How to maintain your candidate profile

It is important to keep your candidate profile complete and up to date so that you may continue to apply to job notices and receive offers of employment.

How to add your education to your candidate profile

• Before you begin
• How to add an education factor
• How to manage large documents
• How to edit an education factor
• How to delete an education factor

Before you begin

• What is an education factor? An education factor refers to your educational achievement, whether it is an individual course or a certificate, college diploma, university degree, or a professional designation.
• What are minimum education standards? Minimum education standards are the minimum education requirements necessary to perform the work in a given occupational group. Check the CRA’s minimum education standards for the educational requirements of each occupational group.
• Have an electronic copy of your proof of education (such as your diploma or transcript) ready for uploading.
  • Check the Canadian Information Centre for International Credentials to confirm that your credentials are from a recognized/authorized Canadian educational institution (verify that the legal status of the institution is “Recognized” or “Authorized”).
  • If your credentials are from a foreign institution, you must also obtain a Canadian equivalency document from a member of an Alliance of Credential Evaluation Services of Canada. Upload this document as an attachment to your proof of education from the foreign institution.
• For some jobs that require knowledge of accounting, you must have successfully completed specific courses from a recognized post-secondary institution or professional accounting association. See How to add accounting credentials for instructions to add these courses as an education factor.

How to add an education factor

1. To begin, click the Add education factor link to open the “Add education factor” window.
2. Select the type of education factor you wish to add from the options below. Follow the instructions for what to include in each field.
   • How to add a diploma, degree, or certificate
   • How to add acquired rights
   • How to add an education standard alternative
   • How to add accounting credentials
   • How to add other accounting courses

How to add a diploma, degree, or certificate

Follow these instructions to add a diploma, degree, or certificate:

How to add acquired rights

Having acquired rights is also known as being “grandfathered”. It means that you have been deemed to meet the minimum education standard of an occupational group and level. Acquired rights are granted in the federal public service to provide protection to permanent employees. If the minimum education standard is raised for an occupational group and level, permanent employees in that group will be deemed to meet it based on their education, training, and/or experience in that group and level. Check the CRA’s minimum education standards to see if acquired rights apply to your occupational group and level.

Follow these instructions to add your acquired rights:

How to add an education standard alternative

There are minimum education standards for all of the CRA’s occupational groups. The education standard for certain groups includes CRA-approved alternatives, which are deemed to meet the standard. See the CRA’s minimum education standards for details.

For example, the CRA-approved alternative to a secondary school diploma is a satisfactory score on the General Intelligence Test (GIT 320), with a pass mark of 80; or an acceptable combination of education, training and/or experience. The CRA-approved alternative to university graduation is a satisfactory score on the General Intelligence Test (GIT 310) with a pass mark of 68; or an acceptable combination of education, training and/or experience.

Follow these instructions to add your education standard alternative:

How to add accounting credentials

If you have an accounting designation

If you have a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), Certified General Accountant (CGA), Chartered Accountant (CA), and/or Certified Management Accountant (CMA) designation, follow the instructions below to add it.

If you are working toward a designation, see “If your accounting course was obtained from a recognized post-secondary institution” for instructions.

Follow these instructions to add accounting credentials:

If your accounting course was from a recognized post-secondary institution

Before adding your accounting credentials, compare your accounting courses to the CPA’s prerequisite modules to see if they meet the provincial/regional equivalency requirements:

• Go to the CPA provincial/regional website of your educational institution:
  • Ontario (English only)
  • British Columbia (English only)
  • Alberta (English only)
  • Saskatchewan (English only)
  • Manitoba (English only)
  • Quebec
  • Atlantic
• Select the postsecondary institution link where you took the course.
• Open the institution's CPA equivalency table OR open the regional equivalency table link and find the institution's course names/codes on the equivalency table to determine the equivalent CPA courses. Note that some regions show all postsecondary institutions in one table.
• Find the equivalent course in Table A and click on the link to the corresponding Credential for detailed instructions on how to add the course(s) as an education factor.

If your accounting course was from the Chartered Professional Accountants

• Find your CPA course in Table A below, and click on the link to the corresponding credential for detailed instructions on how to add the course(s) as an education factor.

Table A

Introductory Accounting – SP (Services and Programs group)

Follow these instructions to add Introductory Accounting – SP (Services and Programs group):

Intermediate Accounting – SP (Services and Programs group)

Follow these instructions to add these CPA or equivalent courses:

• Introductory Financial Accounting
• Intermediate Financial Reporting 1
• Intermediate Financial Reporting 2

Follow these instructions to add Intermediate Accounting – SP (Services and Programs group):

Accounting specialization - AU (Auditing group)

Follow these instructions to add these CPA or equivalent courses:

• Advanced Financial Reporting
• Audit and Assurance
• Introductory Management Accounting
• Intermediate Management Accounting
• Information Technology

Follow these instructions to add Accounting specialization - AU (Auditing group):

How to add other accounting courses

In the following cases, the hiring manager will determine whether the courses meet the equivalency requirements or minimum education standards:

• the course was taken at a foreign institution
• the course was taken with a former association (CMA, CA, CGA)
• the course name or code is not in the current CPA equivalency table

Please review the information in the Before you begin section, then upload your academic credentials (transcripts, certificates, etc.), and complete the fields related to the studies as best you can. The hiring manager may contact you for additional information.

If your document is too large to upload

• Convert the image to black and white
• Lower the resolution
• Compress the file using Adobe or another software

How to edit an education factor

• Go to the Table of education factors in your profile
• Click on the existing Educational institution link
• Update the required fields using instructions from the appropriate education factor listed above
• Click Save education factor

How to delete an education factor

• Go to the Table of education factors in your profile
• Click the trash bin icon beside the education factor to delete it
• Click OK to confirm