Seeking a good fit for the job

Immigration workshop being offered to employers looking to fill positions

The Cape Breton Partnership will be hosting local employers next week who need solutions to their labour shortage problems.

An Atlantic immigration session called “Impacts and opportunities for your workplace,” is planned for Thursday at the Holiday Inn Sydney from 8-10 a.m.

Employers will have the opportunity to meet with officials from the Nova Scotia Office of Immigration, the YMCA YReach Settlement program, the Cape Breton Island Centre for Immigration and Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia.

Cape Breton Partnership president and CEO Keith MacDonald said it’s the first time his organization has hosted a session dedicated to showcasing the immigration-related programs available to employers.

“We will be providing information to employers on the Atlantic immigration pilot program,” he said.

“The AIP program is a new initiative for Atlantic Canada. It’s targeting close to 800 immigrants through this new endeavour. The partnership received some funding to promote and work with entrepreneurs to identify skilled labour gaps within their business.”

He said his organization is looking to identify as many Cape Breton employers as possible that could benefit from participating in the Atlantic immigration pilot program.

The program is aimed at any company that’s seeing its growth hindered due to a lack of talent, struggling to fill a persistent labour gap or needing to address emerging labour market challenges.

MacDonald said the two-hour session will also introduce employers to the Connector program offered by the Cape Breton Partnership.

“It’s all about connecting recent graduates to employers throughout Cape Breton and opening doors for them to make contacts throughout the community, which will hopefully leverage new employment opportunities for them.”

The event is free but pre-registration is required.

More information is available at www.capebretonpartnership.com.