.

For more information check the link below:

https://admissiontable.com/19-scholarships-in-canada-for-international-students/

Identifying Transferable Skills to Build Your Career

by Joanna Samuels

Welcome to Canada! One of the first things you can do to make your résumé and job application stronger is to identify your transferable skills. Let’s define the term “transferable skills” before we identify your specific skill set. Doing so will allow us to showcase your skills in your résumé and job interviews more effectively.

Step 1: Understand the Meaning of Transferable Skills

Transferable skills can be used in many different occupations and work environments. They could be natural talents that are refined through work or hobbies or education. Transferable skills provide flexibility to move from one position to another, or from one occupation or industry to another. Math skills, the ability to write engaging and effective reports, customer service skills, etc. are all examples of transferable skills.

Step 2: Make a List of Your Transferable Skills

The following categories are just a few areas in which you can identify transferable skills:

• Communications
  • Can I explain ideas or concepts to others in a clear and understandable way?
  • Am I good at helping people work together to reach a common goal?
  • Do I often find creative concepts to persuade others to follow a specific path through media, special events, or personal involvement?
  • Can I write effective and easily understood e-mails and reports? Do I use language, grammar, and punctuation effectively to make my point?
  • Am I comfortable speaking in public?
  • Can I deliver a message to an audience with the intent of informing and/or entertaining?

• Leadership and management
  • Am I able to negotiate in order to bring about a settlement or agreement among groups with different interests?
  • Am I good at decision making by identifying and choosing the best option from a variety of alternatives?
  • How often do I delegate, and do I delegate effectively?
  • Can I meditate to resolve or settle differences between two or more conflicting parties?
  • Do I like to organize and pull together elements of a project or program into an orderly, functional, structured whole?
  • Have I ever designed strategic planning or policy to carry out a course of action?
• Intellectual/analytical
  • Am I able to solve problems by tracking and identifying the sources of the problem and providing a solution?
  • Do I enjoy collecting, classifying, and processing data?
  • Am I able to conduct research using observation, comprehension of written sources, or interviewing for discovery or application?
  • Do I like to analyze data, ideas, or projects, and identify their importance?
  • Can I create a budget by planning or scheduling expenses and revenues?

Step 3: Analyze the Language in Job Descriptions that Match Your Career Goals

Research job postings in your desired field of work and select the most appropriate words to describe your transferable skills. Target a few well-written postings in your field through websites like Indeed.com, Glassdoor.com, and Linkedin.com.

Look for keywords or phrases and match them to your skills. For example, as a banker, you had to have excellent time management, work well under pressure, and listen attentively when dealing with customers. These are highly desirable transferable skills for any employer.

Step 4: Give Concrete Examples of Your Transferable Skills in Your Résumé, Social Media Profile, and Portfolio

For example Expertise in meeting tight deadlines that helped my company secure US$2 million portfolios of business from a large Fortune 500 company.

Step 5: Don’t Let Your Skills Get Lost in Translation

Once you have prepared your résumé with your transferrable skills, qualifications, and other information required by the job postings, I recommend working with an employment counselor at organizations like JVS Toronto to edit your work. If you are a permanent resident living in Toronto or are living overseas with an immigration visa to Canada, check out our CanPrep program.

I wish you much success in your job search and career growth in Canada.

Joanna

Source: WES

Hola Canada -Episodio 6- Don Fernando Torres en Canada

Bigger population smaller employment gap; immigrants driving population growth in Canada

Statistics Canada data show that immigration is the main driver of population growth and that the employment gap is the smallest it has been in a decade.

By Shelby Thevenot

Most of Canada’s recent population growth has been thanks to immigrants, and as a result, the country is becoming increasingly diverse. There is also evidence that the employment gap between immigrant workers and Canadian-born workers is narrowing.

Statistics Canada says 82 percent of Canada’s population growth between 2018 and 2019 was the result of international migration. Many Canadian provinces are pushing for immigration in an effort to propel population growth.

