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Unknown
Welcome to the Move Rural Canada podcast, where every week we showcase incredible businesses and real in Northern Canada businesses that are not only growing but are looking to hire. We're here to show you companies and communities outside of the big cities that are building stronger and more inclusive workplaces, workplaces that want and are encouraging newcomers, immigrants and refugees to work with them.

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Unknown
Let us be your guides to help you find the best places in Canada to not only immigrate, but build a career and settle. I'm your host, Leah Mitchell, and I am your co-host, Lindsay Rubeniuk. Join us as you learn about all of the amazing career opportunities in places that you may not have ever thought of moving. Let's get started.

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Unknown
You

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Unknown
Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Move Rural Canada. And today we have an amazing guest with us. And her name is Carla Zuckerman. And she is from CHS. And actually, we let her, tell us all about the different companies that they have within CHS. And she can kind of define more of, their business and how they work.

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Unknown
And also, we are enjoyed by Leah Mitchell two today, who is my co-host. So we are going to just get started and dive in and introduce Carla, and would just like for her to tell us more about her company and what's all involved with it.

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Unknown
Yes, welcome.

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Unknown
Hi, liane. Hi, Lindsay. Thank you very much for having me here.

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Unknown
I appreciate you taking the time to interview us. So my name is Carla Zuckerman. I immigrated from Mexico. I've been here in Canada for the past seven years. It's been a while now. I love the country. You guys are very warm. So thank you for that. So. Yeah. So I'm currently working, in this industry group of companies, which include several divisions.

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Unknown
We have seasons when we also have, another company that's called Canadian City Services, and we have a company in the U.S. it's called us in spring. But for this conversation, I'll just focus specifically on this one, because that's the company that we use, leases immigration services.

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Unknown
So this is going to operate within the renewable energy sector.

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Unknown
We specialize in wind turbine maintenance and repairs. We are a team, about 35 employees as of now. But we are, trying to grow very fast. And we are very proud to be contributing to the growth and sustainability of clean energy across Canada.

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Unknown
Sorry.

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Unknown
I just had a quick question. So when you see the wind turbines, like all across Canada. So for example, I was in Saskatchewan this past weekend. You would you would be working on those ones by say Mosman in that area. Yes. We have Windmill Farms all across Canada. We work Siskiyou and we work Ontario. We work in Newfoundland.

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Unknown
All across the country, you name it. Okay. Awesome. Yeah. All right. So I was just going to further enhance on that, but where is your head office? Where are you guys actually located for CSE ones? Yeah. So our head office is located in Carpenter area for all of our operations is extended nationwide. As I just mentioned. Yeah.

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Unknown
Okay. And so can you tell us about that, the type of workers that you need to get in in order to, in order to achieve the goals of the business? Yeah. So, we have a distributed workforce.

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Unknown
All of our employees or most of our employers are located all across the country. And that's allowing us to serve as clients wherever they're located in Canada.

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Unknown
So, for example, we have employees who have been living in Newfoundland for the past 2 or 3 years since they started working for us. And we have, clients there. Right? So they work in the middle form there. We usually they travel across the country. So we try to keep track of like it's a travel position.

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Unknown
Right? So they travel all across the country. They stay at the job site for a couple months and then they come back home.

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Unknown
So now in

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Unknown
terms of like the type of positions that we offer, if we have like full time positions.

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Unknown
They are mostly in repair and maintenance. So all of these positions are very hands on and field base.

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Unknown
And they require a lot of technical certifications and experience.

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Unknown
is there a red seal trade in there, like, I sounds to me very much like trades or is it just specific training people would require? You know, it's a specific training that they require. So for a technician to be able to start working in when they require a couple of certifications, they mandatory ones are GW, GSP, which is basic safety training, GW EMT which is advanced rescue training.

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Unknown
The other ones are like Loral

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Unknown
arc slash working at heights for state, but the mandatory ones are the GW ones.

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Unknown
Yeah. So if you want to put that underneath the trade. So it would be industrial mechanic. And they could also be considered, rope access technicians. So those would be the two, types of trades that CSE, went would mostly focus on in terms of recruitment.

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Unknown
So someone had those they could be considered for those positions. Yeah. So if they have work for example, some of these technicians come with our like any experience that they have been working and building like cleaning windows. So they they might have a certification that's called ironic.

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Unknown
If they have the certifications, we can consider them to start working in when as long as they take the GW certifications.

