Yemi Olusoji, her husband and three children (now 15, 14, and 7), arrived on PEI in March, 2013. She met with Employment Counsellor Lisa Chaisson at PEI ANC Yemi is an accountant and quickly began working towards her CPA certification for Canada. Yemi received her Canadian certification in September 2013, and started looking for work in her field.
Lisa helped Yemi update and rework her resume for the Canadian market; she scanned job sites and mined her contacts for a suitable position for her. Yemi provided Lisa with updates on her progress. She conducted her own research and compiled an extensive list of accounting firms, and sent them all her resume. Lisa reviewed her cover letters, and Yemi attended a two-day Employment Workshop at PEI ANC to learn more about Canadian work culture. Yemi discovered that many companies on PEI use the program, Simply Accounting, so she signed up for a 16-week evening course at Holland College to improve her use of this program. She also applied for a “Letter in Good Standing” from the International Accounting Body, ACCA, and she took a law and tax course online. In this way Yemi proved to be an ideal employment client: proactive, diligent, and self-directed.
Still, despite both Yemi and Lisa’s best efforts, no volunteer placements or jobs were forthcoming. Yemi was understandably getting discouraged. Finally she was asked to interview for a position of bookkeeper for a local company. To assist her, Lisa arranged for a mock interview with PEI ANC’s own accounting person, Barry Ansems, as one of the interviewers. Lisa and Barry interviewed Yemi and recorded the interview. They worked with her to improve her answers where necessary, and indicated where her strengths were evident. While Yemi was unsuccessful at being hired for that position, she had met Barry Ansems who was impressed with her, and he gave Lisa a contact to approach at Arsenault Best Cameron Ellis (ABCE) accounting firm.
After all of her hard work, Yemi was given an opportunity to interview with ABCE for an accounting technician position. With the approval of Skills PEI for the Employ PEI Program, she began working there in December 2014 on a six month contract. That contract was extended for two months, and then in early July of this year, the partners at the firm informed Yemi that she was ‘just too good at her job’ for them to let her go. She is now employed in a full-time permanent position, and says, “I couldn’t be happier. I am so grateful for the support from Lisa and from PEI ANC in helping to ease transition to Canada. Along with employment support, ANC helped with contacting schools for the children, and suggested integration activities for us. We are all settling in. I am so hopeful for the future.”
