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JOBS FOR WORKERS OF THE WORLD By Bernard Simon in Toronto Friday, March 21, 2008 StefanAtton would have been happy just to get a job as a truck driver when he sat down for an interview at Toronto's Steam Whistle Brewery in 2002. By the time the interview was over and his references checked, he had an offer to become the craft brewer's marketing director.Legions of skilled immigrants, especially from the developing world, can relate to Mr Atton's story.Before leaving his native Sri Lanka, he was the export development manager for Lion Brewery Ceylon, the country's leading brewer. He had previously managed its flagship brand. Yet for five months after arriving in Canada attempts to find a similar job came to naught. “The main hurdle was that they said I didn't have local experience,” Mr Atton says. He was working as a telemarketer when he applied for the truck driving job. The brewer is one of a growing number of Canadian companies that have bridged the misunderstanding, ignorance and sometimes prejudice that often separates immigrants searching for a job commensurate with their qualifications from employers in need of those very skills.The barriers can be high on both sides. Immigrants struggle with differences in language and culture, and a dearth of contacts outside their own communities. Desperate for any job, they play down qualifications and experience in their applications. For their part, employers are wary of taking a risk on applicants with unfamiliar credentials. As in Mr Atton's case, many reject anyone without local experience.[FONT=宋体]“[/FONT]There's a rich literature on women in the workplace, there's a growing literature on visible minorities in the workplace, but there is no literature on immigrants in the workplace,” says Elizabeth McIsaac, executive director of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council, a non-profit group set up in 2003 to find ways of matching supply and demand.Canada's biggest city is an ideal test tube in which to observe the absorption of immigrants into the workforce. About 115,000 arrive in Toronto and its suburbs each year. According to the latest Statistics Canada census, 45.7 per cent of the city's population was born outside Canada, making it the world's most culturally diverse city. There are big Chinese, Indian, Somali, Ukrainian, Italian, Filipino, Chilean and Jamaican communities, to name but a few.[FONT=宋体]“[/FONT]All the labour force growth is coming from immigration,” says David Pecaut, the US-born founder of Boston Consulting's Canadian practice and chairman of the Toronto City Summit Alliance, a coalition of civic leaders. He says employers could do more to make the most of the immigrant expertise that is available by reviewing hiring policies, informing immigrant settlement agencies about careers fairs, and educating their organisations about the economic value of diversity that derives from language skills and contacts in new markets. Steam Whistle has become a kind of microcosm of the city. About a third of its 100 employees are immigrants. The chief financial officer, Adrian Joseph, is another Lion Brewery alumnus. The company also employs a Czech brewmaster, Cuban head of quality control, Russian head of maintenance, Portuguese packaging supervisor and Scottish electrical engineer.The eight-year-old brewer's appetite for recruiting immigrants began when it struggled