Now imagine that every time you use a verb during the conversation — saw, ate, enjoyed — you also have to come up with a synonym — watched, ingested, liked. A simple five-minute conversation all of a sudden becomes much more difficult and thought-intensive.

All supervisors at 3M Canada in London, Ont., complete this language exercise as part of their leadership training. The exercise helps them understand the experiences of their skilled immigrant employees who speak English as a second language, says Sarah Tattersall, Manager of Recruitment and Talent Development at the manufacturing company.

Walking in a Newcomer’s Shoes

Many of Canada’s immigrants are highly skilled, with years of training and international experience that make them an asset to any organization. But many of these immigrants also speak English as a second language, which can affect communication and teamwork in the workplace.

“When I first did the exercise, it was so clear to me the challenges that someone else would have if they didn’t speak English as a first language,” she says. “How much thought, how much time I spent thinking about ‘What would that word be?’ And so you lose your train of thought about what your message is supposed to be and you’re not 100 per cent listening to what the other person is saying. You can clearly understand how people can get lost in conversations even though they’re fluent in English.”

Ms. Tattersall added the exercise to 3M’s supervisor training in 2011 after learning about the exercise from accounting and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers at a conference for human resources professionals in Toronto earlier in the year.

Keeping it Simple

Initially, both people having the conversation would have to come up for synonyms, but this became too difficult. Both parties were concentrating so hard on what their next word was going to be that they weren’t paying attention to what the other person was saying.

“That’s not the experience people have in the workplace. Typically, it’s one person who’s struggling and the other person isn’t,” says Ms. Tattersall.

3M changed the exercise so only one of the two people having the conversation had to come up with a synonym for every verb she used. Then the two switch roles so each person gets the opportunity to experience what it’s like to have to think hard about language and then to also have to wait for her conversational partner to find the right words.

Set Up Context and Discuss Learnings

Before the exercise begins, the trainer gives participants some context by talking about how Canada’s demographics are changing and how that affects recruitment and hiring. With more and more skilled immigrants coming to Canada, all workplaces, including 3M, are becoming more diverse.

After the exercise, the trainer debriefs participants by asking them about their experiences what they thought about their partners’ ability when waiting for them to come up with a synonym and how they felt when it was their turn to think of synonyms. The facilitator also asks participants to think about how the conversation would play out in different scenarios, such as at a team meeting or networking event, as opposed to casual conversation.

Participants are surprised by how hard they have to concentrate during the exercise, says Ms. Tattersall. Not only are they listening to the person they’re speaking with, but they’re also thinking about how they’re going to formulate their response, which can be very distracting.

“Everyone finds it challenging,” she says. “The reaction from everyone is: ‘It’s so much harder than you think and we have full command of the English language. If it’s that hard for us, can you imagine how hard it’s going to be for someone who doesn’t have English as their first language?’”

Tips for Employers:

• You can include the exercise as part of your organization’s leadership training program or as a one-off training exercise.
• Set up the diversity context for the exercise and debrief participants afterward to have them reflect on what they thought and felt during the exercise. Then ask them to apply that learning in other workplace scenarios.
• Keep it fun and light. The conversation can be about anything and doesn’t need to be work-related. If you see participants struggling, allow the pair to switch roles so the other person has to come up with the synonyms.

3M Canada works with the London-Middlesex Immigrant Employment Council, which engages employers in the delivery of strategies that facilitate the recruitment and retention of internationally trained individuals in employment opportunities commensurate with international training and experience.

By Michael Abbott and Charles Beach, The StarPhoenix

Abbott and Beach are economics professors at Queen’s University.

Saskatoon — Immigrants are key drivers behind our country’s growth, according to 2011 census findings. Released last week by Statistics Canada, census figures indicate two-thirds of overall population growth is being fuelled by newcomers.

While immigration should continue to play a large role in boosting our economy, it is particularly important that we put an emphasis on accepting skilled immigrants. In setting immigration policy and targets, it is important to know how well immigrants in various admission categories have fared in their initial years of Canadian residence.

Skilled workers have consistently higher earnings than other classes of immigrants, according to a study, Do Admission Categories and Economic Recessions Affect Immigrant Earnings?, that we recently had published by the Institute for Research on Public Policy.

