To shovel feces

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Get what you want by helping others get what they want

Ok folks, the previous posting was a test by me as I was unable to get to the page where the postings are to be lodged. One kind soul by the name of Teja told me that on account of the pop-up block software on muh hard disk I had to go via a different route. So I only wrote a short message at the outset to check if the posting would actually materialise.
But ya folks git the message dontcha? That kinda sums up muh sentiments straight from the heart. I wudda rather used more coarse lingo but I refrained muhself- boy was that taxing! I mean restrainin' muhself.
Here's an article that was published in the Globe and Mail and CanIndia by one Arupa Tesolin- an Italian Lady with ties to India.She also writes in mags published and distributed in India.

Time to Act on Solutions For Immigrant Jobs
By Arupa L.Tesolin, Intuita, Copyright May 24, 2004.

NOTE: An edited copy of this article was published in The Globe and Workopolis.com on June 16, 2004, by Canadian Immigrant Magazine, http://www.theCanadianImmigrant.com" rel="nofollow">LINK, July 2004, by HR.com, July 24, 2004, Training & Management National Magazine, India, July 2004, and by CanIndia News Weekly on July 23, 2004.

The plight of Canadian immigrants who can’t find suitable work with proper pay is becoming publicly acknowledged. Their reality is stark. Many immigrants to Canada arrive here to find themselves marginalized; unable to find the skilled positions they were invited to fill. Solutions exist but they require rigorous involvement from all parties.

Most Canadians, like myself, as the daughter of a Northern Italian immigrant and with family and business relations from India, have an immigrant story in their family or among their relatives. However my point of view is also that of an industry insider.

We all want to live in a prosperous country. This means every member of our society ought to be able to have the money (and time) for homes, cars, and leisure. When I learn of a doctor or engineer who can’t practice here or a former senior executive driving taxis after emigrating to Canada, it doesn’t make me a proud Canadian. Rather, these cases deprive our society of able talent and diminish opportunities for educated professionals to give their best.

Today’s immigrants aren’t the same as yesterday’s, who arrived penniless, young and unskilled with dreams of a better life. They are educated, they’ve achieved success back home, and arrived under immigration criteria designed to address our emerging shortages of skilled workers. They are not refugees, supported by welfare and OHIP, fleeing dictatorships or war regimes. They are working professionals like many Canadians..

Too often, when operating funds are given to social agencies that aid immigrants, the first employment they create is for their organization, not necessarily their clients. Canadians, not immigrants, fill the first employment positions created by government solutions for fast-tracking professional credentials.

This won’t alleviate the urgent realities of immigrants looking for jobs, renting apartments and risking eviction because their money has run out, or working for a $7 minimum wage in a janitorial job because that’s all they could get.

There has been enough consciousness raising. Now we need to act and everyone needs to be involved. If we want to change it, we can and we will.

What companies, employers, recruiters and human resource departments can do:

Hire immigrants as a priority and implement affirmative action policies for immigrants

Remove hiring barriers that screen out immigrants needlessly or could be discriminatory, such as requiring Canadian experience and education for regular non-professionally accredited jobs.

Focus on needed skills and whether your candidate can do them. With today’s turnover and loyalty, hiring immigrants makes sense.

Remove offensive notices about Canadian work papers. Say it without stigmatizing.

Manage the hiring process for fairness. Many people involved may not have strong Human Resources backgrounds or Human Rights knowledge.

Pay people adequately. Can your workforce afford to live on what you give them?

Recognize how a diverse workforce, and one that includes immigrants, can improve productivity and innovation.

During job interviews try to accomodate different presentation styles. Bragging about accomplishments could be considered rude in some cultures

Keep in mind that a University or College education does not guarantee good job performance, nor do these institutions typically provide the business-related skills needed in the workforce
What immigrants can do:

Avoid complaining and commiserating with other immigrants about racial discrimination you think you face. It’s not productive for your success. Know the other issues. Realize you’ve arrived after a tough job market in a soft economy and are competing with experienced skilled Canadians who’ve been down-sized, younger Canadians looking for their first job (with difficulty too) and others who are dissatisfied with their job.

Prevent employment discrimination based on other grounds through knowledge. To be boldly direct, attach this Notice to your application. “The Canadian Human Rights Code protects all people from discrimination on the basis of “ethnic origin” and “place of origin”. If the job you are recruiting for routinely asks immigrants whether they have Canadian experience when that particular kind of job is done fairly similarly in other areas of the world, this could be discriminatory. Similarly if you don’t recognize academic credentials of a candidate because they obtained their education outside of Canada and this education is not a required, tested and validated professional credential or license requirement, you may also be practicing discrimination.”

If you’ve suffered discrimination file a complaint with the Human Rights Commission. Precedent setting cases that test the Charter of Rights follow through to the Supreme Court level.

Professionally re-write your resume to suit the Canadian market that details and sells your experience in a relevant context. Customize your cover letter for the job you are applying. Send it to the company directly rather than through a job board. Though 20% of applicants inflate their qualifications, be honest, getting caught in a lie could ruin your career after you’re hired. Get interview coaching so you are well prepared to handle Canadian style interviews with confidence.

