News. For Newcomers | October 6, 2025

Was a French-language draw on a Monday and during an off week on anyone’s bingo card today? It definitely wasn’t on ours, but we’ve got to hand it to IRCC, they sure know how to keep us guessing.

With this latest round, the total number of ITAs issued to French-language candidates in 2025 climbs to an impressive 30,000, making any other draw type look like a long shot by comparison.

But what does this mean for other candidates, and why did IRCC hold a French-language draw today of all days? We break it all down and explore what this surprise round could signal for the rest of the year in our latest Express Entry analysis.

Read our full analysis here.

Canada’s economic immigration programs haven’t kept pace with today’s workforce. International students, freelancers, contractors, and global talent are reshaping our economy — yet the system still measures “success” by outdated definitions and 9-to-5 assumptions.

In today’s featured article, we take a hard look at how Canada’s immigration policies must evolve to reflect modern work, new skill pathways, and the many ways people contribute to our economy.

Read our full post here.

We’ve been sending the News. For Newcomers newsletter, five times a week for a few weeks now, and we’d love your feedback! Do you like this frequency, or would you prefer fewer updates?

If you thought your permanent residence journey couldn’t get any more complicated, think again. Ottawa has dramatically increased the number of applications sent for advanced security screening since 2020, but without clear reasons or timelines, leaving many applicants stuck in limbo. The lack of transparency around how files are selected and processed has created growing frustration among those waiting for answers.

The Toronto Star’s latest article interviews applicants who have been affected by this expanded security system and explores what it means for them. Read the full story here.

The Globe and Mail published a piece discussing the complexity of defining fair pay for roles with irregular working hours. It talks mostly about the labour disputes currently going on — among teachers and flight attendants.

For us, it was a reminder that negotiating your pay involves more than just the hourly rate or overall salary. There’s so much more that goes into compensation for work, and what’s fair or a better deal. We outlined this in our detailed guide to negotiating a salary in Canada - check it out to learn more.

The STAR method is a simple but powerful way to structure your answers in job interviews so you can show your strengths with clarity and confidence. You begin with the Situation, where you explain the background of a challenge or project you faced. Next is the Task, where you describe your specific role and what was expected of you. From there, you move into the Action, highlighting the concrete steps you took to handle the task. Finally, you share the Result, demonstrating the positive impact of your efforts—ideally with clear evidence such as numbers, improved processes, or team achievements.

When you use the STAR method, you avoid giving vague or rambling answers. Instead, you provide focused, meaningful stories that illustrate your skills in action. This framework helps you highlight not just what you did, but why it mattered and how it benefited your team or organization. By practicing STAR responses, you’ll feel more confident going into interviews and better equipped to show employers the real value you bring to their company.

Building on our career moves above, if you’re not sure how to start, you can use ChatGPT to practice generating STAR answers.

Try this prompt:
“Help me create a STAR method interview answer. The question is: [insert interview question]. The Situation was [describe briefly], my Task was [explain your responsibility], the Actions I took were [list your steps], and the Result was [share your outcome]. Please turn this into a polished interview answer.”

Here’s an example response:

In my previous role as a project coordinator, I worked with a team of eight to launch a new client onboarding platform designed to automate account setup and reduce manual data entry. With only three months to deliver, I led communication between our development and customer support teams to ensure the system met both technical standards and client expectations. I organized weekly progress meetings, created shared documentation for real-time updates, and acted as the main point of contact whenever priorities conflicted.

Midway through the project, we ran into delays when testing revealed data-mapping issues between legacy systems. I worked with our lead developer to adjust the rollout schedule and created a temporary workaround so testing could continue in parallel. Thanks to those adjustments, we launched on time and cut onboarding time by 25%. Clients found the process significantly smoother, and the success of the rollout led to repeat contracts with the same client for future digital upgrades.