Immigration Canada

Using Your Credential Evaluation for Employment

by WES Global Talent Bridge

Your previous education is one of the most important assets in your job search. It can be difficult to explain how a degree earned in your home country meets an employer’s education requirements.

How can you be sure a potential employer understands your educational qualifications and how it meets the requirements for a job? If you want your education to work to your advantage, you should make it easy for the employer to understand your foreign credentials. The best and most objective way to do this is to obtain a credential evaluation from a reputable credential evaluation agency.

What Are the Benefits of a Credential Evaluation?

A credential evaluation provides a U.S. or Canadian equivalency for your foreign education. This means that an employer who is unfamiliar with foreign credentials and institutions can understand your background—and you can compete fairly for jobs with other candidates. Even if you have interrupted your post-secondary studies, a high school equivalency may qualify you for an entry-level job that could lead to different opportunities. Having a credential evaluation gives you and potential employers confidence that you meet the job requirements even if you have a foreign degree.

How Do I Obtain a Credential Evaluation?

Ask potential employers if they have guidelines for foreign-educated applicants. Some employers may already ask applicants for a credential evaluation. A basic or general credential evaluation is usually sufficient for employment purposes. Employers don’t typically need to see transcripts or grades.

If there are no guidelines, or if you are not yet focused on a specific employer, you can obtain a credential evaluation from an agency accredited by the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES).

World Education Services (WES), a member of NACES, offers credential evaluations that verify and evaluate high school and post-secondary credentials from more than 150 countries. You can also learn the U.S. equivalency of your foreign education by using the free Degree Equivalency Tool from WES.

How Can I Use My Credential in My Job Search?

With a credential evaluation, you will know what jobs you are qualified for based on the degree equivalency statement on the report. Evaluate job ads with your evaluation in mind. For example, if you have the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree, you might be overqualified for a job that requires only a high school diploma. Now you can judge with confidence which employers will likely value your credentials and invest your time in the best prospects.

You may also add your evaluation to your résumé and cover letter. Mention that you have your foreign education verified and evaluated and that you meet the education requirements of the job. You can even include the U.S. degree equivalency in the education section of your resume, next to your degree.

When you have a job interview, you can speak about your foreign education with confidence. Bring a copy of your evaluation to show the interviewer. Don’t forget to highlight your language skills and international experience as well.

If offered employment, ask if you should have your official report sent directly by the credential evaluation agency to the employer.

Are you ready to get started on your credential evaluation?

Apply Now

WES Global Talent Bridge is a program dedicated to helping skilled immigrants fully utilize their talents and education in the United States and Canada. Global Talent Bridge joins with institutional partners and community organizations to help skilled immigrants leverage their training, achieve their professional goals, and contribute their talents to their full potential.

Top 5 Barriers Skilled Immigrants Face and How to Overcome Them

by Sahra Togone

Over the past decade, American and Canadian job markets have experienced a shortage of skilled workers. Despite this, there are many barriers skilled immigrants face in Canada and the U.S. when it comes to finding jobs in their respective fields. Some of these challenges include encountering employers who are unfamiliar with international work experience and credentials, navigating the often complex trade and professional bodies, and facing employee discrimination and language barriers.

Here are five common barriers skilled immigrants face and how to overcome them:

Language and Communication

Although skilled immigrants have years of experience in their respective fields, most of them do not have experience working in the U.S. or Canada. Being unfamiliar with common workplace lingo and terminologies could slow down your career progress, but there are many ways to overcome this gap.

For example, enrolling at a local college for a course in medical terminology could help you enter that job market.

In addition to language and communication development, the process of highlighting your relevant skills and marketing yourself effectively is also important in getting hired. In Canada and the U.S., the art of “pitching” is having the ability to summarize who you are. This includes describing your professional background, your skills, and the relevant experience you have that makes you the perfect candidate for a position. Some skilled immigrants may not be used to the idea of self-promotion. The goal with “pitching” is to showcase how perfect you are for a role and your passion and enthusiasm for it.

Credential Recognition

As a skilled immigrant, you may be confident in your educational credentials, but they may not be recognized by Canadian and U.S. employers. When you are applying for jobs, employers may overlook your credentials simply because they are unfamiliar with the name of the education institution you graduated from. The best way to overcome this barrier is by getting a credential evaluation to determine the Canadian or U.S. equivalency of your degree. This will help employers recognize the legitimacy of your degree because it was evaluated by a reputable credential evaluation service such as World Education Services (WES).

Getting Licensed in a Regulated Profession

If you are a skilled worker in a regulated profession (for example, an accountant, nurse, or teacher), then it may be difficult to start working in the same role in a new country. This is because many professional regulatory bodies are decentralized and have different licensing requirements based on each province/territory and state. The process of relicensing in Canada and the U.S. is costly and time-consuming. It is important to do the necessary research and make preparations before applying for a role. If you find out you are unqualified in a regulated profession, you may consider starting a non-regulated job in your field first. This is also a great chance to use your relevant skills to gain experience working in a new country. Check out our related post to learn more about regulated and non-regulated professions.