The natural population growth is expected to continue on a downward trend. Population gains are expected to be driven by international migration.

More immigrants in the workforce, diversity rising in cities

The employment gap between new immigrants and Canadian-born workers is the smallest it has been in a decade. The employment rate gap decreased from 19 percentage points in 2010 to 13 percentage points in 2018.

Recent immigrants are also experiencing faster growth in employment rates than the Canadian-born. Newcomers saw their employment rate increased by 7.7 percentage points from 2010 to 2018, compared to 2.1 percentage points for Canadians.

About half of all immigrants have at least a bachelor’s degree. Over half, 54 percent, of those in Canada between the ages of 25 and 64 with a STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) degree are immigrants.

Visible minority populations are expected to continue on an upward trend, particularly in major cities.

By 2036 up to 40 percent of the population aged 15-64 is expected to belong to a visible minority group. Statistics Canada also predicts that up to 31 percent of the population will have a mother tongue other than English or French, and up to 16 percent will have a non-Christian religion.

Source: CIC news

15 Must-Have Tools for International Students in Canada

by Fazreen Razeek

Canada is a top study abroad destination for international students. The North American country is recognized for its top-notch quality of education. It is home to internationally acclaimed universities, including the University of Toronto, the University of Alberta, and the University of British Columbia.

Although studying abroad is an exciting opportunity, it is also common for students to feel overwhelmed. It can be challenging to simultaneously sort out your student visa documents while finding housing accommodations, selecting your classes, and learning how to pay for your education in Canada.

For this reason, we have prepared a list of must-have tools for international students. The suggestions listed below can help you manage your workload and adjust to your new environment quickly. Then, you will simply have to focus on your studies and the future that awaits you in Canada!

Plus: Bookmark These Tips!

50 Tips for International Students

Studying Tools

When you think about “learning tools,” you might picture something old-fashioned, like a textbook or a calculator. However, a learning tool can also be a free mobile app that reinforces your communication skills, encourages you to study successfully, or helps you find correct answers while you are completing coursework.

If English is not your first language, but you need to complete assignments in English, then these tools might be helpful in communicating your ideas to peers and teachers, as well. You can learn to strengthen your arguments and organize your thoughts. Learn to accommodate your new country’s way of teaching, which might be quite different from what you were used to at home.

These tools help students work through concepts while encouraging them to demonstrate their thinking, decision-making, and planning abilities.

Some learning and studying tools include:

• Skillshare: This app connects you with individual classes that can elevate your skills in just about any subject. In particular, it can help you hone your creative abilities and enhance your presentation skills. Design skills can help you demonstrate your thought process if you feel limited by your English. Each lesson is accompanied by a small assignment that lets you test what you have learned through practical application. Skillshare is an excellent platform for building your talent in areas like animation, photography, graphic design, and more.
• GoConqr: Everyone has a unique learning style—and your grades are certain to improve if you can identify the one that matches you best. GoConqr helps you figure out what works for you by creating your own learning resources such as slides, quizzes, flashcards, notes, and more. Additionally, this app lets you practice working with others and communicating ideas.
• Brilliant: But what happens if your professor’s teaching style does not match your learning style? You might need to discover ways to study the lessons yourself. Brilliant is a tool that helps students learn mathematical and scientific concepts through application rather than memorization. A comprehensive understanding is the first step to expressing your intelligence to others.
• Wolfram|Alpha: Sometimes you simply need to come up with the correct answer, quickly. Using a large database of algorithms and computational intelligence, this tool can help you solve equations in fields ranging from engineering to math.

Productivity Tools

All college students run into trouble with organization and scheduling; sometimes, there is so much going on in the classroom, at work, and in your social life that it is hard to fit everything in. It might be okay if something falls through the cracks in your social life, but you do not want a busy schedule to hurt your GPA. Thankfully, there are plenty of technological solutions to help you avoid that.

