Humans of Skills for Change: Ruth Mengistu
Vijay James is a Program Administrator for Mentoring and Employer Engagement at Skills for Change. He was born in the city of Chennai in India and relocated with his wife and his two children to Toronto just earlier this year in March. For Vijay, one of the most noticeable differences between Toronto and his home city is the changing seasons.
“Being in Toronto is like being in a completely different realm for me,” says Vijay. “It is magical. I am experiencing the different seasons. I come from a very tropical climate where it is always hot. Here everything changes over a period of time. The changing seasons is something I really love about Toronto.”
Vijay completed his undergraduate degree in Physics and later went on to pursue his Master’s degree in Computer Applications. Vijay’s first job out of University was as an E-Learning Programmer. He was later hired by IBM where he held a number of different positions, including his last role as Project Manager.
During his time at IBM, Vijay also lived and worked in Morocco. It was there that he had an opportunity to work with the world-famous inventor and biologist Adnane Remmal, who won the European Inventor of the Year Award in 2017.
Quickly after landing in Toronto, Vijay was recommended to enrol in the Enhanced Language Training program (now known as Communication for the Canadian Workplace) Skills for Change. It wasn’t long before he found himself becoming further involved in the Skills for Change community. He began volunteering his time with the Marketing team and soon after, Vijay was offered full-time employment at Skills for Change.
“Skills for Change has been very kind to me since the first time I stepped through its doors,” says Vijay. “It is an organization that supports newcomers and refugees. And the staff at Skills for Change really go out of their way to help new immigrants with their settlement need and making them job-ready. We are an industry leader when it comes to settlement services and I think that we are best at what we do.”
When it comes to his passions outside of work, Vijay loves photography and is a complete self-professed foodie. He loves to discover and try all types of international cuisine that the city has to offer!
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Humans of Skills for Change is a series highlighting the driving force and inspiration behind our organization: OUR PEOPLE.#HumansofSkillsforChange is a celebration and recognition of the unique skills and contributions of the people that we work with and the people that we serve.
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