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IMMIGRANT SETTLEMENT GUIDE
Immigrant SETTLEMENT GUIDE 2016For getting your listing included, please call Ricky Bajaj at 416-856-6304 or Johnny Zhang at 416-803-3931
Agency General Services and Specialty Programs
Brampton Multicultural Centre (BMC)
197 County Court Blvd. Suite 303 Brampton ON L6W 4P6 Phone: 905-790-8482 Fax: 905-874-6100 Not for pro t, registered charity providing multilingual and culturally appropriate programs and services for free to help clients enhance their community engagement and social capital while integrating into the Canadian society. Programs: Programs and services include Settlement support , employment readiness workshops, enhancing immigrant community connections through schools and libraries, advocacy and solution-focused counselling, interpretation and translation, volunteer and placement opportunities, mental health support services, seniors and women abuse and engagement services. A unique portfolio of youth programming is also available such as: Youth leadership development, life skills coaching, client-centred counselling, paid internships at various workplaces, gang prevention workshops, one-on-one intervention meetings based on individualized work plans.
Email: services@bmccentre.org www.bmccentre.org
Job Skills
Employment & Business Programs & Supports
Locations in Markham, Brampton, Keswick and Newmarket Phone: 1-866-592-6278 Find out how to: get the skills you need to nd work, including: work experience, resume help, interview techniques, entrepreneurial options and more. We offer: Job Search Workshops Program, Job Find Club for Internationally Trained Individuals, Bridge to HR, Practice Firm, SelfEmployment Pathways for Newcomer and Employment Ontario Employment Services.
Email: info@jobskills.org www.jobskills.org
Madison Community Services
Recovery during Immigration & Settlement (RISE) Program – funded by CIC.
400-210 Dundas St. W Toronto, On M5G 2E8 Phone: 416-977-1333 x 119 madisoncs.org/programsservices/cic-rise-program/
Mennonite New Life Centre of Toronto
2737 Keele Street North York ON M3M 2E9 Phone: 647-776-2057
Multinational Small & Medium Business Community Center (MSMBCC)
211 Consumers Road, Suite 300, North York, M2J 4G8 Phone: 647-343-8288
The National Association of Humanity Science and Technology (NAHST)
4675 Steeles Ave. E Unit 2D22 Toronto On M1V 4S5 Or: 3-2375 Brimley Rd. Unit 351 Toronto ON M1S 3L6 RISE Program: provide community based, client-centred and holistic supports; mobile case management services for newcomers with mental health challenges within the city of Toronto area; assistance with navigating through the health care, housing, fi nancial, education and employment systems for newcomers with special needs. Specialty Programs: Individual case management support; Information sessions on settlement and mental health related topics; Social recreation activities; Volunteer opportunities; English conversation café; Computer classes; Preparation for citizenship test classes.
Email: rise@madisoncs.org madisoncs.org
Settlement Services, LINC Classes (level 1-6) with child minding, Counseling, Job search, Citizenship & Immigration, Groups for Youth, Seniors & Women and Volunteering. Specialty Programs: Bridge Training Program for International Mental Health Professionals, Community Engagement Program, Community Mental health Program and Anger management. Additional locations at Scarborough and Toronto.
Email: northyork@mnlct.org www.mnlct.org
• English • Spanish • Mandarin • Bengali • Turkish
General services and specialty program: Help small and medium business from starting business with business plans for success: business registration; business planning; corporate problem solving; corporate culture tutoring; legal, politics and social requirements service and assistance for government funding application. Specialty program: business guide in Canada and Asia countries;enterprise assistant program; free tax services for new comers and seniors.
Email: info@sbsccanada orgwww.sbsccanada.org
Community services for cultural and recreational activities, including classic poetry recitation events and Chinese traditional music concerts, with funds collected from its own members; supports for seniors groups for cultural and recreational activities; promotions for cultural exchange with the main stream society and many minorities’ cultural groups.
Email: thomas@nahst.org www.nahst.org
Welcome Centre Immigrant Services
7 Locations in York and Durham Regions Phone: 1-877-761-1155 Settlement Services: assist immigrants to integrate and become established and contributing members of Canadian society. English Language Classes are instructor-led, and supported by a computer lab. Job-specifi c, advanced-level Enhanced Language Training available. Supports to assist in developing the skills needed to fi nd work: resumé/cover letter preparation, interview readiness and information about accreditation, workplace practices, Canadian employer expectations. Other services available.
Email: info@welcomecentre.ca www.welcomecentre.ca
Languages
• English • Arabic • Farsi • French • Gujarati • Hindi • Punjabi • Spanish • Tamil • Urdu • Tagalog (Filipino)
• English
• English • Arabic • Farsi • Amharic
• English
• English • Mandarin • Cantonese
• English
From isolation to engagement
Sharing my own story — the story of so many immigrants
We all know that newcomers to Canada experience a rollercoaster of emotions: moving from known to unknown, from employed to unemployed, from being part of a community, to being a nobody in the middle of a new culture we do not always understand. is time, instead of writing a regular column, I thought I would share my own experience of isolation and how I overcame it.
When I fi rst arrived
I came to Canada with my small family in 2004. My rst two days were spent inside a basement with my kids. I was scared of going outside!
A week later, I was already looking for jobs; not understanding how di erent the culture and market was, I fell for a scam to sell knives door to door. at experience taught me I had to seek some help, so I signed up for a two-week job search program in Surrey and started volunteering for a non-pro t organization.
