Newcomer Job Search Links

Community Skills Centre

Nelson Youth Employment Services

Community Futures Boundary

Kootenay Career Development Society

Adobe Reader Download

First Contacts

What do you need to know?

Home / First Contacts

Welcoming Workplace Training

The Welcoming Workplace training will give employers in the Boundary/Kootenay practical measures to educate and prepare themselves for newcomers to their workplace.

Welcoming workplaces are vital to the integration and retention of newcomers and can have a positive impact on the high expense of training new employees.

Successful economic integration of newcomers to the region requires leadership and innovation from our business community. This requires conscious effort both to support the new colleagues and to educate existing employees on cultural differences.

"Newcomers" are people who come from outside the community and chose to move in order to work and/or live in our community. They could be skilled immigrants who just arrived in Canada, business immigrants or established immigrants who have been living in Canadian urban areas and are aware of Canadian culture, language and environment. Some are already Canadians who are choosing to re-locate for business reasons, career opportunities or to begin a new life.

The Welcoming Workplace Training will take place February – April, 2012 in communities throughout the Kootenay/Boundary.

Employers that receive the workplace training will be recognized and featured on welcomemap.ca.

Participation for the provincially funded training is limited and employers are asked to contact Audry Lochrie the project coordinator to register and complete an application process.

Welcoming & Inclusive Communities & Workplaces

Trail Skills Centre
Phone: (250) 444-7077
Email: alochrie@communityskillscentre.com
Website: www.communityskillscentre.com

First Contact Training

The First Contact workplace training offered funded in-service cultural awareness training to 143 employees from businesses and organizations in the Kootenay / Boundary. First Contacts are the first ones newcomers arriving to the area will meet.

The "First Contact" training focused on cultural sensitivity education, awareness of new comer needs and information on community resources for participants to share with their co-workers.

The training provided skills and education to participants to help create a welcoming experience for new comers and their families, to increase workplace retention and to address our regions projected skill shortages.

The Welcoming Workplaces Training resulted from employers identifying a need for training and education on how immigration is effecting the Kootenay / Boundary region.

The First Contact training completed May 2011. Almost 500 "Kootenayers" had their cultural awareness raised through passing on information in the workplace.