World Skills Employment Centre

About the Company

World Skills has been a leader in enhancing newcomers’ economic integration into the Canadian economy for over 20 years. Founded by Local Agencies Serving Immigrants, a coalition of settlement agencies in Ottawa, World Skills is a non-profit employment centre dedicated exclusively to the employment needs of newcomers and to the needs of the local labour market. We help immigrants incorporate into the workforce through employment competency building, job search training and support, cultural competency building and language training.

We connect talented newcomers to employers in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. We partner with employers to help them meet their labour market needs by understanding their business requirements, finding and pre-screening internationally trained newcomers and offering cross-cultural training.

We are funded by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada, the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration, with additional support from the United Way, the Community Foundation of Ottawa, TD Bank, BDC and Accenture, as well as donations and fee-for-service.

Our Mission
World Skills aims to enhance the economic integration of immigrants, refugees and newcomers by:

Developing and offering programs and services that assist them in increasing their employability in the Canadian job market.
Creating employment opportunities for them through increasing public awareness of their employability and by forming partnerships with employers in the Ottawa region.

Our Vision
An inclusive Canada that values the skills and talents of new Canadians.

Our Core Values
Partnership: Our history is based on partnership and continues to frame our work and identity.
Respect for diversity: We value the unique backgrounds, viewpoints, skills and talents of our clients, volunteers, staff and stakeholders.
Empowerment: We go beyond helping clients; we embrace capacity-building and continuous learning.
Service excellence: We are committed to providing a high standard of service to our clients, employers, funders and community partners.
Accountability and integrity: We believe everyone must take ownership of their actions and responsibilities.