Employment Success! Preparing for Work in Canada

1. Employment Success! Preparing for Work in Canada Association of Canadian Community Colleges

2. Housekeeping • Washroom • Cell Phones • Breaks / Lunch • Participation Guidelines

3. Introductions • Name • Your destination city in Canada • Current occupation • Job you hope to obtain in Canada • Workshop expectations

4. Workshop Objectives Prepare immigrants for successful transition into the Canadian Labour Market to improve job retention, and increase opportunities for career advancement through essential skills: • Awareness • Assessment • Action Planning

5. Learner Outcomes By the end of today’s session you will be able to: • understand Canada’s occupational skill requirements • identify transferable and essential skills for work • describe essential skills in ways Canadian employers will understand • identify new essential skills to develop or build on • develop a plan for successful integration into Canada’s labour market!

6. Workshop Agenda Pre-workshop questionnaire • What are my essential skills? • What essential skills are needed in Canadian occupations? • How can I further develop the essential skills I need? Post workshop questionnaire Workshop Evaluation

7. Skill Development Plan

8. Skills for Working in Canada

9. Canada identifies 9 Essential Skills

10. Canada Invests Heavily in Essential Skills Because: • There is a link between Canada’s GDP and the population’s essential skills levels • No other single factor contributes as much to a person’s income • Workers are rewarded for performance rather than who they know and where they went to school

11. International Literacy Surveys: • IALS, 1994 – 98 • IALSS, 2003 • PIAAC, in progress • “…measure how well adults use print information to function in society.”

12. The reference period for the IALSS employment status was the date of the interview. Respondents were asked the question: “What is your current work situation?” Source: International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey, 2003

13. Probability of exiting unemployment by skill level: 9 38 Source: Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey, 2003.

14. ICE BREAKER Comparing your country to Canada What is the same? What is different?

15. Statistics

16. A business meeting

17. A Construction Site

18. Work stations in Canada

19. A Workplace Training Session

20. The Link Between Culture and ‘Soft’ Skills at Work Activity – Workplace Norms Do you greet your colleagues with a kiss on each cheek? Do you buy expensive gifts for your boss?

21. Soft Skills Impact Success at Work! The ‘people skills’ that often ‘make or break’ a person. Canada’s essential skills include the soft skills: • Oral Communication • Working with Others • Thinking Skills Soft skills complement hard skills, which are the technical requirements of a job.

22. What are your skills? What is a skill? noun 1. the ability, coming from one's knowledge, practice, aptitude, etc., to do something well: Carpentry was one of his many skills. 2. competent excellence in performance; expertness; dexterity: The dancers performed with skill. 3. a craft, trade, or job requiring manual dexterity or special training in which a person has competence and experience: the skill of cabinetmaking. How many skills does a typical person have? How many skills can you describe?

23. Skills – Card Sort Activity Review the ‘Essential Skills’ Cards and sort into the following categories: • Skills I use all or most of the time • Skills I rarely use • Skills I never use or do not want to use • Skills I would like to develop • Of the skills you use most of the time, identify your top 5 skills

24. Card Sort Debrief Review your top five skills and identify which Essential Skills category they belong to: Reading Text – Red Working with Others - Orange Document Use – Yellow Thinking Skills – Pink Numeracy – Purple Oral Communication - Green Writing Skills - Blue Continuous Learning – Dark Blue Computer Use – Light Blue (teal) Complexity symbols : Easy – Wheel Medium – Cross Hard - Flower

25. Card Sort Activity Writing Task Examples

26. Success Story - Video

27. Essential Skills What are they? How are they used in the workplace? Why are they important?

28. Essential Skills Complexity Levels Level 1: Buy a cake Level 2: Make a cake from a cake mix Level 4: Add some extra special touches to make the cake unique. Level 5: Create a completely new cake. Level 3: Find a recipe in a cook book and make a cake.

29. Skill Requirements in Canada • Introduction to Essential Skills Occupational Profiles: • Understanding essential skills • Identifying transferable skills • Using occupational profiles for job search, career planning and training development

30. Occupational Profiles - Modified • Occupation Title & NOC code • Occupation Description

31. Occupational Profiles - Modified • Most important essential skills • Essential skills complexity summary

32. Occupational Profiles - Modified • each essential skill gives task examples • arranged from lowest to highest complexity level • number in brackets behind task examples indicates complexity level

33. Occupational Profile Activity • Refer to the Document Use section of your Occupational Profile: • Underline new words • Circle new skills or skills to build on referring to task examples • Enter new skills or skills to build on into your Skills Development Plan • Complete the above tasks for Oral Communication and Thinking Skills

34. Record on page 2 of your Skills Development Plan: New skills to develop or skills to build on

35. Occupational Profiles Tip Sheet

36. Assessment Debriefing

37. Versant Oral Communications Test Record in your Skills Development Plan

38. Learning has changed! • Information doubles almost every year • New skills are needed to find and use information • Document Use Locator provides a reflection of this skill (not a test of intelligence)

39. TOWES Locator Tool Record in your Skills Development Plan

40. Transferable Skills • What are transferable skills? • Do you have them? • Can you name your transferable skills? • How do you explain them to an employer?

41. Canada Job Bank Job posting structure: Title NOC Code Terms of Employment Salary Location Skill Requirements EducationCredentials Languages Specific SkillsWork ExperienceEssential Skills How to Apply Employer Ability to Supervise

42. Job Posting Activity • Walk around the room and review the job postings from Canada’s Job Bank. • Find the top 3 postings that are the closest fit to your skills • Identify one job posting that does not use your skills

43. Skill Development Identify and Articulate your Skills + Identify Skills to Develop = Realistic Plan of Action = SUCCESS An Essential Skills Approach to Learning is Relevant to Needs = efficient and effective

44. Building your Skills Snapping the Question Activity Practice with a SIN card Application form

45. Tools and Resources Help with skill-building is available: HRSDC Tools:

46. Measure Up Website

47. Workplace Education Manitoba

48. Skills Development Plan • Review your Skills Development Plan • Identify or prioritize what skill you would like to work on developing • What resources can you use to develop your skills? • When you will do this?

49. One thing I learned today was …….

50. Learner Outcomes / Review By the end of today’s session you will be able to: • understand Canada’s occupational skill requirements • identify transferable and essential skills for work • describe essential skills in ways Canadian employers will understand • identify new essential skills to develop or build on • develop a plan for successful integration into Canada’s labour market!