There is a lot of awareness these days about the skills shortage that Canada is going to be facing in the near future due to baby boomers retiring. Working on this, the Government, industry leaders, HRPA and community organizations are working together to integrate the Internationally Educated Professionals (IEP) into the main stream. All these stake holders value the knowledge and skills the IEP bring to the country. However, we still see many IEPs not being able to integrate themselves in Canada and fully avail all the opportunities that Canada offers.
As an Internationally Educated Professional, having made significant progress in establishing myself in the Canadian HR industry, I thought it as my responsibility to share some of the strategies that have worked for me in integrating myself in Canada. I call it as my 9 Steps Strategies, out of which are 6 Core Strategies and 3 Support Strategies. In this blog I would be sharing the first 3 Core Strategies. I will cover the remaining strategies in future blogs.
- Education… On landing in Canada, I immediately figured out that if I needed to succeed in Canada I needed to have two types of education:
- Formal Education… HR laws are different in every country. In Ontario a lot of emphasis is given to the CHRP designation as it is considered a certificate of competence. I immediately started the process of getting CHRP designation. I have had many challenges en route, however, at the end I got my CHRP designation.
- Cultural Education… The other education that I needed cultural education. North American work culture is totally different from the Asian work culture. So to gain the cultural education, I read articles, had mentors help me learn the culture and my curiosity nature lead me to ask questions from others about the North American work culture.
- Relationship Building… Since HR plays a very important role in an organization, senior HR positions are generally filled through referral. The Hiring Manager has to have the trust on the candidate they are recruiting for the HR role. The trust is built upon maintaining an excellent professional relationship. My professional relationship with my current boss helped me land my current role.
- Mentoring… Mentoring has also played a very important role in my professional development. I have had some great mentors, who were always approachable and very quick to respond to any question that I had. Whenever I had issues either personal or professional, I approached these mentors and they gave me the best possible advice. Paying it back, I am currently mentoring a few IEPs myself.
These 3 core strategies have really helped me make a foundation for establishing me in the Canada. I will cover the remaining 3 in my next blog.
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