The Canadian Border Agency (CBSA) is active in the areas of border control, immigration, and customs in Canada. The agency was created relatively recently, but the requirements for specialists and employees developed quite specifically throughout history. A high degree of responsibility entrusted to such a service rests on the employer’s shoulders when hiring new employees who, joining the ranks, are obliged to bear a certain share of responsibility. The peace of mind of citizens, the absence of border violations in seven central regions of the country, and compliance with laws on the import and export of specific categories of goods depend on the agency’s work.
Employer requirements differ by the department or sector of the agency chosen. There are dedicated internal divisions that handle CBSA assessments, human resources, revenues, trade, and finance. Other departments already include the need for experience in international relations for intercultural interactions as they work either with information and technology or with travelers, with international trade, or with strategic policy and intelligence. The last of the listed divisions are distinguished by the most significant responsibility and can be associated with high risks. The most detailed in this work will be considered the department of information, science and technology, and trade.
The Information Department is responsible for supplying the most advanced technology processes in customs, border, and immigration departments. The tremendous success in this area has been achieved by the Dubai Customs Service, where most of the processes are automated, which almost completely excludes the human factor (Sundarakani, 2017). In addition to the basics of effective communication with a bias in international relations, a specialist in this field will need technical education, since when automating a process, there is no need for an employee of a direct function of the process. There is a need for a specialist in servicing equipment.
Technical knowledge and orientation in modern technologies will allow a specialist to apply modern developments in big data, work with non-relational databases, and much more, which can speed up information processing. In turn, the trade department monitors and records all shipments by sea or air entering Canada. First of all, the employee must know perfectly the laws, standards, and rules of transportation. In addition, knowledge of all legal nuances associated with customs is required to avoid dumping and unfair competition and ensure the collection of duties. During the training, the employee must develop practical communication skills within the departments of the border agency, know what information to which authorities, and in what cases it is necessary to transfer.
International agreements affect this law, so the employee should be familiar with the fundamentals of current Canadian policy, as there have been precedents for changing the customs law to make it flexible. Knowledge of tariffs, excise taxes, and import and export measures is also crucial in this profession. Finally, regardless of the chosen department, the employee must have leadership qualities: openness, confidence, and emotional strength. In the public security profession, critical situations may require the ability to take control of the process and make the right decision quickly (Shakeel & Khan, 2021). In this regard, the specialist must always be ready for high risks and psychologically balanced to react quickly and adequately to such situations. Observance of a chain of command remains a priority since knowledge of the organizational structure of the CBSA will also be an essential skill acquired in training this profession.
References
Shakeel, N., & Khan, N. K. (2021). A framework to protect National Cyber Borders in peace and war. In 2021 16th Asia Joint Conference on Information Security (AsiaJCIS) (pp. 17-22). IEEE.
Sundarakani, B. (2017). Transforming Dubai logistics corridor into a global logistics hub. Asian Journal of Management Cases, 14(2), 115-136.