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Unknown
Okay. So so it's not a complete no. If they don't have everything, you're willing to sort of help as they work train up. But sort of there's some base things that you would want people to have. Of course. Yeah. Yeah we are actually we've been hiring a lot of technicians who don't have any experience in when, but they have like a mechanical background or an engineer background, and they want to get their foot in the door and the wind sector, and we guide them in, like through the process.

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Unknown
So we tell them what type of certifications they need to take. We explain how the job is because like some people don't know that it's like very physical and it's very demanding. And you're also going to like be away from home for like a very long period of time. Right. And like, they're not used to this. So like, we you we guide them through the process.

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Unknown
We tell them to do their research. And if they are willing to take on this show, like we will be more than happy to support them throughout the process.

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Unknown
So, Carla, you bring up actually a really good point in terms of how vast Canada is. Are you able to explain to, your workers how vast the country is and where they'll all be traveling?

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Unknown
Or is it something that they they learn as they go and they're very surprised at the end to, you know, see how big Canada really actually is? Because if they go from Newfoundland to Alberta, I'd say, you know, all over. Right? Yes. Yeah. They go to to all over.

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Unknown
So this is a challenge that we face every single season.

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Unknown
We really don't know where we're going to send a technician until

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Unknown
the season is about to start.

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Unknown
So this position is seasonal, right? And they start working around like April, May, and they finish work around like November. Sometimes we can push through December based on the weather. So it's like very

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Unknown
like weather condition based

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Unknown
to as I mentioned, like we really don't know where we can send them until we have like over

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Unknown
contracts with their clients, like closed until we have like piles and everything in place.

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Unknown
And then Andy, which is, our head of joint operations, his name is Andrew Winston. He's the one who actually manages everything, like scheduling, talking with the clean, talking with technicians, letting them know what where they're going to go work.

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Unknown
So

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Unknown
just to give you an example of, like, I receive messages from our technicians every single day asking me to where they're going to be sent to work.

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Unknown
Right? And I'm like, well, I really don't have the answer for you and said, no. We might know it tomorrow.

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Unknown
So some technicians may be living in Ontario, and next week they're going to travel to Saskatchewan. So like we've we get as we go.

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Unknown
So you really need someone who's kind of not, not laid back, but is okay with being told tomorrow you're going here, you know, you know, you can't always plan everything ahead of you know what you plan, but you just, you know, they have to kind of be more and obviously you supply where they're living.

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Unknown
And that's all covered in things like that as well, I'm assuming.

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Unknown
So yes and no. So, we, we pay them per hour. Of course, we have their hourly wage. We, we also offer them per diem, and that premium to cover their food and accommodations. But like, we, we help them to find the accommodation, but they are the ones responsible for, like, paying that accommodation.

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Unknown
So what our technicians usually do is, for example, if we're going to send somebody to, let's say Newfoundland,

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Unknown
and we're going to send a team of six people, they usually get all together and leave, rent an Airbnb. That way it's going to be more cost effective for them. Yeah. So yeah. So they're going to leave together for a couple of months.

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Unknown
So like some of them get along some others don't. But I mean that's the challenge.

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Unknown
And so do you find being a season I mean, it's a full time seasonal position.

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Unknown
Do you find, do people work in their off season, or is it sort of like a full time job in that they don't really need to work the rest of the season?

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Unknown
They just come back year after year, or they

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Unknown
can or do you fine, I guess I, I always think about that, you know, when there's a contract term position, how does that look like for a full year for someone. Yeah. It's that's a great question. So the so how are work the for them looks like is they work around like 12 hours a day.

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Unknown
So as like previously mentioned like it's very physical demanding right.

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Unknown
So if they work through like let's say April till November, December, like if you do the math, like they make really good money, okay. Because we pay them overtime, we pay them travel time, we pay them standby time. Whether these. So at the end, like they do make out enough money to be able to support themselves during the off season.

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Unknown
We do have a lot, a lot of, like, Canadian, workers employees. So they can like after the off season, they can continue working somewhere else, right? As long as they come back to us the next season, that's totally fine. But for example, we have, candidates who are currently on lease or Kuzma. What they usually do is they work here throughout the season, and sometimes they go back to their countries just to spend time with their family.

