Talentegg Speaks with Dharmvishal Barot

Hi, my name is Dharmvishal Barot and I'm a graduate from the Chang School Continuing Education program and that's from Ryerson University. I am an immigrant and I came to Canada in 2007, and for two years I tried to get employment and I tried to get into the field of social work, social service work in Canada. But I couldn't get into the field and I did some voluntary work here and there, but I never got any calls or interview calls for my applications or for jobs. So that's when one of my friends who is also an immigrant recommended this program. Especially for immigrants who are coming to Canada, it is very hard to deal and have a balance between work and education, and that may be one of those factors where you would think that, "Oh, I don't have time to do any programs or any such upgradation for my education". But trust me and believe me, I have done... I did my job at the same time I did my education as well. And the good thing is that... the good part of the program is that it's just two days a week, and so you just have to do 2 days and the rest of the week you can concentrate and focus on your education, I mean the assignments. At the same time you get a lot of time to do your job as well. So it's not that hard and you can do it. Based on the courses that are provided in the program, I feel that that has made me a complete social worker, or social service worker I would say, and especially the concept of the anti-oppressive framework is really something which I never knew in my own country, and which is also required in the Canadian social look/feel. Currently I'm an employee of John Howard Society of Toronto, and I'm a housing counselor there. Basically I started there as a placement student. The placement coordinator at the Chang School and Canadian Social Work Practice program, the coordinator helped me and assisted me finding the right placement for me and then I completed my placement as a student there. I continued volunteering there and then finally I got hired as a full-time employee.