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Aston MBA students take top prize at Universities Business Challenge Global Masters 2022

The competition helps develop the skills needed to move into corporate/public sector life The Grand Final took place in Liverpool where 10 teams from different universities competed for the title They were assessed on their team strengths and presented a one-minute pitch on a creative social business idea to an entrepreneur. A team of Aston MBA students has taken the top prize at the Universities Business Challenge (UBC) Global Masters 2022. Team GE7, which included Aishwarya Nagath Menon, Nashit Khalifa, Vasilijs Garbacevics, Divya Krisitipati led by Mithun Joy and mentored by Aston Business School’s Dr Julius Stephan, will receive a trophy on campus on 12 May. The competition offers postgraduate students a unique opportunity to develop the skills that you will need when moving into the working world and consists of 80 teams, drawn from a wide range of UK and Irish universities. The UBC Global Masters is a team-based business simulation event that provides participants with the opportunity to act as a board of directors, who have taken responsibility for improving the performance of a company. The finals took place in Liverpool where 10 teams from different universities, including two from Aston University, competed against each other tasked to run a simulated business under difficult trading conditions and also introduce an innovative idea to link the business to a social or environmental cause. The teams were assessed on their team strengths and presented a one-minute pitch on a creative social business idea to an entrepreneur. Mithun Joy, an Aston MBA student and team winner, said: “I am really proud to be part of the first Aston Business School team to win this competition. “It was a really competitive event against other universities, including the UBC's defending champion.” Clive Kerridge, course director at Aston Business School, said: “Although an Aston University MSc team made the podium in 2022, we are delighted to have our first ever winners of this excellent competition. “Taking part in the UBC Global Masters Challenge has been a great opportunity for our students to apply their theoretical knowledge to a complex, yet highly practical and topical business setting. “It allows for personal and professional development that is intellectually challenging and practically relevant, equipping participants with essential skills. Working in competitive teams enables peer to peer learning and interaction.” Find out more about the competition here.

STORY: Three IT Associates de-mystify how growth and knowledge drives success for this essential team

Technical training, exposure to multiple industries and an open and inclusive culture help IT Associates innovate across CCG. They are often the quiet contributors to a project, taking a business idea from concept to delivery to allow strategic business endeavours to get off the ground. What they do and how they do it can be mysterious to many, with technical jargon, architectural details and complex processes at play. To succeed in IT requires incredible technical knowledge, a solid understanding of business processes, and innovative mindset with a natural curiosity to understand how multiple industry business systems all work together. Most importantly what’s needed is the desire for continuous learning. The IT department at CCG has enjoyed an incredible period of growth and development over recent years. In the last decade alone, CCG has undergone a major technology transformation, replacing every major business system required to support the different lines of business under the CCG umbrella including CAA Insurance, Orion Travel Insurance, CAA Travel, Membership and Emergency Roadside Services, while also implementing industry-leading innovations like CAA MyPace. We spoke to three tenured Associates to uncover their secret to success working in IT. What drives the culture of a team that often works behind the scenes but is vital to the success of all organizational projects? Lindsay Lamothe Typically, IT Associates have exposure to many business areas, giving them a well-rounded view of the various industries in which CCG operates. At first glance, one might think that this kind of exposure helps drive innovation and growth. But, while this is true for many, Lindsay Lamothe, Senior Business Systems Analyst for CCG’s Roadside Product Management, explains it’s more nuanced. “I think working in multiple lines of business at the organization led me down the path towards IT. I have no formal training in IT but having exposure to the business side of things gave me insights that continue to be valuable now that I work in a business enablement area,” shared Lamothe. “Being exposed to multiple industries while working in IT is a valuable opportunity to grow knowledge, but I think anyone who can learn more about the multiple industries we operate in would be well-positioned to do well in IT.” Lamothe started at CCG as a summer student to pay for university and eventually came on full-time working in auto travel, helping Members with TripTiks. She worked on the frontlines for ten years before shifting into IT and roadside assistance and has now been at the company full-time for 18 years. Her sense of purpose comes through very clearly when you speak to her about the impact of her work. “I am proud to work in IT at CCG because I am passionate about roadside operations. What we do saves lives,” said Lamothe. “If each code fix or enhancement that we work on gets us to the Member even five seconds sooner, that could be a matter of life or death. I know that we are making a difference in people's lives.” Voytek Bialkowski Voytek Bialkowski, just accepted a promotion to a director position in Enterprise Resource Planning. He also started his career at CCG and credits the technical learning opportunities offered for his continued success. Next month he marks the impressive milestone of 15 years with the company. “CCG is unparalleled in the marketplace in terms of professional growth and learning opportunities,” shares Bialkowski. “Our senior leaders have created a true knowledge culture by encouraging and celebrating professional development, certification, and lifelong learning. In my time with the IT department, I have earned four SAP certifications that furthered my technical skillset. I have also leveraged many of the programs available for Associates, such as the Lean Six Sigma White Belt and the Queens mental health certificate.” What truly sets CCG’s IT department apart is the emphasis on technical training that many Associates can receive right out of school or with little prior knowledge. Bialkowski explains, “CCG has provided me with multiple avenues for technological growth. Working on best-in-class systems and learning their functional and technical components has allowed me to become intimately familiar with SAP’s software suite, Greenfield SAP strategies and methodologies, data quality and data migration, application management, software development and testing lifecycle, as well as SQL and other query languages.” It's clear through the experiences of Lamothe and Bialkowski that learning opportunities and a broad array of opportunities to contribute to different areas of the business are key drivers of the success of CCG’s IT Associates. While hard skills and insights are essential, equally important is the culture of a team and the people that one works with to get things done. John Zhao John Zhao, Manager Quality Assurance in IT App Development & Architecture, shared his take on CCG’s culture and how that plays a role in delivering exceptional service to CCG’s business areas. “Collaboration and mutual respect underpin everything we do in IT. This is a big part of how we continue to learn and support each other,” shares Zhao. “Beyond these two values, we are encouraged to apply innovation to our daily process and products.” Innovation, being care-driven, leading by example, and collaboration are values that define CCG’s corporate culture across departments. Still, it is evident in speaking to Zhao that with tight deadlines and often unexpected challenges, they are especially engrained in the culture and approach of the IT department. Zhao’s experience at CCG aligns with Bialkowski and Lamothe’s, showcasing how fostering and developing technical knowledge internally and maintaining a broad perspective that can connect the dots across multiple industries are standard features of our IT approach. All three Associates underscore how the innovative and best-in-class approach of our IT department starts at the top. From Jay Woo, our CEO, to Apra Sekhon, our Chief Innovation Officer and Kin Lee-Yow, our Chief Information Officer, and their leaders. Together, they set the bar on integrating technology and innovation to ensure everyone aligns on promoting growth and knowledge to drive success for CCG’s IT Associates. As technology and innovation continue to grow, it’s valuable for all Associates to understand how this hardworking group of individuals support the essential work we do at CCG.

