Posted on: 05-11-05 14:23:09
Immigrants deserve better: Bank chief
The president of Canada's largest financial institution and one of the country's biggest employers has called for businesses to do more to attract talented immigrants.
In a major speech delivered to The Greater Halifax Partnership, Gordon Nixon, President and CEO of the RBC Financial Group (Royal Bank), said that in an increasingly competitive and global world, Canada's future depends on not only attracting, but improving how it accepts new immigrants.
"Immigration has historically been critical to Canada’s growth, yet there has seldom been a time in our history when it has been so important," said Nixon. "Our competitive advantage can’t be driven by the resource industry, and is no longer dominated by capital assets like plants, equipment and machinery.
It is being driven by human capital."
With the national birth rate at an historic low, and faced with an aging workforce, Canada is going to have to import talented people to make up the gap, said Nixon.
"We are already facing a skills shortfall in many parts of Canada and in the years ahead, we will be counting on immigration for all of the net growth in our labour force.
"But there’s going to be a global war for talent. Countries like Italy, Spain and Germany are seeing birthrates fall as dramatically as ours, and a workforce going gray as quickly as ours. We’ll be going head-to-head with them for talent, as well as with powerhouses like China and India, who are literally pouring investments into higher education, technology and innovation," added Nixon.
He pointed out that for every one engineer graduating in the United States, there are three graduating in China.
"And many Chinese immigrants are now moving back to China, because they see better opportunities at home than here," he warned.
The Canadian government has set a target of welcoming 300,000 new immigrants each year.
"Our success depends not only on our ability to attract new immigrants, but on providing an environment where new Canadians can maximize their potential. This can be Canada’s competitive advantage, but we have to work harder both to attract and maximize the potential of talented people," said Nixon.
He warned that, historically, Canada does not have the best track record on this score. "A Statistics Canada report found that our most recent immigrants had higher levels of education than people born in Canada. Yet, many more are working in jobs below their level of education and earning less than those born in Canada. And they experience higher unemployment rates. I hope that is going to change," said Nixon.
He criticized employers for overlooking immigrants in their human resource planning and not hiring immigrants at the level at which they were trained.
"Businesses need to pay attention to maximizing the talents of visible minorities and immigrants. This solution will bring untold benefits up and down the prosperity chain…for our businesses, our communities and our country — and it will have a profound human impact as well," he said.
Nixon recounted the story of an immigrant from India, Binoj Daivasahayam.
"Binoj emigrated to Canada from India in April of 2004 with a Bachelor of Commerce and an MBA in his back pocket. He is 34 years old, speaks three languages, and has eight solid years of financial services experience.
"He also brought with him the spirit of an entrepreneur - because Toronto wasn’t his final destination: Halifax was.
"It takes real courage to come to a place where your cultural community isn’t well established. Of the 100 or so Indian families in Halifax, Binoj didn’t know a single soul. But that’s exactly why he chose to come. With fewer immigrants here, he felt there was a greater opportunity to build a future.
The bad news is that education and enthusiasm aren’t always enough.
"In fact, his first job interview was at a grocery store for a cashier’s job, which he lost to another immigrant.
"The store actually did end up hiring him, and while he spent his days working as a stock clerk, he spent his nights working towards his Mutual Funds license."
The story however has a happy ending, said Nixon.
"Binoj had another ace in his pocket: MISA, the Metropolitan Immigrant Settlement Association.
"Within a week of arriving in Halifax, he had already connected with MISA. In fact, MISA helped him find that grocery store job as a quick way for him to get some Canadian experience. But everyone’s end goal was to find a position that tapped his professional training in financial services.
"MISA eventually connected RBC and Binoj. Right away, we knew he was a high-potential candidate, and we hired him as a Personal Financial Service Representative at our Spring Garden Road branch in January.
"I’m happy to say that Binoj has joined us today. I will only embarrass him for a moment by telling you that he’s a tremendous asset in attracting new business to RBC. Clients, especially new Canadians, love to deal with him. He even spends two hours every week with the Nova Scotia Nominee program, helping educate newcomers about how to navigate the banking system in Canada."
Nixon said about 23 per cent of RBC's workforce is currently comprised of visible minorities.
"But that number drops to about ten per cent for our executive management team, and we know we’ve got to do better, so we’re taking action.
"For example, we’ve contracted specialists to evaluate the Canadian equivalents of foreign credentials, so we can make sure we’re not overlooking good prospective employees," he said.
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Orginally posted by Manasvi
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Orginally posted by zCool
so if you are and Indian IT person in early 30s or late 20s.. you would be fool to waste your 1 chance on Canada..
Kindly elaborate - Understanding that u r also in the same field and in Canada , do u feel being in India wud be different - if yes in what manner?
Manasvi.
Dude
If you are in Indian IT with decent salary and unlimited potential.. why should you choose Canada? entire world is open.. Europe, UK, Australia, NZ and ofcourse Big daddy of them all .. US of A.. Why wait 4-5 yrs.. struggle and then maybe make it just enough as higher middle class life in Canada.. ? On the other hand if you are already in Canada.. maybe it will make sense to give it a try .. maybe even stick around for passport.. but ultimately.. in global terms good IT people are in short supply and you have you pick if you plan well.. when you look at it that way.. migrating from India to Canada .. to me isn't the most obvious choice..
In my opinion, even if desis are well settled in india working with MNCs, taking home the fatest pay checks ever are also unsatisfied when they look around and see that everyone is leaving for Canada....RAT RACE
