Frequently Asked Questions

The Immigrant Employment Council of BC (IEC-BC) emerged from the October 2008 Metro Vancouver Leaders Summit on Immigrant Employment. The Summit attendees identified many priorities for IEC-BC, with a focus on developing tools, resources and information to assist employers attract, hire and retain immigrants.

In today’s highly competitive business climate, tapping into the right talent to gain a competitive advantage is essential. Employers want the best workforce possible, and with the prominence of British Columbia’s cultural diversity, this means having employees who mirror their changing client and stakeholder base. Add to this a worldwide talent shortage poised to hit employers by 2015, a declining birth rate and retiring baby boomer generation - and the strategic value of tapping into our province’s vast pool of professional, well-educated and well-qualified immigrants is more pronounced than ever before. IEC-BC is a unique business resource helping employers attract the right talent at the right time and offering cutting-edge solutions to employ skilled immigrants.

The Immigrant Employment Council of BC (IEC-BC) works to build awareness about the strategic benefits of integrating immigrants into BC’s labour market, and develops effective solutions to connect businesses with this unique talent pool to improve their bottom line, build local communities and grow the Province’s economy.

IEC-BC’s website, Tapintotalent.ca, is a one-stop-shop for employers with a wealth of labour-market resources, tips on attracting, hiring and retaining skilled immigrants, and a job-matching service called TalentMatch BC.

Its easy-to-use, quality assured Mentoring Program provides employers with a host of learning and professional-development opportunities for staff. 

Services are free and IEC-BC assumes overall co-ordination making program participation easy.

IEC-BC is led by a Board of Directors comprised of key community leaders including employers, representatives of business associations, government, education, labour and community organizations. Four action-oriented working groups consisting of Board members and Leadership Council members are committed to finding solutions to the barriers immigrants face when entering the labour market. The groups represent a full range of stakeholders, including representatives from the business community, labour, educational institutions, immigrant serving organizations, community organizations and government representatives.

For more information about IEC-BC governance structure, please visit Board of Directors.

IEC-BC is overseen by Vancouver Foundation, Canada's largest community foundation, with financial support from the Province of British Columbia and Vancouver Foundation.

Immigrant Employment Councils (IECs) are forming in cities across Canada and bringing together local stakeholders to address the many challenges of integrating skilled immigrants into the labour market. IECs connect skilled immigrants to local employers with the support of other community, educational and government organizations. IECs complement rather than compete with these existing immigrant programs and services. For a list of IECs across Canada, please visit: http://alliescanada.ca/find-your-iec/

Skilled immigrants power company growth, build sustainable communities and contribute to BC's economic prosperity. Immigrants to BC are more than twice likely as Canadian-born residents to have a post-secondary degree and they innovate at a higher rate than the native-born population. On the whole, immigrants contribute more to the public purse than they receive in benefits. Using the talents and experience that immigrants bring to the labour market can bring the Canadian economy between $2.4 billion and $3.4 billion a year.

You can hire onine using IEC-BC’s TalentMatch BC, you can get help from a local service provider specializing in immigrant employment, update your recruitment techniques to include qualified immigrant candidates or you can review additional resources.

For more information, please visit How to Employ.

IEC-BC supports employers to launch their own successful mentoring program in a variety of ways.
For more information, please visit Mentoring.

There are many organizations that provide support with job search, access to skills training, resume writing and connections to employers.

To find a list of local service providers in your community, please visit Use a Local Service Provider.