5 Ways Expertise Marketing Supports Digital Transformation

Digital transformation is much more than merely redesigning your website or moving your files to the cloud. It’s about harnessing digital technologies to elevate your business. Specifically, digital transformation is strategically adapting your business processes to change company culture, empower your staff and keep up with rising consumer demands. Organizations of all sizes are taking on transformative initiatives to meet today’s expectations in the digital space, but research by IDG has concluded that we still have some growing to do: “IT leaders are making steady and sequential progress to becoming digital-first organizations – though not at the same breakneck speed that the technologies themselves are proliferating. For many organizations, the foundational pieces are in place, and they’re actively working on adopting newer technologies like AI and IoT. But successful digital transformation will also require equal attention to change management and workforce strategy for the entire organization.” Supporting the Bigger Picture It’s easy to get hung up on the technology but successfully transforming your business means thinking about everyone involved – including your experts. Here are five ways expertise marketing supports digital transformation: It aligns people. Most companies aren’t particularly good at telling their people that their expertise is valued and many employees don’t understand the role they play as brand ambassadors. On top of that, outdated biographies on the company website fail to share the work that these experts with the audiences who are looking for it. A well-constructed expertise marketing program helps get experts and executives aligned on how they can help the brand – and it helps marketing teams feed the content beast. It tracks data. Metrics on visitor behaviour are critical to calculating ROI and ensuring your content is working. That said, most organizations don’t have an intuitive way of tracking internal contributions to the corresponding engagement data – making it difficult to determine which people and topics are driving results. Expertise marketing programs are designed to capture essential metrics on employee contributions and ensure that leads are captured and routed to appropriate individuals and departments for prompt follow up and reporting. It enhances search and SEO. Part of digital transformation is creating a sustained online presence. By harnessing your collective expertise, you can quickly publish a large volume of quality, searchable content that boosts your owned content footprint. It also provides a way to capitalize on earned media opportunities related to breaking news and emerging trends. It drives collaboration. Many organizations corporate policies and standards tend to lack guidelines for generating and promoting individual experts. As a result, individual groups within the organization are forced to fill the void and essentially, do their own thing. This leads to a disconnected set of expensive, custom projects. Organizations with structured expertise marketing programs consistently report an increase in collaboration and organizational alignment. It minimizes risk. It’s becoming more and more important to ensure adherence to corporate brand standards and editorial guidelines, as well as regulatory standards such as accessibility compliance. By centralizing your content and utilizing a federated content management structure, you’re not only providing your employees with a common source for branded assets and templates, but you’re empowering them to get things done in the simplest way possible. This approach mitigates risk, speeds time to market and dramatically lowers costs to implement a program. Filling the Gaps with Expertise As mentioned above, digital transformation is a comprehensive business strategy with many moving parts. While expertise marketing is one component of this organizational change, it works in tandem with your other programs and complements any initiative aimed at boosts your digital presence. In fact, it’s proven to support many of the activities that organizations have yet to complete. IDG’s 2018 State of Digital Transformation Expertise marketing is a powerful tool for enabling and elevating digital transformation. By encouraging company-wide participation, it’s shown to increase internal uptake, generate higher-quality content and ultimately, drive better results in terms of ROI. If digital transformation is in your future, then you need to start thinking about your experts today.  Download the Complete Guide to Expertise Marketing For a comprehensive look at how expertise marketing benefits the entire organization and drives measurable return on investment, follow the link below to download a copy of ExpertFile’s Complete Guide to Expertise Marketing: The Next Wave in Digital Strategy or download one of our tailored Guides for Corporate & Professional Services, Higher Education Institutions, Healthcare Institutions or Association & Not-for-Profits.