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Unknown
Right. And then they come back next season. And that's an arrangement that works for them. And they can also go back to the country and continue working there. And then they come back here on like

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Unknown
next season, April. So that's the arrangement. And it seems to be working okay okay. Yeah. Yeah. Makes sense.

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Unknown
The ones that are on Kuzma, they're all of my age. They're not allowed to work for anyone else while they're in Canada. So that is a restriction for them. So they cannot get a second job in a car that says, they're very busy. And I must say that,

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Unknown
Yes. When would they? Extremely well, because again, with Kuzma and all my age, you have to meet the median wage or beat the median wage. And again, they have to follow a temporary foreign worker policy. So, yeah. Working for Sanchez Windsor is a very, very good, strategy for those who want to make a good income and those who want to go back and visit their families as well.

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Unknown
So, yeah, what is Kuzma when we see that

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Unknown
the Canadian United States Mexican Agreement. So it used to be called NAFTA. Yeah okay. Yeah. So sorry I know I'm notorious for my acronyms. That's right. Yeah. So there's there's a couple of ways how the workers can come in and so on and so forth. And even though the labor market impact assessments, they are very difficult to, sometimes, if not impossible to do, that's, that's sometimes the only way that, companies can work with.

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Unknown
So that's, you know, that's the only strategy they have to get foreign workers. And but that leads me to a question. How many

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Unknown
if you could just take a guess, how many workers are Canadians and how many workers do you have to recruit to fill that? Group access industrial mill. Right. Positions like the one turbine? Yes, that's a good question.

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Unknown
I will say probably

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Unknown
we have about 20% Canadians and 80% foreign workers. It's very challenging to find Canadian workforce who have the certifications or the experience, or the or just like Canadians who are willing to take this type of position.

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Unknown
So that's why we are kind of like being push to hire foreign workers with me, you know, because the Canadian workforce is pretty much non-existent for this type of,

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Unknown
position.

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Unknown
And so just to sort of, I guess along the same lines there,

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Unknown
like you said, you mentioned about 80% are foreign workers. And, Lindsay, you might know about this. You will is the trades is a very much a demand now in Canada in terms of if someone's wanting to stay in Canada. Right.

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Unknown
So this is a great opportunity maybe to get someone's foot in the door if their long term plan is maybe to stay in Canada.

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Unknown
yeah, it would actually I think depends. Right. So if it's a seasonal contract work and might be a little bit more trickier because, the way our immigration programs are designed, you know, and then however, though there have been, you know, people that have been able to stay.

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Unknown
So the trades are really high in demand, of course. And actually, this position is two. So I think this is a great platform. Just to, you know, create awareness. Even though our program is focused, our podcast is focused on foreign workers. What we should make note is what Carla said is that there's so much job opportunities in their own company for, you know, Canadians and, you know, these types of trades, industrial millwrights and rope access technicians, you're looking at making over $80,000 a year, right.

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Unknown
And that's you know, that's pretty good income. If you're in Canada or even if you're a temporary foreign worker. So, yeah. So, short answer is that, yes, there is a way to immigrate to Canada. But yeah, you know, not one shoe fits everyone, right? So it really just depends on the person and what their contract is.

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Unknown
I have another quick question. Just because I work,

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Unknown
in the realm of language and workplace. So, Carla, you know, obviously there's a lot of training that's involved here. I'm going to assume there is a higher level of language that is required, in terms of, of English or can you speak to that as well? Yeah, that's a great question too, because most of

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Unknown
hires are foreign workers.

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Unknown
We require all applicants to speak English, especially because it's essential for safety, communication and recording in the field. Right. So the like English proficiency is very important for everybody. So just to give you an example, like they need to be able to take the IELTS exam. So it's an English exam. And Lindsay correct me if I'm wrong, but I think they need to pass with a score of five out of ten for the I am.

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Unknown
Yeah. For you this not necessarily a specific, pass, but they need to demonstrate that they can write, basic English and so on. So write, write, speak, listen, so on and so forth. But if they do want to immigrate, that's where you're actually you're getting to that point where if you want to do the federal, skilled trades program, then you would need, you know, 5.5.

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Unknown
So there's different levels that are required. But, so yes, once they also have their own requirements so they can set their own standards. And Carla does write a letter, with all of our applications to states that they, they meet or they see the English language requirement, because oftentimes what happens is, you know, companies are stuck in the in the fact that they have to get a foreign worker, you know, a lot quicker than what the time frame will allow.

