Newcomer professionals in the financial services, telecommunication, consumer packaged goods and food and beverage sectors.

Career Advancement for Immigrant Professionals 2.0

The project

Few programs help immigrant professionals move beyond entry-level jobs, yet many newcomers have significant education and experience that could meet the needs of Canadian employers. One of the ways to bridge the talent gaps faced by Canadian companies is to ensure immigrants are employed in jobs that match their skills, competencies, and experience.

The Career Advancement for Immigrant Professionals (CAIP) program helps employers retain and advance existing newcomer talent, while empowering immigrant professionals to showcase their full expertise and potential.

The Future Skills Centre is investing $568,829 to expand this successful project, based in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), into CAIP 2.0, following an initial investment of $410,000.

Skills training / career service provided

The project aims to enhance the talent mobility strategy by identifying opportunities for newcomer career advancement and leadership pathways, and meeting employers’ current and future talent needs. The format enables members of the Human Resources/ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion teams to be trained to deliver the entire rollout of a cohort through a train-the-trainer model. The project also engages employers on how to build a culture of mobility, using feedback from immigrant professionals and employers to inform the development of the program.

Early results

The first cohort of the project sought to increase the knowledge, skills and access of 40 newcomers, and improve the career progression outcomes of participants within one year of program completion. The program worked with two employer partners and produced very positive feedback.

Person giving a whiteboard presentation to a group

The second cohort saw 18 participants completing the program, including 11 immigrant professionals and 7 managers. Over 60% of immigrant participants reported new actions as a result of participating in the program, including building professional relationships, taking a different approach to discussing career goals with managers, and pursuing internal job openings. To date, 33% of immigrant participants have reported landing a new job within their organizations.

Next phase

The CAIP program was delivered to two employer partners and is now delivering CAIP 2.0 to a third. In this next phase, the goal is to build sustained, scaleable culture change and create inclusive career pathways for immigrant professionals. CAIP 2.0 will progress from an individual learning program to a broader, talent-management change initiative. It will actively engage key stakeholders in the partner organization, including senior leadership, HR and diversity, equity/inclusion (DEI) teams, immigrant employees and managers.

If you’re an employer interested in participating in this project, contact TRIEC at inquiries@triec.ca.

Evaluation Strategy

This project will be evaluated using tools and approaches aligned with its goals, context, and stage of development. The evaluation will focus on generating the right evidence at the right moment to move the intervention forward. Read more about our evaluation strategy.