CEDEC’s Labour Market Information Network has launched! On March 29, 2017, the network, including representatives from the education, government, community and private sectors, held its first meeting to validate the goals of the network, discuss challenges, and identify the key pillars of a community-based workforce development research plan. The work of the LMI Network supports CEDEC’s Workforce Development Strategy.

Now that the LMI Network is active, next steps include growing the network, consulting with stakeholders, and building a research plan that will improve access to consolidated and robust labour market information.


Standing (left to right): Michael Smith, McGill; Dawn Copping, CEDEC; Stéfan Bergeron, ESDC; John Buck, CEDEC; Stacey Dakin, CEDEC; Stephen Thompson, QCGN


Sitting (left to right): Lorraine O’Donnell, QUESCREN; Darlene Hnatchuk, McGill; Kim Fuller, Phil Communications; Laura Kolbe, CEDEC Consultant


Virtual participant: Nancy Arthur, University of Calgary

NETWORK GOALS

SALON PRIORITÉ-EMPLOI ESTRIE 2017

Working behind the scenes at the Zone multilingue offers a snapshot of a community in all its diversity. It was the second year that CEDEC organized the Zone at the Salon Priorité-Emploi Estrie, in partnership with La Direction régionale Emploi-Québec Estrie, Townshippers’ Association and a great team of volunteers! 

This year’s Salon welcomed over 3,500 visitors and offered access to 90 exhibitors. Over 100 job seekers completed written and oral comprehension / expression evaluations during the two-day job fair.

The Zone welcomed a microcosm of the broader community: from newcomers advancing by leaps and bounds in French, their second or third language, to mature job seekers seeking a new challenge, to students ready to take on the world.

This year saw a marked increase in English speakers in attendance: 28.3% of job seekers at the Zone were evaluated for French second-language skills in 2017 as compared to 9.6% in 2016.

Pascal Brassard emerged from the Zone, proof of his second-language levels in hand, ready to meet employers on hand at the Salon. Zone multilingue volunteer Étienne Domingue is seen on the right. 

In addition to locals, job seekers from Montreal seeking potential opportunities in the Eastern Townships were also among the visitors to the Zone. Some of these multilingual individuals left the Zone with confirmation of their advanced second and third language skills in English and French.  

One-on-one conversations revealed that job seekers in the Eastern Townships speak a variety of different languages, including Spanish, Afghan languages, and several from different countries from the continent of Africa.

Several employers seeking bilingual candidates sent potential hires to the Zone to confirm their skills, while others filled their bank of candidates thanks to having a better understanding of their second-language levels.

“The zone played a really big role in the success of our Salon this year,” indicated Nancy Romanick, Recruitment Specialist with Global Excel Management. “We had a lot of candidates, a lot more than expected and to save us time, we sent all the candidates who said that they were not 100% fluent to the Zone.” 

When it comes to filling jobs with candidates who made use of the Zone multilingue service, Romanick explained the employer’s recruitment strategy at the career fair: “In terms of people we hired – we actually did not have a lot of positions opened."  

"We do this type of event to get a bank of good candidates. We added over 50 people to our bank and all but a few were sent to the Zone and most of them did.”   

The Zone multilingue inspired another skills evaluation space at the Salon Priorité-Emploi Estrie this year; the Zone bureautique, staffed with friendly faces from the Lennoxville Vocational Training Centre, enabled visitors to have their accounting, and other basic computer skills evaluated in English or French.    

Many thanks to our community volunteers at the Zone again this year. We hope to see you again next year.  

ZONE MULTILINGUE AT FOIRE DE L'EMPLOI

On March 31-April 1, 2017, Quebec City was the place to be for the 19th edition of the annual Foire de l’emploi de Québec – Chaudière-Appalaches. The seasoned team at the Zone multilingue spent two days greeting and evaluating English and French second-language skills of 318 job seekers.Traditionally, close to 40% of employers at the Foire de l’emploi have positions to fill that require English second-language skills. 

The number of job postings at the Foire de l’emploi has grown over the last decade due to globalization and increased export opportunities as well as collaboration among a broad set of community partners working together to support job seekers who are working to improve their skills and achieve their career goals.  

The Zone multilingue has been serving both employers and job seekers in the greater Quebec-City region for over 10 years.  

Supported by the Foire team, Emploi-Québec, the Chambre de commerce et d’industrie de Québec and the Chambre de commerce de Lévis and Emploi-Québec, the Zone is headed up by the Eastern Québec Learning Centre and assisted by the Valcartier Family Centre, Voice of English-speaking Québec and CEDEC.   

This year, the Foire de l’emploi hosted 163 employers and welcomed 10,100 visitors over the two days. With an unemployment rate of 4.6% in March 2017 in the Capitale-Nationale region, this indicates an increase in visitors to the job fair this year.

The Tourism Rendez-Vous in Gaspé and Percé on May 23-25, is set to be an exciting event including a mix of conferences, networking, workshops, and training sessions about trends, resources, technology development, marketing and human resource challenges related to the tourism industry.

Tourism stakeholders and small businesses will learn how to maximize economic potential related to Canada's growing tourism industry.

Come share your challenges and ideas for future development in Quebec's Gaspesie with your peers and with Canada's leading tourism marketers, Destination Canada and the Tourism Industry Association of Canada.

Don't miss this important opportunity to meet experts that can directly help you to grow your business or tourism venture.

Sylvain Tapp, of Produits Tapp, shared his story about developing and exporting his Sauerkraut product line, made with local organic ingredients, all over the world.

Félix McKoy, an organizer of the St. Georges Community Garden, hopes to see that project grow as members collectively produce and sell at the public markets .

                                                                    Passionate would-be agripreneurs travelled as much as two hours to attend this event, seeking information and a network to start their own businesses and create their own jobs. 

• Promote all programs to the English and Mi’kmaq communities concerning entrepreneurship and the development of economic projects.
• Create housing opportunities and services for English-speaking seniors

A mentor can help your business in many ways, but only if you know what a mentor does, what you should look for in a mentor, and how you should conduct your meetings.   

On the next #SBSchat we’ll explore the dynamics of the mentor-mentee relationship, address some common myths, and offer tips on how you can leverage your mentor relationship for business success.  

DATE: April 26, 2017

TIME: 7:00 p.m.

WHERE: On Twitter, #SBSchat

CLICK HERE to clear up some myths about mentorship.

Have a business startup or an idea that you've been contemplating?

The Caravane regionale de l'entrepreneuria will be travelling across four regions of Quebec to find innovative ideas and create opportunities to pitch to investors. 

4 Regions - 12 finalists - 1 winner to be announced October 14, 2017. 

Now is the time to start building your idea. Contact CEDEC Youth Start-Up to help move your idea from intention to action in preparation for the Coupe provinciale des 'Start-up'