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Unknown
And so we need to submit their applications. However, that person cannot take their IELTS because they too are way working somewhere, right. So so this is what Alex once has done to circumvent that is also put in a letter of support for the applicant and say that, yeah, we've interviewed them in English and we've had that conversation and we believe strongly that they can I take on this position and the responsibilities to it, given their ability to communicate in English.

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Unknown
Has that been never been a challenge in terms of you found qualified people, but they just don't have the level of English that you need? Do you find that comes up very often or. Yes. Yeah, it happens very often.

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Unknown
Especially with Mexican candidates. We want to bring them with Kuzma and they are

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Unknown
probably overqualified. They are great technicians.

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Unknown
But the challenge is that they don't speak English. So just for safety reasons it's kind of impossible for us to bring them if they don't speak English. Because if we send them to a job site and someone from the engineering team on the client side want to talk to them about something, they're not going to be able to explain anything, right?

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Unknown
And we can get kicked out of the job site too. We can also get in trouble. So just because of safety reasons, like, like all of our employees speak English.

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Unknown
And in my mind it's probably. Yeah. But intermediate. Yeah I yeah. Intermediate level that you would need. Yeah. As long as they can,

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Unknown
as long as they like, as long as other people can understand what they're saying.

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Unknown
Like their English doesn't have to be very advanced. Right. Like you just have to be able to communicate. Yeah. And read and comprehend. Yeah. Exactly. No, exactly. And I think a lot of people

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Unknown
think they put so much pressure on themselves to get that advance. And advance is obviously a benefit, but like you said, you just need it to be safe to read, to comprehend.

00:19:09:22 - 00:19:18:03
Unknown
You know, and for most people that that's an intermediate. As long as you of your intermediate, you're pretty much set right, unless you really want to get into management or training and things like that.

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Unknown
Yeah, yeah. As long as the understand like basic or intermediate, like everything else will come quickly. Every single day. Right. Like as long as they practice, their English will improve.

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Unknown
So okay so we talked about language and that being you know somewhat of a necessity. Then we talked about your the certifications as well as what the workers may need to in order to obtain a position with you. And so let's talk about Canadian experience. Does that ever come into play. What kind of experience do you think they have to have?

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Unknown
You know, other than their certification and their language.

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Unknown
Yeah. No. So we actually don't require any Canadian experience to be mandatory sentencing as the candidates meet our technical requirements and the certification that I mentioned, we welcome international experience. And that's like the current situation of most of our employees. Most of them are foreign workers and they've never worked in Canada.

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Unknown
But they are great technicians. Are the type of interviews that we do. It's,

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Unknown
very technical. So like, we always receive, like a very large volume of Christmas every single day. And I'm the one screens the applicants to make sure that they have, minimum of three years of experience and can possibly repair. But it doesn't need to be like in Canada, only it can be three years of experience in Mexico or Sweden, like any country, as long as they have three years of experience.

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Unknown
Why? Because they need to meet the requirements and the requirements. It's a minimum of three years of experience in compulsively repair,

00:21:00:02 - 00:21:21:07
Unknown
or at least that's our company requirements. We also make sure that they speak English and they have the potential to pass the exam. And once they meet all of these criteria, I schedule an initial interview with them to discuss, like, their background, their technical skills, and their long term goals.

00:21:21:09 - 00:21:45:06
Unknown
And this is done via phone call if they are successful in their in their interview, I request samples of their paperwork because the head of operations has to evaluate that. And based on the feedback that I received from the head of operations, then we may conduct a second interview. And that's if you interview is very technical interview.

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Unknown
Why? Because the head of operations, he was a technician in the past. So he's he's been there for he's done the job. So he he ask a lot of technical questions. And if they are successful in a second interview, that's when we send the offer letter. So we are very I wouldn't say picky. We, we make sure the to hire the right people in the right technicians to join our company because we want their expertise.

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Unknown
Well, that's a really good hiring process. And I just going say that,

00:22:18:10 - 00:22:37:03
Unknown
if we could explain that to Immigration Canada because so, so, they've just become so difficult lately. And if they could understand and through your vetting process and what you all do, it's not like you're just, you know, hiring someone with no experience that can't really do anything.

00:22:37:03 - 00:22:57:01
Unknown
You know, like you you are you have quite the, hiring process. So I just want to point that out is that, you really do that your, your potential workers and, and then at the end, if they are successful, you know, then you knowing that you are, you know, that you have a really good candidate and a really good worker.

