Many foreign trained professionals who come to Canada often times find themselves at a lost when seeking to continue here the career they began in their home country. For countless immigrants, this is a classic story. Despite their outstanding qualification, lengthy work experience and intensive train­ing, many newcomers feel obliged to retrain themselves to be eligible for a job in their field. This involves a hefty amount of mon­ey.

Healthcare expert Michael Douce of the Crystal Clear Technology Associates under­stands that many immigrants have a hard time translating their foreign credentials into Canadian qualifications, which could be­come a barrier in getting the job they have mastered outside of Canada. He and his business partner, John Nicol, developed an online assessment program that would facilitate foreign credential recognition, learning, certification and licensure, and work place­ment.

Douce believes that unnecessary retrain­ing could be avoided which could save many foreign trained professionals time and mon­ey. “They are required to pay for and spend the time on a full or part time programmes, despite having qualification or skills acquired overseas in which many elements of the cur­riculum have already been studied and mas­tered. Students are basically paying to be taught aspects that they already know.”

Douce and Nicol launched an online-based prior learning assessment (PLA) called the Credential Assessment and Recognition of Skills (CARS) designed for the healthcare sector in November 2010.

“The application assists with the assess­ment of the skills, credentials and experience that a person has acquired anywhere in the world and equates those competencies to local standards, initiated by this simple but comprehensive on-line assessment pro­cess,” Douce explained.
The online evaluation program is free for applicants to use. Douce also pointed out that applicants overseas can take advantage of it and try to find out what the situation will be when they immigrate to BC. “They can do this assessment and be so much more informed and prepared for their arrival.”

Nicol differentiates the CARS services from other credential assessment organiza­tions.
“In the care sector, the non-CARS creden­tial mapping process categorizes applying care aides as qualified or not qualified for work placement or admission to educational programmes.

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