We compared the annual incomes of four categories of immigrants in the first decade since their arrival in Canada as permanent residents in 1982, 1988 and 1994: skills-assessed economic immigrants; other economic immigrants; family class immigrants; and refugees.

Immigrants who were admitted under the Federal Skilled Worker program had the highest median annual earnings among the four categories in all arrival groups. The median earnings of skilled workers exceed the earnings of other groups by as much as 56 per cent, in some cases.

Read more here.

In the video below, Lisa Harrison, Vice-President and Delivery Partner at Autodata Solutions in London, Ont., says the company recruits skilled immigrants in four cost-effective ways:

• Taps into current employees’ networks
• Uses social media
• Connects with community employment agencies
• Works with local Immigrant Employment Councils

To learn more about another low-cost way to recruit skilled immigrants, sign up for our free webinar on Feb. 22.

Follow hireimmigrants.ca on Twitter and LinkedIn to get the latest in news, resources and tips for recruiting, retaining and promoting skilled immigrants.

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Quantifying the Effects of the Provincial Nominee Program looked at provincial nominee programs to assess their impact on the flow of immigrants to smaller provinces. It found these programs are an effective means of both attracting and retaining immigrants.

The provincial nominee programs of Manitoba, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick, in particular, were associated with significant increases in immigration to these provinces.

Also, provincial retention rates for immigrants through provincial nominee programs were higher in most provinces than for economic class immigrants arriving through the federal programs.

(Source: Quantifying the Effects of the Provincial Nominee Program, Canadian Public Policy, December 2011.)

Toronto — Despite their good intentions, Canadian employers have been slow to embrace diversity, according to a new study of internationally educated professionals.

The study, commissioned by Progress Career Planning Institute (PCPI), found more than two-thirds of employers surveyed believe their diversity programs have been successful but just one-half of the internationally educated professionals (IEPs) surveyed said they work in companies that have policies welcoming new Canadians.

“While employers recognize the value of hiring new Canadians in our global economy, we’re finding workplace diversity and recruitment policies lack the bite needed to really make a difference,” said Silma Roddau, President PCPI, in a statement.

“IEPs recognize they are responsible for learning about the Canadian workplace, but employers also need to do more to welcome new Canadians and workers from different cultures.”

The study, PROGRESS: IEPs’ Experience Matters, focuses on the experience of mid-career IEPs — those with six to 15 years experience in the workplace.

Of the 560 IEPs surveyed, 238 are employed and 322 unemployed. The study also surveyed 24 Toronto region employers in small, medium and large organizations as well as public, private and non-profit sectors.

The study found IEPs and employers have different views on how well diversity programs are working:

• 34 per cent of working IEPs said their employers do not have the resources to address workplace cultural and new Canadian issues.
• 49 per cent of IEPs work in companies that have policies welcoming new Canadians.
• 71 per cent of employers say their diversity programs have been successful or very successful.
• Only 45 per cent of employers have a method of assessing credentials, including interviews, testing, World Education Services (WES) demonstration of skills and background and reference checks.

The study also found that the more regulated the industry the more likely IEPs were to find work. For example, credentialed health care workers were twice as likely to find work in their fields compared to workers with business, finance and administration backgrounds.

The study was released at the ninth annual 2012 Internationally Educated Professionals Conference hosted by PCPI and funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. The conference is designed to bring together IEPs, regulatory bodies and associations, government, businesses, and accreditation organizations to discuss strategies and provide tips on integrating IEPs into the workforce.

Toronto — Professional immigrant networks are not new, but the dozens of associations of immigrants helping immigrants in the GTA have been operating mostly under the radar – until now.

At an event at the Toronto Board of Trade today, the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC), the Government of Canada and Scotiabank are introducing a vital new website as part of the Professional Immigrant Networks initiative (PINs) to forge connections between immigrants, employers and community agencies – all with the goal of advancing immigrant employment.

Professional immigrant networks are organized by profession or ethnicity or both – from the Latin American MBA Alumni Network to the Chinese Professionals Association of Canada and the Association of Filipino Canadian Accountants. Collectively they serve more than 30,000 members. The new PINs website will help newcomers access these professional immigrant networks and through them build the connections they need to find meaningful employment.

