Leaders in Workforce Development

Ontario East is filled with skills development programs to help job seekers find sustainable employment while giving local employers access to a reliable and highly-skilled workforce. Right now, job seekers can access apprenticeship programs, co-op programs to learn new skills and get on the job training. Loyalist College’s Elevate Plus program helps Bay of Quinte residents who want to upskill or reskill to enter the local manufacturing or food processing sectors. The Quinte STEP program offers online training in the form of 3 weeks of soft skills training followed by 8 weeks of free training or certification in specialized sectors.

Ontario East is experiencing a time of exciting growth and recovering rapidly from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, but despite that, our region continues to experience a labour shortage. Immigration is the key to solving this problem and filling this shortage. You work hard to create a healthy and happy workplace for your team and Ontario East stakeholders are doing the same for the region as a whole by creating strategies to promote immigration to Ontario East. Read on to learn about how you’ll get hiring help from these local immigration strategies.

Buzzwords in the workplace can be polarizing: synergy, paradigm shift, growth hacking. Sometimes it feels like organizations use buzzwords without knowing what they really mean. Then, sometimes there are words that seem like buzzwords but actually change the workplace for the better. We’ve covered one of these on this blog before, DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), and how it’s not only a benefit to your organization but necessary. Another phrase that might get thrown around a lot but just as necessary as DEI? Work-life balance. A lack of it can lead to burnout resulting in reduced productivity, accidents on the job, and high turnover.

The term burnout gets thrown around a lot but what does it actually mean and more importantly, how does it affect the skilled trades? While job burnout is not an official medical condition, the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) recognizes it as a contributing factor to a person’s mental health and well-being at work. Although, it is difficult to pinpoint exact data on the number of people in the workplace, specifically the skilled trades, experiencing burnout (because it is not an official medical condition), if you want to learn how to improve your work-life balance, avoiding and managing burnout is key.

Work placement is an opportunity to get on the job training and experience, hone skills, and build a professional network before you start your professional career. There are many options and benefits of work placement for students in Ontario East, and there are some misconceptions about these programs as well. If you want to learn more about work placements for students and why you should do one, you’re in the right place.

As an Ontario East employer, have you ever wanted to: use labour market information (LMI) to help you make hiring decisions; understand the market trends that affect hiring; find funding to help you train or hire employees; get help with recruitment; connect with a local employment service agency; find better ways to support employees who need workplace accommodations or have special needs?

Not every high school, college, or university has the same kinds of work placement programs. High school, college, and university students can participate in co-op programs where in-class learning and hands-on work experience combine to give students training in their sector of interest. Apprenticeship programs are similar but there are some key differences to co-operative education. Read on to learn about apprenticeship programs Ontario employers can benefit from.

If you’ve ever had to hire before, chances are you’ve considered co-op students through a co-operative education program as a form of work placement. But hiring co-op students is a bit different than hiring employees, so if you’ve only ever toyed with the idea of hiring co-op students but you’ve never followed through (or if this is your first time hearing about the concept!), this blog post will answer, what is co-operative education, and break down why you should hire co-op students.

When we think of targeting students for the skilled trades, it’s safe to assume that most of us think of high school or post-secondary students. The Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling (CERIC) wants us to think earlier. CERIC suggests that middle schoolers, approximately grades 4-8 in Canada, have a “strong sense of their personal futures”. If you’re having doubts about that, consider this: have you ever asked a kid in your life, “what do you want to be when you grow up?”. Chances are they took that well intentioned question to heart and they’ve thought long and hard about that decision. A common conversation starter to adults often carries a lot of weight to a child.

Many entrepreneurs, whether they are new business owners or have been in operation for a while, don’t know about all of the opportunities and programs on offer to municipalities and businesses. If you’re one of them, keep reading! If you’ve ever had to ask: what is a workforce development specialist? Or, if you’ve never even heard of one before, this article will answer those questions and let you know what a workforce development specialist can do for you in Ontario East.