Skills for Change | Humans of Skills for Change - Andres Gutierrez

Tell us your story

My story is very simple.

I immigrated to Canada in my early 20s, with a lot of dreams and looking for opportunities to succeed and grow, not only as a person but also as a professional. Leaving everything behind was not easy, as you may know, but my desire to pursue my dreams and seek a better future for my family gave me the strength to make the decision.

Before coming to Canada, I was working as a professional in a medium size company. However, the opportunities where I was were very limited, not to mention that I didn’t see a bright future for my family nor me.

I couldn’t have chosen a better country than Canada, the country that I now call home. Canada opened its doors to me and provided me with all I needed to continue to move forward in my life. The transition to my new home was a process, like everything. I had to get to know how the city worked, the public transit system, who would be willing to help people in my situation, and most importantly, learn the language. Skills for Change played a key role in my early stages in the country as a newcomer, and I’m very thankful for that.

As a newcomer, I had to overcome many obstacles as well as figured out how to contribute in a positive manner to society. I validated my professional studies, took advantage of the help provided by nonprofit organizations, such Skills for Change among others. Once I had good communication skills, my educational background validated, and good preparation for interviews, in a polished resume, I started applying for jobs. At the beginning I found entry level positions suitable to get me back on track to my professional experience; once I became familiar with workplace practices and acquired a great deal of Canadian experience, I started to find a way to become better financially and professionally.

I consider that I succeeded in what I wanted to achieve by coming to Canada; and if I did it, by all means, you can do it as well. You just need to follow the process.

After the years I decided to leave a legacy to my children and decided to write a book about my story, it is called The Dream: A Personal and Professional Leadership Journey. If you want to know more about my story and what I’m doing to help newcomers to Canada, I invite you to flip through the pages – your feedback would be important to me.

Your favourite quote or mantra

“Great things have been accomplished by people who believe they can accomplish them“

I do not remember what this quote is coming from but the message in this quote is very simple: you have to believe in yourself. if you believe in yourself you will find the strengths you need to be successful. All you need is you!

How did Skills for Change support you?

Skills for Change was one of the pillars and the foundation in my transition to employment in Canada. the counselors were not only professional but became friends. Skills for Change understood very well what was needed for my transition; there were several courses that I took, that in my opinion, made a big difference when he comes to acquiring the technical knowledge in the country for my professional field. They also helped me prepared a great resume, and to be presentable and ready for interviews.

Skills for Change also helped me find ways to improve my communications skills really fast. I remember taking a course in Quality Control and that professor always took the time to correct my pronunciation and tough me better ways to convey my message.

What advice would you like to give to newcomers in Canada?

A piece of advice that I would give to a newcomer to Canada is that You have everything you need to be successful: the perfect country, people willing to help you, institutions designed to give you support, and the “perfect weather” – I love winter! So, please take advantage of all this; just look around and see the people around you, they all are going through or went through the same situation and they did it, so can you.