It’s a strategy that is working for American and European companies.
North America’s current economic boom has created enormous growth opportunities for businesses in Canada. Many businesses, however, are unable to exploit this potential for growth because of serious shortages of skilled workers.
A recent survey of the members of the Canadian Federation of Independent businesses, which represents more than 100,000 small and medium-sized employers, ranked the lack of skilled labour as the biggest issue facing business right across the country.
The Information Technology Association of Canada has estimated a shortfall of between 30,000 to 50,000 professionals in the IT and communications industry in Canada.
Obviously, the long-term solution to skill shortages lies in adjusting post-secondary education and industrial training programs to produce a sufficiently qualified workforce to meet the demands of the new knowledge-based economy from within Canada.
In the short-term, however, businesses that are experiencing serious skill shortages need to hire qualified and experienced workers from abroad if they are to gain, and indeed retain, a decisive edge over their competition in a highly competitive global economy. This is the approach which businesses in the United States and Europe appear to be adopting with great success.
Based on the analysis of 115,000 temporary work permits issued to foreign workers by the United States for the year 2000, the main sources of supply are identified as India, China, the United Kingdom, Russia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Korea, Mexico and Brazil.
People from these countries are also keen to come to work in Canada. The top eight North American sponsoring companies were Motorola, Oracle, CISCO, Intel, Microsoft, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Lucent, and Nortel.
Some questions
Recruiting workers from abroad does raise some interesting questions. How does one deal with immigration issues? How does one make sure that the applicant does possess the qualifications and experience he or she claims to have? What are the costs of hiring a worker from abroad, and how do they compare with costs incurred on someone hired from within Canada? How does one deal with cultural and language issues? How does one make sure that having arrived in Canada the foreign worker does not go and work for someone else?
Recruiting workers from abroad does raise some interesting questions. How does one deal with immigration issues? How does one make sure that the applicant does possess the qualifications and experience he or she claims to have? What are the costs of hiring a worker from abroad, and how do they compare with costs incurred on someone hired from within Canada? How does one deal with cultural and language issues? How does one make sure that having arrived in Canada the foreign worker does not go and work for someone else?
Some answers
A foreign worker can obtain a temporary work permit (employment authorization) from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to work in Canada provided he has an offer of employment from an employer in Canada. However, it is required that the employer offering the job will have first given due consideration to the possibility of hiring a Canadian citizen or permanent resident for the job, and proven to Human Resources Development Canada’s (HRDC) satisfaction that a suitable candidate could not be found in Canada. The entire process of obtaining HRDC approval and a work permit can take up to 12 weeks depending on the country where the prospective employee is located.
A foreign worker can obtain a temporary work permit (employment authorization) from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to work in Canada provided he has an offer of employment from an employer in Canada. However, it is required that the employer offering the job will have first given due consideration to the possibility of hiring a Canadian citizen or permanent resident for the job, and proven to Human Resources Development Canada’s (HRDC) satisfaction that a suitable candidate could not be found in Canada. The entire process of obtaining HRDC approval and a work permit can take up to 12 weeks depending on the country where the prospective employee is located.
Work permits can be extended for a period of up to five years. Once in Canada, the temporary work permit holder can apply for permanent residence, and if the employee qualifies, the application for permanent residence can be approved within nine to 12 months. Immigration is a complex subject, and it may help to seek the advice and assistance of an experienced immigration lawyer/advisor in this regard.
Workers from abroad can be hired either through recruitment agencies that deal in global placements or directly by advertising in the target countries. One would need to gain some appreciation of the educational system of the country from where candidates are being considered.
Candidates can be required to submit photocopies of their diplomas and degrees to check the validity of their qualifications. Candidates can also be asked to take Internet-based aptitude tests, if required. Telephone interviews can be conducted to gauge a candidate’s level of knowledge and experience, communication skills, power of reasoning and to some extent social skills.
If several positions are being filled from the same location, it may make sense to send someone to interview the candidates personally. Interviews can be followed up by reference checks by e-mail or telephone. Alternatively, it may be worthwhile engaging a company that offers independent reference check services.
The cost of relocation will normally be higher than when recruiting someone from within Canada. However, many people from abroad do not move their household effects with them and generally do not ask to be compensated for the sale of their properties. To that extent the cost of relocation is reduced. However, immigration assistance ($2,500 to $5,000) is an additional cost element to consider. It should be noted that most of the foreign workers (especially IT professionals) wishing to come to work in Canada are usually young. They are either single or have small families, therefore, involving lower relocation costs.
Canada is a land of immigrants, and as such has been very successful at accepting and assimilating people of different cultural backgrounds. Thanks to Internet, globalization and CNN, English has become the most widely used language in the world today. No wonder that most immigrants to Canada have a good working knowledge of English. Notwithstanding these observations, the new immigrants do take some time to adapt to the Canadian social and physical environment and become fully productive in their jobs. This process, however, can be sped up by engaging a company that specializes in the cultural and language orientation of newcomers to Canada.
Work permits issued by Citizenship and Immigration Canada are tied to a specific occupation and a specific company. Employees who are foreign nationals must apply to CIC to have the terms and conditions of their work permit changed in order to switch employers. However, businesses can reduce the chances of employees leaving them by offering competitive salaries, benefits and interesting work environment. Besides, employees can also be required to sign an undertaking to reimburse the cost incurred on their hiring and relocation (expressed as a total sum), should they decide to leave employment within a mutually agreed period of, say, two years.
Hiring of a new employee is always a risky business. Regardless of how careful and thorough one may have been during the selection process, there is always a chance that the new employee may not work out, and that all the effort, time and money spent may be wasted.
There is no doubt that hiring workers from abroad is relatively more risky. Many companies that have hired workers from abroad, however, have found that the additional risk and expense is more than offset by the rich rewards they have reaped from being able to grow to their full potential in their respective markets.
Ravi Gupta is president and CEO of Global HR Source Inc., a global recruitment and placement firm specializing in the IT and communications sector. He may be contacted at [email protected], or visit www.globalhrsource.com.
