(AlbertaIndex, June 4, Wednesday) --- Calgary businesses are looking to better tap the labour and talents of the thousands of skilled immigrants who are already in the city.

    As Calgary business continues to suffer from a shortage of skilled workers, the city’s chamber of commerce has launched the Talent Pool Development Society to find out why skilled immigrants in Calgary are not fully utilized. Ironically, companies are travelling overseas to find temporary foreign workers.

The Talent Pool Project is a collaborative effort of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, member Companies and the Provincial and Federal Governments working to increase the pool of skilled workers for Calgary business.  For more information please visit www.chambertalentpool.com

The chamber said that about 14,000 skilled immigrants moved to Calgary last year. Less than half were able to find work in their chosen profession and often not at a level reflecting their international experience.

Sixty-four percent said their home country education and work experience is not recognized by employers in Canada. These new immigrants form a pool of skilled, able workers anxious to find meaningful employment.

Following a survey of Calgary business, a report titled “A Waste of Talent” was released describing what Calgary business expects skilled immigrants to have in order to be hired in their chosen profession or vocation.

Through the results of the survey, it appears there are many gaps between what is expected from the employer in terms of qualifications, and what immigrant candidates have or can reasonably be expected to have.

The Calgary Employer Council for Immigrants was formed to champion efforts to close these gaps and facilitate the full employment of these new Calgarians. The council comprises business leaders from ATB Financial, the City of Calgary, Petro-Canada, Enbridge, Bow Valley College and Alberta Employment and Immigration.

The council is supporting the development of assessment tools to help business evaluate the qualifications of internationally trained professional and skilled workers.

This critical first step will begin on June 16, where The Talent Pool Development Society joins with Employment and Immigration, International Qualifications Assessment Service (IQAS) to link with employers to find the inefficiencies, build the tools to expedite the assessment and hiring process, and overcome some of the barriers to hiring foreign workers.

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