ACCES brings together Top Canadian Companies for Refugee Hiring Event
his past week, ACCES Employment, in collaboration with the Refugee Roundtable, TENT Partnership for Refugees and Starbucks Canada, brought together top Canadian employers and several employment service providers to create a first-of-its-kind job fair to support refugee job seekers.
One of the first hurdles refugees face when they come to Canada is finding meaningful work. The event provided an opportunity for 150 refugee jobseekers to interview with employers from multiple sectors. Companies such as Day & Ross, FedEx, HMS Host, IKEA Canada, Martinrea Automotive, McDonalds, Metro, Shopify, Sodexo, Staples, and Wealthsimple participated in the event and hired refugees.
The refugee job fair held at Metro Hall in Toronto was attended by both Senator Ratna Omidvar and Mayor John Tory. “The refugee hiring event is a great initiative…getting ready for the Canadian job market with all of its written and unwritten rules is stressful…but getting the first job is the first stepping stone to success,” said Senator Omidvar. Mayor John Tory added: “Imagine, coming to Canada, as friendly as we are, finding a job, your first job, is a very formidable task.”
At the event, over 100 refugees received either on-the-spot job offers or commitments to move on to the next stage of the hiring process with participating employers. Reflecting on this success, ACCES Employment’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Engagement, Anita Carrol, indicated, “we already have a wait list [of employers], which has led us to plan another event … several employers are waiting for the next date.”
