In this Week's Edition:

Hamilton's Labour Force Information February 2023, Another Successful C2C, ABEA: Organizational Needs Assessment, ABEA: Better Jobs Ontario, Hiring In Hamilton, Happening in the Community: (YWCA T.O.P. Program, NPAAMB March Break Bootcamp, IWC & Centre[3]: Weaving Group, St. Charles Programs, Upcoming Virtual HR Network Event, and News: "ChatGPT: A game changer for employment services?" and "3 reports that caught our eye the week of March 5, 2023"

Labour Force February 2023

Review Hamilton's Labour Force Information for February 2023

Review Hamilton's Annual Labour Force Stats for 2022

Another Successful C2C!

The Connect To Careers Job Fair 2023 was a great success! Thanks to everyone who came out. Both Employers & Job Seekers made this event such a joy to be apart of!

Connect to Careers is the best way to find and recruit new talent — presented in partnership by McMaster University, Mohawk College, Redeemer University and Workforce Planning Hamilton.

ABEA: Organizational Needs Assessment

Do you have skill gaps and retention issues in your company?

A successful employee is more likely to stay on the job and reduce your employee turn over. But sometimes skills gaps in communication, math or digital technology get in the way.

Through an organizational needs assessment we can create a customized training plan to increase your employees' skills now and for the future.

We partner with you to use your business as the foundation for skill-building. Your employees can get customized training to increase their skills, abilities and capacity for growth in your company.

Investing in learning helps your business grow and helps your employees feel valued. You are part of our community, and your success is our business.

Connect with ABEA today!

director@abea.on.ca 905-527-2222 x 1

https://abea.on.ca/workplace-education-services/

ABEA: Better Jobs Ontario

Are you interested in training for a job?

ABEA will work with you to:

● find training programs

● explore the skills you'll need for the training

● develop a plan

● connect with an Employment Service to support you with your application

Contact us today!

www.abea.on.ca

pathways@abea.on.ca

#BetterJobsOntario #skillstraining #jobtraining

YWCA T.O.P. Program

(Click Image to view document)

The TOP Program assists persons who self-identify with a disability to obtain and maintain employment via group and 1:1 Training.

We are excited to share that we have a brand-new program starting up this spring 2023! Pending the official start date, we are now accepting referrals/applications and are aiming for an early April start date. I have attached a document for more information!

Eligibility Criteria:

• A person with a self-disclosed disability
• Not eligible for EI benefits or related services/programs
• Legally entitled to work in Ontario; A Canadian citizen, permanent resident or person who has been granted refugee status in Canada under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
• Anyone over the age of 16 is welcome to apply

NPAAMB March Break Bootcamp

NPAAMB will be holding a new kind of Certificate Week during March Break. (March 14-16)

Indigenous Youth ages 15-30 are welcome to participate. They will just need to complete a NPAAMB intake if they have not yet done so. (By contacting their local YSO) If they have participated in a Certificate Week within the last year, they may still be able to do this one, but need to apply for that consideration with their local YSO.

Youth from any of our catchment areas can take part. The event will be held in Hamilton, but we can assist with transportation as needed for anyone within or outside of the city. 

This Certificate Week / Bootcamp will include the youth completing ASISIT Training, SafeTalk training and NPAAMB's Youth Rules course. 

The instructor for the trainings will be providing some crafting projects for youth to do while in the training. And participants are welcome to bring their own crafting items, like beading etc. (Just nothing too noisy that will distract others of course) 

It will take place over 3 days and will be fully in-person. 

Participants can earn a participation bonus, and those in high school can earn up to 10 community service hours towards their secondary school requirement! 

IWC & Centre[3]: Weaving Group

In this series of free sessions, clients can learn the art of weaving all while practicing their English skills and meeting newcomers in the community. In partnership with Centre[3], participants will learn how to weave a doormat for their home. Now accepting new participants! For more information or to register, please contact Wasan at communityconnection@iwchamilton.ca

MARCH 21 @ 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM

St. Charles Programs

St. Charles will be starting a new high school credit term (March 28-May 12) for adults including in-person classes, online classes, PLAR (multiple credits in 6 weeks), Introduction to Culinary Arts and more. The ESL Credit program is 12 weeks (March 28-June 29) for 2 credits.

We also still have our co-op program where students can earn credits for their existing job.

Space are filling fast.

Upcoming Virtual HR Network Event

Date & Time: Thursday, March 30 | 12 - 1 PM

Topic: Is your sourcing/recruiting & talent management process truly inclusive?

Location: Virtual via Zoom

On March 30th, join us virtually for our quarterly HR Network meeting to learn more about the Discover Ability Network, including:

• Challenges and opportunities related to sourcing, attracting, recruiting, and retaining people with a disability
• Identify potential barriers for people with disabilities in the talent pipeline
• Review best practices to develop the talents and skills of employees with disabilities and create opportunities for them to prosper within your organization

The Chamber HR Network's mandate is to provide educational and networking opportunities for HR professionals and business owners/managers (or their delegates) interested in human resource issues. The group presents interactive panel discussions and events with an HR focus.

Register Here!

ChatGPT: A game changer for employment services?

ChatGPT is a language generation AI model developed by OpenAI that can generate human-like text responses to prompts provided by users. It can produce essays, poems, scripts, or even translate and summarize text, along with more technical work such as solving coding problems. The software is currently free as it sits in its research phase, though there is a monthly charge for ChatGPT Plus in Canada.

With more than 100 million users in January 2023 and predicted to cross 1 billion users by the end of year (Martine Paris, Forbes, Feb 2, 2023), should career professionals be jumping on ChatGPT fever? Currently, ChatGPT offers a range of key features that make it an effective tool for career development practitioners, with advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) capabilities to understand and generate human-like language.

This enables ChatGPT to provide personalized insights and suggestions based on individual career goals and experiences. It can quickly produce high-quality documents such as resumes, cover letters and personal statements, freeing up time for other important tasks in career development. With its ability to produce consistent formatting, ChatGPT can help present a professional image, increasing a jobseekers’ chances of success in their career development journey.

Read more here!

3 reports that caught our eye the week of March 5, 2023

Going the Distance: Immigrant Youth in Canada’s Labour Market (World Education Services)

This report examines the disparity between the high levels of academic success immigrant and refugee youth achieve and the challenges they encounter when seeking to enter the workforce. It also provides several programmatic and policy recommendations to facilitate the inclusion and long-term advancement of immigrant and refugee youth.

Out Of Office: The Public Policy Implications of Remote Work (Canadian Standards Association)

This paper assesses opportunities for public policy to shape the emerging benefits and challenges related to remote work including:

• Enabling accessible and affordable digital infrastructure throughout Canada
• Updating federal and provincial labour laws to account for the rise in remote work
• Reviewing and assessing tax and revenue issues related to remote work
• Optimize policy frameworks through a lens of talent attraction and retention

Employer-sponsored skills training: A picture of skills training opportunities provided by Canadian employers (Future Skills Centre, LMIC & Shift Insights)

This report draws on available literature and data to develop the best possible picture of employer-sponsored training levels and trends; types and modes of delivery; what motivates and hinders training investment; and how investment is distributed across sectors, types of firms and learners.

Read more here!