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Nova Scotia offers immigrants with permanent residence status many opportunities to build out the workplace experience portions of their resumes.

The Department of Labour and Advanced Education offers several programs, including START, which provides incentives to small- and medium-sized employers to hire individuals requiring work experience. Another, One Journey Work and Learn, provides a pathway for unemployed or underemployed individuals to develop skills leading to employment that will meet industry labour shortages.

The department also works in partnership with regulatory bodies, industry associations, training providers, and employers to provide language training and other assistance to help immigrants meet many of the requirements needed for credential recognition.

“We are working with regulatory bodies and other stakeholders to ensure the assessment of international qualifications process is fair, transparent, timely,” said department spokesperson Chrissy Matheson.

The Nova Scotia Office of Immigration (NSOI) also provides funding for a number of programs specifically for immigrants. In early January, the department started a pilot project with the Construction Association of Nova Scotia that requires contractors bidding on provincially funded participate in the province’s apprenticeship program.

“This program recognizes employers that are actively hiring apprentices, and will hopefully inspire other employers to do the same,” said Rene Cox, vice-president at Bird Construction. “Hiring and training apprentices is not only good for the province, it’s good for business.”

Another option is NSOI’s skilled worker stream of the Nova Scotia Nominee Program. It helps employers recruit foreign workers and recent international graduates whose skills are needed in Nova Scotia.

Visit novascotiaimmigration.com/move-here.

Ryan Van Horne

Ryan is a native of Ontario who grew up in Quebec. His eastward migration stopped 26 years ago when he settled in Halifax—a city he loves discovering and writing about.