The Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour has marked the one year anniversary of the Global Talent Scheme Visa by adding three new job positions to the Global Talent Occupations List. By granting more jobs the visa continues to address the highly skilled labour market needs of innovative employers in Canada. The job positions will be in the STEM industry (science, technology, engineering, mathematics).

What is the Global Talent Stream?

The two year Global Talent Stream gives companies in Canada the talent edge and advantage they need to scale up and be more innovative. When employers choose this stream to employ they get priority in processing and flexible recruitment requirements to help them hire the right workers faster. It will allow them to bring in top talent to Canada, that possess specialised skills work who are skilled in occupations where there is a strong demand for workers. Employers using this stream are eligible for faster work permit processing, making Canada a much more attractive and welcoming place for all highly skilled workers who are in demand. The pilot project support the Canadian economy by allowing businesses to get the expertise they need as soon as they need it and allows other Canadians to learn and work alongside some of the world’s bets talent.

The benefits

There are many reasons why employers feel hiring from the outside will bring great benefit to their organisation. The obvious reason is needing tech talent quickly but there are other benefits too. Another being since the workers have applied for and signed to work with the company for two years they are most likely to be loyal with the employers. If they wanted to switch jobs they would have to apply again and get approved for a new work permit with another employer therefore making the process long. Another huge benefit is that the employers gain a more diverse workforce. Studies have shown that an ethnically diverse labour is known to perform better as their quality of output is better and their engagement is deeper.

The story so far

One of the components of the stream is that workers must commit to creating lasting benefits for the Canadian workforce. Employers must write up a Labour Markets Benefit Plan which outlines commitments such as job creation, knowledge transfer which will prove to benefit the Canadian economy. As of April the 30th 2018 the Employment and Social Development Canada department has worked with various employers and have successfully created 500 employer specific Labour Market Benefit Plans outlining the activities they will have to undertake in order to meet their commitments. The commitments that have been made in these plans include creating over 27,000 jobs for permanent Canadian residents and investing over $41 million in skills and training.

The changes made

There has been a few changes made to the Global Talent Stream visa including:

  • Electrical and electronics engineering technologists and technicians have been removed from the list
  • There has been an addition of engineering managers, architecture and science managers, and mathematicians and statisticians to the list.
  • There has been new requirements for producer, technical, creative and artistic director and project manager in the visual effects and video game fields. There has also been a huge demand for highly skilled digital media designers.