to compete for staff. “If you look at the best local talent in the field, it is usually taken by the biggest companies,” says Cam Heaps, Steam Whistle's 33-year-old co-founder. Ms McIsaac draws another distinction between big and small employers. The former ? banks, insurance companies and government departments among others ? usually understand adapting human resource policies and practices, she says. Triec's financial backers include Toronto-Dominion Bank and Manulife Financial, two of Canada's biggest financial institutions, a private foundation and an Ontario government agency. Triec's chairman is Dominic D'Alessandro, Manulife's Italian-born chief executive.But smaller companies, says Ms McIsaac, “don't have the capacity to engage in public policy discussions. They need solutions that are going to take off quickly, easily and without red tape.”Triec has set up an internship programme, Career Bridge, dealing in four to 12-month stints. It offers skilled immigrants a path into the jobs market while enabling employers to assess them at low cost with no long-term commitment.Ms McIsaac says 85 per cent of the 600 interns placed so far have found full-time work in or close to their specialisms. Triec also organises a four-month mentoring scheme for professional immigrants. Volunteer mentors are expected to spend 60-90 minutes a week helping newcomers on work culture, contacts, writing applications and learning about professional associations. About 2,600 matches have been made so far. Microsoft, Pepsi-Cola, KPMG and Toronto City Council are among 50 employers that have encouraged staff to participate.Mr Pecaut says advice from a young colleague at Boston Consulting helped a 40-year-old Indian marketing specialist land a job at a rival consultancy at more than double the mentor's salary. Mentors also play a valuable role by encouraging colleagues to rethink attitudes towards immigrants. But success in matching immigrants to jobs requires compromise on both sides. Some professional bodies, such as those regulating doctors, lawyers and architects, have been reluctant to open their doors to foreigners partly, outsiders suspect, to keep a lid on supply and prevent fee-cutting. The Ontario government has told them to come up with plans to streamline membership applications.At Steam Whistle, the brewery has found that there are cultural differences, such as how staff interact with each other, to overcome but Mr Heaps has no regrets about hiring people from diverse backgrounds with little or no Canadian experience. “There's a fire burning inside them to prove themselves,” he says. Steam Whistle's Czech brewmaster asked for a bedroom at the brewery. The company has reached the stage, Mr Heaps says, where “we value international experience as much as local experience. You have got to get away from the [idea] that Canadian experience is the most important thing. That's bull-shit. It's a global economy.”[FONT=宋体]加拿大：全球职场大熔炉[/FONT][FONT=宋体]作者：英国《金融时报》伯纳德•西蒙[/FONT](Bernard Simon) 2002[FONT=宋体]年，斯特凡•阿东[/FONT](Stefan Atton)[FONT=宋体]坐下来接受多伦多[/FONT]Steam Whistle Brewery[FONT=宋体]的面试。当时，只要能得到一份卡车司机的工作，他就会很开心。核查完他的推荐信后，这家手工酿酒厂在面试结束的时候给了他一份营销总监的工作。[/FONT][FONT=宋体]大批技术移民，特别是来自发展中国家的技术移民，都能与阿东的经历发生共鸣。[/FONT][FONT=宋体]在离开祖国斯里兰卡前，阿东在本国领先的雄狮酿酒公司[/FONT](Lion Brewery Ceylon)[FONT=宋体]当出口开发部门经理。他曾管理过该公司的旗舰品牌。然而，在抵达加拿大之后的[/FONT]5[FONT=宋体]个月，他试图找到类似工作的努力均告徒劳。阿东说：“主要的障碍在于，他们说我没有本地经验。”他申请卡车司机职位的时候，正在干电话推销员的工作。