News Release: Kobayashi Online Develops New Online Immigrant Resource

User Experience-Focused Web Design Makes Hireimmigrants.ca a One-Stop Help Center for Employers

November 30, 2011 — TORONTO, ONTARIO — Toronto-based digital marketing agency Kobayashi Online has redesigned Hireimmigrants.ca to provide a user experience that guides employers through the process and benefits of recruiting, retaining and promoting skilled immigrants.

Hireimmigrants.ca is an initiative of ALLIES (Assisting Local Leaders with Immigrant Employment Strategies), whose mission is to support local efforts in Canadian cities to successfully adapt and implement programs that further the suitable employment of skilled immigrants.

The new, feature-rich Hireimmigrants.ca website guides employers step-by-step through the various stages of hiring immigrants from simply getting started, to furthering efforts to recruit, integrate and retain skilled immigrants, and finally to becoming a model for other organizations. It provides multimedia content on how to better recruit, retain and promote skilled immigrants, including video, webinars, reports, and success stories.

“We’re extremely happy to have worked with Hireimmigrants.ca to create a user experience that furthers the Non-Profit’s efforts to help businesses thrive by hiring immigrants, especially since our company has benefited tremendously from hiring immigrants,” said Brent Kobayashi, president, Kobayashi Online. “We have worked with many Non-Profits and understand their fixed budget needs. We never oversell clients on development that isn’t required and always deliver within the promised budget.”

Hireimmigrants.ca is based around creating a customized user experience around that caters to visitors’ specific needs. Web users can navigate categories that best fit with the stage they’re currently at: Getting Started, On Your Way, and Champion (for those who have success stories to share). Information is also categorized based on role, organization size and sector.

Furthermore, the three main content areas of the site – Why Hire, Recruit and Select, Managing a Diverse Workforce – take the user through the entire HR lifecycle of the business case for hiring skilled immigrants, how to recruit, hire and onboard them and how to retain and promote them.

“We wanted to make it simple and straight forward for Canadian businesses to hire immigrants, and the redesign now makes it easy for employers to find all the relevant content they need,” said Shannon Klie, writer and content developer, ALLIES. “Kobayashi Online’s friendly, jargon-free client process took our vision and translated it into a website that is interactive, and is easily updatable.”

One of Kobayashi Online’s specialties is creating websites based on the WordPress content management system. WordPress gives clients a friendly interface and tools to add images, documents and, even, embed third-party videos from YouTube and Vimeo all without the use of a website programmer. All of Hireimmigrants.ca, its content, including the sidebars and menus, is easily editable using the WordPress dashboard without HTML or programming knowledge.

ALLIES and Kobayashi Online unveiled the new website including all of the new functionality at the 2011 Top Employer Summit, November 28-29 at The Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto.

About Kobayashi Online
Kobayashi Online is a Toronto-based digital marketing agency providing Web and print solutions for small businesses. We help you connect with your customers by creating compelling and friendly customer experiences. Everything we design and develop – from websites to brochures to identities to interactive applications – is done for one purpose: to help your business grow. kobayashi.ca

For further information:
Brent Kobayashi, p: 416.410.3266 x111, brent@kobayashi.ca

About ALLIES
ALLIES (Assisting Local Leaders with Immigrant Employment Strategies) supports local efforts in Canadian cities to successfully adapt and implement programs that further the suitable employment of skilled immigrants. Through a series of multi-stakeholder initiatives, ALLIES and local partners contribute to building a stronger Canada by using the talents, connections and experience of skilled immigrants who have made Canada their new home. The project is jointly funded by Maytree and The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation. www.alliescanada.ca. Hireimmigrants.ca is funded in part by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.

For further information:
Markus Stadelmann-Elder, Maytree, Communications Manager, p: 416-944-2627 x 284, c: 416-271-5654, mselder@maytree.com