Across diverse sectors, labour shortages are an acute reality for many Canadian and local employers. At the same time, recent immigrants experience significant challenges in gaining meaningful employment commensurate with their professional qualifications.

The North Shore Immigrant Inclusion Partnership (NSIIP), a project of Impact North Shore, is proud to release the results of research conducted with North Shore employers. This research examines local experiences of workforce shortages and provides a close look at the impact of COVID-19 on the North Shore labour market. In addition, it explores opportunities for recruiting, hiring and retaining recent immigrant talent as a key strategy for economic recovery and future growth. In a competitive labour market, there are growing opportunities for employers to build meaningful and mutually beneficial connections with skilled immigrants and migrants.

In surfacing a variety of employer experiences, this report presents actionable recommendations and promising practices for employers, service organizations and business leaders to find new pathways for engaging recent immigrants and building a strong local economy. These recommended actions include diversifying recruitment strategies, developing innovative hiring practices, building inclusive retention practices, and learning how skilled recent immigrants can address labour shortages.

In addition to the report, two supplementary resources have been created:

 

For more information about local organizations and strategies that help businesses gain a competitive edge by engaging immigrant talent, view the “Connecting with Immigrant Talent on the North Shore, A Resource for Employers” resource sheet.
 

To learn more about the role that unconscious bias plays in shaping hiring practices and integrating recent immigrant talent into local workforces, view the “Tapping into the North Shore Immigrant Talent Pool: How Unconscious Bias may be Hindering Your Recruitment Success” resource sheet.

 

Read the full NSIIP North Shore Employer Survey Report on NSIIP’s website or read the report summary here.