Gurgaon, India, December 31,2014 /PRNewswire/ --
- Canada Launches Revolutionary Express Entry 'Job-First' Immigration Program
- CanadaJobs2015 Conferences Coming to Bangalore, Hyderabad in January
It's a long way - about 12,000 kilometres - from India to Canada. For some, the journey is even longer.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141231/10113619)
Every year thousands of engineers, project managers, financial analysts, IT experts and other professionals land in Canada with a permanent residence visa and end up trading their desk and computers for the steering wheel of a taxi or a mop and bucket.
That's exactly what happened to Rohail Khan's father, Ahmed Khan, in 1967. After leaving the sub-continent, he and his family first stopped in Great Britain where he was hired as an engineer for Jaguar. Dreaming of a better life, Ahmed got a Canadian visa and headed west to Canada, thinking he'd quickly find another engineering job and send for his wife, two sons and two daughters in a couple of months.
It didn't happen exactly like that. "It took him five years to find an engineering job in Canada," says Rohail. "So he had to drive taxis, clean bathrooms and do whatever survival job he could find to support himself and us back in the UK."
That was 48 long years ago. As you would expect, a lot has changed since then. Sons Rohail and Sohail grew up, were educated in Canada and became very successful businessmen. "But we never forgot the humiliation our father suffered during those early years in Canada," says Rohail.
That's why, in 2005 they developed patent-pending job-matching and career management software and founded Skills International a year later to help immigrants just like their father connect to the right jobs faster. Since then, they've done just that for more than 23,000 professionals from all over the world who arrive in Canada with visas but without jobs. "We don't want another Indian immigrant to take a menial job," says Rohail.
Canadian Government Acts: Express Entry
Then the unexpected happened. Unable to find top professional talent in Canada to fill the jobs that were in demand, in 2013 the Canadian government took decisive action. It created Express Entry, a revolutionary and innovative new immigration reform policy to be launched 1st of January, 2015 that fast-tracks immigration for qualified professionals who have a job offer in hand from a Canadian company.
For the Khan brothers, the timing - and the opportunity - was perfect. "You have to give credit to the Canadian government," Rohail said. "This new policy is a stroke of genius unlike any immigration policy we've ever seen. Sohail and I saw that Skills International could now help professionals living outside of Canada build a detailed career plan and connect to the right first jobs in Canada, while simultaneously still working in their home countries," said Rohail. "Our technology and processes line up perfectly with the new Express Entry policy because it is all about getting the right professionals with the right skills."
CanadaJobs2015 India Conferences
Rohail Khan, a former C-Level global executive with Bank Of America, Wells Fargo, Aon-Hewitt and Xerox, became CEO of the new global entity and set his sights on launching the first geography - India - already the source of some 30,000 Canadian immigrants each year, second only to China. Next will be the Middle East, Malaysia, North Africa, Pakistan, the Philippines, the Ukraine and other key regions with professional-level talent.
"We started in India because our roots are in India," he said. "I've been responsible for hiring more than 20,000 IT and business operations professionals in the Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Chennai and other places, so I know about the high-level of skilled talent here."
Khan assembled a team of talented global executives he worked with at Aon-Hewitt and Xerox and launched a series of CanadaJobs2015 conferences last April. Since then, tens of thousands of professionals have attended more than 55+ conferences in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Chandigarh to learn about Express Entry and Skills International's unique, end-to-end career management solution.
In January, CanadaJobs2015 conferences will be held at five-star hotels in Bangalore on the 10th and 11th and Hyderabad on the 17th and 18th. Qualified professionals can register for the free conferences at www.canadajobs2015.com
Unique Career Management Model for Members
"No provider in India or anywhere else in the world for that matter is doing what we do," says Khan. "We've invested millions of dollars in career management technology and processes that can't be matched. Plus no one has the hundreds of years of combined career management, human resources and delivery experience that exist on our senior leadership and professional support teams.
"Our model is only for serious professionals who have a long-term, outcome-based perspective about their lives and careers. It's about having a strategic career plan that helps you get the right first job in Canada and then continue to build out your career…one that positions you for future financial, professional and lifestyle success," he adds.
Professionals who attend CanadaJobs2015 conferences and pass a resume screening can then apply for consideration to become Platinum Service members of Skills International anytime within a four-to-six week period. New members are quickly assigned a dedicated, Canadian-based career counsellor with 15-20 years experience in the Canadian job market.
Career counsellors guide each member through an eight-to-12 week process that includes a proprietary, intense skills assessment and profile build; Ready4EmploymentTM Certification; and interview training.
Each member works with his dedicated career counsellor to develop career and lifestyle goals prior to job matching in Canada. Members explore where they would like to live and discuss salary expectations, job titles and whether to target specific employers.
"The member does not have to accept a job offer and there's no limit to the number of matches and job interviews," says Khan. "It is good practice for members to go through the process and it's better to have more opportunities than less."
"Members who set broad parameters will match faster than those who focus their goals narrowly," says Khan. "But getting the first right job in Canada is just the first step in our career management model," he says. "For example a 24-year-old engineer came to us after one of our Bangalore conferences and said his goal is to retire at age 40. So after he becomes a member, a lot of the guidance from his career counsellors will be focused on helping him achieve that objective."
Video-Based Interviews
The job-matching process is an intense team effort between the member and his or her dedicated career counsellor. Skills International's system pulls new job openings that fit the member's skill and competency profile. When a match is found, the career counsellor contacts the company and advocates to get an interview for the member. Interviews are done by phone or online except for the most senior roles which may require travel to Canada.
If the member is selected over other candidates, an offer letter comes next. The member and career counsellor then discuss the offer and the member is counselled on the quality of the offer and whether to make a counter-offer.
Once a member accepts a job offer, SI's team attaches the job offer letter to the Express Entry Visa application that's already prepared and the member submits it to the Canadian consulate. Unless the member fails to meet minimum immigration standards, a permanent residency visa under Express Entry is requested and processed. Processing could take from 12 to 26 weeks, after which the member is free to start working in Canada for his new employer.
Relocation, Settlement and Lifetime Career Safety Net
"Our relocation and settlement teams will then take over, helping the member and his family move to Canada, get set up and integrated into Canadian life and culture," says Khan. "At that point our Career Management Safety Net begins. The member's counsellor then continues to check on a member's progress in his or her job and conducts semi-annual career plan progress meetings. In the case of a job loss, a Skills International counsellor revives the job matching process for the next job, all at no extra cost to the member."
Although Khan wouldn't disclose how many professionals have become members "due to competitive reasons", Khan says all have been preparing for the opening of the Express Entry program on January 1.
"We've been matching professionals already in Canada to jobs since 2006, so we have a proven model," Khan says. "Members are offering to help with future conferences and taping testimonial videos for us. We feel good that is a good indication of how happy they are with the service they are receiving," says Khan.
'Dad Would Be Proud'
For the Khan brothers, 1967 was a long time ago. Their father passed away in 2004, but memories of his love, life lessons, legacy and leadership will never be extinguished. And they will never forget what he went through during those first agonizing three years in Canada.
When asked whether he's pleased with Skills International's successes in Canada and India, Rohail paused, and said, "All I can say is my dad would be very proud of what we're doing here…that's all that matters."
About Skills International
Skills InternationalSM is a global company headquartered in Singapore, with offices in Canada (non-profit), India and the United States.
Contact: Martin Kish, +1-8593518420 (US); +91-901-515-5878 (IND) or e-mail: [email protected]
Websites:
Media Contact: Martin Kish, [email protected], +91-901-515-5878 (IND); +1-859-351-8420 (US), Skills International
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