Preparing for the Guangzhou Assignment (2)

The more I have talked to career practitioners about the Guangzhou assignment, the more I come to realize that the provision of labour market information to the Chinese immigrants is MOST EFFECTIVE when they are given the opportunity to process the information in relation to what is already familiar to them. If they are not able to integrate the LMI into a meaningful frame of reference, the information becomes something external and outside to them.

This makes sense in light of adult learning, as the immigrants are already established professionals who perceive the world (of work) in a certain manner, affected by their own cultural background and life experience. Their processing of "new" information (such as LMI about Canada) is necessarily based on an "existing/old" paradigm, which may or may not be in congruence with the paradigm of the Canadian labour market. To test if learning has actually happened, the immigrants need to be given the opportunity to express their understanding of the information and begin to integrate such information into their normal frame of mind.

I did some preliminary research on the labour market in China. as I believe that the immigrants are going to rely on their experience with the Chinese labour market when they are processing the "new" LMI about Canada. Knowing more about the Chinese labour market helps me see things from the immigrants' perspective.

Based on my research so far, it seems that the Chinese labour market is indeed a complex one. This market consists of elements of an open economy, as well as elements of a state planned economy. Workers move into jobs and career tracks in many different ways, some using more market-oriented channels while others depending on state-controlled mechanisms. It would be interesting to find out what experiences the CIIP clients have.

Understanding LMI is very much a conceptual process for the immigrants before they arrive in Canada. It may be essential to check their conceptual learning by using a variety of learning methods that ask them to "apply" the concepts, including role play, case analysis, skill profiling, etc.

Preparing for the Guangzhou Assignment (1)

I started preparing for this assignment more than a month ago when I got the news that I was selected as the China consultant to support the CIIP operation in Guangzhou, China. Although I have basic Mandarin conversation capability, I thought it would be useful to enhance my "professional" Mandarin so that I could interact more effectively with the CIIP team there and the clients I will be meeting. Now, I have a weekly Mandarin learning session with a tutor, focusing on career related matters. I think I have made much progress since the beginning of the tutoring process.

I have also been identifying useful tools and materials that I can introduce to the Guangzhou team. These tools should be easy to understand and use by the CIIP counsellor team, and should make sense to the immigrant clients.

One of the tools I may introduce to them is "Starting Points", a group assessment tool to help clients identify the challenges (called roadblocks) in their career development and look for possible solutions (called stopovers). The metaphor of a "career journey" should work well for the immigrant clients that CIIP serves.

Another potentially useful tool is the Employability Skills matrix developed by the Conference Board of Canada, based on surveys of employers. The matrix strongly reflects the workplace culture and expectations of the Canadian labour market, and would be a good reference and learning tool for the Chinese immigrants. Their experience in the Chinese labour market may have similarities and differences with that of the Canadian market. The tool allows them to make comparisons and prepare themselves for workplace cultural transition.

These tools are best translated into Chinese, and I am receiving voluntary support from colleagues (at VCC) and peers (in the career development field) to help with the translation. My many thanks to their assistance.