Thought Leadership 2.0: A New Approach

The term “thought leadership” has been exploited by self-proclaimed experts and overuse of the phrase has made the market weary of its practice. But before it was a buzzword, thought leadership was the crown jewel of content marketing. According to the Oxford Dictionary, thought leadership is “intellectual influence and innovative or pioneering thinking.” In practice, thought leaders leverage research and experience-based content to draw in audiences and support their organization’s reputation as an industry authority. This marketing concept has the power to transform product pitches to strategic insights and approaches into best practices, but not everyone found the same success with their programs – and there are a couple of good reasons why. This Is A Classified Project While it’s still true that thought leadership boosts customer engagement, some programs simply lack the depth needed to connect with audiences and see meaningful results. Many organizations are quick to jump on the latest marketing trend, but they don’t always have the vision to turn their expertise into a viable solution for their business. In fact, a leading research and consulting firm, Sirius Decisions, has suggested that “the purpose and process of thought leadership are widely misunderstood and misapplied, causing mixed results.” One of the most significant issues with thought leadership is that the C-Suite and other top-level teams tend to lead programs in a silo from the rest of the organization. It’s not uncommon for executives to outsource their thought leadership activities to special teams and agencies as a series of projects. This approach leads to disconnected outputs that miss the mark when it comes to audience engagement. It not only prevents subject-matter experts from elevating your content, but it also dismisses the wealth of knowledge they have about your audiences. Experts know who is looking for content, where they’ll go to find it and which topics they’ll follow. So when you exclude them from the process, you’re going to miss out on opportunities to drive market visibility, brand reputation and new customer connections. Your Experts Are People Too When you put something on a pedestal, you make it easy for people to see but hard for them to reach – and that’s a problem in the digital world. People want to deal with organizations who provide the information they need on the channels they use, and in a voice they understand. To be successful with thought leadership, it’s vital to understand these needs and take a human approach to your marketing and communications. Unfortunately, many thought leadership programs take a campaign-oriented approach and can mimic the dated marketing practices that centre around products rather than people. They come off as too formal and use “corporate speak” which makes them far less approachable. Worst of all, they often lack the authenticity audiences are looking for – so why not let your people do the talking? Your in-house experts make great brand ambassadors for your organization. By expanding your notions of thought leadership, you open the door for many voices to share your message in a manner that’s inclusive, genuine and accessible. This also makes it easier for you to maintain your online presence and insert diversity into your content marketing. Rather than repeating the same ideas over and over, your broader team of experts will be able to capture varying perspectives and insights – supporting your position as a leader in that domain. Evolving Thought Leadership While the concept of thought leadership still resonates with audiences, it’s time to make a few changes. Here are just a few reasons to transition dated thought leadership projects into profitable expertise marketing programs: Excerpt from the Complete Guide to Expertise Marketing As you can see, expertise marketing takes the best parts of thought leadership and makes it more inclusive, sustainable and agile – and all at a lower cost. On top of this, expertise marketing incorporates human connections as a fundamental component of both the strategy and execution. It surfaces diverse expert perspectives, delivers authenticity and creates two-way conversations between you and your audiences. Most of all, it can easily be adapted as our environments change and new audience needs emerge. If your thought leadership program lacks results, you’ll likely have to broaden your views on expertise and leadership. Take a closer look at all of your people and the value they bring to your business. This inclusive approach to expertise marketing will not only make it easier to manage thought leadership, but it will also deliver the long-term success you want from your marketing. Download The Complete Guide to Expertise Marketing For a comprehensive look at how expertise marketing benefits the entire organization and drives measurable return on investment, follow the link below to download a copy of ExpertFile’s Complete Guide to Expertise Marketing: The Next Wave in Digital Strategy or download one of our tailored Guides for Corporate & Professional Services, Higher Education Institutions, Healthcare Institutions or Association & Not-for-Profits.