When it comes to managing your workload, Asana offers several advantages. This project management tool is perfect for managing your own work, as well as group projects. Plus, this is a tool that many of your future employers might use—giving you an advantage when you enter the workforce. Asana lets you assign tasks to yourself or others, track progress through a set of steps, and meet deadlines (with notifications about when to get started and when something is due).

Another option is Google Drive. This is a widely used co-working tool that is available online and offline. The cool thing about keeping documents and projects live online, though, is that multiple users can access the same project and make changes together. Within Google Drive, you will find many tools you might recognize from offline business platforms like Microsoft Suite (including slides, spreadsheets, and blank documents). Many university programs require students to participate in group presentations, essays, collaborative research, and so on. With Google Drive’s simple sharing options and distinct editing tools, you will have a way to successfully collaborate on group projects and track contributions.

As a bonus, think outside of the box…

Productivity tools can help students to meet their deadlines more effectively. But there are many ways to think about productivity. For example, Google Maps is an important tool for productivity because it can store addresses and help you locate the places you need to be, with efficient directions updated in real-time. But you are probably thinking about something that sends you reminders to do your homework! So first, you should identify the areas where you need the most help.

Writing Tools

Writing tools allow students to record, organize, and file important information. This will come in handy for taking notes during class, and it will also help you turn those notes into impressive essays.

One very popular writing tool is Evernote. This is a useful note-taking tool that helps students record, organize, file, and share lecture notes. Another option is Grammarly, a tool that ensures your writing is polished and there are no grammar or spelling mistakes. This can be a big help for international students! The best part is that you can either use it as a browser extension or add it to Microsoft Word.

Career Tools

When you are in college, you will spend a lot of time thinking about your future career. There are countless websites that connect students with career-related resources and guidance.

But the most prominent of them all is LinkedIn. It is never too early to set-up a LinkedIn account; in fact, you should definitely join this career-search platform before you are actively looking for a job. That will give you time to engage socially with others in your field of interest. You can begin to grow your network.

LinkedIn not only allows you to connect with industry professionals, it also lets you follow specific businesses (for example, if you want to track job openings and important company-wide developments).

This platform also lets you upload your résumé and advertise your specific skills. This tool is widely used by job recruiters, so make sure that you complete your profile thoroughly and honestly. Then, be sure to update your account regularly with any new classes you have taken or the experience you have gained.

Safety Tools

Safety is paramount when you are getting settled in a new country. The good news is that there are tons of apps that promote personal safety and well-being.

Circle of Six is an app that helps students to stay connected with their friends and family by way of GPS. Users get to choose six contacts to include in their “circle”—and these will be the people who can quickly find, call, or text you if needed. Not only can you immediately geo-locate your contacts in the event of an emergency, the app also lets you send an instant call for help with just the touch of a button. Similar location-based student safety apps include React Mobile (which links to a portable “panic button”) and bSafe, an app that includes sirens, check-in timers, and several ways of sending an SOS.

Scholarship Tools

Obviously, one of the most important parts of studying abroad in North America is figuring out how you will pay for everything. That not only includes your travel, but also tuition, textbooks, meal plans, housing, and more! Thankfully, there are many places to look for loans and scholarships that were created with immigrants and international students in mind.

Start by learning what opportunities might be available to with the WES Scholarship Finder. This scholarship tool provides a list of potential funding options based on your prior education and country of origin. You can also broaden your chances by exploring all potential financial aid avenues. For example, you may also want to download the newly published e-guide about Financial Aid at Canadian Colleges and Universities.

There are many reasons that you might have difficulty adapting as an international student in Canada. But thanks to an impressive array of apps, websites, and computer programs, you will have access to all of the essential tools that you could possibly need to succeed.

The 15 must-have tools listed here are just a few recommendations; however, companies are constantly developing new technology that would be useful for college students. With a little experimentation, you will be able to choose the tools that work best for you. Remember, there is something to complement everyone’s unique learning style.

Source: WES.org