2000 SfC in the News: Toronto Star (October)

SfC In The News


October 2000

Agency helps newcomers
adapt for jobs
Training lets professionals ease into work

By Frank Calleja Toronto Star Staff Reporter

For Rajni Gohil and Mitin Handa, the target is clear - find employment in their profession by the end of this year.

Handa, 42, is a chartered accountant, raised in Kenya, educated and trained in England and employed in his field for almost 20 years.

Gohil, 36, also an accountant, was raised and educated in India.

For the past eight years she has worked in her profession, most recently in Dubai for a British shipping company.

Both are recent immigrants. Although qualified, they have no Canadian work experience, so the door to jobs in their fields has stayed shut.

``Canada is now my home, but being foreign-trained has presented some unforeseen problems when it came to applying for a job,'' said Handa, who is married with three children.

``Everywhere I applied, I was asked what Canadian skills I had. Since we just arrived in Canada the first of March, I have none,'' Handa said.

The story is much the same for Gohil, who is married with one child.

``I have the job experience,'' she said, ``but the work environment in Canada and the software packages used here are quite different and unfamiliar to me.''

That's why both are attending a 15-week intensive training program at Skills for Change on St. Clair Ave. W. They will upgrade their professional skills, learn about the Canadian work environment and become familiar with job terminology.

With 15 others in the accounting program, they'll finish their studies Dec. 22. The centre has already lined up job prospects through an agency that places accountants.

``The instruction is excellent, and I'm enjoying the experience very much,'' said Gohil, a North York resident. ``My aim is to start full-time work in January.''

Although familiar with several in-house accounting programs from jobs she held abroad, Gohil said her new training in Excel and AccPac, among others, will help her find a job and adjust to the Canadian work environment.

With $142,513 from the United Way of Greater Toronto, the agency provides skills development and training programs to immigrants who already have a good command of English.

Handa did part-time factory work before, but stopped when he began the training program in September so he could concentrate on studies.

``All of the students are truly dedicated. They come here every day motivated and eager to learn,'' said instructor Valli DiLallo.

``These students want to absorb everything, because they want to get out there in the working world to provide for their families,'' DiLallo said. ``It is a treat to instruct them.''

Skills for Change provides programs in bookkeeping, business writing, communications, computerized accounting, customer service, business, medical reception and other disciplines for people who speak English as a second language. In addition, a mentoring program matches foreign-trained newcomers with Canadian professionals.

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