Skills for Change

Celebrating 20 years of service excellence
to New Canadians

SfCeNews
August 30, 2003
Volume 4  Issue 08

Skills for Change (SfC) is a non-profit agency based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Our mandate is to provide learning and training opportunities for immigrants and refugees so that they can participate in the workplace and wider community.

In this edition...

New Pioneers Awards
success@skillsforchange

Donate to our Flea Market
ICAO Sponsors Information Sessions for Accountants
Information Session for Teachers
Information Sessions for IT Professionals
Programs and Services Updates

2004 New Pioneers Awards
Thursday, March 25, 2004

Nomination deadline is
Wednesday, October 8, 2003

Nominate a friend, client, volunteer, employee, employer, student or teacher for the 2004 New Pioneers Awards and honour him/her for his/her achievements in Canada.

The New Pioneers Awards recognize the achievements of immigrants
and refugees in six award categories:

Arts
Community Service
Entrepreneurship
Science and Technology
Youth
Skills for Change Graduate

The 2004 New Pioneers Awards will be held on
Thursday, March 25, 2004
at the Westin Harbour Castle, Toronto.

If you are interested in sponsorships call Karobi Ray
at 416-658-3101 ext. 231

Click here for more information
 

 

Rafael Mateos writes: "Don’t let employment barriers get you down. As long as you have the determination, you will find a way to succeed. Entrepreneurship is another way of becoming gainfully employed in Canada. As an internationally-trained accountant I did a work search program at Skills for Change and had the benefit of working with a mentor who provided me with information about my profession in Canada. As a result I had a few job interviews that I thought would have resulted in employment. This did not happen and so I decided to explore other options. Since the rent and living expenses had to be paid, I started to look for new opportunities and that is how I decided to start my own business. It had to be something easy to handle and have minimum risk. I did some research and decided to set up a small retail store. Of course this required investment and a long-term commitment, but I still think it was the right moment to do it. Now I am my own accountant!"

More success stories here...
 

Donate to our Flea Market Our 3rd annual flea market will be held Wednesday, October 15, 2003 at Skills for Change. All proceeds go to the United Way of Greater Toronto.

Donations of books, electronics, CD's, small furniture, adult and children's clothing, toys, crafts, kitchen items, tools, and other attic treasures are especially welcomed.

If you are interested in making a donation to this event, please call 416 658-3101 ext. 208 for more information.
 

Information Session for Teachers

Skills for Change and the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT) has been collaborating over the years in delivering information to teachers trained outside Canada to assist them in their entry to the teaching profession.

At an Information Session held August 26, guest OCT presenter, Cathy Ansett, explained the registration process in detail and the role of the College vis-à-vis the teaching profession and the public school system. Cathy Lofgreen, also from the OCT, gave the same presentation in July of this year.

In attendance were over 50 internationally-trained teachers who recently arrived in Ontario. One attendee arrived 3 weeks ago.

Gener Pagkanlungan, Coordinator of Marketing and TechSkills Unit of SfC discussed the labour market outlook, employment opportunities for teachers in Ontario, upgrading courses for those teachers who want to explore more avenues of the teaching field and job searching.
 

Check out what's new at

ONIP.online INVOLVES THE COMMUNITY
Skills for Change has received funding from the Office of Learning Technologies to research the feasibility of providing online employment services to international professionals in remote and Northern communities. The project is an extension of ONIP.online and will be carried out in partnership with D.O.O.R.S. to New Life Refugee Centre, Thunder Bay, and Pathways Skills Development and Placement Centre, London, Ontario

CALENDAR OF ONLINE EVENTS
Starting in September, ONIP.online will add monthly workshops for internationally-trained professionals to its spectrum of services. Here is our calendar for September and October.

Workshops for Internationally-trained Professionals
• “Online Resources for Internationally-trained Professionals”, presented by Elga Nikolova, ONIP.online. Friday, Sept. 12, 10:30 am - noon.
• “How to Google - advanced Internet research skills”, presented by Dora Rabinovich, ONIP.online. October, exact date to be announced

Workshops for Service Providers
• “Online Resources for Internationally-trained Professionals”, presented by Elga Nikolova, ONIP.online. Friday, Sept. 19, 10:30 am - noon.
• “Providing Job Search and Career Planning Support to Internationally-trained Nurses”, presented by Carmen Hust, Coordinator, Bridging Program for Internationally Trained Nurses, Algonquin College. Friday, Oct 10, 10:30 am – noon

All workshops require pre-registration. To register and get login instructions, send an e-mail to Elga Nikolova at coordinator@onip.ca 

MENTORS FOR YOUR CLIENTS
Our online mentoring program has started. We have available mentors in Civil Eengineering, Accounting and Quality Assurance. To learn about benefits of mentoring and how to refer clients, go to http://www.onip.ca/mentoring.php

OUR VOLUNTEER TEAM IS GROWING
Warm welcome to the three new volunteers who have joined our team: Bambrah Gurmeet, Coordinator, Council for Access to Professional Engineering; Carmen Hust, Coordinator, Bridging Program for Internationally Trained Nurses, Algonquin College; David Ditchfield, Coordinator of Continuing Teacher Education Course Development Faculty of Education at Queens University.

What about you? If you are an employment or career counsellor, LINC instructor, specialist in outreach, marketing and promotion, and you are looking for new professional challenges, check our volunteer opportunities (http://www.onip.ca/sp_involved.php) and send us an e-mail at coordinator@onip.ca 
 

ONIP.online is a project of Skills for Change,
funded by Volunteer@ction.online
and the Ontario Trillium Foundation

To register, call 416 658-3101 ext. 218

Download application form in pdf format
 

Nervous about that upcoming interview? Not sure where to get help on interview skills? Then read this month's E-news with great tips and information on resources that can help you succeed in the interview and help you get that next job.

Acronym Soup

Confused? Don't be. Here's a list of our agency acronyms, what they mean and (where applicable) a link to the program web page.
 

CES	Clerical Employment Services
CIS	Cultural Interpreting Service
EAS	Employment Assistance Services
EPRS	Employment for Retail Services
ERC	Employment Resource Centre
FOAP	Finance & Office Assistant Program
IAT	Intake, Assessment and Training
JSC	Job Search Centre
JSW	Job Search Workshop
LINC	Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada
ONIP	Ontario Network for Internationally-training Professionals Online
NPA	New Pioneers Awards
STIC	Sector Terminology Information & Counselling

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