Networking

For skilled immigrants in Canada and the U.S., language and cultural differences can make networking difficult. In general, the goal of networking is to meet individuals in your field who can provide tips and information that could potentially lead you to your next job. Lacking professional connections continues to be an obstacle for skilled immigrants who are new to Canada and the U.S.

As a solution, consider the options below:

Join a professional immigrant network in your city or region to expand your connections.
Network with other immigrants by sharing your experience in approaching new job markets.
Network online with professionals by setting up a well-designed and up-to-date profile on LinkedIn.

Lack of Local Experience/Discrimination

Many skilled immigrants in Canada find themselves being discriminated against by employers because they do not have work experience in Canada. It can be extremely frustrating because skilled immigrants feel that this requirement for every position to apply to is “disguised discrimination,” as a way to screen out newcomers from the hiring process.

The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) created a policy to ensure that a lack of work experience in Canada cannot stand as a barrier for newly arrived skilled immigrants in Ontario. Regardless of this legislation, employers still consider local experience as an important factor in the hiring process. If you do not have any work experience in Canada or the U.S., you can try volunteering and participate in different community programs to increase your networking and learning opportunities.

The most important thing to keep in mind is to not lose confidence. Always be on the lookout for training and networking opportunities, and know that there are many different services available to help you achieve your employment goals.

Source:https://www.wes.org/advisor-blog/barriers-skilled-immigrants-face-and-how-to-overcome-them/?utm_source=WESA_Blog_20180209&utm_medium=Website

Navigating Employment Services in Canada

by Jodi Tingling

If you are interested in building your career, making connections in your field, or even gaining work experience, taking advantage of the many free employment services available in Canada is a great way to start your journey. Employment services are offered by non-profit organizations, settlement agencies, and universities/colleges and they are focused on helping you meet your career goals.

Start thinking about your employment goals and what you may need help with. For example, do you need help with marketing yourself including building your résumé and developing your interview skills? Do you need someone to help you understand your career path and the next steps you need to take? What about how to tackle building your experience to develop your skills, or opportunities to build professional connections? The following sections discuss some ways that employment services can help you.

Pre-Arrival Programs

If you have not yet arrived in Canada, you may be able to access services before you even get here. These services can help you understand the steps you can take even before arriving. They often provide information about how settle in Canada, how to re-license in your field, how to effectively market your skills, and they may connect you to employers before you arrive. You can start by looking up pre-arrival services that would be useful for you. Not only will they help you prepare for what to expect in Canada but they may also provide you with an opportunity to create new networks.

Marketing Your Skills and Finding a Job

Most employment services offer help with marketing your skill set. Whether you need help with preparing your résumé or cover letter, strengthening your interview skills, developing your elevator pitch, or networking with people in your field, employment services offer this kind of support. A great tool to find employment and settlement services near you is by exploring immigrant-serving organizations. These organizations offer free services to help you start your career journey in Canada.

Once you have had help marketing your skills, you can seek additional support with your job search. Whether it’s researching the labour market, engaging in the application process, or following-up with employers, in Canada, there are employment services equipped with employment counsellors and job developers to help you. An employment counsellor is someone who helps you develop a career plan and provides resources and tools to help you meet your goals. A job developer works closely with employers to help develop employment opportunities for job seekers. Talk to your employment counsellor or job developer about the kind of opportunities you are looking for. For example, are you looking for opportunities that are short-term, long-term, specific to your field? Job search support is a great way to help you understand employer expectations as well as your role in the job search process.

Language-Specific Employment Training

If you are in a specific occupation and need to upgrade your English or French language skills, consider programs such as Occupation-Specific Language Training (OSLT). These programs are available to those who are new to the country and are residing in the province of Ontario. They offer language training that is geared toward a specific occupation; some examples of these occupations may include business, health sciences, technology, automotive trades, construction, and human services. These programs provide career planning, practical workplace communication tasks, and connections to resources including mentors and local employers. Also, consider enrolling in general language programs to help improve your language skills as well as your workplace communication skills. Improved language skills will be an asset to employers.

Bridging Programs

These programs offer a chance for internationally trained professionals to engage in skills training to land a job within their desired field. Bridging programs are in partnerships with colleges, universities, regulatory bodies, employers, and community organizations to provide skills training that is targeted and specific. They often have a classroom and workplace component to help with language training for the profession, preparation for certification or re-licensing, addressing any barriers to getting employed and hands-on experience in the workplace. Start by exploring Bridge Training Programs by sector.

Finding a Mentor

When starting to network in your profession, seeking a mentor is a great way to learn about your field in Canada. Organizations that specialize in mentorships can align you with a mentor that provides insider knowledge of the field you want to get into as well as coaching, advice, and connections to other professionals during your job search. Below are some organizations that can connect you with mentors in your field:

Employment services can be general or specific to your profession. It is important to consider your unique employment needs when researching employment services available to you. These services can provide the extra support you need to be successful in preparing yourself for employment opportunities.

Source: https://www.wes.org/advisor-blog/employment-services-canada/