“Lack of professional connections and understanding of Canadian corporate culture are the primary obstacles to meaningful employment for skilled immigrants,” says Gabriel Leiva von Bovet, President of the professional immigrant network HispanoTech and a TRIEC board member. “But thousands of newcomer professionals are using immigrant networks to help themselves and each other get ahead. Our new website capitalizes on this resourcefulness.”

Funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada and sponsored by Scotiabank, PINs benefits employers as well as immigrants. With the diversifying population and the growth of the knowledge economy, recruiting internationally experienced and multi-lingual personnel is becoming a priority in most workplaces, both from the talent management and business perspectives. As a case in point, PINs is jointly sponsored by the human resources and business development arms of Scotiabank. According to Pankaj Mehra, Director, Multicultural Banking,Indiaand South Asia Markets, the bank’s investment in PINs meets the objectives of both aspects of the business.

“We recognize that professionals coming into our country are not just prospective employees and managers, but also customers,” says Mr. Mehra. “Immigrant employees can be important ambassadors for the bank by not only helping us grow our business, but also helping us strengthen our ties to their communities.”

PINs connects employers to professional immigrant networks and allows them to communicate directly and efficiently with target markets. Last year alone, TRIEC disseminated 100 job postings out to the professional immigrant networks from 25 employers through PINs. The new website will make these connections even easier, with a searchable directory of networks and a messaging function for employers to post jobs.

To access the new website, visit www.NetworksForImmigrants.ca.

Sign up for a free webinar to learn more about professional immigrant networks and how you, as an employer, can work with them.

By Tobi Cohen, Postmedia News (published on Canada.com)

Ottawa — Canada is well on its way toward becoming a nation of immigrants — figuratively and literally.

While it’s no secret that immigrants have helped build this country and Canada has long celebrated its rich multicultural history, 2011 census figures released Wednesday by Statistics Canada indicate two-thirds of overall population growth is being fuelled by newcomers.

Unlike the United States, where growth is still driven by natural increases in population — the difference between births and deaths — only one-third of Canada’s growth is due to fertility.

It’s a trend that’s been going on for about a decade due to the rapid decrease in fertility that began in the late 1960s and 1970s and the increase in the number of deaths due to an aging population.

“As a result, the numbers of births and deaths have converged since the end of the Baby Boom in Canada, and migratory increase has taken on an increasingly important role in recent Canadian population growth,” Statistics Canada’s census report concluded.

Population projections suggest the trend will continue as boomers die off and that by 2031, immigration will account for more than 80 per cent of Canada’s overall population growth.

“Without a sustained level of immigration or a substantial increase in fertility, Canada’s population growth could, within 20 years, be close to zero,” the report found.

Read more here.

Employment and wage gaps are increasing between immigrants and their Canadian-born counterparts because newcomers face several barriers to workplace integration, including inadequate language skills and credential recognition issues, according to a new report from TD Economics.

Ensuring full workplace integration of immigrants is crucial for Canada’s long-term prosperity in terms of filling skills shortages and competing on the international stage, states Knocking Down Barriers Faced By New Immigrants to Canada.

Radical changes to the immigration system aren’t needed to achieve this integration goal, states the report. Instead, the report identifies two critical areas of reform:

• the federal and provincial selection processes
• the network of immigrant settlement services

Selection Processes

The temporary foreign worker (TFW) and provincial nominee (PN) programs should continue to focus on short-term labour market needs and all the PN programs across the country should co-ordinate their approach by adopting similar standards and best practices.

The TFW program should complement the PN program by targeting more specific skill sets rather than broader occupational categories. Processing and approval times for this program must also be sped up in order to meet the immediate demands of employers.

The federal skilled worker program, on the other hand, should meet the job market’s longer-term needs. To do so, the federal government needs empirical models and regular consultations with employers and the provinces to identify current and future high-demand occupations, as well as a transparent and flexible method for changing the program’s eligible occupations.

The program should also include a minimum language threshold for principal applicants because language proficiency is a determinant of successful labour market integration.

Immigrant Settlement Services

To reduce overlap and boost efficiency, the various immigrant-serving agencies should adopt a co-ordinated approach to service delivery that includes common best practices, especially when it comes to language training and credential recognition. The federal government could consider giving the provinces a lump sum of settlement funds to fund the agencies that best suit the needs in their own jurisdictions (as is already done in Manitoba and British Columbia).

