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CANADIAN INDUSTRY ONLINE - APRIL 2014
The Alternative Career Path-
ways initiative will help up to 5,000
newcomers get the training they need
to enter the Canadian workforce by
matching them with training programs
at career colleges so that they can make
use of their existing skills and training
in related and meaningful careers. The
intent of the program is to help them
find the training they need to continue
working in their field and ultimately
get a higher-paying job, contributing
more to the economy.
This program won’t magically al-
low someone to start working as a doc-
tor again immediately. But that foreign
trained lawyer who has to resort to
scrubbing dishes to survive can get the
training he or she needs to start work-
ing as a paralegal or an immigration
consultant in Ontario, both jobs that let
him or her utilize the skills already in
place and keep working in the field for
which he or she has a passion. Many
career college programs are condensed
and offer flexible schedules, which
makes it a much more realistic option
for those who have to keep working
while training for a better career.
The Alternative Career Pathways
initiative provides a third, more ef-
fective option for new Canadians.
Instead of having to choose between
giving up on their passions and giving
up years to go back to school and learn
what they already know, more im-
migrants will have the option to keep
working in their area of expertise and
experience.
For the past four months, Alter-
native Career Pathways coordinators
have been working in Vancouver, Ed-
monton, Toronto, Ottawa and Mon-
treal, creating partnerships between
immigrant serving organizations and
career colleges to help them link new
Canadians with programs offered by
schools in their communities and in
their field of experience.
Previously, a foreign trained ac-
countant in Toronto would likely just
be told that her experience in India
counts for little and she has to start
from scratch. Now, that same accoun-
tant can find out that numerous col-
leges close to her home offer certified
bookkeeper programs that could pro-
vide her with work-ready skills on a
flexible schedule.
An accountant can be trained as
a bookkeeper, an engineer as a tech-
nician, a nurse as a personal support
worker and a teacher as an early child-
care assistant.
Surely it is better to have skilled
new Canadians find ways to continue
working in the field they are already
experienced in rather than telling them
they have no choice but to learn every-
thing over again or give up on their
passions.
While the skills gap, or mismatch,
or whatever you want to call it, has the
potential to limit our economic growth
–
and finding a solution may seem
daunting for governments, employ-
ers, and those seeking work – it is not
insurmountable. Canadians, old and
new, are skilled and well educated.
We just need to get better at making
sure our skills and education match up
with the needs of our economy.
Career colleges have been work-
ing with employers across this country
for over a hundred years, providing
work-ready training that Canadians
workers need and employers de-
mand. We are particularly excited for
the potential the Alternative Career
Pathways initiative has to help new
Canadians keep using the skills and
experience they already have to find a
better job and to help us build a better
Canada.
NACC