“More Brains – Less Bots: Driving Reputation & Revenue with Expertise Marketing” – Collision 2019 Keynote [VIDEO]

On May 22, in Toronto, ExpertFile’s CEO and Co-founder Peter Evans presented at the Collision Conference in the “Growth Summit Track.” As the fastest growing tech conference in North America, Collision drew over 25,000 attendees. As one of the world’s largest and most influential tech events, Collision attracted CEOs of the world’s largest companies, founders of the most exciting start-ups, leading investors and media, from more than 120 countries. Click here to watch the keynote. In his keynote session titled “More Brains, Less Bots: Driving Reputation & Revenue with Expertise Marketing,” Peter speaks to how organizations can better engage their internal experts to competitively differentiate their brand and drive new revenues. The session outlined how trends such as the erosion of consumer trust and increasingly complex buyer journey are driving enterprises and institutions to make experts more approachable to key audiences as media sources, speakers and customer advisors. Peter also shared key insights learned from working with top organizations in sectors such as corporate, healthcare, higher education and industry associations.

5 Tips On Creating Engaging Expert Profiles

If you’ve ever taken part in a website project, you know that not all content is created equal. We spend countless hours perfecting the homepage, but we often forget to tell our audiences who we are. The people behind the scenes in an organization provide some of the best opportunities to create relevant and relatable content for audiences. Take the “About Us” page for example. Ironically, it’s often an afterthought for digital teams who upload some boilerplate copy and call it a day. But people buy from people and the more human you can make your content the better the user experience will be. Here are some tips to help you create that personal connection. The Old Profile  Our research shows that most employee content comes up surprisingly short when audiences conduct an online search. This is becoming a more critical element to consider, given that 78% of B2B buyers now use Google as a starting point for their online activities. While there can be several factors impacting your Google rank, the issue often comes down to a lack of quality content on employee-related pages. Many organizations resort to posting outdated headshots next to a title for their employee sections. If you’re lucky, you might find a boring text biography that fails to capture the depth of experience and expertise offered by your team. These tactics may have worked a decade ago, but today’s audiences now expect expert profiles to contain detailed biographies, multimedia and social content. This is especially true for B2B prospects like journalists and prospects looking for professional services. Any half-decent writer can make a person sound pretty important in a bio, but these audiences are looking for proof of your expertise. It’s not enough to tell audiences you’re great – you have to show them. Today’s audiences consume content differently, so it’s essential that you bring your expert profiles into the 21st century. The New Profile Here are 5 ways you can improve your employee content to better drive visitor attention, interaction and trust: Go Beyond Boring Bios: The new way to create expert profiles is to provide a detailed overview of an employee’s expertise and experience. This means that in addition to creating a detailed biography, you should also share content that shows key accomplishments that build credibility and trust: Are they an author? Have they spoken at a conference? Interviewed for a podcast? It’s important to get this information listed. Get Visual & Social: Beyond the written biography, look for ways to make content for your people more interesting for your audiences. Are there YouTube videos, Slideshares, Tweets, or thumbnails to books they have written? If so, you can leverage these assets for their profile. Remember if you are pitching media or conference organizers, this information is becoming tablestakes for journalists or event bookers who are vetting media sources or speakers. Show You Are Relevant & In-Demand: Public appearances and news spotlights can take your experts from unknown to sought-after. There are two ways to tackle this. The first is to capture any existing media releases to ramp up their credentials. If your expert hasn’t yet participated in this type of activity, publish content that speaks to emerging topics and news trends and provide quotes available to the media on newsworthy topics. This is a proven way to earn the attention of journalists and allow you to start building visibility as an industry insider. Go Beyond Your Website: While your website is ideal for hosting expert profiles, it’s not the only place to let your team shine. If you want to boost your visibility, make sure you take advantage of opportunities on third-party sites and platforms. This might include industry directories or your client/partner websites. By using the ExpertFile Platform, you can also publish your expert profiles to reach thousands of newsrooms through our media partners. Be More Approachable: It’s funny that almost every page on most websites has a call to action. However if you visit most people profiles, the journey ends there – or worse, it takes the visitor off your website and to an old, tired Linkedin profile. Instead, let your audiences get in touch with your business by including a specific call-to-actions (CTAs) within your expert profile. Depending on the size and capabilities of your organization, you might have want to enable direct connections to experts or opt to funnel leads through a various departments. Either way, the key to getting leads is starting a conversation. Download the Complete Guide to Expertise Marketing For a comprehensive look at how expertise marketing benefits the entire organization and drives measurable return on investment, follow the link below to download a copy of ExpertFile’s Complete Guide to Expertise Marketing: The Next Wave in Digital Strategy or download one of our tailored Guides for Corporate & Professional Services, Higher Education Institutions, Healthcare Institutions or Association & Not-for-Profits.

