Welcome to the March edition of Thinkr. In this edition, you'll find:

Relocation and Immigration news
Upcoming events
Guest editorial

We're going bi-monthly! We have so much to share that we'll try giving you the information in smaller, more frequent doses. Let us know what you think!

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Think About it

Improvements to the Foreign Worker Program

CIC announced several changes to the hiring of foreign workers. Most relevant to employers include concurrent processing for labour market opinions and work permits, extended duration of labour market opinions for occupations requiring lower levels of training (NOC C and D levels), and on-line labour market opinion applications. More information in the news release and exact process details to be revealed.

NEXUS Program extends to Pearson International Airport

NEXUS self-service kiosks are now open at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, making it the second airport with this capability (the program has been running successfully in Vancouver). The NEXUS program allows NEXUS pass holder to bypass the regular CBSA lines at the airport and use the self-service kiosk instead.

Canadian Consulate in St. Petersburg, Russia is closing

The Canadian Consulate in St. Petersburg will close as of March 31, 2007. All future applications should be made to the Canadian Embassy in Moscow.

US Visa Policy: overly restrictive on foreign visitors

The U.S. visa policy has been keeping away terrorist and keeping away tourists, business travellers, students, and workers. It's just less hassle to go somewhere else. The politicians are starting to catch on and are making plans to change that trend.

The Global Talent Search: Tips to Attract and Retain

In this article, we explore ways to attract foreign talent to your company, provide tips for closing the deal, and offer suggestions for ensuring they get off to a good start. The retention process begins well before the candidate arrives in Canada and involves providing plenty of support and information.

Global Human Resources Strategy

This academic article offers an introduction to human resources from a global perspective. Topics include gaining acceptance as a business partner, recruitment, mergers & acquisitions, compensation & benefits, and global ethical standards. When HR strategy goes to the global level, the playing field is familiar, but the complexities and intricacies are not.

Canadian Leaders at the helm of global companies

Canadians are valued for their business smarts and their cultural sensitivity and this makes them sought-after as executives of global companies. See the list of top Canadians and the companies they run in the article.

Skills Shortage Study

The federation examines the skills shortage and provides idea on how best to respond. The study explores the labour difficulties felt by small businesses, provides background information on the immigration system. While immigration is one solution to the skills shortage issue, there may be others as well. The study also offers excellent ideas on how to improve the temporary foreign worker and permanent resident programs to better align them with real business needs.

Report: Skills shortages in BC and Initiatives to address them

The Ministry examines the current and projected skills needs in BC and provides a list of provincial programs aimed at addressing these issues in the long-term. The report also suggest some HR strategies to help companies develop these skills internally.

Indian professionals increasingly popular in Europe

This article looks at the increasing number of Indians working in Europe and some of the legislation that is making it so attractive.

Lists

More interesting lists for those involved in recruitment and relocation:

100 Best Companies to Work for
Source: Fortune

25 Top Jobs for 2005 - 2009
Source: Fastcompany

Top Jobs for 2007
Source: Fastcompany

We're big thinkers and big believers in giving back to our great community. One of our favourite charities is Dress for Success, where we donate our most precious resource - Time. Dress for Success helps low-income women on the road to self-sufficiency by providing (free) interview clothing, job retention programs, and a supportive network.

Dress for Success' annual fundraising event, the Impact Event is a great way to support the organization, eat, drink, mingle, and maybe even score yourself a few trips or trinkets at the silent and live auctions.

Think Ahead

Back to Basics: Canadian Immigration (Victoria)

Our popular Immigration Basics package is coming to Victoria. We'll unravel the intricacies of Canadian Immigration for HR Professionals hoping to bring this function in-house or for those wanting to effectively project manage external counsel.  Our Immigration Basics workshop has been designed to cover the theoretical and the practical.  The package includes the workshop, an essential referene guide, follow-up consulting time, and a light breakfast.   Many thanks to Aspreva Pharmaceuticals for hosting us!

The New Reality: Where will you find your next employee?

This symposium will take you through the global hiring cycle from global sourcing and recruitment to immigration, relocation and adjustment issues. Presenters include industry experts from recruitment, the provincial government, and relocation consulting (including Think Relocation Consulting). Light breakfast and lunch is included in the registration fee.

Conference 2007: Building Business Results - the People Equation

The annual HRMA Confernence will be held in Vancouver this year. The keynote and seminar line-up is varied and looks like it'll be an interesting conference. Always a great way to get the latest information and catch-up with BC's HR community.

You can always find the latest Events on our website.

Introducing fresh perspectives to Thinkr: to gain more insights into various issues affecting our world, we've sought out experts to be guest newsletter contributors. This month is our inaugural guest contribution and we're pleased to welcome Tracie Moser of the Moser Performance Group to Thinkr!

To view past editions of Thinkr, visit our archive.

Think Tank

Career Management

Opportunities for career development in employee surveys and exit interviews is one of if not the top retention issue in business today. Based on my experience, this is an issue because most employees are not equipped with thecareer management skills necessary to bring about career development recognize the growth they already are experiencing understand that it is their responsibility to manage their career; and finally do not know what truly motivates them. Supervisors are hesitant to discuss career development because they are often uncertain how to deal with employees who want a promotion when no positions exist or understand how to position growth opportunities. There are solutions and they are simpler than you think!  

One way to change the perceptions of career growth is to change the perception of the annual performance goal setting process. Performance goals are often missed opportunities to have a discussion for career growth. Many performance goals offer employees chances to increase their depth of expertise in their chosen field or are creating career breadth, expanding their scope of expertise. With this understanding between employees and supervisors, the performance planning discussion can also be a career development one. 

About Tracie:
Tracie Moser helps organizations become more career management friendly, and has led Career Management workshops with employees and supervisors at Ballard Power Systems, Teligence Communications and Radical Entertainment. As a coach, she helps leaders at all levels reach their career aspirations. Tracie Moser can be reached at mpg@traciemoser.com or 604-736-3589 or on the web.