00:22:57:01 - 00:23:06:18
Unknown
Well, and I think it's very important. I mean, it's like you said, it's a very highly technical position. You you need to be very thorough. Right. Those are those are big wind turbines, like. Yeah.

00:23:06:18 - 00:23:14:02
Unknown
you know, you mentioned you have a lot of people applying, you know, how is there any way someone can not I don't want to say how does someone stand out?

00:23:14:02 - 00:23:29:10
Unknown
But, you know, I'm a big believer in in networking and things like that. Do you like if people connect with you on LinkedIn, you know, those are the processes or in your is it more just better to just send in a resumé and your resume will speak for itself?

00:23:29:10 - 00:23:31:10
Unknown
Yeah. So

00:23:31:10 - 00:23:40:00
Unknown
they can apply through any like platform like where we actually post is, we post on LinkedIn, we post on indeed.

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Unknown
We also have, or website. We've also advertising Canadian job Bank and Aboriginal jobs and skill tree jobs. With the applicants also apply directly via email, to my email or to my WhatsApp message. And sometimes they send me want them messages with their resume. Right? So but yeah, like any any platform works for us. The more the merrier.

00:24:06:07 - 00:24:09:05
Unknown
So yeah, yeah, they can they can apply,

00:24:09:05 - 00:24:10:07
Unknown
through any platform.

00:24:10:07 - 00:24:26:17
Unknown
And when do you start hiring? Because you mentioned you sort of start work in April May. So I'm assuming obviously there's a process before like when ideally do you want when should people start applying let's say because I'm assuming obviously this season is already going. When should people apply for 2026.

00:24:26:18 - 00:24:49:08
Unknown
Yeah. So we are actually hiring all throughout the year. Why? Because we never know what's going to happen, right? Yes. A client can come back to us and request two more teams who we might not have the workforce. So we try to hire all around the year just to have like, bunches of people who are ready to start working.

00:24:49:08 - 00:25:09:20
Unknown
Sometimes we work, sometimes we just before our next year for 2026 LMG, they can start playing now because we're going to start our process in the next couple of weeks. So if they want to start working for us in 2026, they it's like they have to play out today.

00:25:09:20 - 00:25:10:02
Unknown
yeah.

00:25:10:06 - 00:25:23:07
Unknown
Can you give some advice to maybe foreign workers that are really interested in working for a company like CSS went? So there is actually there is basically

00:25:23:07 - 00:25:36:07
Unknown
what we call, I'll put it on the link to, I'll put it on the podcast link. And it's something where every country has their own standards and terms of when you apply for work person work permit Canada.

00:25:36:07 - 00:26:03:00
Unknown
Right. So if you are living in Congo, that might look a little different than if you're living in Portugal. So this is a good example. So if you lived in Portugal, it's not necessary that you submit your medical certificate or certificate. It really depends if you're a resident or assistant. But with if you are living in the Republic of Congo and you're a citizen there, then you do have to submit a medical record and you do have to submit a police certificate.

00:26:03:05 - 00:26:26:03
Unknown
So instead of waiting for the company to ask you for all these things, if you know that you're in the running, it's better to start early than to wait until you are officially hired because, you know, maybe, what, company A doesn't hire you, but maybe company B will, and you might look a little bit more attractive to someone who, to a company.

00:26:26:03 - 00:26:40:20
Unknown
If you had those, ducks in a row, as we would say. So my advice to foreign workers and even if you are in Canada and you're, living and working here, still, you still might be required to adhere to your own a country citizenship and what they require. So

00:26:40:20 - 00:26:54:02
Unknown
I just kind of want to put that out there, because I think we run into that problem a lot of times, is that we're waiting for important documents to submit the work permit based on the positive Olympia, and then we run out of time.

00:26:54:04 - 00:27:07:03
Unknown
So that's just, I think, a tip that I would give to foreign workers who are interested in applying for these types of jobs have it already before they even apply, because if it could be a quick turnaround, then yeah.

00:27:07:03 - 00:27:19:10
Unknown
And so do you. Carla, do you offer any sort of, I guess, maybe extra benefits or supports to workers that, work for you?

