Newcomer Employment Hub
Frequently Asked Questions

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ABOUT THE NEWCOMER EMPLOYMENT HUB

1. What is the Newcomer Employment Hub?

Initiated by The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce and Immigration Partnership Winnipeg, The Newcomer Employment Hub (the Hub) brings together the business community and Manitoba newcomer community to work together to address the biggest challenge for businesses today: talent recruitment and retention.

The Hub is an innovative online job tool that creates quality job matches between newcomer job seekers and Manitoba employers. 

The Hub’s smart AI technology provides employers with top newcomer candidates that best match their job description and needs. 

Through the Newcomer Employment Hub, newcomer jobseekers are matched with employers committed to inclusive workplace practices.

 

2. How does it work for Employers?

Hosted on Magnet’s social innovation platform, the Newcomer Employment Hub invites employers and newcomer job seekers to connect on an online community. Businesses can access the Hub through their membership at The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce.

• Step 1 – Create a profile and post your job on the Hub
• Step 2 – Select the skills you are looking for in your ideal candidate.
• Step 3 – Qualified newcomer job candidates get notification about your job posting and are encouraged to apply.
• Step 4 – You receive applications from your top candidates who you can trust to meet your requirements.
• Step 5 – Quality match is made

 

3. How does it work for Newcomer Jobseekers?

Hosted on Magnet’s social innovation platform, the Newcomer Employment Hub invites businesses and newcomer job seekers to connect on an online community. Newcomer jobseekers can access the Hub through their involvement with one of the local newcomer service agencies or independently.

• Step 1 – Create a profile and upload your resume (you can enter it manually too!)
• Step 2 – Add your preferences and self-identification 
• Step 3 – Start searching for jobs based on your criteria
• Step 4 – You receive invitations to apply for job that match your skills and background
• Step 5 – Interview process and employment

 

4. How does it work for Newcomer Service Agencies?

Hosted on Magnet’s social innovation platform, the Newcomer Employment Hub invites employers and newcomer job seekers to connect on an online community. The Hub was built as a new tool to support Manitoba newcomer service agencies to connect their clients with quality employment matches.

• Step 1 – Receive Hub training from The Winnipeg Chamber and Magnet (a video resource library and 24/7 online support is also available)
• Step 2 – Share the Hub with your job-ready clients
  
• Step 3 – Review profiles of your job-ready clients and provide support as needed
• Step 4 – Continue to support and train clients as they apply for jobs targeted for them
• Step 5 – Optimize your Hub and send targeted messages and sector specific content to Hub users
• Step 6 – View and analyze client analytics and success rate

 

5. How is the Hub different from a regular job board?

Smart matching technology – saving you time
This Newcomer Employment Hub is built on intelligent technology to allow employers to target their job postings to specific areas of focus leading to more quality matches and in turn, saving you time during the recruitment and hiring phase.

These areas of focus can include:

• Skills
• Experience
• Education
• Status
• Language skills

Extra support before and after your hire
In most cases, employers are connected with quality candidates who are affiliated with a local newcomer service agency. Through these agencies, candidates may have already completed pre-job training, courses and language skills. After the hiring, employers also have access to the newcomer service agencies for continued support with their hire.

Be a part of community
In addition to the Newcomer Employment Hub online platform, The Winnipeg Chamber and Immigration Partnership Winnipeg will be hosting inclusive workplace training, educational workshops and networking job fairs – all aimed to build stronger connections and successful relationships between employers, service agencies and the newcomer jobseeker community.

 

6. What are the benefits of the Hub?

There are many! But other than our intelligent matching software, the top three benefits of the Newcomer Employment Hub is:

1. Save businesses time during recruitment and hiring
2. Help employers and newcomer service agencies make quality long-lasting job matches for newcomer jobseekers
3. Get invitations to inclusive workplace workshops, networking events and job fairs and be a part of a bigger community where employers and newcomer service agencies can support one another in their talent and retention needs.

 

7. Is it free to use?

Yes, the Hub is available to access at no charge for Winnipeg Chamber members and associations we have partnered with (example: Food and Beverage Manitoba). If you are not a Winnipeg Chamber member, you can learn more about Chamber benefits by clicking here or emailing Anne Bakuska, Acting Director of Business Development at [email protected]. To explore association partnerships, get in touch with [email protected].

