Research work, undertaken by BC HRMA during last year, has identified the challenges faced by employers in recruiting and retaining an ethnically diverse workforce. To support employers to engage with this vibrant and skilled group of employees, BC HRMA is undertaking a second project (immigrant Talent Integration, phase 2) to develop tools and information on how to develop a more ethnically diverse workforce.

We are currently looking for focus group volunteers to help us design and develop a guide which will enable employers to be better able to find, recruit and integrate talent from a wider range of skilled immigrants and ethnic populations.Five focus groups will be held during November and December. The groups will include representatives from the Chinese, South Asian, Filipino, West Asian and Latin/Central/South American skilled immigrants, immigrant serving employment counsellors and HR professionals. The major objective of these focus groups is to identify specific attitudes, values, behaviours, and communication styles related to the workplace and how these impact on the recruitment and development of skilled immigrants.

If you are an HR professional who identifies with or has worked with one of the ethnic groups mentioned (or know of an HR practitioner/ Hiring Manager from one of the identified ethnic groups) we would love for you to help us develop our material. As a token of appreciation each person participating in this project will receive a $25 discount for one of our workshops. All the focus groups will be held on a business day from 6:00pm – 8:30pm, at the BC HRMA office (1111 W. Hastings St, Vancouver). The dates for focus groups are as follows:

Wednesday, November 19th – Filipino Group
Thursday, November 27th – Chinese Group
Monday, December 1st – Latin/Central/South American Group
Wednesday, December 10th – South Asian Group*
Monday, December 15th – West Asian Group**

We are looking for six to eight HR practitioners for each focus group. If you are interested in participating or have any questions please contact Olga Scherbina, project leader by phone at 604.306.4625 or via email at olga@scherbina.com.

* Bangladeshi, Bengali, East Indian, Goan, Gujarati, Kashmir, Nepali, Pakistani, Punjabi, Sinhalese, Sri Lankan, Tamil

** Afghani, Armenian, Assyrian, Azerbaijani, Georgian, Iranian, Israeli, Kurd, Pashtun, Tatar, Turk