Kelley professor’s M-Score model remains most viable means of predicting corporate fraud

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Enhanced oversight over the auditing profession and firms’ financial reporting has led to a proliferation of models to predict financial statement fraud. But one of the first forensic models, the M-Score, devised by an Indiana University Kelley School of Business professor in the late 90s, remains accurate and is the most economically viable for investors to use, according to a forthcoming paper in The Accounting Review — the official journal of the American Accounting Association. The article, “The Costs of Fraud Prediction Errors,” co-authored by M. Daniel Beneish, professor of accounting and the Alva L. Prickett Chair at Kelley, compares seven fraud prediction models with a cost-based measure that nets the benefits of correctly anticipating instances of fraud against the costs borne by incorrectly identifying non-fraud firms as fraudulent. Even though newer fraud models early doubled the success rate of M-Score, which Beneish developed, they did so at the cost of a much larger number of false positives. As a result, the other models are not used in practice by auditors because they are too costly to implement as all flagged firms must be carefully investigated. “I have long known from my experience consulting with Arthur Andersen — for whom my model detected Enron before the debacle — and other public accounting firms, that litigation concerns relating to false positives — firms incorrectly flagged as having fraudulent financial statements — created an unwillingness by auditors’ general counsel to use fraud prediction models in practice,” Beneish said. “My efforts back then to improve the M-Score in the context of auditing failed because I could not increase the model’s success rate without increasing the number of false positives. It seems that the new models cannot either,” he added. Interestingly, as early as 2017 the M-Score flagged Kangmei Pharmaceutical, a Chinese publicly traded company that was involved in financial reporting fraud between 2016 and 2018. Like the Enron scandal in the U.S., the Kangmei Pharmaceutical scandal helped trigger new regulation in China that increased regulatory penalties for financial fraud (effective March 2020) and last November became China’s first successful class-action lawsuit involving corporate fraud. Its chairman was sentenced to 12 years in prison. “The main purpose of our paper is to provide evidence on the costs and benefits of using fraud prediction models, and to show whether using these models is economically viable for auditors, investors and regulators,” Beneish said. “This is important because the traditional measures commonly used in recent research to justify new models are misleading about model performance in fraud samples as the proportion of fraud firms in the population is very small, and as they typically assume that the cost of a false positive and false negatives (missed detections) are equal.” For example, assume that among 10,000 publicly traded firms, there are about 60 fraud firms and 9,940 firms without misreporting. The newer models detected 42 frauds (70% of the total frauds), and incorrectly flagged 3,976 firms (40% of the non-frauds). The latter is too large a number for most decision makers to investigate. “Our evidence that a cost-based assessment of models is preferable to traditional model comparison measures (e.g., area under the curve), should become even more important as efforts by future researchers in the areas of data mining and machine learning intensify,” Beneish said. Patrick Vorst of Maastricht University, assistant professor in financial accounting and accounting & information management, co-authored the paper with Beneish.

Aston University programme aimed at helping diverse businesses hailed a success

The Diverse Supply Chains ERDF programme assists diverse and minority-owned businesses to enter the supply chains of major organisations Diverse businesses are those owned and managed by women, people with limiting disabilities, people who are LGBT+, ethnic minorities and young entrepreneurs They have also had the opportunity to attend a workshop programme with access to funding. An Aston University programme aimed at helping diverse businesses has been hailed a success by the companies taking part. The Diverse Supply Chains programme supports local diverse1 businesses to enter the supply chains of major organisations through a specialised workshop programme and facilitates relationships between the businesses and large private and public sector corporate contractors. It also provides grants worth up to £2500 (match funding). The programme is being delivered in collaboration with Balfour Beatty Vinci, High Speed 2, Birmingham City Council, NatWest, The OM Group and Bournville Village Trust. To date, 98 businesses have been supported via two workshop programmes, out of which 19 have received grants of £2500. Furthermore, the programme has announced that three businesses have won a total of six bids since completing the programme. Professor Nick Theodorakopoulos, Programme Director, said: “I am delighted to see that the support we’ve been delivering to local diverse businesses has been really well received. Particularly the opportunity given to the SMEs to attend an innovative workshop programme with key industry partners; with participating businesses also having access to some funding in order to support their business tendering/supply chain activities.” Kavita Jeerh, ERDF Programme Manager at Aston Business School, said: “I am really pleased with how the programme has progressed so far. Considering we were due to launch the programme in April 2020, due to lockdown we were forced to re-assess the programme delivery and make key components of it accessible online. “This was challenging, but I am pleased to see that the two workshop programmes we have already delivered have met with remarkable success. “We are now half-way through delivering the final cohort.” Kamaljit Suman, co-founder of Art of the Heart CIC, commented: “If we hadn’t have done the Diverse Supply Chains course we would’ve gone down as a business - there’s not much doubt in my mind that that’s the case. “Since then, we have won our first contract with Birmingham City Council.”

