Ukrainians in Canada: workplaces are welcoming, but newcomers are overqualified – National | 24CA News

Viacheslav Samsonenko would want no less than two years of expertise to work as an expert engineer in Canada.

So, like many newcomers, he signed up for a job beneath his {qualifications} and is working exhausting to maneuver up.

Samsonenko, who moved to Canada final May after fleeing the warfare in Ukraine, knew twenty years of labor expertise within the discipline wouldn’t be related in Canada.

But he managed to seek out work in the identical trade inside a month of arriving in Canada.

“I’m glad to be here in Canada (and) do my favourite work,” mentioned Samsonenko, who has been working as an estimator for a British Columbia-based building firm.

He mentioned it wasn’t exhausting discovering a job in his most well-liked trade however it will likely be some time earlier than he turns into an expert civil engineer in Canada — requiring him to write down a sequence of exams and proceed gaining expertise.

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Samsonenko’s state of affairs isn’t distinctive. People working in immigration say newcomers typically wrestle to land significant jobs which are in keeping with their {qualifications} or earlier work expertise.

“It boils down to the lack of Canadian experience (for many employers),” mentioned Darrel Pinto, employment director at Jumpstart Refugee Talent, a refugee-led non-profit group serving to newcomers discover related jobs.

Newcomers typically really feel they get screened out of alternatives, he mentioned. The lack of soppy abilities and cultural integration are among the many largest issues in the case of employers accepting newcomers into professions, he added.

The equivalency of schooling credentials is one other barrier that employers need assistance understanding.

Pinto mentioned employers fail to acknowledge that some international universities “far exceed the quality of graduates than our own Canadian universities.”

“Many newcomers tell me that the United States is far more open and welcoming to their differences compared to the Canadian marketplace, which is a little bit more closed,” he mentioned.

Viktoriia Kulakovska moved to New Brunswick final August after fleeing the warfare that reached her hometown in Odesa, about 475 kilometres south of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

Kulakovska and her husband, each certified as attorneys, have been operating their authorized agency in Ukraine. Soon sufficient, she discovered her regulation diploma was not acknowledged in Canada. Instead, she landed a finance job by way of networking.

She mentioned her husband has been going to English lessons in Fredericton and can also be getting ready for a profession shift. He is contemplating turning into a taxi or truck driver.

She mentioned she sees numerous alternatives to strive new issues in Canada, however acquiring one other regulation diploma won’t be possible for her and her husband.

And that’s the case for a lot of immigrants to Canada.

A report this week from the Royal Bank of Canada signifies that regardless of immigrants being youthful and higher educated, they’ve a more durable time than Canadians discovering jobs that match their {qualifications}.

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However, Pinto mentioned the expertise of Ukrainians coming to Canada after the Russian invasion final yr is totally different from different waves of refugees.

The authorities responded innovatively to the disaster in jap Europe, mentioned Pinto.

“That made it a softer landing for them when they arrived in Canada.”

Faster timelines to course of open work permits underneath a particular program, quicker resettlement providers and elevated help in touchdown jobs in the neighborhood labored nicely for the Ukrainian newcomers, which he mentioned may additionally turn out to be a template for future newcomers from different international locations.

Patrick MacKenzie, CEO of the non-profit Immigration Employment Council of B.C., agreed.

MacKenzie recalled a latest case when a Ukrainian landed a job at a Vancouver bakery earlier than even coming to Canada. “He just needs to get here now.”

“Ukrainians are being welcomed into the workplace, and employers are finding that they’re contributing really quickly,” he mentioned, including the upper degree of Canadians’ consciousness in regards to the warfare in Ukraine may additionally play a job.

“I hope employers will take that lesson and apply it more broadly to all newcomers to Canada so that we can make headway on the underemployment that we see so many immigrants face,” he mentioned.

Since March 2022, the Canadian authorities has acquired greater than 860,000 functions from Ukraine, and near 170,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Canada, the federal government web site exhibits.

But language continues to be the largest barrier, significantly for skilled jobs, mentioned Kael Campbell of Victoria, B.C.-based Red Seal Recruitment Solutions.

Some recruiters, nevertheless, are beginning to problem the Canadian expertise narrative, he mentioned.

“There’s either work experience or there’s not,” Campbell mentioned.

With the newest Ukrainian wave, Campbell mentioned recruiters are working to coach Canadian employers in regards to the alternative the newcomers are bringing to the desk.

“(We’re) encouraging employers to be open to hiring Ukrainians and to sharing the knowledge that they have.”

This story was produced with the monetary help of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.