Don’t succumb to despair. Keep your hopes and dreams alive. Have a vision for the future you see yourself living. The workforce is going to change a lot over the next 6 years.

Change your first name (if willing) to a one syllable name that’s easy to pronounce. (advice from a now successful immigrant).

Make Canadian friends outside your ethnic community. Most will care enough to help if they know you. Then, they can refer you to positions and network for you.

Network yourself. Tell people what you are looking for. Join business networking groups. There are many.

Don’t work for an employer that doesn’t comply with labour laws: namely wage, vacation, holiday, overtime pay or health and safety. These laws were made as a result of the brave people who fought for them in the labour movement. Learn about them. Help is via a phone call or complaint filed with the Provincial Ministry of Labour. If government responds slowly, find an employment lawyer to file charges in court. Community legal clinics can provide resources.

Employers who don’t pay immigrants properly could also be practicing discrimination, which provides other legal remedies to settle complaints through provincial human rights commissions.

The worst offenders can often be members of your own ethnic community who see an advantage in preying on your circumstance. Stop this with open conversation and support from temples, mosques, churches, community and cultural organizations. Don’t do business with companies that do this to your neighbours, friends and relatives. You can organize peaceful demonstrations, with picketing, posters and information to protest as allowed by Canadian law.

Know the power of the internet. Web-sites like internalmemos.com and vault.com give workers powerful communication tools and organizing capabilities in an age of emerging corporate transparency.

University education does not guarantee good job performance. Employers allocate points to candidates who have one because it has become a norm. In truth, aside from professional designations and highly skilled scientific jobs, most jobs can be done well without it.
The biggest problem with employees today is that their bodies are “present” on the job but their minds are not. Jobs aren’t engaging their highly trained mind or don’t fulfill them. Successful job performance still depends mostly on attitude, the ability to learn, and good management. Most immigrants have these along with wisdom and character developed through their experience.

Work-related skills training, if required can be obtained through Intuita’s On-Line Learning Institute (www.intuita.com) which delivers on-line business, career, self-improvement and technology training at home or at work through your desktop at affordable prices for individuals and businesses. These are for anyone, not just immigrants.

What Governments can do:

Create searchable web lists of employers with unsettled pay claims, legal and employment resources, contract young lawyers/interns to settle claims quickly, publish articles in ethnic/community newspapers advising on immigrant rights


community legal clinics can provide services specifically targeted at immigrant employment issues, provide resources to effectively support discrimination claims including Charter tests, and filing employment claims in court.

Now do your part. Give a copy of this article to every immigrant you know and bring it to the attention of every person you know who has a hand in the hiring process. And maybe it wouldn’t hurt to hold the federal government accountable for making false promises and raising expectations for immigrants until the situation is reversed.

Arupa Tesolin is founder of Intuita, a Mississauga, learning company that offers corporate innovation workshops and general business training via your desktop through Intuita’s On-Line Learning Institute. Arupa is an International Correspondent for Training & Management Magazine, published nationally in India. http://www.intuita.com" rel="nofollow">LINK, or email.

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Get what you want by helping others get what they want

And here's a letter published in The Toronto Star on July 24,2004 in The National Report Section and also in The South Asian Observer in article form.

Dear Editor,

Re: Headlines Toronto Star July 21, 2004- Martin Takes Charge

It is excellent news that Prime Minister Paul Martin has vowed a hands-on approach on health, childcare and cities, three main concerns for Canadians, and has appointed ministers in his cabinet to specifically address these issues and resolve the inherent problems.

Prime Minister Paul Martin should also take a hands-on approach in resolving the issue of unused and wasted talent of immigrant professionals, such as doctors, engineers, teachers and other vocations, that lies languishing in the economy. The government should realize that they are harming the Canadian economy and its reputation as a land of opportunity for qualified professionals by letting such massive amounts of extraordinary talent lie idle, wasting away, delivering pizzas, serving coffee, loading cargo and what have you.

All these professionals have come here, harking the call of Canadian Embassies and Consulates overseas that Canada is in dire need of them, only to find they are rejected by the Canadian companies. It is in the best interest of the government to take the initiative to round up all these professionals doing transitional (to use an euphemism) jobs and have them showcase their talent to potential employers at a fair arranged by the government, much like the employers visit the campuses for new employees. Such forums should be held every month in all fields including technology, engineering, teaching, medical etc. This would be a first step in making it easier for qualified professionals to meet potential employers. Going through agencies and directly to companies has so far produced poor results. Also massive campaigning touting the work ethic and integrity of new immigrants should be undertaken. Even though a few Canadian companies do appreciate the knowledge and work ethics of immigrants, a program to educate the large number of uninformed Canadian companies that immigrants really are knowledgeable and serious about their work should be implemented.

Many letters written by disheartened and disgruntled immigrants to editors of ethnic and mainstream newspapers on this subject have not produced any results. It is about time that some positive action is taken up by the government. Let the government we have chosen show us its stuff to help both its economy and the immigrants, so that when they, the immigrants, are granted their citizenship, there will be no wan smiles softly saying “We are Canadian”, but the skies will resound with them pounding their chests and proudly proclaiming “We are Can-eh!-dian!”

