Students Step Up to job skills

Celebrations can wait. This group would rather have jobs.
Yu Liu, 35, a software engineer from China and a newcomer to Canada was among the first batch of students to graduate from the Step Up program, a two-week pre-employment course from Inter-Cultural Neighbourhood Social Services(ICNSS).
ICNSS is a community-based, non-profit agency delivering culturally appropriate programs and services for the community.
Seven graduates who completed the program yesterday are ready and raring to take on the Canadian job market after undergoing extensive training in areas such as labour market information, business communication, personality dimension and others.
The Step Up program is a job training program designed for both, newcomers and Canadian citizens who're unemployed or underemployed, said Ravi Palia, manager of the course.
“I have in my class, newcomers as well as people who've been in Canada for a number of years and have been recently laid off,” Palia said. “We've a two-pronged strategy; with newcomers, we try to ease them into the Canadian culture helping them to understand how they can transfer their skills from one country to the other. For others, who've been laid-off after years of working, we try to build up their confidence and self-esteem.”
Program facilitators for the Step Up program worked with each of the seven individuals in the group, assessing their strengths and helping them to highlight their skills best suited for the needs of the market.
Daanish Khan, operations director of ICNSS, explained the program is different from other employment readiness programs offered by settlement agencies in that it is of a shorter duration and focuses on the immediate needs of the people seeking jobs.
“A lot of the programs out there may focus on the job search rather than focusing on the skills needed to snag an interview and land a job,” Khan said.
Liu, who has been mailing dozens of resumes each day, was recently called for a job interview. And if things go right, it will definitely be a step up in the right direction for him.
For more information on the Step Up program visit, www.icnss.ca or call 905-273-4884.

rpanjwani@mississauga.net