RAC Champlain College Saint-Lambert (https://champlainrac.com/wp-content/themes/chrac)

Due the nature of the RAC (Recognition of Acquired Competencies) process, we tend to meet a large number of individuals who are seeking recognition of their life and work experience, often with varied reasons behind their decision to do so. One of the most common, however, is a desire to acquire a job, especially with individuals who have only recently arrived in Canada. Upon reviewing the stats of our ITCS (Information Technology Client Support) services from 2011 to 2014, we found that 70% of the candidates that had no Canadian IT work experience prior to completing the RAC process, ended up with their first IT job after. In an effort to further increase the probability of our candidates finding employment, we’ve recently started hosting “talent searches,” where local organizations are invited to visit Champlain College Saint-Lambert, an evening at a time. As part of these evenings, each organization typically presents the type of positions available, their culture/history, and then, later, speed interviews for those positions within the pool of RAC candidates and graduates that are in attendance. These evenings, in the past, have successfully led to the employment of RAC candidates. Sometimes, when candidates find jobs, they do so before actually having completed all evaluations necessary to receive their IT support AEC. However, thanks to the flexibility of RAC, and the number of ITCS groups at Champlain, these candidates can generally start their new jobs, and continue their RAC progress with evening or weekend seminars. Finally, we see benefits beyond the obvious employment opportunity. These include: providing candidates and graduates with professional networking opportunities, offering real-world interviewing practice, and even helping them become more aware of the needs and possibilities found in the local employment market. The next talent search evening is scheduled for this Wednesday, April 22^nd at 6pm, and will feature representatives from Telus. ITCS candidates are invited to contact their advisor for more information. Following the trend set in the past two years, Champlain College Saint-Lambert’s Continuing Education department will soon host its third graduation ceremony, which, like previous years, will include RAC graduates. Due to the popularity of the event in previous years, the 2015 edition will be held in the gym, greatly increasing the maximum capacity. Graduates are encouraged to bring their friends and family to share in their moment of triumph. All eligible candidates and students should have received an e-mail inviting them to register for the event. Those that haven’t should contact the ce_grad@champlaincollege.qc.ca to get more information. One free ticket is included with each registration, allowing graduates to bring a guest. The registration deadline is May 6th, 2015. As part of our ongoing promotional efforts, we will be present at the upcoming Salon Formation/éducation aux adultes / Adult Continuing Education Fair at the Palais des congrès de Montréal. Previously, booths relating to training and adult education were a part of the Salon Carrières et développement professionnel / Career and Professional Development Fair, but it seems demand has increased since then, leading to the creation of a separate fair. Both fairs will, however, remain connected so that people can flow from one to the other. The fair’s hours of operation are as follows:

• Wednesday, April 8th from noon to 7pm
• Thursday, April 9th from 10am to 6pm

As always, we value these events largely because of the people that we get to meet. Each individual has their own story, their own life path, and that’s what we’re there to hear. Once we understand their history and how they want to move forward in their careers, we help guide them to services that will support their intentions: whether it be recognizing their existing compentencies through Continuing Education’s RAC services, or providing them with new ones through its regular programs and courses. We look forward to our presence at the Salon Formation/éducation aux adultes, and plan to continuously increase our overall involvement in fairs. There’s an abundance of stories to be heard, and we’re happy to help raise awareness of the services and tools that can help ensure that they are tales of success. As part of our marketing efforts, we’ve recently partnered with Noticias Montreal (NM), a Canadian online newspaper that is solely available in Spanish. The agreement involved our team writing a series of blog posts for NM’s blog, in Spanish, in which we would explain how the Recognition of Acquired Competencies (RAC) process worked overall, including how it would benefit immigrants. Rather than simply promoting our services specifically, instead we sought to sensitize NM’s readership to the existence of RAC services, as a whole. From the people we have met in the past, we were aware of the following: those that can most benefit from RAC usually don’t realize it’s an option. Once RAC is explained, it’s fairly logical – but the idea of work experience counting towards academic progress, in Canada, seemed to lack exposure. So much so, in fact, that people often expressed their disbelief upon hearing about it: why hadn’t they heard of it before? It is in this spirit that we approached NM, to make sure their readers would hear about RAC, regardless of whether they ended up using our services, or not. The first blog post, which equates to “Quebec Credential Recognition: Everything a New Immigrant Needs to Know” in English, was written by one of our own content specialists, Diego Quintero (ITSS AEC). If you’re interested in following our series on Noticias Montreal, you can view all posts here.   It was announced recently that Champlain College Saint-Lambert would be one of many educational institutions to host athletes participating in the Jeux du Québec, this year. The Jeux du Québec (Quebec Games) is a multi-sport event that revolves around Quebec youth, and is normally held every two years, usually alternating between winter and summer editions. Because of its focus on youth, special security procedures will be in place throughout the event, which begins August 1^st, and ends August 9^th, inclusively. As part of security procedures, RAC candidates that wish to access the campus during this time will need a special identification tag from the Jeux du Québec. These tags are free of charge, and can be acquired by visiting the RAC office (F-151) at Champlain College Saint-Lambert. Carla will be handing out these identification tags until July 31^st from 9am to 5pm on weekdays. It is important to pick up these tags, as the Jeux du Quebéc security staff will not be letting anyone inside the college without them. During the event, certain rooms may be changed from their original scheduling. However, regardless of changes, all RAC services will continue to operate during this period – seminars, evaluations, etc. And while certain facilities will be unavailable, such as the cafeteria – we’ve chosen temporary replacement rooms, such as G-155, which will serve as a lunch area for all RAC candidates during the event. If you have any questions about the Jeux du Quebéc procedures, please contact us at 450-672-6046.