00:27:19:10 - 00:27:34:17
Unknown
So when I talk about supports, I mean, we sort of talked a little bit about language. We've talked about settlement, things like that. You said you sort of connect them with who they're working with. Are there any other sort of benefits that maybe people aren't aware of that you'd like to showcase that you offer?

00:27:34:17 - 00:27:40:16
Unknown
So unfortunately we don't offer health benefits, but as I mentioned, we offer a per diem.

00:27:40:18 - 00:27:43:09
Unknown
So sometimes it's very attractive for them.

00:27:43:09 - 00:28:01:15
Unknown
And we also offer company vehicles for one, for a team of three persons, there's always going to be one person who is going to be driving a vehicle. But it's for work purposes. But other than that, we don't offer any other type of benefits.

00:28:01:15 - 00:28:03:13
Unknown
Well, and that's tricky to use.

00:28:03:13 - 00:28:22:05
Unknown
Like you said, it is, there's not a full year round position, right? People aren't necessarily there for the full year. So that that makes sense. And that's a big deal, you know, especially when you're gone for months at a time that that adds up, you know. Well, if you're looking at your base pay being like 32 to 35 bucks an hour, right.

00:28:22:05 - 00:28:46:09
Unknown
So that's going over 70 to 80,000 a year, and then you're getting per diem. So that's going to probably kick you over to six figure. And your premiums don't necessarily have to be spent, you know, all on specifically, you know, lodging and so on and so forth. You can actually, you know, be kind of frugal about it and they'll still pay you your per diem, and you can still make money off your per diem, too, right?

00:28:46:09 - 00:28:51:12
Unknown
So, there's, you know, so there's some good perks. And working for a company like. Yes, once

00:28:51:12 - 00:28:53:11
Unknown
and for people who,

00:28:53:11 - 00:29:08:09
Unknown
don't know what a podium is, that's money that you get for food and, and overnights and things like that, that a company will pay you. Correct? Yes. Yeah. And I think it's important to know to, a lot of your work is in rural areas in Canada.

00:29:08:09 - 00:29:21:11
Unknown
Correct. So it's much cheaper to live off, you know, live live cheaply if you want to in rural areas. So that's something else. So I think to, to note,

00:29:21:11 - 00:29:31:00
Unknown
do you know, top of your head, Carla, where some of the communities are where the, with the millwrights and rope technicians working? No, I, I don't have the exact.

00:29:31:00 - 00:29:34:14
Unknown
Yeah, it's the one who will have the information will be in,

00:29:34:14 - 00:29:51:09
Unknown
you know. Okay, maybe as well we can post some of those examples. Yeah. And, you know, let's talk about your company and just the background of your company. Is it true to say that majority of our, the company or I should say the founders, they are immigrants as well?

00:29:51:11 - 00:29:53:03
Unknown
They are. Yes.

00:29:53:03 - 00:30:10:07
Unknown
So we have two founders. Their names are Dmitri Petrov and Alex Middle. It's the are both from Ukraine. They purchased this company, couple years ago. I don't, I don't know how many years ago exactly. I don't want to say the wrong number.

00:30:10:07 - 00:30:21:05
Unknown
But, yeah, they are immigrants, and it's, it's been a success story, actually, most of our employees in head office are also immigrants.

00:30:21:07 - 00:30:45:19
Unknown
One example is me. And then we also have another person who helps the payroll, person. He's also from Ukraine, so. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's great to have, these type of companies hire immigrants and open the door for foreign workers because, like, you also feel welcome, right? You know, all of the challenges the immigrants have to go through.

00:30:45:19 - 00:30:59:12
Unknown
And they support you all throughout the process. So that's that's great. But, Carla, would you mind telling us a bit of your background? Of course. Yeah, I'm from Mexico City. I moved to Canada around seven years ago.

00:30:59:12 - 00:31:08:06
Unknown
Through what, program, I moved here. It was through express entry. And it took forever for us to get a place to get approved.

00:31:08:08 - 00:31:10:13
Unknown
So. Yeah, just be patient.

00:31:10:13 - 00:31:17:22
Unknown
Submit everything on time. And just, like, full of the Canadian loans, that. That's it. It's as simple as that.

00:31:17:22 - 00:31:33:11
Unknown
that that sort of a success story in itself right there. Just you said, like I said, a company that was purchased by immigrants. It's growing. And like you said, it's just it's a supportive environment. You know, people can come and work there. And a lot of times they're able to connect with people who've had similar experiences.

