NAIT assists Alberta companies to source skilled workers in India
The long line snaking its way to the front of the building in which the Alberta Job and Education Recruitment Fair was being held in the city of Chennai told the whole story. More than 2000 skilled workers from four cities across India turned up to apply for skilled jobs in Alberta.
In partnership with three Alberta based companies and the Alberta Government, NAIT sought to attract and recruit many of these Indian applicants for future employment in Alberta’s skilled trades and hospitality industries.
Through its NAITfind program, a team from the Institute assisted PCL, OPTI Canada Inc. and P&H MinePro Services with filling their labour needs. For eight days, the NAIT team screened and assessed skilled workers in the cities of Cochin, Baroda, Delhi and of course Chennai.
Alberta’s booming economy requires four hundred thousand skilled workers to support $250 billion worth of work in the next 10 years. NAITfind’s mandate is to match the labour needs of organizations throughout the Province of Alberta with highly skilled individuals from across Canada and around the globe.
“NAIT is very pleased to be able to offer our clients a full service option through NAITfind to help them recruit, select, train, and retain the skilled labour force they need to remain successful and competitive in their markets,” explains Dawn Prout, Project Coordinator for Government Programs in the Department of Corporate and International Training at NAIT.
Prout, who was a member of the team to India, was particularly impressed with the quality of the workers whom they encountered. “The candidates we met with are extremely skilled, enthusiastic, and already possess international work experience. Most have worked in their trade in countries such as United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, USA, and Singapore.”
Neil Bowker, Director of Workforce Strategies at PCL says “NAIT has some really useful knowledge of the Indian market place, local culture as well as the recruitment and assessment process and that helped us to sift through the many qualified and experienced people who turned up.”
Successful applicants will be eligible for a work permit under the Temporary Foreign Worker program. The permits can range from one to three years in length and are issued by the government of Canada.
While the NAIT team determined that most candidates will require training in English prior to working in Alberta, they were generally satisfied with the basic standard of English that they encountered. “Most candidates have a basic level of conversational English, however, we are currently working on resources that will help prepare candidates with technical English for their trade as well as conversational English,” Prout says. |
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NAIT seeks to forge partnerships at major oil & gas career expo
The global demand for energy is rising and so too is the need for skilled personnel who can keep the oil flowing throw the Alberta pipelines.
NAIT has been moving to help ease the acute shortage of qualified trade persons by forging partnerships with some of the major players in the oil and gas industry. The Institute’s latest efforts will be targeted at the hoards of national, international and multinational corporations that will be descending on Calgary for the Global Petroleum Career Exposition in June.
An eight member team from the Institute’s Department of Corporate and International Training will be leading the NAIT drive at the event.
They will be seeking to recruit qualified and experienced personnel to help ease the shortage of instructors for their corporate training worldwide. This will go a far way in strengthening the Institute’s ability to train more skilled trade workers for the oil and gas industry.
The team will also be seeking to partner with companies throughout the province that are unable to satisfy their labour demand within Alberta's currently limited labour pool.
“One thing that we have to offer is our ability to find, screen, and assess skilled workers on behalf of one of our many corporate partners within the Alberta economy”, says Terry Drabiuk, who is Director in the Department of Corporate and International Training at NAIT.
The Global Petroleum Career Exposition, which will be held at the TELUS Convention Centre, is specifically designed for energy producers, service companies, recruiters and training professionals.
With a target attendance of five thousand, the candidate base will be made up of industry professionals specializing in a range of areas. These include: automation, chemical technology, completions, drafting, engineering, environment, fabrication, field operators, geoscientists, health and safety, information technology, instrumentation, labourers, optimization, production, research and development and well services.
Skilled trades people such as heavy equipment operators, machinists, mechanics, millwrights, electricians, pipefitters, rig technicians and welders will also be attending the event.
Drabiuk believes that this bi-annual event can be of benefit to everyone with an interest in the industry. “The world is short on skilled labour and this is an ideal opportunity for industry players to showcase their companies to the right employees.”
The expo will run from June 10 - 12 and is being held in conjunction with the renowned Global Petroleum Show. |
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In this issue...
INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC INSTRUCTIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
Share your expertise! We are looking for part-time and contract employees or vendors to provide training in numerous areas such as: Construction and Manufacturing, Productivity Enhancement Services, Business and Leadership, Health, safety and emergency response, Hospitality, Information and Communications Technology, and Energy and Environment.
Interested? Visit www.nait.ca/careers
Or contact:
Stacey Graham
HR Recruitment Specialist
780-378-5966
staceyg@nait.ca |
