Career and Employment Information Services

The vendor is required to provide career and employment information services (CEIS) for immigrant clients in Calgary and area.
- Agency ministry of seniors, community and social services (SCSS) is committed to supporting immigrant clients and has developed services designed to support them to find meaningful employment.
- These services include a resource Centre, assessments, workshops, delivery events, job placement and exposure courses.
- These services provide information to state to understand the labor market, to make informed career decisions, develop realistic education, training and employment plans and to prepare for, find, and maintain work.
- Clients accessing this service should have low english language skills (below state language benchmark (CLB) 6), be ready, willing and able to work and require assistance in career development and employment search techniques.
- SCSS anticipates that the following CEIS services will be delivered to clients, this will depend on their individual employment needs and goals as well as any assessment activities; these include:
• Resource Centre
• Delivery events
• Workshops
• Exposure courses
• Assessments
• Service navigation
• Career consulting
• Individual plan
• Job placement services
• International qualification assessment service (IQAS)
• Employment placement
• Work related employment supports (WRES)
• Follow-up
• Added value services
- Client eligibility
1. Resource Centre eligibility:
• Employed, unemployed, underemployed/marginally employed or self-employed
• Facing labor market transitions, considering a career change or exploring new career and employment opportunities
• Employers
• Participating in agency programs and services
a. Resource Centre
- To provide direction and considerations for a resource Centre (Centre) in the provision of information, employment services and supports to help individuals and employers achieve employment goals and resource needs.
- It serves as a point of entry for individuals to navigate and access career resources, information services and employment supports.
- A Centre provides access to:
• Current, timely and quality labor market information, trends and resources.
• Government and community resource information and services.
• Career, occupational, employment, business and educational resources and services to help individuals achieve career, educational or employment goals.
• Staff who assist individuals in work search, accessing community resources, career planning, and making informed career, employment, learning and business decisions.
• Opportunities to gain skills to be successful and self-reliant, improve employability and achieve employment outcomes.
B. Delivery events
- These services provide the opportunity for immigrants to have access to current, accurate and relevant education, career, workplace, and labor market information required to make informed career, workplace, and labor market decisions.
- Delivery events are comprised of community presentations, fairs, employer connections and employer visits.
C. Workshops
- Workshops are a group service designed to address a variety of career and employment needs, including, but not limited to, work search, career planning, education planning, self-assessment, personal development, career decision making and labor market information.
- Proponents should include a description of all workshops to be offered, including topics, learning objectives, durations, minimum participant numbers, frequencies that the workshops will be offered, and where the workshops fit in the overall client flow.
- Workshops should also include topics related to life skills and life management to enhance an individual’s ability to attach and sustain attachment to the labor market, such as time management, goal setting, financial planning, and stress management.
- The successful proponent will provide a range of career and employment workshops that meet the client’s needs.
- Where demand exists, these workshops will be offered in additional languages other than english.
D. Exposure courses
- Exposure courses provide job ready individuals with funding for short-term courses.
- The objective of exposure courses is:
• To augment an individual’s job specific skills or provide the certification required to obtain employment in as short a period as possible.
• To respond to employer or industry need for skilled workers by providing short-term skills enhancement courses to individuals seeking to obtain/maintain employment.
• To meet conditions of employment in a specific occupation as prescribed by employer or industry expectations.
E. Assessments employment readiness assessment (era)
- The purpose of an assessment is to gather information about an individual's strengths, needs, and barriers and provide a foundation for determining the programs and services that may be most helpful for the individual in moving towards sustainable employment.
- The assessment will be used to gather current and accurate information and evidence to:
• Create a plan with a goal that requires active participation on the part of the individual, and/or
• verify program or service eligibility, and
• Substantiate the delivery of programs and services or for plan management decisions and progression towards employment.
- The employment readiness assessment (ERA) is a process that addresses one or more of the following: • Employment goal
• Work history
• Education and training history
• Knowledge of the local labor market
• Essential skills
• Job search skills
• Employment skills
• Job search barriers
• Employment barriers
• Health factors
• Canadian language benchmarks (CLB) levels
F. Service navigation
- Service navigation will provide additional support with the means and opportunity to achieve their employment objectives.
- Service navigators will build trusting relationships to fully understand the challenges job seekers face and the services they require.
- Their knowledge of community resources and networks will enable them to offer wrap around services to help job seekers address challenges and progress towards reaching employment.
- They will work exclusively with job seekers at high risk of long-term unemployment, in collaboration with a network of partners based on job seeker needs, including employment service providers, health professionals and career and employment consultants (CECS).
G. Career consulting
- Career consulting consists of career advising and career counselling.
- Career advising, one element under career consulting is a service that provides individual guided assistance and referrals.
- Career advising sessions may vary in length depending on the needs of the individual.
- Career advising may result in conducting an employment readiness assessment (era).
- Career counselling helps individuals clarify career goals, make career decisions and develop individual action plans.
- The career counselling process is focused on helping individuals not to choose a career, but rather to Construct it.
- The overall objective of career counselling is to assist individuals to achieve greater self-awareness, develop a life and work direction, increase understanding of learning and work opportunities, and become self-directed in managing learning, work and transitions.
H. Individual plan
- An individual plan provides support to an individual through the provision, monitoring, and completion of services.
- This includes:
• Maintain contact and provide supports to the individual,
• Reviewing how well the individuals needs are being met,
• Reviewing participation in services and progress towards completion of services and activities as outlined in the individual’s plan,
• Identifying issues that are affecting the individual’s ability to successfully complete the steps in their plan,
• Providing needed supports (retention and/or job maintenance support) directly, or referring them to appropriate community services,
• Following up to confirm completion of the individual’s plan and
• Recording outcome information at the required interval(s).
- The plan is informed by a recognized assessment.
- An individual plan is a record of the activities the individual agrees to actively participate in to achieve a specific goal.
I. International qualification assessment service (IQAS)
- IQAS helps immigrants obtain recognition for the education they received in other countries.
- where necessary, clients will be given support with the IQAS application preparation and processing.
j. Job placement services
- Job placement services help individuals locate and obtain jobs.
- They connect individuals who are ready, willing, and able to work with employers needing to fill jobs.
- Job placement services are designed to support individuals to enter and re-enter the workforce as quickly as possible and to develop the job search skills needed for effective labor market transitions now and in the future.
- The objectives of job placement services are:
• To connect eligible individuals seeking work with prospective employers able to provide them with employment as quickly as possible.
• To enable employers to fill job openings and skill shortages.
- Job placement services are designed to assist individuals who have the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for employment, but require:
• Assistance to develop or refine job search skills,
• Assistance making connections to employers, and
• Job maintenance support in order to maintain employment.
k. Employment placement
• Employment placement activities support clients to obtain employment as a direct result of a CEIS intervention, not including job placement.
l. Province’s client data tracking system
• Proponent staff commit to client data entry as per the province’s training and any LMTA requirements.
• Proponents to be flexible and adaptable when and if data entry requirements change throughout the contract period.
M. Work related employment supports (WRES)
• WRES are those supports that client may require to start employment but are unable to afford and have exhausted all other supports.
• These may include but are not limited to work boots, driver’s abstract, or uniform costs.
N. Added value services
• Any additional added value service elements that will meet the needs of the client group.
- Contract Period/Term: 2 years