FEATURE RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 8, 2010

New Country, New Family, but No Job.
How the IWES pilot project gives hope to international professionals moving to Canada seeking employment in their field.

Vancouver, BC - Mauricio Pereira de Oliveira arrived in Vancouver from Brazil with his wife of 12 years and a baby on the way thinking he would soon find work in his profession and live happily ever after. However as months passed Mauricio was still unemployed and his wife was to give birth any day. With an Engineering degree and Master’s degree in Computer Science, Mauricio was a highly qualified employee desperate to find an employer.

Oliveira enrolled a pilot project called Integrated Work Experience Strategy or IWES in partnership between S.U.C.C.E.S.S. and the Information and Communications Technology Council. The IWES program prepares internationally educated professionals (IEP) for employment in Canada’s information and communications technology (ICT) sector through a six-week intensive training session, including full-time classroom training and interactive workshops, followed by a minimum three-month guided work experience practicum. IWES was piloted in Vancouver in partnership with S.U.C.C.E.S.S. and originally developed under the Internationally Educated Professionals (IEP) Integration Initiative of the Information and Communication Technology Council (ICTC). The pilot in Vancouver was funded by the Government of Canada’s Foreign Credential Recognition Program.

Mauricio interviewed for the pilot project and was selected to take part. After his in-class training he began his contract with Atimi Software, an ICT company involved in the IWES project. Mauricio said “at first it was overwhelming but at the same time exciting and challenging.” Mauricio is currently works in the Project Support Office at Atimi Software.
With the success of the IWES pilot project, ICTC and S.U.C.C.E.S.S. hope that funding will continue to help more skilled internationally educated professionals find a career in their profession and help Canada’s ICT industry become a top global competitor.

Founded in 1973, S.U.C.C.E.S.S. is one of the largest social service providers in British Columbia with over 20 locations and 2 overseas offices. For more details, please visit: http://www.success.bc.ca/ or www.ictc-ctic.ca.

- 30 –

Eileen Lao
Public Affairs Manager
Tel: 604-408-7243
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it