Construction sector joins N.S. delegation on refugee recruitment trip to Jordan

A Nova Scotia construction company is joining an official delegation to the Middle East as the province steps up its recruitment of skilled refugees to help fill some key jobs.

It's one of the strategies being used to address a labour shortage that has been affecting some essential services.

The latest recruitment trip follows a visit to Kenya last fall, after which the government announced conditional job offers to 65 health-care workers.

Dora Construction is hoping to hire as many as 25 workers at the Global Refugee Labour Mobility Summit in Jordan's capital Amman that opens on Monday, March 6.

The five-day event includes a job fair.

"There is a well-documented labour shortage throughout the construction industry across Canada and in Nova Scotia," said Betsy Sisco, who is part of the delegation as a recruiter with Dora Construction.

Concrete workers needed

The company is still trying to hire workers from within Canada but has found that difficult in the current labour climate. 

"Jobs can get delayed and project deadlines can be hard to meet," Sisco explained.

With a particular shortage of concrete workers, she is hoping to hire formwork carpenters to support the company's projects around the province.

Candidates' resumes have already been examined, she said. 

They have also been pre-screened, to make sure they qualify for the federal Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot program which speeds up the candidates' permanent residence applications and offers loans for resettlement.

"I will be interviewing 25 or so people. They're mostly Syrian refugees with strong skill-sets," she said. 

Many have been living at the Za'atari Refugee Camp in Jordan, Sisco said, alongside more than 80,000 others. 

The majority of those at the camp are Syrians who fled the conflict in their home country, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency.

Dora is a part of the trip that also includes McLeod Group Health Services.

McLeod made a number of job offers for people to work in long-term care, after going on the earlier trip to Kenya.

"It's a really exciting opportunity. We're in an area where we're competing for talent not only across Canada but across the world," said Jennifer L'Esperance, a senior executive director of immigration and population growth with Nova Scotia Labour Skills and Immigration, who will be on the trip.

L'Esperance said the delegation will meet with a range of much needed health-care workers from registered nurses to pharmacist technicians.

Those offered positions in Nova Scotia's construction sector are in demand to help build housing, that is also another priority she said.

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"The employers are meeting with about 70 candidates and then there is an opportunity for us to see a few other health-care candidates as well," L'Esperance said.

The province also hopes to make contacts that may lead to future hiring opportunities.

The candidates that receive conditional offers plan to move to Nova Scotia with their families when they are approved as permanent residents.

It's expected the immigration process will take between six and nine months to complete.