[/FONT][FONT=宋体]误解、无知、有时还有偏见，隔开了那些寻求与自身资历相符工作的移民，以及恰好需要这些技能的雇主。但越来越多的加拿大企业跨越了这些障碍，[/FONT]Steam Whistle Brewery[FONT=宋体]就是其中之一。[/FONT][FONT=宋体]双方的障碍可能都很大。移民要克服语言和文化差异，他们与自身社区以外的接触很少。他们迫切想要得到工作，因此在申请时他们往往会贬低自己的资历和经验，降格以求。[/FONT][FONT=宋体]从雇主的角度来说，他们不愿冒险录用持有不熟悉的学历文件的申请人。就像阿东的经历一样，许多雇主会拒绝任何没有本土经验的人。[/FONT][FONT=宋体]多伦多移民就业委员会[/FONT](Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council)[FONT=宋体]执行理事伊丽莎白•麦克伊萨克[/FONT](Elizabeth McIsaac)[FONT=宋体]表示：“有关职场女性的研究文献很多，有关职场中少数族裔的文献也越来越多，但没有关于职场中移民的研究文献。”该委员会成立于[/FONT]2003[FONT=宋体]年，是一家非盈利性组织，宗旨是实现劳资双方的供需平衡。[/FONT][FONT=宋体]作为加拿大最大的城市，多伦多是观察劳动力吸收移民情况的理想试验场所。每年大约有[/FONT]11.5[FONT=宋体]万人到达多伦多及其郊区。加拿大统计局[/FONT](Statistics Canada)[FONT=宋体]的最新人口调查结果显示，该市[/FONT]45.7%[FONT=宋体]的人口出生在加拿大以外，使其成为全球最为多元化的城市。这里有大型的中国社区、印度社区、索马里社区、乌克兰社区、意大利社区、菲律宾社区、智利社区和牙买加社区，不一而足。[/FONT][FONT=宋体]戴维•佩科[/FONT](David Pecaut)[FONT=宋体]出生于美国，是波士顿咨询公司[/FONT](Boston Consulting)[FONT=宋体]加拿大业务的创始人，城市领袖联合会――多伦多城市高峰会联盟[/FONT](Toronto City Summit Alliance)[FONT=宋体]的主席。佩科认为，雇主可以采取更多措施，充分利用移民的专业技能，例如：重新审核聘用政策；向移民安置机构通报职场信息；教育自己的相关部门，让它们了解新市场语言能力和人际关系所派生出来的多元化的经济价值。[/FONT]Steam Whistle[FONT=宋体]已成为这个城市的缩影。在它的[/FONT]100[FONT=宋体]名员工中，约有三分之一是移民。公司首席财务官阿德里安•约瑟夫[/FONT](Adrian Joseph)[FONT=宋体]是另一位来自雄狮酿酒公司的员工。该公司还聘请了一位捷克裔酿酒大师，一位古巴裔质监主管，一位俄罗斯裔维修主管，一位葡萄牙裔包装监管员和一位苏格兰裔电气工程师。[/FONT][FONT=宋体]这家成立[/FONT]8[FONT=宋体]年的酿酒公司对招募移民的兴趣，始于它在招聘员工时遇到了困难。公司[/FONT]33[FONT=宋体]岁的联合创办人卡姆•希普斯[/FONT](Cam Heaps)[FONT=宋体]表示：“如果你看一下这个领域最优秀的本地人才，就会发现，通常他们都被那些最大型的公司录用了。”[/FONT][FONT=宋体]麦克伊萨克对大型雇主和小型雇主做了另一种区分。她表示，前一种雇主包括银行、保险公司和政府部门等，它们通常都懂得调整人力资源政策和实践。多伦多移民就业委员会的财政支持者包括加拿大最大的两家金融机构――多伦多道明银行[/FONT](Toronto-Dominion Bank)[FONT=宋体]和宏利金融集团[/FONT](Manulife Financial)[FONT=宋体]，一家私人基金会，以及安大略省的一家政府机构。该委员会主席是宏利金融首席执行官、出生于意大利的多米尼克•达勒桑德鲁[/FONT](Dominic D'Alessandro)[FONT=宋体]。[/FONT][FONT=宋体]但麦克伊萨克表示，中小型企业“不具备参与公共政策讨论的能力。它们需要那些能够迅速启动、简便易行、不需要繁琐程序的解决方案。”[/FONT][FONT=宋体]多伦多移民就业委员会已经启动了一项名为“职业桥梁”[/FONT](Career Bridge)[FONT=宋体]的实习计划，为期[/FONT]4[FONT=宋体]到[/FONT]12[FONT=宋体]个月。这项计划给技术移民铺设了一条通向就业市场的道路，同时让雇主可以在不做出长期承诺的情况下以较低的成本聘用这些移民。[/FONT][FONT=宋体]麦克伊萨克表示，在目前已安置的[/FONT]600[FONT=宋体]名实习人员中，有[/FONT]85%[FONT=宋体]的人都已在自己的专业领域或邻近领域找到了全职工作。[/FONT][FONT=宋体]多伦多移民就业委员会还为职业移民者组织了为期[/FONT]4[FONT=宋体]个月的辅导计划。志愿者每周花[/FONT]60[FONT=宋体]到[/FONT]90[FONT=宋体]分钟的时间，为新来者提供工作文化、人际关系、填写申请表以及了解专业协会等方面的指导。到目前为止已经结成了大约[/FONT]2600[FONT=宋体]个对子。在[/FONT]50[FONT=宋体]家鼓励员工参与该项活动的雇主当中，包括微软[/FONT](Microsoft)[FONT=宋体]、百事可乐[/FONT](Pepsi-Cola)[FONT=宋体]、毕马威[/FONT](KPMG)[FONT=宋体]和多伦多市议会[/FONT](Toronto City Council)[FONT=宋体]。[/FONT][FONT=宋体]佩科表示，波士顿咨询公司一位年轻同事的建议，让一位[/FONT]40[FONT=宋体]岁的印度裔营销专家在另一家咨询公司找到了工作，薪水是指导者的两倍多。在鼓励同事重新思考对待移民的态度方面，这些指导者也起到了有益的作用。[/FONT][FONT=宋体]但移民与工作之间的成功匹配，还需要双方的相互让步。一些职业团体，例如医生、律师和建筑师的监管机构，一直不愿意向外来者敞开大门。局外人士猜测，其中的部分原因是为了限制人才供应量，防止降低收费。安大略省政府已经要求这些机构拿出简化成员资格申请的计划。[/FONT]Steam Whistle[FONT=宋体]已经发现需要克服一些文化上的差异，例如员工之间如何互动。但希普斯并不后悔雇用了来自不同背景、只有很少甚至或根本没有加拿大经验的人。他说：“他们心里燃烧着一团火焰。他们想要证明自己。”公司的那位捷克裔酿酒大师就要求在厂里置一间卧室。[/FONT][FONT=宋体]希普斯认为，该公司已经到达了这样一种境界：“我们对国际经验和本地经验同样看重。有人认为加拿大经验才是最重要的。这纯属胡说。你必须摒弃这种观点。现在可是全球化经济了。”[/FONT]

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回复: 加拿大：全球职场大熔炉谈何容易啊。非加拿大的经验，雇主很难验证简历的真假。单凭几个小时的面试能得到的东西非常有限，而且想很好的了解Senior Level被面试人的水平，公司的主管必须非常精通业务才行。这本身就是很高的成本。楼上的例子中，酿酒公司雇一个酿酒师问题不大，老板自身就是半个专家，问问就知道深浅。但是雇一个其他行业的人，比如有海外经验的会计，机械师等，就要承担相当大的风险。

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坛子里有一些喜欢做新移民生意的RESP经纪，大家要小心他们的言行误导。详见拙作http://www.canadameet.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=241498回复: 加拿大：全球职场大熔炉感谢分享！

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