2004 New Pioneers Awards SfCarchive
Channel: SkillsforchangeArchive SfC
Date: 31/12/2009

Julius Zombori (SfC Graduate)

Julius Zombori has a Ph.D. and a Chartered Accountant designation from his home country, Hungary. With several years of senior managerial experience in taxation and accounting, employment with leading organizations in his home country, served as a senior faculty member of Hungarys premier university and a research fellow at Yale University in the U.S., he hoped to find employment quickly in Toronto.

Arriving in Canada in 2000, Julius began applying for jobs and was disheartened when he received no response. As months passed without receiving any feedback from employers, Julius realized that he needed guidance in his job search and Toronto Star News Articleregistered at Skills for Change where he joined the employment focused Sector-specific Information and Counseling program (STIC) targeted for internationally trained professionals. For 12 weeks, Julius studied accounting as practiced in Canada, received hands on training with accounting software, and obtained guidance on job search techniques and learned how to market his skills. He made contacts, began developing his network and found the agencys support invaluable.

After 16 months of unemployment that Julius describes as the most difficult period of my life, he found employment as a manager with a major international accounting and consulting firm in 2001.

Julius, like most newcomers, had to deal with the problems associated with the lack of credit history and faced numerous refusals when he wanted to rent an apartment or apply for a credit card. His personal experience in overcoming barriers and appreciation of the benefits he received from Skills for Change led him to volunteer as a mentor for the Mentoring Program at Skills for Change. He relates to and recognizes the need newcomers have for assistance with their job search.