00:31:33:11 - 00:31:51:11
Unknown
Right. And I think that in itself is a very valuable thing for someone to have someone like you said, just for someone to say, you know what? You just have to be patient. You said, have your documents. You know, that's that's really an important piece. I think it is. It is. Yes. And I was very lucky to have found this company.

00:31:51:11 - 00:32:11:19
Unknown
I've been working for this company for the past year, actually, my anniversary's coming up. I'm very happy with this company. I'm currently working as the h.r. Manager, and I've been learning a lot of things, a lot of things about immigration as well, which takes a long, a lot of time.

00:32:11:19 - 00:32:16:05
Unknown
But yeah, I'm just happy that I'm, like, growing personally and professionally with this company.

00:32:16:09 - 00:32:28:22
Unknown
Yeah. Carlos a very good person to work with. And, yeah. So to, to be a human resource manager and having to, you know, oversee Canadians and as well as, you know,

00:32:28:22 - 00:32:56:10
Unknown
oversee the temporary foreign worker, recruitment part of it as well is, you know, I think it's it's time consuming. And as you said, immigration is a lot and doesn't have to know everything about immigration, but, it sure is, I think, helpful to someone in her position to understand the different pathways and the hurdles that the principal applicant has to go through and the ever changing policies and procedures at Immigration Canada.

00:32:56:10 - 00:33:18:00
Unknown
Well, and I think actually, this is a good time. Carla, can you this is a great example. You know, you're working with Lindsay to help, employees in Canada. What does that look like? Because there's a lot of companies out there right now that are struggling. They're trying to do this on their own. And, you know, you are you're obviously you've made the smart decision just to hire a professional.

00:33:18:00 - 00:33:26:06
Unknown
Right. And so how has Lindsay, I guess, made your life easier, made things more efficient in terms of getting the employees that you need?

00:33:26:06 - 00:33:28:16
Unknown
I mean,

00:33:28:16 - 00:34:08:10
Unknown
to be honest, like I could never do immigration by myself. That's, that's a lot of work. And as Lindsay mentioned, like, rules are always changing, right? So, like, I like we said, our current application last year around this month, I will say, and we still have some people that haven't, submitted their work permit application or that they haven't gotten approved or they got declined because the official did, didn't review the file accordingly to the 11 year terms, you know, so there's like so many things that we

00:34:08:10 - 00:34:32:16
Unknown
have to go through. And if a company wants to do this by themselves, I think it will be lost. They do need an expert. They do need someone who has the all of the answers for our species. Lindsay. And she's been great with us, like she's been helping our 12 LME, technicians that we want to bring into Canada.

00:34:32:16 - 00:34:48:01
Unknown
Some of them have already been approved, and they are currently working for us. So thank you, Lindsay, for that. But yeah, I suggest companies to hire a professional is they'll be the ones who know how to do everything and how the process works.

00:34:48:01 - 00:34:59:08
Unknown
And I would add, yeah, hire someone not to, you know, even if you just want to hire them to coach, if you feel like I don't think Carla has the time because she has such a, a number of employees.

00:34:59:08 - 00:35:37:06
Unknown
Right. But if you are a smaller team, then I would just basically hire someone that, has, you know, a good history of working and and doing this type of work. And maybe they can coach that human resource manager and help them out. But yeah, so Carla mentioned one thing. And I do just want to say it because it's true, is that, we apply for one client to and the principal applicant, and we got a, refusal letter back and they said, you know, this person is refused, and I'm not sure why it's even applied to the person that was refused, like it was just the wrong refusal, but they actually reviewed it under

00:35:37:06 - 00:35:49:02
Unknown
the wrong program. So they said, international mobility program. But yet an LMI has nothing to do with an imp. So the officer themselves,

00:35:49:02 - 00:36:04:06
Unknown
reviewed the application wrong. So things like that. And if you don't know that as even if you're applying as yourself as the principal applicant, just by yourself without any help, or if there's a human resource manager that's that has limited knowledge in immigration, you might not catch that.

00:36:04:07 - 00:36:37:02
Unknown
Right. Because I know I wouldn't, so just tiny things like that and especially you got to watch because Immigration Canada, IRCc, they do make mistakes and you have to be able to call them on that. And it's important because as Carla said, people put all their investment and time and same with employers into obtaining these workers. So it's yeah, it's up to us to make sure that, we, we are aware of, of everything and that we catch IRCc to when they make mistakes as well.

