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Since 2007, Directions for Immigrants clients have achieved an average pass rate of 83% for licensing exams.

Fall might be a great time to re-visit your career goals. Fall 2019 Newsletter

With summer drawing to a close and the back-to-school rush behind us, this may be the perfect time to re-visit the career plan you had in mind when you came to Canada. Although the fall is a reminder of cooler days that lie ahead, the kids’ packed lunches that require preparation, and school homework that needs checking, the fall is also a great season to consider focusing on your own professional goals. Perhaps you want to look for a professional job, or you would like to challenge a licensing exam to obtain accreditation in Canada. You may even choose to explore new career options available for you.

At Directions for Immigrants we help any immigrant professional in any occupation. Many of our clients are internationally educated engineers who are planning to register with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA) with the end goal of practicing as a Professional Engineer (P.Eng). September has been a busy month for Patrick and Darlene, two of our career coaches here at Directions. Patrick’s National Professional Practice Exam (NPPE) study group kicked off on September 11; and Darlene’s Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) study group starts on September 28^th. Our next NPPE study group starts on November 2, so please get in touch with a coach if you would like to be part of this study group.

Project Management

We help internationally educated professionals in any occupation, and in any industry. For this edition of the newsletter, we are highlighting the occupation of project management professional. “Project management professionals oversee projects and bring them from conception to conclusion while keeping to a schedule, adhering to project design or specifications, and working within the project budget in order to meet stakeholders' requirements. Project management professionals may be employed in a wide variety of fields or industries,” according to ALIS. Some areas in which project management professionals work are IT, construction, engineering, health, telecommunications, and manufacturing. This occupation is not regulated in Alberta, and one would typically require a diploma or bachelor’s degree, in addition to extensive work experience in the industry. If you are an internationally educated project management professional looking for a job, we can help you. Call the Directions for Immigrants office to book an appointment with a career coach at 403-770-5155.

Career coaching tip - Is your resume misleading? By Darlene Baker

Resume’s are often our first introductory tool, and by extension, our first opportunity to put our best foot forward to potential employers by showcasing our education, skills, and experience. The functional value of a resume is amplified even more for immigrants who are desperate to find employment in a market that doesn’t know who they are, what they have to offer, or even if their education and experience is on par with the Canadian standard. The majority of immigrants arrive in Canada with their families and limited finances, which when exchanged to the Canadian dollar doesn’t take them very far. Faced with all these challenges and a sluggish economy, writing up a misleading resume with inflated details becomes very tempting indeed. Unfortunately, misrepresentations are discovered at one time or another (mostly during interviews of the first few weeks in a new job), and even the most innocent misrepresentation/oversight can be interpreted in a negative light, depending on the circumstances.

Questions to ask yourself while writing up your resume:

1. Can I provide credible information/proof to support my claims?

2. Can I demonstrate my claims in the work environment?

3. Do I have any concerns about someone refuting my claims?

4. Can I risk the misrepresentation?

5. What are the possible consequences of misrepresenting myself?

Remember, the coaches at Directions are here to assist clients with their resumes. If you have any doubts, err on the side of caution, or get input from your coach. No job is worth the risk of damaging your reputation and credibility, especially when you are a newcomer trying to establish your career and your life.

10 Reasons why we at Directions celebrate the fall

1. It’s a good time to update your resume and LinkedIn profile.

2. This is the time of year when organizations have typically completed their labour forecasts for the next few months, and recruitment efforts are ramped up to fill roles, resulting in an increase in job vacancies.

3. The summer holidays are over, and with most people being back at work, recruitment turn-around times are shorter than they have been in months.

4. Pumpkin spice everything, everywhere! Speciality coffees, muffins, tarts, cookies, casseroles…….

5. There is a significant increase in all kinds of professional events, ranging from networking events, career and job fairs, hiring events, professional association events, and many more. Be sure to check into Eventbrite on a regular basis so you don’t miss out on anything. www.eventbrite.ca

6. The weather is still really good for getting around to all sorts to professional events, and the trees turning colour is a sight to behold.

7. HALLOWEEN! Calgary has a number of Halloween events around the city, and if you have a sweet tooth, Halloween offers the perfect excuse to enjoy lots of candy! Happy Trick or Treating!

8. The fall is a great opportunity for newcomers who arrived after the winter to meet other professionals and practice their networking and informational interviewing skills.

9. With no more summertime distractions, why not improve your skills and register to take a course or program with one of Alberta’s many post-secondary institutions?

10. Thanksgiving is a fall holiday, providing the opportunity for us all to reflect on everything we have to be grateful for, and spend time with the people we care about, doing things that matter.

Bill 11: Fair Registration Practices Act

Since our last newsletter, there has been some exciting news for internationally educated Albertans who intend to become licensed professionals in Canada. The Government of Alberta announced the proposed Fair Registration Practices Act in June 2019 which aims to speed up the accreditation process of professional newcomers to Alberta by cutting red tape and reducing barriers faced during the process.

You can read more about these changes on the Government of Alberta website.

2019