 

8. Are the jobs exclusive to the Newcomer Employment Hub?

No, jobs posted on our platform are not exclusive to the Hub. Employers are able to post their position on other job boards. But, The Hub focuses on recruiting employers committed to hiring and welcoming newcomers in a safe and inclusive workplace.

Our Hub technology also focuses on providing employers the top candidates that best match their job description – increasing the likelihood of a quality and long-lasting match.

 

9. Who is involved with the Newcomer Hub?

The Hub was initiated by Immigration Partnership Winnipeg and The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, after discovering newcomer service agencies had a hard time connecting with small and medium-sized employers in Manitoba.

The direction of the Hub is influenced by a third-party Feasibility Study conducted in 2020 and is guided by our Newcomer Employment Hub Advisory Council made up of human resource professionals, employers and newcomer service agencies.

Manitoba newcomer service agencies a part of our Spring 2022 pilot includes:

• Immigrant Centre
• N.E.E.D.S. Inc. 
• Opportunities for Employment 
• Seven Oaks Immigrant Services
• Success Skills Centre

 

10. Why is The Chamber doing this?

One of the top challenges our business members consistently tell us is: talent recruitment and retention. Quality talent continues to be a struggle for many employers, especially small and medium-sized businesses who do not have the human resource capacity to take time to recruit and filter through quality job applicants. 

At the same time, our Chamber members from the newcomer service agency sector, told us they needed more support connecting with businesses – especially small and medium-sized employers looking for talent.

While working alongside Immigration Partnership Winnipeg, we conducted a Feasibility Study to understand how  we can fill both gaps and from that study, we discovered an online platform would be beneficial to serve as a centralized online Hub – where quality job matches can be made using advanced technology.

 

11. What exactly did you hear from the Feasibility Study?

The full Feasibility study is available for anyone to read here. We thank all of the newcomers, newcomer employment agencies and employers who volunteered their time for this study.

To save you time from reading the whole study, we also summarized the top concerns below:

Concern #1: Many employers are not aware of the free employment support from newcomer service agencies.

Solution: The Hub will bridge the gap between employers and newcomer service agencies by streamlining and improving connections and resource sharing through the online platform and virtual/in-person workshops and networking events.

Concern #2: Many employers don’t know where to find quality newcomer hires

Solution: The Hub will be a centralized job board where employers can use our smart technology to target job postings to specific candidates pre-vetted and trained by newcomer service agencies.

Concern #3: Even when hired, keeping newcomer employers for longer was an issue

Solution: The Hub is focused on quality matches to ensure both the employers and the newcomer jobseeker finds their best match. Our partnership with the newcomer service agencies also ensures employers get continued employment support even after the hire, to troubleshoot any issues or additional training their client may need.

Lastly, with the Hub as a part of our CODE program, 

 

12. Will there be training to use the Hub available?

Yes! We know new technology can be intimated. Even though the Hub was built with ease-of-use in mind, we offer 24/7 technical support you can access.

Our Hub staff will also provide you with an online resource library with how-to videos and blogs. If you need more support, our Hub staff will be available for one-on-one chats and when needed virtual training sessions with users.

 

13. I’m a newcomer jobseeker, can I filter based on what I’m looking for?

Yes! As a newcomer jobseeker you will be able to filter fields based on what you’re looking for (e.g. full-time versus part time, position title, and etc.).

 

14. What’s the benefit of hiring newcomers?

The benefits of diverse and inclusive teams for an organization are well researched and studied. The common themes from these research studies are that organizations that work to ensure diverse teams, that are then supported by inclusive workplaces and equitable policies, perform better financially, are more resilient, more productive, create better customer and client relationships and are more innovative. 

In addition to these benefits, hiring newcomers can improve your organization’s access to new markets and can improve relationships across diverse communities. Given that a large number of people want to engage with organizations that are diverse and inclusive, newcomers on your team can boost employee morale and customer relationships. 

Read more about the benefits of diversity within your teams.