00:36:37:04 - 00:36:53:14
Unknown
And so, Lindsay, you're sort of like we talk about these 12 employees. You're sort of basically following up with each one, making sure their process is the right way. And if there's issues you're dealing with those and and you're working with Carlyn updating her. So it's really yeah, Carla, you can be involved, but you don't have to do it, all right?

00:36:53:14 - 00:36:55:16
Unknown
It doesn't have to consume all of your time,

00:36:55:16 - 00:37:19:15
Unknown
Yeah. No, it's very time consuming. So after the interviews and like, sending the offer, literally, I connect them with Lindsay and then link to takes. So for instance, I'm at the list of documentations that they need to gather, to start the process. And I do help sometimes with like any type of documentation that they might need, like supporting letters or sending their, employment contract or things like that.

00:37:19:17 - 00:37:24:03
Unknown
But but overall, Lindsay is the one who manages everything but the candidate.

00:37:24:03 - 00:37:46:04
Unknown
No. And that's. Yeah, that makes the most sense. I think you're you're busy. You're growing a business. Right. Like a other. Yeah. Job. Are there any, we always like to ask this kind of. Are there any positions that need French? Are you working in areas where French is ever an asset to have you know, so we don't require anybody to speak French.

00:37:46:06 - 00:37:55:07
Unknown
Having that said, we are open to hire French speakers because Lindsay just brought to our attention a new program. We're we can hire French speakers.

00:37:55:07 - 00:37:58:22
Unknown
So, yeah, we're open to that, but it's definitely not mandatory.

00:37:58:22 - 00:38:16:07
Unknown
Yeah. It's a bonus. Right. You know, to be able to speak both languages as well. Yeah. So it's so if you can speak French and there's the French mobile mobility program too, that we could look at for access wins and, and maybe get you through that way.

00:38:16:07 - 00:38:18:00
Unknown
Right. If you're a foreign worker

00:38:18:00 - 00:38:40:14
Unknown
and if someone has any more questions, they've listened to this interview today. Where would you recommend they go next? Is there someone they can contact? If they wanted to say email or call or. Yeah, of course they can reach out to me directly. The sacrament at the ICA. I think it's going to be easier for link that you're right in my email.

00:38:40:16 - 00:38:50:07
Unknown
You're in the. Yeah, we'll put in the show notes. Yeah, yeah. So they can reach out to me directly there or via LinkedIn. I'm always happy to connect with everybody.

00:38:50:07 - 00:39:11:13
Unknown
Okay. Well that's great. Well, thank you so much, Carla, for coming on with us. And, you know, I think you guys have a wonderful business. Your position is, you know, the opportunity to to work with your company in the positions that you offer, I think is a tremendous advantage, be it if you're Canadian or you are a temporary foreign worker.

00:39:11:19 - 00:39:13:18
Unknown
So just want to thank you for coming on.

00:39:13:18 - 00:39:21:00
Unknown
Yes. Thank you. And I have one final question because we want to promote Canada, rural areas. So

00:39:21:00 - 00:39:35:23
Unknown
you're in Ontario. You're our first Ontario interview. So I'm very excited. Where you live in the area or anywhere that you've been in Canada, do you have a favorite maybe restaurant or place you'd like to visit that is in a rural area?

00:39:36:01 - 00:39:39:00
Unknown
That's a great question.

00:39:39:00 - 00:39:40:21
Unknown
I'm just trying to think.

00:39:41:01 - 00:40:07:20
Unknown
I don't have any that comes to my mind. No. That's okay. No, sorry. That's a good suggestion. Yes. All we can give you. Lots. No. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming today, Carla. Thank you, everyone, for listening today. This is an amazing company to check out because not only, you know, gives you flexibility. You get to travel, you don't necessarily have to live right where your main offices.

00:40:07:20 - 00:40:15:10
Unknown
Like you said, people can live in other areas. So, you know, if someone's looking for flexibility opportunities, I think this is a great place to check out. So thank you.

00:40:15:10 - 00:40:17:21
Unknown
Thank you both. Thank you liane. Thank you Lindsay.

00:40:17:21 - 00:40:23:04
Unknown
Thank you Carla. And to all of our listeners. Until next time, live rural, live well.

00:40:26:00 - 00:40:41:12
Unknown
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