Halifax career fair helps immigrants find jobs and resources

A career and education fair held in Halifax on Tuesday aimed to connect potential immigrants with the resources they need to build lives in Nova Scotia.

More than 250 people registered to attend the Career Education and Settlement Fair, which was organized by Canadian Immigrant Magazine.

Nova Scotia Immigration Minister Lena Metledge Diab helped open the one-day event.

"Anything we can do to increase awareness, to increase knowledge, to have people interact with each other, the better," she said.

Diab says 2014 was a strong year for immigration in the province, with 2,661 new arrivals. She says retention rates are slowly improving, with 71 per centof immigrants choosing to stay between 2007 and 2011.

The top ten countries of origin were:

• Philippines (427 people)
• India (272)
• Israel (202)
• People's Republic of China (201)
• United Kingdom and Colonies (175)
• United States of America (151)
• Iraq (73)
• Jamaica (70)
• Egypt (67)
• Iran (65)

Sanjay Agnihotri, the publisher of Canadian Immigrant Magazine, believes Nova Scotia can compete for immigrants with larger Canadian centres.

"I think the challenge is you're competing with bigger cities. So Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary are usually top of mind. Halifax needs that extra push with the promotion of how well organized a city it really is. And how friendly it is," he said.

Just like Bermuda?

Xiuyuan Teng from Shanghai, China, is studying at St. Mary's University. He'd like to stay in Nova Scotia, but needs to find work."I'm about to graduate. So I'm looking for jobs in finance, some entry level opportunities."

Teng says that after visiting some of the recruiting booths at the fair, he might have some new leads.

"They asked me to send my resumeto them. So maybe there will be some offers, opportunity, interview for me," he said.

Sophie Thapa came to Nova Scotia eight years ago from Bermuda to study anatomy and neurobiology.

She says she's fallen in love with life here.

"Growing up in Bermuda, the ocean is literally a step away from you. You just walk out your door and there it is. And I think having the harbour front here kind of makes me feel like i'm at home, even though I'm not. And even the people everybody's so friendly," she said.

But she's having trouble finding information about how to make the transition from being a foreign student to a permanent resident, "Not everybody does commerce. Not everyone can get a bank job," she said.

"Some of us are scientists, and it's not easy. So maybe just something that says, 'Okay this is your degree, these are your options, this is what you want to be looking into.'"

Nova Scotia brought 717 immigrants to Nova Scotia last year through its provincial nominee programme.

This year the target is 1,050 immigrants, an increase of 50 percent.