In the long term, a national regulatory body should be created for each regulated occupation so the equivalency requirements will be the same across all provinces. In the short-term, the roles of provincial fairness commissioners, who oversee the credential recognition processes for all regulated occupations within their province, could be expanded and mutual recognition agreements could be pursued more aggressively.

The federal government should also expand the Canadian Immigrant Integration Program, which provides pre-arrival services, to more countries and allow the credential recognition process to begin before immigrants come to Canada.

Finally, a single integration portal through which both employers and newcomers could connect should be created.  The portal would provide integration services to immigrants and create a database of immigrant skills and experiences that employers could use to connect with the professional talent they need. Such a portal exists in Manitoba through the province’s Entry Program.

Interesting Statistics

• 370,000: The number of additional people who would be working if the employment rate of immigrants was the same as non-immigrants.
• 85 cents: How much a male immigrant who landed in the late 1970s earned for every dollar earned by his Canadian-born counterpart.  Within 25 years, the gap had closed to 98 cents. (Statistics Canada Census.)
• 61 cents: How much a male immigrant who landed between 2000 and 2004 earned for every dollar earned by his Canadian-born counterpart. (Statistics Canada Census.)
• 80 per cent: The proportion of recent immigrants in 2006 whose mother tongue was neither English nor French, compared to 52 per cent of recent immigrants in 1981. (Statistics Canada Census)
• 450,000: The estimated backlog of applications under the federal skilled worker program.
• 110,000: The approximate number of immigrants admitted into Canada under the federal skilled worker program each year for the past 10 years. However, the number of provincial nominees has increased 15-fold and the number of temporary foreign workers has increased from 120,000 to 180,000.
• 280,000: The number of permanent residents admitted to Canada in 2010. Of those, 186,913 were admitted under the economic class, 60,220 were admitted under the family class, 24,696 were refugees and 8,845 fell under “other.” (Citizenship and Immigration Canada)
• 351: The number of named occupations, such as doctors and nurses, allowed under the federal skilled worker program before 2008. In an effort to target the needs of the labour market and reduce the application backlog, it was restricted to 38 occupations in 2008 and 29 in July 2011.
• 4,000: The number of temporary foreign workers and international students granted permanent status under the Canadian Experience Class in 2010
• $600 million: The amount of funding the federal government provided to settlement services in 2011 (excluding Quebec), up from $200 million in 2006.
• 93 per cent: the proportion of employed Canadian Immigrant Integration Program graduates who found a job within the first six months of arrival and 60 per cent were working in their field or a related field. Also, 22 per cent of employed graduates were at an equivalent or higher level than they were in their countries of origin.

Read the full report: Knocking Down Barriers Faced By New Immigrants to Canada

By Heather Scoffield, The Canadian Press (published in Toronto Star)

Ottawa — The federal government could put the equivalent of 370,000 more people to work if it tweaked the immigration system to focus on the long-term needs of the job market, says a new report by Toronto-Dominion Bank.

Unemployment and underemployment among immigrants is worse than ever, the report says, but Ottawa could easily fix the problem.

“We would gain a major competitive advantage if this country were recognized around the world as one where all migrants are successful in being able to practise their own trade and raise their standard of living,” said chief economist Craig Alexander.

“As of yet, no major country has been able to stake this claim.”

Immigrants who arrived in Canada in the 1970s used to be able to catch up to the salaries of their Canadian counterparts within a generation.

But the disparity has grown steadily and now the average immigrant doesn’t have much hope of seeing the gap close until the second generation.

“The simple, but sad, truth is that many new immigrants cannot hope to close the earnings gap in their lifetime,” the TD paper says.

Closing that gap is crucial as Canada faces the mass retirement of the baby-boom generation, the paper explains.

If immigrants were employed at the same level as established Canadians, there would be about 370,000 extra people at work, the TD economists estimate.

“Canada admits hundreds of thousands of highly educated, highly skilled immigrants each year to meet labour demand or to fill skills gaps,” Alexander said.

“And yet, any reason for participating in skilled immigration is rendered null and void if those immigrants ultimately take lower-paying jobs unrelated to their training because of the labour market barriers that they face.”

Read the full article and check out a summary of the report.