Hiring international workers in Canada can be a great way to help employers meet their staffing needs. In addition to that, it also translates to better productivity, efficiency, and diversified workplace culture – all of which acts in unison to help you achieve success.
As an employer, workforce planning forms a big part of your responsibility. This planning includes a few steps that should be involved in your recruitment process.
Recruiting Staff
The Express Entry candidates or temporary foreign workers are an excellent option to start with to recruit and assess international candidates. Canada’s Global Skills Strategy is another avenue that allows Canadian employers to attract highly-skilled international workers.
Your recruitment process should involve the following steps:
• Designing a comprehensive job description. Attracting the right internationally trained workers means writing a thorough and transparent job description. This would include defining the essential skills, language skills and job responsibilities. Use the National Occupational Classification (NOC) system to determine the primary duties associated with an occupation.
• Assessing and verifying their credentials. The IRCC designates organizations to perform Educational Credential Assessment to determine how an international education compares to Canadian standards. Canadian Information Centre for Credentials can assess ITW candidates and help you find the best employees to meet your needs. Test of Workplace Essential Skills (TOWES) for entry-level skills should be utilized. This ensures the safety and productivity of your workplace. Assessing and verifying your candidates takes time. Therefore, include the assessment phase in your hiring timeline.
• Communicating the importance of language skills. Communication is essential, and employers need to ensure that their ITWS is proficient in the required language to work efficiently. Consider the language skills needed for the job and how you can foster a candidate’s language skills if need be. There are standards set by the Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks (CCLB) to measure the proficiency of English and French. These standards are essential to help define language requirements.
• Complying with the law to provide fair treatment of the worker. International employees are protected by federal and provincial laws that outline minimum wages health and safety standards. An employer must familiarize themselves with these laws before applying for ITWs. This ensures that your talented international staff remains loyal to the company and has a healthy state of mind in the workplace.
To recruit and retain internationally trained workers, you may need to tailor the above actions to meet your requirements by:
• Reaching out to recruits.
• Providing language training in high-communication-based roles.
• Implement diversity programs.
• Participate in mentoring programs.
Hiring Internationally Trained Workers Can Benefit Canadian Employers
Many employers around the country are experiencing significant labour shortages. As an employer, hiring an internationally trained worker can bring a lot of value to your business. Updating your staffing strategy and following the best recruitment practices can help you effectively engage and retain skilled individuals perfect for your business.
Not only can these candidates help meet your needs, but they do so in diversified ways that can take your organization forward, both nationally and internationally.