Re-Training Experiences of Immigrant Professionals in Canada

supervising practicum/internship students

One of the greatest challenges and greatest pleasures I've had in my work is in taking on students who are completing their practica in a college, university, or agency training program in which I have some expertise (in my case, it's college students). It's challenging because of the additional demands on my time and coordination required to ensure that these students have a useful experience, but it's a pleasure because I feel like I'm passing on what I know and giving someone a 'leg up' as they launch their career.

Good reasons for someone in any field of work to take on a student on internship or practicum include:

• the opportunity for leadership skills development, and for personal and career growth, perhaps setting yourself up for a management role over time
• fulfilling an obligation to your field to train new workers
• returning the favour someone did for you way back when (call it karma if you will)
• maybe learning some new trend or skill now being taught in your field, that you were not fully familiar with before
• a chance to consolidate  your knowledge/share what you know (with a set of willing ears!)
• getting some free/cheap help with a project that your team could use a little extra assistance on.

Remember also that "students" come in all ages and backgrounds these days. If you would prefer taking on someone with some work experience pre-practicum, you might be able to find a student with project management experience who is changing careers in mid-life, or with a background in your same field but from another country, or who is pursuing promotional opportunities by returning to professional studies. The reasons for returning to school are broad, and so is the range of "students'" backgrounds.

In my current work, I haven't yet met an internship host who regretted taking on a student. Some hosts got more out of the experience than others, certainly, but no regrets about doing it. The potential for gains seem very much to outweigh the potential for loss, so I encourage you to take the opportunity to supervise a practicum/internship student when you can!

useful model for career-work planning and decision-making

As both a counsellor and a consumer of career-related information, it is a real pleasure to read theories and models that are practical and useful. I would therefore like to highly recommend Bill Law's Career-Learning Café (http://www.hihohiho.com/).

The CPI model that he has developed recently (2005) is useful even for a career-learner to think about. In the model, CPI stands for:

Coverage (what information a career decision-maker needs)
Processes (how to organize that information so it's understandable and useful)
Influences (acknowledging the beliefs and values that come from our backgrounds and experiences)

The project is very interesting, and I highly recommend it as reading to any career counsellor.