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.