KPMG recently won an award for Best Employer for New Canadians for the second year in a row. The award is partly due to the firm’s involvement with the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC), which helps skilled immigrants in Toronto get established and find appropriate work.

Since 2005, many KPMG people in the GTA have participated in TRIEC’s Mentoring Partnership, which matches internationally educated professionals with established professionals in Canada who share a similar educational background, have common career goals and similar work experience. We now have over 50 active mentors, and are the 4^th largest corporate partner.

When Richa first arrived in Canada from Australia, she was matched up with Gabriella, a member of KPMG’s Sales & Marketing group. “Having a mentor was really useful,” she says. “I came from Brisbane, which is a smaller city with much less competition for jobs. Gabriella helped me to understand the competitive nature of the job search in Canada, and encouraged me to put myself out there and network with people from many different organizations.”

Richa’s hard work paid off when she met someone who referred her for the position of National Account Coordinator, in KPMG’s GTA Marketing group. She’s been in the role since April 14, 2008. “I really enjoy the work that I’m doing here. I work with people from across the organization on different accounts and I’ve been able to learn so much about the firm in the process.”

Apart from the weather – “my only complaint!” – Richa is happy she made the move to Canada and with how well things have turned out. “KPMG hires people with good attitudes and great skills, and this has been the perfect place to start out my life in Toronto. When you move to a new city the hardest part is getting a job. Once you have that, everything else becomes much easier.”