Welcome to the May edition of Thinkr.

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Interesting nuggets for everyone involved with recruitment and relocation:

Mercer's annual quality of living survey smiles on Vancouver once again. Top cities were Zurich, Geneva, Vienna, and Vancouver (tied for 3rd).

Find out who's got all the money with this list of the country's richest Canadians

Travelocity.ca embarked on some culinary tourism of their own and came up with a list of tasty cities. Canadian stops on the list include Montreal and, of course, Vancouver.

Think About it

Population Growth fuelled by Immigration

StatsCan predicts that by 2030, immigration will be the only source of population growth. With a flat birth rate, Canada will continue to rely on immigrants for growth. This article also mentions other interesting results from the census, including the continuing growth of urban centres and the 10 fastest growing cities in Canada. From this list, the top growing BC cities are Kelowna and Abbotsford.

Hot Jobs - What and where they are in Canada

We've all heard it: unemployment's down and it's a good time to be a job seeker. The West is leading the way, with growth from BC to Saksatchewan. The hot job areas: sales, health care, financial services, IT, and construction.

H-1B visas - All Gone on Day 1

The annual number of H-1B visas are capped by a pre-determined number set by Congress; this year's number was 65,000. After this number is reached, no more are granted until the following year when a new amount is released. All of these 65,000 were gone as of the first day. There were 100,000 left out in the cold as the number of applications far exceeded the number available.

U.S. Immigration Reform

U.S. immigration policy (as demonstrated by the H-1B quota being met almost instantly) isn't allowing the country to capture the well educated foreign students and professionals who want to contribute. The U.S. immigration system is hard to navigate and another hurdle for potential immigrants to overcome after they've already made the emotional investment required to uproot and live in another country.

Illegal immigrants in the U.S.

How to deal with the illegal immigrant population stirs up controversy as no one can agree on how to handle this issue. So far, increased border patrols and the threat of punishing employers who hire illegal immigrants is as far as anyone's managed to get.

Skills Shortage resulting in higher pay for incumbents

A survey by Mercer Human Resources consulting shows that in an effort to retain and build existing staff, companies are paying their current staff more. Mercer says employees are being segmented, with higher pay increases going to top performers or those with critical skills.

Attracting Global Candidates

Global candidates, including expatriates, are an excellent source of talent and an untapped candidate market. Global experience is an asset to a company and this article provides tips on how to find and attract these candidates.

Creating Global Leaders

Building a multinational leadership team provides a company with greater cultural understanding and credibility to better win over global investors, employees, and partners. The risks and rewards can be high and this article provides some advice on how best to implement this approach.

Australia: changes to the living away from home allowance

For companies with expats in Australia, there has been an announcement about food allowances. Maximums that can be paid tax-free to employees (based on family size) are outlined in this bulletin.

We've been busy these last two months and found ourselves learning and sharing all over the place:

We took our Immigration Basics workshop on the road to Beautiful Sunny Victoria! We had a great time meeting this happy group of Islanders.

The sharing continued at the "New Reality: Where will you find your next employee?" symposium, hosted by the MI Group, where we were honoured to present alongside industry experts and government officials on the hot topics of global recruitment, immigration, and relocation.

And in the never-ending need for on-going professional development, we attended two informative CAPIC seminars on topics ranging from recent foreign worker initiatives to permanent resident programs.

Think Ahead

Campus Recruiting Forum

This day-long forum at SFU Business' downtown campus is for professionals involved in campus recruiting. Sessions will explore a variety of issues aimed at attracting and recruiting the talented student population. Think Relocation Consulting will be there to co-present on "Recruiting International Students: Overcoming the Immigration Hurdles".

2007 Cross Border Forum: Back to Business

This year's Cross Border Forum focusses on Investors heading for Canada or the U.S. The U.S. topics include E1, E2, and EB-5. The Canadian Investor Program will also be examined.

Playing in the Global Talent Market: Recruitment and Immigration insights

We'll be on-hand to co-present to the HRTG members on global recruitment and immigration. We'll take a closer look at the nuances that make global recruiting unique from traditional recruiting and explore the resulting immigration implications.

Stay tuned: Summer School returns!
Hosts: Think Relocation Consulting and Global Steps Relocation Consulting
Dates: tba, July and August, 2007

Even though Spring has just arrived, we're already looking ahead to Summer School. This year's summer school offering will once again include our Immigration Basics Workshop and will be expanded to include a new Relocation Basics workshop, too. Be sure you're on our announcement list by e-mailing us.

New on www.thinkr.ca: Testimonials
Read what our clients are saying about
us.

Think Tank

Mind your Manners, at home and abroad

We've become more casual and relaxed at work, at play, and at Sunday dinner. We're no longer as worried about having freshly pressed shirts or concerned about elbows on the table. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't let common courtesy and respect fall to the wayside. In this modern day, this courtesy and respect includes turning off cell phones at the movies, being on time for meetings, and dressing appropriately for the occasion. Yes, of course you're important; and yes, you want to be available, flexible, and exert your own sense of style. But aren't the people around you equally as important? Limit your disruption to others and show them your respect . If you've been practicing those empathy skills, feel free to use them to understand what's courteous in all your social and business situations.

And this applies when you're away from home in another country, too. Courtesy may take on different forms and norms - take the time to learn about them. Not only are you showing your host country respect, but you're also going to have an easier time getting what you want. Cultural understanding begins with simple manners so be a good guest and get started on the right foot.

Turn both you and your cell phonemanners mode, everywhere you travel.

Respectfully yours ,

Marlene
Principal, Think Relocation Consulting

Good Reads:

Business of Touch

This great website provides an animated (have your speakers on) instruction on how to say "How Do you Do?" in 15 different countries.

"Helping Human Resources Sell Intercultural Training Internally "

This article looks at cultural training for employees on expatriate assignments and how to ensure this is valued by the employee and their manager, not just HR.

The Etiquette Advantage in Business

From the Peggy Post Institute, this informative book covers business etiquette in a no-nonsense, common-sense approach. Everything from job search etiquette to cubicle etiquette to office party etiquette is covered.

"Corporate world reminded to mind its manners"

"The art of apology"

"Dressing appropriately for the office party"

"Etiquette lost"

"No elbows on the table, thank you"

"At Table: Guidelines to ensure you won't be a boor at the dinner party"

"Rule no. 1 of cineplex etiquette"