Invest in Your Career: Language Training is Free for Those New to Canada

Published by Ilsa Lima on 2012-08-16

Building your career in a Canadian workplace requires more than credentials.  You will need to interview and network successfully; communicate with peers; and understand the culture of your workplace.

If you are new to Canada, how will you acquire these skills? There is help, and it's free.

Funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Occupation-specific Language Training (OSLT) is offered at Algonquin College in Ottawa and across Ontario college campuses.

If you are a permanent resident or a protected person with job training or sector experience and language proficiency at Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) levels 6 to 8 in one skill area, you could be eligible for OSLT to improve your communication skills and your success on the job in Canada.

Algonquin OSLT business graduate Andres Olmos arrived in Canada with years of work experience and education, including an MBA from the University of Monterey in northeastern Mexico.  However, finding a job here wasn't easy.

"The workplace culture was too different," he remembers.  "But my OLST course taught me how to relate to people professionally in Canada - how to introduce myself, how to work positively with colleagues and clients from the beginning.  It was very useful."

Today, Olmos is a successful financial adviser working with clients in Ottawa.

To learn more about Occupation-specific Language Training at Algonquin College, call 613-727-4723, ext. 5700, visit online at algonquincollege.com/OSLT, or in person at Algonquin College Woodroffe Campus, Room B442, in Ottawa.

Metro News, August 15, 2012, Page 19