Most in-demand jobs in British Columbia (B.C.) for newcomers

British Columbia is Canada’s third most populous province after Ontario and Quebec, with a large portion of its residents living in the Lower Mainland, which includes the coastal city of Vancouver and surrounding municipalities. The province attracts newcomers from all over the world with its cultural diversity, career opportunities, and enjoyable temperate climate. The government of British Columbia periodically invites newcomers with the skills and experience to meet the province’s growing labour requirements to work and settle in B.C. as Permanent Residents (PR) through the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP). This article provides information on British Columbia’s job market, including key industries and in-demand occupations for newcomers in B.C., along with NOC codes and median wage estimates, so you can arrive prepared to kick-start your career in Canada. What are the top industries in British Columbia? Services industry: The services sector is the largest contributor to the province’s GDP and the biggest employer in British Columbia. Some key service industries include real estate, construction, banking and financial services, health care, entertainment, retail, education, and professional, scientific, and technical services. Manufacturing industry: Top manufacturing industries include aerospace, clean technology, life sciences, information and communication technology, and paper. Mining and natural gas industry: B.C. has more than 700 mining and mineral companies, and employs over 25,000 people in mining and natural gas extraction and processing. The province is rich in precious metals and non-metallic minerals. Agriculture, aquaculture, and food processing industry: A wide range of agricultural and seafood products support a varied food processing industry in the province. Forestry: B.C. is one of the world’s largest exporters of wood products and the industry employs over 55,000 people. Which cities have the most job opportunities in BC? Lower Mainland, including Vancouver, Surrey, Burnaby, and Richmond: The most populous area in all of B.C., the Lower Mainland region offers ample job opportunities in services, trade, technology, film and television, tourism, natural resources, and construction. Victoria: The capital city of Victoria has large industries centred around advanced technology, tourism, education, health, retail, construction, and agriculture. Abbotsford: Abbotsford is known for its large agribusiness industry. It also offers employment opportunities in technology and aerospace industries. Kelowna: Kelowna has a diverse economy with opportunities in agriculture, health care, manufacturing, tourism, and service industries. What jobs are in demand in British Columbia? Construction and engineering jobs in B.C. Construction managers (NOC 0711): To get a job as a construction manager, you may require a management degree and can expect to earn a median income of $41 CAD per hour. Civil, electrical, electronic, and mechanical engineers (NOC 2131, 2133, 2132): These in-demand jobs in B.C. pay between $36 CAD and $43 CAD per hour. However, you’ll need an engineering degree and a provincial licence to work as an engineer. Technology jobs in B.C. Information systems analysts and consultants (NOC 2171): IT analysts and consultants earn a median income of $36 CAD per hour. Computer programmers and interactive media developers (NOC 2174): As a programmer or developer, you can expect to make around $43 CAD per hour. Computer network technicians (NOC 2281): Technicians make a median income of $28.85 CAD per hour in B.C. Software engineers and designers (NOC 2173): Software engineering jobs in B.C. are highly paid, with a median hourly pay of $52 CAD. You’ll need an engineering degree to qualify. Business and administration jobs in B.C. Administrative officers and assistants (NOC 1221 and 1241): These roles typically pay between $23 CAD and $26 CAD per hour. Financial auditors and accountants (NOC 1111): For finance and accounting roles, you’ll need a graduate degree or diploma in relevant courses. Auditors earn an average salary of $28 CAD per hour in B.C. Accounting technicians and bookkeepers (NOC 1311): Bookkeepers are paid a median hourly wage of $24 CAD. Health care jobs in B.C. Specialist physicians, general practitioners and family physicians (NOC 3111, 3112): Most of the in-demand occupations in health care require a provincial licence. To practise as a physician in B.C., newcomers also need to take a qualifying examination. Physicians, depending on their specialization, make a median annual income between $164,237 CAD and $256,202 CAD in British Columbia. Registered nurses and psychiatric nurses (NOC 3012): Registered nurses earn a median income of $41 CAD per hour and require a provincial nursing licence. Licensed practical nurses (NOC 3233): This in-demand occupation pays a median wage of $29 CAD per hour. Medical sonographers (NOC 3216): Sonographers make between $35 CAD and $39 CAD per hour in B.C. Nurse aides, orderlies, and patient service associates (NOC 3413): Nurse aides and orderlies earn between $18 CAD and $25 CAD per hour, depending on their experience and seniority. Education and social services jobs in B.C. Social and community service workers (NOC 4212): These jobs pay around $21 CAD per hour in B.C. Educators for universities, colleges, vocational institutes, and early childhood education (NOC 4011, 4021, and 4214): University and college professors and lecturers require a provincial teaching credential to work in BC. The median hourly pay for these occupations is $43 CAD. Early childhood educators earn a median income of $19 CAD per hour. Sales and services jobs in B.C. Retail and wholesale trade managers (NOC 0621): Managers in trade earn a median hourly wage of $30 CAD in BC. Restaurant and food service managers (NOC 0631): The median hourly wage for these positions is $26 CAD. Corporate sales managers (NOC 0601): Managerial jobs in sales make an average of $31.25 CAD per hour. What is the minimum wage in British Columbia? As of June 1, 2021, the minimum wage in British Columbia is $15.20 CAD per hour. What is the unemployment rate in B.C.? In November 2021, the unemployment rate in British Columbia was 5.4 per cent. How do I move to British Columbia? In addition to the federal Express Entry program, the province also invites skilled immigrants to come to B.C. as permanent residents through the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP). To work in B.C. temporarily, you’ll require a work permit. You’ll also have a better chance of finding a job if your skills match the province’s in-demand occupations. British Columbia is also home to some of the best universities in Canada, which welcome thousands of students each year. After graduating from your study program, you may be eligible for a Post-Graduation Work Permit and can gain valuable work experience that will make it easier for you to settle permanently in Canada. About Arrive Arrive is powered by RBC Ventures Inc, a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada. In collaboration with RBC, Arrive is dedicated to helping newcomers achieve their life, career, and financial goals in Canada. An important part of establishing your financial life in Canada is finding the right partner to invest in your financial success. RBC is the largest bank in Canada* and here to be your partner in all of your financial needs. RBC supports Arrive, and with a 150-year commitment to newcomer success in Canada, RBC goes the extra mile in support and funding to ensure that the Arrive newcomer platform is FREE to all. Working with RBC, Arrive can help you get your financial life in Canada started – right now. * Based on market capitalization

