Lionel Laroche talks to immigrants

Lionel Laroche told immigrants gathered for the Second Annual Immigrant Professional Conference in Burnaby that it will take them 6 to 15 years to establish themselves as they would like in Canada.

He advised immigrants to build their skills for the long run. Establishing yourself economically in Canada “is a marathon, not a sprint,” said Laroche.

Laroche was a keynote speaker at the Conference, sponsored by Diversecity, ISS of BC, and MOSAIC. He immigrated from France as an engineer in the early nineties and is now one of the country’s leading experts on the immigrant employment experience.
 
About three hundred immigrants listened carefully to Laroche’s advice. Many were shocked to hear him describe the long journey to build a life in Canada equal to what they would have had in their home countries. He said immigrants need to never give up; always take ownership of the challenges and have a positive attitude.
 
Laroche said the real issue immigrants have in the Canadian labour market is gaining the soft skills needed to succeed. He gave an example from his own experience. At one of his first engineering jobs in Canada, none of the technicians at the company wanted to work for him. They found his approach to feedback was much too direct. He said in Canada, the norm is to not be quite so blunt. 
 
Laroche also told the audience that presentation skills are extremely important. He said Canadians start learning presentation skills in kindergarten with “show and tell.” In some countries, people aren’t expected to make public presentations until well into university. 
 
Adapting to a new culture, said Laroche, is like “re-wiring your brain. It’s extremely difficult to do, but it’s necessary” if you want to get ahead.
 
Laroche advised immigrants looking for work to answer the following questions:

• What problem are you good at solving?
• Who has that problem and is willing to spend money to solve it?
• How do you make them know you exist?
• How do you convince them you’re the best one to solve the problem?

Many immigrants, said Laroche, find it difficult to talk about how good they are. He told the story of asking some university students in China to explain what they were good at and they couldn’t do it. They could only talk about how good someone else was.   Canadian employers, said Laroche, want to know specifically, in measurable terms, what you’ve accomplished and what you can do.
 
He gave the example of an immigrant who came to Canada describing himself as an engineer who could do everything. After Laroche coached him to be more specific, he described himself as a dam engineer who specializes in “retrofitting instrumentation and monitoring systems.” He soon found a job in his field.
 
Laroche ended his remarks on a positive note.  He said that people in Canada “will give you a chance.” If you work hard and you work fast, without complaining, you will be given more challenges and eventually you will get to where you want to go.