Projections in high-demand employment sectors, curated lists of job skills, career ladders, and a fulsome and detailed jobs hub are just a few of the many resources Workforce Development Board (WDB) has available for career planning or for job seekers to advance in their chosen career.
WDB’s new Planning Career Pathways Video Tutorial and updated Toolkit make it easy for prospective employees to find the full range of resources available from WDB to support them in making informed decisions when it comes to planning their careers.
“The video and toolkit provide helpful and essential information that will support somebody who’s looking for employment or for parents who are helping their children with career planning,” says Shara Bonds, WDB’s Business Support and Project Coordinator. “These tools will help them in the future to think about using one or more of the resources available, and they’ll have a better understanding of labour market information and how they could use it to their benefit.”
PDF: WDB Planning Career Pathways Toolkit
WDB Planning Career Pathways Toolkit
Founded in 1996, WDB is a not-for-profit research organization located in Peterborough and funded by the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. WDB provides labour market information, coordinates employment and training services, and engages employer communities across Peterborough, Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland, and Haliburton.
WDB’s Planning Career Pathways Toolkit includes an interactive visual graphic that outlines the resources available on the WDB website, along with a new video tutorial that provides step-by-step details on the various resources and how to use them.
“The visual can be downloaded and saved for future use and the links will take you exactly where you need to go to use that tool,” Bonds says. “But if you are more interested in navigating through the website, the video tutorial gives a more in-depth explanation of where to find the tools and how to use them.”
VIDEO: WDB Planning Career Pathways Video Tutorial
Those tools include the WDB Labour Market Insights Report, an interactive monthly report highlighting which occupations are most in demand in Peterborough, Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland, and Haliburton as well as Muskoka District. The report provides the number of active job postings, the number of job postings made in the last month, the number of full-time and part-time jobs available, the top in-demand skills, the top hiring companies, and much more.
There’s also the Eye on the Labour Market interactive e-newsletter, which provides subscribers with monthly information on the top 10 most in-demand occupations and skills sought after by employers in the Peterborough, Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland, and Haliburton areas.
“We’re aggregating information from current job postings to show what those in-demand skills and the in-demand occupations are currently,” Bonds says. “This will help job seekers understand the market they are entering.”
The Labour Market Gateway, on the other hand, looks at occupational demand projections over the next five years by estimating the number of people working in each occupation. With this interactive online resource, users can also access the projections for top in-demand sectors for the selected region.
“If you’re just starting your career or maybe you’re in high school and thinking about post-secondary education or employment, it’s another source of labour market information that can help you plan ahead,” says Bonds. “It’s helpful if you’re not sure what you want to do, or if you do know and want to see whether there will be jobs in that chosen sector, or if those jobs will be in demand in the future.”
When job seekers know their career goals and the occupations they want to explore, WDB’s Skill Demand Report helps them to discover the skills needed to enter that career path. The report uses information from job postings to summarize more than 29,000 knowledge, occupational skills, and tools or technologies needed for a selected occupation.
Job seekers can also seek guidance from WDB’s interactive Career Ladders, which describe the skills needed to advance in careers in the high-demand sectors of accommodation, agriculture, arts, entertainment and recreation, aviation, construction, construction – infrastructure planning, food service, manufacturing, retail, and transportation. Each career ladder includes information about hourly wages, job descriptions, main job duties, examples of job titles, general skills, and links to educational courses and training opportunities.
“The career ladders show people how they can grow within their sector,” Bonds says. “When you first start out, you might be making minimum wage in a lower-level occupation, because you don’t have as much training or education or experience, and then it will show you how to move through a sector and grow within that career.”
Whether seeking their first job or looking to advance in their chosen career, people can access WDB’s Local Jobs Hub, which automatically aggregates active job opportunities in Peterborough, Kawartha Lakes, Haliburton, Northumberland, and Muskoka from over 45 online job boards.
Job seekers can filter listings by key criteria, including skill level and type, part-time or full-time jobs, and whether a job is temporary, contract, or permanent. The Local Jobs Hub also includes enhanced features such as a regional map that cross-references job postings with nearby bus routes, cycle routes, schools, childcare centres, and more.
“It’s very helpful for job seekers because it’s all in one place and there are so many different filters they can apply,” says Bonds. “If you’re looking for part-time work and you need it on a specific bus route, for example, this makes it easy to visually see what the options are. It’s making it as seamless as possible for people so they do not have to sift through jobs by viewing every single job posting.”
These and other resources available on the WDB website — including apprenticeship opportunities and behind-the-scenes videos of real work environments — not only help job seekers in making informed career decisions, but also help employers hire those who are best suited for the job. WDB’s website also includes links to local Employment Service Providers, Adult Education and Training, and Accommodations and Specialized Services for those individuals looking for more personalized supports.
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“If a job seeker planning their career has a better understanding about what is required from different types of employment, then they’re a better fit when they’re applying,” Bonds says. “It makes it easier for job seekers to know what an employer is looking for and to know whether they are able to fill that need.”
By providing helpful resources like the Planning Career Pathways Video Tutorial and Toolkit, WDB aims to help bridge the labour shortage gap between in-demand occupations and those seeking employment.
The new Planning Career Pathways Video Tutorial is available on YouTube. WDB is asking those who watch the video to provide feedback on their experience by completing a brief survey.
For more information about WDB, including a complete list of career planning resources, visit www.wdb.ca.
This branded editorial was created in partnership with Workforce Development Board. If your organization or business is interested in a branded editorial, contact us.
