Hundreds of immigrant professionals attended MOSAIC’s Immigrant Professionals Conference on Saturday, November 5th at the Sheraton Guildford Hotel in Surrey. The full-day conference sold out almost a week prior to the event.
The conference opened with remarks by Carmen Ryujin on behalf of RBC, the Presenting Sponsor. Ms. Ryujin commented that “It is such a wonderful event and RBC is proud to be the Presenting Sponsor of the Immigrant Professionals Conference. We recognize the importance of supporting events like the IPC so newcomers have access to resources that will help them on their career journey.”
Abraham Asrat, MOSAIC’s Manager of Employer Relations and conference organizer, said what was most memorable for him was the amount of networking that he saw happening at the event. “We always try to convey the incredible importance of networking to our clients as a key to succeeding in the Canadian workplace. The keynote speaker and the HR panelists confirmed this as well. So it was really gratifying to see attendees engaging with all the speakers, panelists, MOSAIC staff and other attendees at every opportunity – people really appreciated what a great networking opportunity this was.”
Keynote speaker Karimah Es Sabar shared her inspiring personal journey and experiences with attendees and gave valuable advice on establishing a career in Canada. Both the HR Panel and the Successful Immigrants Panel were extremely popular with many questions being put to panel members. The “Art of Selling Yourself,” presented by Rodrigo Porto (Founder, CoachRod, Empowering Newcomers’ Careers & Assoc. Director, MBA Careers, UBC-Sauder School of Business) was a standing-room only breakout session while a new topic for the breakout sessions, “Improve Your Cultural Communication in the Canadian Workplace” presented by Taslim Damji, Intercultural Specialist, was also extremely engaging for attendees.
Thanks to Stenberg College for providing photography services to attendees wanting professional quality headshots for LinkedIn profiles.