Most in-demand jobs in Ontario for newcomers

Ontario is one of the most popular provinces among newcomers. Its cultural diversity, economic prosperity, and ever-growing job market are just some of the reasons newcomers from across the world choose to settle in Ontario. The government of Ontario periodically invites newcomers with the skills and experience to meet the province’s growing labour requirements to work and settle in Ontario as Permanent Residents (PR) through the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program. This article provides information on Ontario’s job market. This includes the top industries that contribute to its economy, the most in-demand occupations for newcomers in the region, NOC codes, and median wage estimates, so you can arrive prepared to kick-start your career in Canada. What are the top industries in Ontario? Services industry: The services sector is the largest contributor to the province’s economy and employs nearly 79 per cent of the people living in Ontario. Some of the key service industries include banking and financial services, professional, scientific and technical services, and arts and culture. Manufacturing industry: Ontario’s manufacturing industry is one of the biggest in North America. Some of the most prominent manufacturing industries are automotive, information and communication technologies, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices. Agriculture: Ontario’s farming sector contributes nearly 25 per cent of Canada’s farm revenue. Mining industry: In addition to being one of the world’s top 10 producers of nickel and platinum, Ontario is also rich in gold, silver, copper, zinc, cobalt, and non-metallic minerals. Southern Ontario also has a sizeable oil and gas industry. Forestry industry: The forestry industry in the province creates nearly 200,000 direct and indirect jobs. Which cities have the most job opportunities in Ontario? Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA): This is the most populous region in the province, and Toronto is the financial hub of Canada. Other large industries in Toronto and the GTA include technology, real estate, trade, and manufacturing. Ottawa: As the capital of Canada, Ottawa offers significant job opportunities in administration. It is also a major centre for the high technology and finance industries. Brantford: This city is a manufacturing hub and offers job opportunities in food and beverage manufacturing, advanced manufacturing, rubber and plastic production, and warehousing and distribution. In addition, Brantford also has a growing media and entertainment sector. Hamilton: Another manufacturing centre, Hamilton has a large job market in the food processing and agribusiness industry, as well as in advanced manufacturing. Waterloo: The Toronto-Waterloo region is often referred to as the ‘Silicon Valley of the North’ and presents significant opportunities in the technology sector. Which jobs are in demand in Ontario? Health care jobs in Ontario Managers in health care (NOC 0311): Managerial positions in health care typically require a degree in management and pay around $48.21 CAD per hour. • Registered nurses and psychiatric nurses (NOC 3012): You’ll need a nursing degree and a provincial nursing licence to qualify. The median hourly pay for registered nurses in Ontario is $36 CAD. • Medical laboratory technologists (NOC 3211): As a lab technologist in Ontario, you can earn a median income of $38 CAD per hour. • Opticians (NOC 3231): Opticians make between $27 CAD and $34 CAD in Ontario. • Licensed practical nurses (NOC 3233): Licensed nurses make a median hourly wage of $27 CAD. • Nurse aides, orderlies, home support workers, and patient service associates (NOC 3413, 4412): For these occupations, the hourly wage ranges between $17.50 CAD and $20 CAD. Service sector jobs in Ontario To qualify for service sector jobs, you’ll usually require at least an undergraduate or graduate degree from a university. Administrative services managers (NOC 0114): Managerial positions in administration typically pay a median salary of $41 CAD per hour. Banking, credit and other investment managers (NOC 0122): Managers in the finance sector earn a median income of $50 CAD per hour. You’ll usually need a degree in management or finance to qualify. Advertising, marketing, and public relations managers (NOC 0124): These roles require a degree in marketing or management and pay a median income of $40 CAD per hour. Business services managers (NOC 0125): These roles pay an average hourly salary of $43 CAD. Corporate sales managers (NOC 0601): Sales manager roles in