Months passed and I was feeling isolated and depressed. I was paying for daycare and bus tickets to go volunteering and there were no responses after job interviews! I had nobody to talk to except my own family and started to lose self-con dence. Finally, I decided to open a family daycare that would allow me to care for my own children and those of neighbours while earning some cash. While there was some paperwork and logistics involved, I was con dent I could do it; I had been a teacher for many years and also had managerial experience.
However, the feelings of isolation and frustration didn’t go away. I started to feel really old and thought my career and professional life were over. While I love children, not talking to adults all day long and the lack of separation between work and home, along with the lack of time to myself, took a toll on my health. e change came when I decided to study; I took online classes since I was at home all day. When my children were old enough, I closed the daycare and started looking for jobs. When it didn’t work as expected, I decided to go to a career planning workshop that saved my life; there, looking at the facilitators and counsellors, I saw myself. My goals of social justice and empowering people could now be achieved through a slightly di erent role. And I became an employment counsellor.
Building on experience
Years passed (not many) and I not only gained experience, but I took specialized courses, presented at professional conferences and started writing this column and a blog. Pursuing my interests, I also became very engaged in community resilience through other grassroots and non-pro t organizations.
Today, I can safely say I feel fully integrated into my new country. I have friends and colleagues from di erent nationalities, and have contributed to the success and integration of hundreds of immigrants and refugees.
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Many of my own clients acknowledge going through similar stages, too! Are you? Here are some tips to help you get through it: • Accept that the roller-coaster is real and happens to all of us. • Understand that the highs and lows of the roller-coaster, as well as the time we take to be stable, vary from person to person and are in uenced by many factors. • Look for support from mentors both within and outside your community. • Ask for help when you need it and accept it. • Become engaged with the wider community. • Give yourself permission to explore diff erent options and be open to opportunities. • Make sure you take care of both your physical, spiritual and mental health by eating healthy, resting, nding time for yourself, enjoying time with family and friends, doing something to relax, enjoying time in nature and exercising. • Know that this is a temporary state and that your experiences and skills are not lost, but you may have to discover new and creative ways to use them.
Argentine-born Silvia Di Blasio lived and studied in Venezuela for many years. She currently works as a career counsellor and volunteers for many community organizations in her spare time, including in the areas of resilience, disaster management and food sovereignty.
Do the job before you get the job
e pre-employment free project — the smart, fast way to get hired
Free. Don’t we all just love the word? It’s a great door opener and relationship-builder in every part of the world, cutting across generations and indeed across civilizations.
When it comes to your job search, you can use the same tactic to get hired faster. You may present an e ective, balanced resumé with the right combination of skills and experience, but your job application still hasn’t answered the classic “What’s in it for me?” question — the invisible sign hanging on every employer’s neck.
Today you need do something new, something di erent, over and above the conventional norm. I call it the classic “buy one and get one free” approach. Why not impress the hiring manager by bringing to the table a complimentary project along with your resumé? Even Harvard Business Review endorses this approach. (Google: HBR.org, Projects Are the New Job Interviews]. e only reason the job opening exists is because the organization has a problem that you can solve or a need that you can ll. If you can deliver a free project that proves to them that you have the relevant skills, you instantly separate yourself. In other words, do the job before you get the job. You may not have the relevant Canadian experience, but a complimentary, pre-interview project can easily help you overcome that very hurdle.
Here are a few suggestions for the following industries:
Marketing
If you’re applying for a sales or marketing role, a good side project could be demonstrating how you could market or actually sell some of the company’s products and presenting a document about it.
Design
If you’re applying for a web or graphic designer related role, you could mock up some new designs for the company and present them in the before-and-after format and rationalize why you recommend your new designs.
Sales
Maybe the company is looking to simply increase sales or reduce costs. Your ability to do either will certainly make the hiring manager take notice. Why not take with you a 30-60-90 day plan to demonstrate that you can help generate money, save money or both.
IT / product development
If you are applying for product development related positions, you can run quick usability tests on the company’s products, document your strategy and approach, support it with some implementation suggestions and share those at the time of the interview. And if you are keen in entering the game development eld, you can showcase a portfolio full of work in game development. Choose a project
Do remember that credentials, certi cations and paper quali cations do matter for industries like law, nance or medicine, but for most other elds you can stand out by working on such side projects. Start by reading through the job position to get an understanding of their needs. Now that you know what the company expects you to do day to day, you can actually prove to them that you can solve their problems.
You don’t have to always do projects in isolation either. If you work with any other individual or in a group, it can show an employer that you can work in a team and collaborate.
You can upload a PowerPoint presentation on free sites like Slideshare.net and share it on your LinkedIn Projects page. Or better still create a free, themed website through portals like Branded.me, Wix.com or Strikingly.com. e pre-employment free project is an excellent way to showcase your soft skills — your ability to take charge, be driven and creative, conduct proper research and put together a project with enthusiasm — all these valuable traits do in uence the hiring process positively.
So what are you waiting for? Go ahead, take up a project and make a de nitive, distinct statement without saying a word!
Murali Murthy is an acclaimed public speaker, mentor and best-selling author of the ACE books — The ACE Principle, The ACE Awakening and The ACE Abundance. He is also chairperson of CAMP Networking Canada. Learn more at aceworldfoundation.com.
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