By Heather Brimicombe, The Advocate, November 22, 2017. Employers in Pictou County got the chance to learn more about how to welcome others into their workplace with the help of Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia.
Nova Scotia Works: Career Connections worked over the past three weeks to set up the event that saw an overcapacity turnout to the information sessions.
“It’s a great opportunity to get a blend of everything,” said Heather MacIsaac of Nova Scotia Works. As well as the employers’ information session in the morning, a job fair was held in the afternoon for those seeking employment.
During the information sessions, employers learned what ISANS can do for them if they have an employee who is an immigrant, to make that employee more comfortable. A session on workplace culture also showed how different cultures translate things like body language and how it is important not only to have someone assimilate to the workplace but to be able to assimilate to new people as well.
“This is the first event of its kind for us in rural Nova Scotia,” said Cliff MacDonald of ISANS. The organization is looking to take this model and apply it elsewhere in the province.
“We have a great turnout and we had a lot of registrations very quickly,” he said. MacDonald added that that is a good sign that this information is something of interest to businesses. He said the goal of the event was to have more businesses understand what ISANS offers as well as being able to navigate systems and draw from the immigrant employment pool to help diversify the workplace culture.