To that end, Goldsmith and her colleagues partnered with the Immigrant Sector Council of Calgary to establish the Immigrant Employment Partnership Project. The project’s mandate is to “promote employment for newcomers and other immigrant stakeholders in Calgary, and to educate these groups about the careers available with The City of Calgary,” says Goldsmith.

One-stop shop for skilled immigrants

The project has been an outstanding success. This is partly due to the emphasis on employment forums — a “one-stop shop” for new Canadian professionals interested in a career with the City.

Typically, each forum features direct interaction with City of Calgary hiring managers. The forum begins with a general presentation on the recruitment process, followed by individual hiring managers presenting information on how their profession is practiced within the municipality. During these programs, the managers discuss what types of jobs are available, as well as what qualifications and qualities they’re looking for.

Finally, the managers sit down one-on-one with the immigrants, who will get a chance to ask questions. “This is valued as one of the best parts of the forum,” says Goldsmith.

She cites the work of the Immigrant Sector Council of Calgary in helping to co-ordinate the agencies to work with the City at these forums. “We always make sure to keep a balanced focus on our partners in the immigrant employment and settlement sector,” she says.

Employer forums on the horizon

In the past, the forums have focused on the immigrant professionals and immigrant employment counselors. Looking ahead, the partnership hopes to also focus on employers.

An “employer forum,” says Goldsmith, would share the model of the Immigrant Employment Partnership and highlight the importance of:

• Working as a partner: sharing the leadership and training responsibilities between the employer and the immigrant-serving agencies.
• Sharing expertise: gaining essential knowledge from immigrant-serving agencies about interviewing immigrants and analyzing their résumés.
• Being creative: participating in career fairs targeting immigrants and reducing barriers in electronic recruitment.

“Partnership is such a viable model because of the learning opportunities,” says Goldsmith. “Peer-to-peer and cross-sector learning has opened so many doors for the City as an employer. Our hiring processes have been greatly improved because of our partnerships.”

The upside to this multifaceted approach to immigrant recruitment has been an overall improvement in human resources services at the City of Calgary. The City now has International Qualifications Assessment Services guides available online, which allows both HR and hiring managers to quickly check international credentials.

“At present, there is a much higher internal awareness of how international credentials factor into the hiring process,” says Goldsmith. “Before this information was provided on our intranet, résumés with such credentials might have been screened out.”

The City of Calgary has more than 14,000 employees.

W.K. Buckley Ltd: This company was started back in 1920 by William Buckley, originally from Nova Scotia but then of Toronto. During the flu epidemic of 1918 he was working as a pharmacists and invented a cough remedy he called Buckley’s Mixture. Today we see advertisements on TV promoting this still popular mixture with the slogan, “It tastes awful and it works!” The Buckley’s brand was purchased by Swiss-based Novartis in 2002.

Harvey’s: This hamburger chain is the second-largest restaurant chain in Canada. The first location opened in Toronto in 1959 and has since become a very successful franchise. They are famous for the slogan “Harvey’s makes your hamburger a beautiful thing.”

Bick’s Pickles: This company started in Scarborough, Ontario in the last 1940’s by the Bick family who emigrated to Canada from Holland. At the beginning they packed around 60,000 jars per year. By 1960 this had increased to 12 million jars. The company was sold to Kaft Foods Canada in 1966 and has since been acquired by Smuckers who closed the Ontario facilities down in 2010 and will now produce products in the United States.

Maple Leaf Foods: This company first started trading in 1927 as Canada Packers. After several mergers it became the largest food processor in Canada for over sixty years. In the 1960’s the company was purchased by Hillsdown Holdings a British company who subsequently closed down many of the slaughterhouses then merged the company with Maple Leaf Mills. This led to the renaming of the company to Maple Leaf Foods. In 2003 Schneider Foods purchased the company.

Elizabeth Arden Inc: This famous cosmetics company was started by Canadian Florence Nightingale Graham who moved to New York in 1908 from Woodbridge, Ontario. She worked at a beauty parlor and learnt the art of beauty. She went into business with Elizabeth Hubbard opening a salon in Fifth Avenue at which point she changed her name to Elizabeth Arden. She went on to concoct several beauty products and the rest as they say is history. She died in 1966 in her late 80’s worth approximately $40 million.

Maclean’s Magazine: John Bayne Maclean, a Toronto journalist founded the company  in 1905. He was born in Crieff, Ontario in 1862 and moved to Toronto  to complete his education. By the time he had started Macleans he had several successful publications under his belt such as Canadian Grocer and Druggist’s Weekly. The publication is now owned by Rogers Communications.

McCain Foods Ltd: This world famous company first opened its doors in New Brunswick in 1957. Started by four McCain brothers it is the largest producer of french fries in the world. Now in 12 countries the company sell to more than 110 and accounts for two-thirds of the world’s french fries and frozen food product sales.

Research in Motion Ltd: This company was founded in Waterloo, Ontario in 1984 and is famous for its Blackberry mobile devices which have been in production for just over ten years.

Lululemon Athletics Inc: This company began in 1998 and opened its first store in Vancouver, BC. They sell yoga-inspired athletic apparel. Since opening they have grown in size and now have stores all over Canada and the United States. The brand is now part owned by US company Advent International.

Labatt Brewing Company Ltd: This Canadian company was founded by John Kinder Labatt in London, Ontario back in 1847. They are the largest brewer in Canada. In 1995 Interbrew of Belgium purchased the company. Labatt USA was sold in 2009 and is now completely independent of the Canadian arm.

Bombardier Inc: Joseph-Armand Bombardier founded Bombardier in 1942 in Quebec. He is the inventor of the snowmobile and these vehicles were the first things produced by the company. Since then the company had grown and is now a market leader in the aerospace, rail and financial industries.

La Senza Corporation: LaSenza is now an international brand selling women’s lingerie and intimate apparel. They are based in Dorval Quebec and now have over 300 stores across Canada. They are also widely known in Europe and are owned by Limited Brands who also own the brand Victoria’s Secret.