Ontario can be fairly high paying, with a median hourly wage of $52 CAD per hour. Restaurant and food services managers (0631): Compared to other managerial positions, restaurant and food services managers have the lowest median wage at $19.23 CAD per hour. Construction managers and managers in transportation (NOC 0711, 0731): Employees in these roles earn a median hourly wage between $38 CAD and $40 CAD. Human resources professionals (NOC 1121): HR professionals make an average income of $35 CAD per hour. Professional occupations in business management consulting (NOC 1122): In Ontario, business consultants make a median hourly salary of $41 CAD. Mathematicians, statisticians, and actuaries (NOC 2161): As a mathematician, you can earn an average of $45 CAD per hour. However, you’ll need an advanced degree in mathematics, statistics, or a related subject. Technology sector jobs in Ontario To work as an engineer in Ontario, newcomers require a licence from the province in addition to an engineering degree. Engineering managers, computer and information systems managers (NOC 0211, 0213): Managerial level in-demand jobs in Ontario pay a median hourly wage between $52 CAD and $53 CAD. To qualify, you may require a degree in engineering, management, or both. Computer engineers (NOC 2147): As a computer engineer, you can earn a median income of $44 CAD per hour. Database analysts, software engineers and designers, computer programmers and interactive media developers (NOC 2172, 2173, 2174): These technology sector roles pay between $40 CAD and $46 CAD per hour in Ontario. While many such positions require an engineering degree, some roles may also be open to applicants with a degree in computer science. Web designers and developers (NOC 2175): Web designers in Ontario can earn a median hourly wage of $31 CAD. Manufacturing jobs in Ontario Manufacturing managers (NOC 0911): Managers in manufacturing make a median income of $43 CAD per hour in Ontario. Machine operators in the mining and processing, chemicals, plastics, woodworking, and food and beverage industries (NOC 9411, 9416, 9417, 9418, 9421, 9422, 9437, 9446, 9461): Machine operators and process control workers typically earn a median hourly wage between $15 CAD and $23 CAD, depending on the industry they are in. Assemblers, fabricators, inspectors, and testers in the electronics and mechanical industries (NOC 9523, 9526, 9536, 9537): The median hourly wage for these jobs is between $16 CAD and $22 CAD. Agriculture jobs in Ontario The median hourly wage for in-demand agriculture jobs is between $14.35 CAD and $20 CAD. General farm workers (NOC 8431) Nursery and greenhouse workers (NOC 8432) Harvesting labourers (NOC 8611) Industrial butchers, meat cutters, poultry workers (NOC 9462) What is the minimum wage in Ontario? The general minimum wage in Ontario as of October 1, 2021, is $14.35 CAD per hour. For student workers, the minimum wage is $13.50 per hour. What is the unemployment rate in Ontario? The unemployment rate in Ontario in September 2021 was 7.3 per cent. However, the province’s economy is still recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and, with each quarter, the unemployment rate is inching back towards the pre-pandemic level of under six per cent. How can I move to Ontario? In addition to the federal Express Entry program, the province also invites permanent residents through the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program. If you’re planning to work in Ontario temporarily, you may be able to qualify for a work permit if your skills align with the province’s in-demand occupations. Ontario also boasts of some of the best universities in Canada and, each year, thousands of students come to Canada on study permits, with the aim of receiving a world-class education and settling permanently in Canada. Original article located here, published by Arrive. About Arrive Arrive is powered by RBC Ventures Inc, a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada. In collaboration with RBC, Arrive is dedicated to helping newcomers achieve their life, career, and financial goals in Canada. An important part of establishing your financial life in Canada is finding the right partner to invest in your financial success. RBC is the largest bank in Canada* and here to be your partner in all of your financial needs. RBC supports Arrive, and with a 150-year commitment to newcomer success in Canada, RBC goes the extra mile in support and funding to ensure that the Arrive newcomer platform is FREE to all. Working with RBC, Arrive can help you get your financial life in Canada started – right now.