Red Cross – Targeted Recruitment Event
Red Cross TRE Tues. Oct 26, 2021
Join the largest humanitarian network in the world! This is how Elizabeth Parente-Roy pitches her job postings on LinkedIn.
Elizabeth is a Talent Acquisition Specialist with the Canadian Red Cross. On Oct. 26, she brought this message to more than 20 clients in World Skills’ Empowering Visible Minority Newcomer Women (ENW) project. These clients had expressed a desire to work for the Red Cross specifically and/or NGOs generally. Employer recruitment information sessions like this are a key part of ENW.
That day there were more than 160 Canadian jobs on the Red Cross Web site, many in Ottawa or that could be done remotely. To specifically reach out to newcomers, the Red Cross also posts jobs on the World Skills Job Board!
During this event, Elizabeth took attendees on an excellent guided tour of the Talent Acquisition part of the Red Cross Web site, explaining in just the right amount of detail how to effectively use it, and fielding many specific questions about their hiring process, including:
- the work and structure of the RedCross,
- the types of jobs it has — both operational and corporate services,
- the skill sets and other attributes it is looking for, and
- any conditions of employment that might impact newcomers (e.g. security, mobility, bilingualism, etc.).
The ENW women kept Elizabeth talking for the full hour that they had her. “All the participants were actively listening and asking relevant questions. They were all very well prepared and dressed for work,” she observed. It was really a pleasure to do this,) she added.
At the end of the hour, there were still some un-asked questions that Elizabeth agreed to respond to by e-mail. “Any employer looking to recruit a more diverse workforce with a variety of transferable skills need only to meet participants from this group.,” Elizabeth advises.
Magdalene Cooman, ENW project manager, wrote,” I had the pleasure of sitting in on part of the Red Cross info session and it was excellent. Great questions from participants and excellent elevator pitches. I always think that our ENW program participants are so well prepared and that is because of the training.”
