In 2007/2008, BC HRMA led a very successful pilot, project supported by various partners and stakeholder organizations, entitled “Immigrant Talent Integration Project” (ITI). The goal of Phase One of the project was to create a baseline of understanding about the current practices of BC HRMA and its members with regard to immigrant integration and to provide relevant best practice information to the organization and its members.

The project’s outreach, roundtable, scans and survey provided an opportunity for HR practitioners to communicate their concerns, preferences and needs. Recommendations were collected from the Advisory Board, ITI Roundtable, and senior staff and active volunteers at BC HRMA. A complete summary of the survey results is available in the ITI Project – BC HRMA Member Survey Summary Report. In brief, the results pointed out gaps in HR professionals’ knowledge and a lack of HR tools to integrate immigrants. Phase two of the project attempts to address those gaps. More information about the ITI project, Phase One, can be found in the ITI Final Project Report – Executive Summary.

In October 2008, the ITI project, Phase Two, was launched. There were two major objectives. One was to develop the Employer Guide containing culturally relevant information on immigrant hiring and retention practices. The other was to develop an online resource for HR practitioners / hiring managers to assist them in accessing local immigrant hiring resources.

BC HRMA’s toolkit, Hiring and Retaining Skilled Immigrants, is designed to provide suggestions at each stage of the recruitment process, from HR tools which assist in the development of realistic job descriptions to tips about cross-cultural communication issues that might occur during interviews and in day-to-day interactions with immigrants. The research part of the guide took more than five months to complete and included a comprehensive literature review and examination of focus group notes. During November and December 2008, close to 50 representatives of Chinese, South Asian, Filipino, West Asian and Latin American HR professionals and skilled immigrants participated in five focus groups.

Acknowledgements
The first and second phases of the project were funded by the BC Ministry of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development, International Qualifications Unit (formerly Ministry of Economic Development). Olga Scherbina, Principal, DiversityCLUES who also managed both phases of the project and assisted in the research for the Employer Guide. The Employer Guide was researched and written by Eleanor Guerrero-Campbell, EGC & Associates. Additionally, Patrick Coady acted as a coordinator and facilitator in the first phase of the project.

Kim Horn from the Ministry of Advanced Education provided outstanding support and important guidelines in the development of both tools. BC HRMA would like to acknowledge the Advisory Group members for their dedicated support of the project, and particularly, for their excellent contribution to the website development.

The Advisory Board members are:

• Ashley Bennington, CHRP, Adjunct Professor, Simon Fraser University
• Cameron Brine, Program Manager, BC Hydro
• Lily Chen, Human Resources Director, Association of Neighbourhood Houses
• Linda Forest, CHRP, HR Consultant – Corporate HR
• Roger Hur, Manager, International Credential Evaluation Service
• Monica Kay, Director, City of Vancouver
• Rajpal Kohli, EEO Adviser, City of Vancouver
• Farah Kotadia, Director of HR and Communications, DIVERSEcity
• Karen McDiarmid, Program Manager, Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters
• Sally McLean, UBC Faculty
• Elizabeth. Murray, CHRP, Regional Director, Public Service Commission of Canada
• Kelly Pollack, Executive Director, Immigrant Employment Council of BC
• Danny Strilchuk, Diversity Manager, Spectra Energy
• Cliff Yeo, HR Manager, Safeway