Inaugural ISANS Employer Forum attracts interest from diverse industries
By ISANS
The Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANS) held its first annual Employer Forum, attracting over 80 participants from various sectors across the province. The whole day of learning and collaboration event sold out quickly and focused on connecting employers with resources for hiring immigrant talent.
Employers were able to cover areas such as ISANS services for employers, federal and provincial immigration paths, success stories, networking, and cross-learning opportunities to learn more about foreign employees.
The forum, funded by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), confirmed that Nova Scotian employers are eager to access additional resources to help them fill the gaps in their workforce. Many expressed a desire to improve the sharing of information on how they can diversify their teams and increase intercultural competency.
“I’ve been doing these types of events across the province for the past several years on a smaller scale,” says Clifford MacDonald, ISANS’ Onboarding Employer Engager for Mainland Nova Scotia. “So, the idea with this event was to do it on a larger scale.”
Employers certainly responded to the idea, with all tickets for the event disappearing within hours of being offered. Christine Wall, Supervisor of Business and Workforce Integration, says she believes the response is due to Nova Scotia’s changing economic landscape.
“Immigration has become such an important topic, and labour shortages are very front and centre,” she says. “This event has shown us there’s a real need for ISANS to be at the centre of connecting employers and immigrants. We already have good communications with employers and can be the go between for them and immigrant talent, helping employers find them, train them, and retain them.”
MacDonald says that having both levels of government, the federal government through IRCC and the province via the Immigration and Population Growth Branch of the Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration, contributed to making the event attractive to employers.
“Having the IRCC and the provincial government there gave employers the opportunity to learn more about the formal immigration processes. There has never been a time when immigration has been more important to employers,” MacDonald says.
An exit survey of attendees found 91 per cent of respondents rated the overall experience of the Employer Forum as very good or excellent. More than half indicated they will likely attend a future Employer Forum.
This response has prompted ISANS to make the Employer Forum an annual event, and are currently planning smaller, supporting events that will lead up to the entire Forum’s return in 2025. Feedback from attendees is being incorporated into the planning to make the event more responsive to employer needs.
“Employers are looking for more themes and action items,” says Christine Alvarez, Manager of Business and Workforce Integration. “So, we’re looking at roundtables, more input from the province, highlighting other partners, and focuses on other services.”
Industry sectors represented at the event include financial services, engineering and environmental consulting, technology, nonprofits, education, government /public service, construction, service sector, insurance, retail, oil and energy, ship services, health, food, banking, aesthetics, and more.
Employers looking for additional information on the Employer Forum or with ideas for shaping future versions of this event are encouraged to contact Clifford MacDonald, ISANS’ Onboarding Employer Engager for Mainland Nova Scotia, at cbmacdonald@isans.ca or call 902-406-8694.
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Additional quotes from attendees
“There are several services available through ISANS that we were not aware of that could be beneficial for us when hiring immigrants.”
“I enjoyed learning how other employers use certain services that we use less or have not been using.”
“For the first one, the event was great, and the speakers were very knowledgeable and passionate about their work.”
“I learned a lot about the programming offered by ISANS and enjoyed learning from federal and provincial representatives about the different immigration stream processes and qualifications. I think the event has a lot of promise as an annual event and was a great first step. Immigration is a large, multifaceted challenge at times, and it is great to have a resource like ISANS within the community.”
“Enjoyed learning about new programs offered and getting direct input from IRCC Officer and Provincial Program Officer. Very helpful information.”
“Learnt about two programs I was unaware of that may be a good fit for our organization.”