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Get what you want by helping others get what they want

Well you folks wanna know why Canada wants immigrants. Well besides the usual reasons of beefing up their population, which is dwindling, and of fuelling their economy, the government genuinely believes that it is providing people from developing and under developed nations an opportunity to improve their life style. Together with several other people, I have on many occasions talked to government officials and they have the numbers to back them up.
Polls and studies done by professional bodies have shown that by and large most immigrants (more than 90%) are thankful they have left their original homelands to pursue a life of largesse and comfort here in Canada. So much so that they sponsor their siblings, parents, aunts, uncles,cousins etc. etc. to come here.
I have not performed a controlled study, but in my line of business, I run across people from many walks of life and the frequent feedback I get from the majority is that “hum log jo khuab me bhi nahi dekhte the, yahan pe aakar hasal kiye hain” ( what we couldn’t even see in our dreams, we have been able to acquire here). “India mein kya hai- ghand aur kachra” (what is there in India- only dirt and filth).
I also work extensively with the people from South America and their reaction is the same “ En nuestro pais solo hay mier…, aqui esta el cielo” ( In our country there is only sh#%, here it is heaven!).
Is it any wonder that the Canadian government can proudly claim that it has ameliorated the lives of the majority of immigrants and that is their sole raison d’etre? Their altruistic desire to provide a better life for people who wish it?
However, in all fairness, the government is indeed aware that there are a great number of disheartened professionals not in their field, but they feel that number is small. However, we try to drive home the point that something drastic and immediate has to be done for these people, even if they represent the minority. Their argument is that the number of applications from professionals is going up every day, despite the gripes of the non-gainfully employed professionals here in Canada. They even claim that if not for 9/11 they would have approved a great majority of these apps at a faster rate, but due to pressure from certain bodies they have to super scrutinize the apps, thus slowing the pace at which approvals are granted. They even are under the belief, due to polls done with our desi community itself, that the professionals who come here and complain about not getting a job in their field are quite content driving trucks and earning $50-$60,000, living in good homes and driving fancy cars of the like unavailable in their country.
I personally think that there is some truth to what they say. Based on the informal polls done on Canadian Desi, our very own say that those who make more than Rs 100,000 a month in India should not come here, the rest should, irregardless. That would mean 99 plus percent should come here as I do not believe that that there are too many who have come here that made more than a hundred thou back home. Of course I do not have figures to back me up, but I think that is a fair guesstimate.
For the professionals who are cribbing, and they should, a study with proper polls and documentation must be provided to the government through a legitimate committee for them to take notice. The exact number who are not employed in their field, the damage in dollar terms to the Canadian economy and all relevant information to corroborate their case must be mustered and put down on paper in coherent form and handed over to them. I am told Mr. Joe Valpe (cabinet minister of human resources) and Ms.Judy Sgro (cabinet minister for immigration) are the ones to approach.
Any volunteers for this task? We need a TEAM (Together Each Achieves More).
Bambai ka babu.

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Get what you want by helping others get what they want

So the Govt did a poll and it the results suit them.

If someone here is making 50-60,000 driving Trucks and doing other such Jobs and still happy then good for him. I personally think the Guy is lying that he is happy but then thats me.
I dont think in the first place that Guy was in the high skilled category in the first place.
I havent met a Highly skilled person who said He/she was happy doingsuch Jobs, even it makes him good money.

We all know there are many many people who come here in many other categories (out of 225,000 only 95,000 are skileld workers). Sure If I was nothing back home or had lived my life in a small shanty town in India I would be thrilled to be in Canada. the immigrant "fervour" is at its peak among such people and their chances of "relative" success (compared to what they would have been at home) is high.

So back to the poll, IF the Govt thinks we are a minority then what can be done. It seems a lost cause. Sure we can stand at the corner of Yonge/Dundas for a few days nad make out point to the Canadian Folks, who in my opinion Just might not care.

If we ever did a Poll it would have to be detailed work, which would take a long time. One could start at their work place and Ask each one question like:

1) How long have you been in Canada?
2) What are you currently doing Now and How much do you make?
3) What were you before you came to Canada and How much did you make? What was your position (manager etc....)?
4) Family Size, expenses? How many days / hours a week do you have to work to meet these expenses?
5) What is your Educational Level?
6) what have you done in terms of trying to find a Job in your field and what has been the response?
7) Lastly, are you happy in what you are doing and generally with your life in Canada?

and such other questions.

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I once made a mistake, but I was wrong about it.

To the-entrepreneur and sghosedelhi for NOT being in the "ALL TALK, NO ACTION" group...

Thank you Entrepreneur for giving accurate credits!

Arupa's article was indeed so inspiring, I broke my own rule of not taking outside talent for my magazine!

I am posting my Editorial for the last issue in a new post and invite you all to respond.

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http://www.thecanadianimmigrant.com" rel="nofollow">LINK