If you are a student, or know a student (hello teachers and parents!), save this blog post! The eastern Ontario region has an abundance of resources for young people who want to start career planning. You may think it’s too early to start career planning but the truth is it’s never too early (or too late) to start thinking about the kind of career you want, the kind of skills you’ll need, and what you’ll have to do to reach your goal. 

Read on to learn about 4 career planning resources you can access in eastern Ontario: 

1. Career Planning Hub: throughout the region, workforce development boards have partnered with an online education platform to help job seekers, students, and parents connect with employers through workplace visits, as well as provide them with opportunities for skills training. 

2. LMI Help Desk: there are 5 LMI Help Desks operating within the eastern Ontario region. LMI or labour market information can help job seekers and students learn about where in the region there is a need for specific skills or where there is a surplus of certain skills (making the area highly competitive). With this information, job seekers and students can plan education, skills development, training, and their careers accordingly.

These 5 LMI Help Desks can be found: 

• Eastern Ontario Training Board

• Ottawa Employment Hub 

• Centre for Workforce Development

• Eastern Workforce Innovation Board

• Workforce Development Board

3. Connect2Jobs: the Four County Labour Market Planning Board provides job seekers and students with access to resources like: 

• job boards: this tool collects jobs from 25 different job boards, updating them every hour

• job maps: relying on the information collected from those job boards, the job maps tool creates an interactive map that shows potential job settings in relation to amenities like daycares, transit, schools, and housing

• talent maps: this tool shows the highest concentration of workers in a specific field throughout Canada, the US, and five other countries

• career explorer: the Career Explorer shows the pathways between different jobs, the skills and education required, salary potential, and whether the job is in demand locally

• skill demand support: the report shows what skills, knowledge, tools, and technology local employers are recruiting for 

4. Future Skills Centre: the centre has created a network of partners in skills development, providing research insights and innovative skills approaches to help job seekers make better informed decisions about career planning.

These are just some of the many resources available to job seekers and students in eastern Ontario. To learn more about what eastern Ontario has to offer, click here: