The mindset takes it all.

Over the past three months I, received two emails from two different colleagues. Both letters were about the same. After reading the first one from a colleague in Toronto, I sat there for about five minutes, motionless, and almost started sobbing - I was so impressed. I read and reread those few lines and couldn't believe that it was happening to me. About a month later, I received another email with a similar request from a colleague in the Atlantic region of Deloitte. And my reaction was the same...

There were questions in those emails.

And there were two of them.

It was as if someone was telling me, "Yes, Olga, this is true."

These emails helped me to reflect more and understand better how much our beliefs and intrinsic statements influence us. I mentioned this in our podcast with Anna Pozdniakova and Anastasiia Stetsenko and I wrote about it in several previous articles.

Canadian job market is buzzing today due to a huge wave of layoffs and unemployment. Job fairs in Halifax start with kilometer-long lines of people willing to stand in the icy wind, hoping that their resumes will be accepted and not thrown away at the end of the day. On LinkedIn, I occasionally read posts from acquaintances and friends about how difficult it is for immigrants to find work today and how their expertise is underestimated by the corporate world.

In all of this, there is certainly some truth, because despite Canada's progressiveness, openness, and what I value most, the almost complete absence of judgment, people here are also subject to stereotypes, myths, and prejudices. One of the serious stereotypes can be read as follows:

• An immigrant is a threat, an alien, a representative of a foreign culture, with vague and unclear experience. Nothing good can be expected from them, let alone professionalism. They take jobs, destabilize the real estate market, speak with an accent, and often behave weirdly.

Our nature is wired to reject everything unfamiliar, and different. I once conducted a training session on Biases, where we discussed how our prejudices affect our decisions, behavior, and communication. We also talked about how we unconsciously surround ourselves with people similar to us in our teams. This happens constantly, especially in the hiring process.

We should be aware of this influence and track it. International, socially responsible companies invest a lot of time and resources into launching and scaling Diversity & Inclusion programs and initiatives. I am lucky to work in such a company.

Canada is very strong in that, and I am happy that I am currently developing in this direction not only as the program lead of Inclusion programs at Deloitte Canada but also as a refugee who has transformed her mindset from being a "Person involuntary relocated" to being an "Expat, or someone who brings value."

It took me some time to realize, accept, and see how valuable what we brought to our new countries is, how much we stand out with our accents, actions, way of communication, and even appearance. And how this is actually a huge advantage - to stand out. It provides great opportunities and the power to bring new ideas to our company and to the culture and country that has become our home today.

The secret is that we are scrutinized more precisely, and earning a good reputation in our case is much more difficult and takes longer than in our home country. Simply because we are outsiders. And this is neither good nor bad.

Therefore, it is critically important to always be on top of things, to be constantly engaged - how I am speaking now, how I am being heard, how people react to me, whether everything is clear to me, why a particular decision was made, whether the company policies are being followed, why this particular system, how people behave on the calls, how I behave, whether I am seen, heard, and accepted.

In these and many other questions and in the constant engagement, which is, of course, exhausting, I have spent almost two years at Deloitte, and only these two emails finally allowed me to breathe a little internally and understand that I am moving in the right direction, that all the efforts are not in vain, and that it will get easier ahead.

Both emails I received from two different colleagues were about them asking me to be their career coach (each employee at Deloitte Canada has their own career coach). Each of them described in their own way how and why they made this decision, how they observed my work, and presentations, how they were impressed by my self-advocacy, and how they want to be able to do the same.

Never underestimate your uniqueness and individuality, no matter how hard it may be, no matter how much everything around you seems to be against you and convinces you that you are not needed here.

You are needed, important, and necessary.

Always.?