Employment Programs
Customized offerings for job seekers and employers
If you’re looking for work, we can help you:
- Upgrade your skills
- Build a resume
- Prepare to write your trade-certifying exam to receive a Certificate of Qualification for an apprenticeship
- Explore a career with a paid placement through our Inspire youth training & employment program (youth under 30)
We also work with local employers:
- Explore customized Workplace Literacy programming to support your organization’s success
- Access wage subsidies and mentor young employees through our Inspire program
Job Seekers
Prepare for Employment
Prepare for the workforce with career exploration and job-specific training.
We can guide you to specific programs to help you explore career options that fit with your interests, and upgrade your skills:
- Access training courses in retail, landscaping, marketing and social media, clerical, skilled trades, personal support worker, and more
- Focus on the skills you need to prepare for specific entrance exams and aptitude tests, including the Canadian Forces Aptitude Test (CFAT), police entrance exam, firefighter pre-employment exam and AZ license
- Watch for the next intake of our Inspire training & employment program for youth aged 15-30
- Prepare to write your Certificate of Qualification to enter an apprenticeship
Prepare for an Apprenticeship
PELC can help you explore apprenticeship options and take your first steps.
Our helpful instructors offer one-on-one support, wherever you are in your journey:
- Identify the education level and credits you need to get into each apprenticeship program
- Support you as you work toward the high school credits you need
- Guide you through college program options, and prepare for success
- Help you complete your apprenticeship application
- If you haven’t picked a trade, we can help you explore pre-apprenticeship studies to find the right career fit
Join Inspire
A 16-week program empowering youth aged 15-30 with customized training, workplace skills, and a paid placement to kick-start your career.
We help you move toward your career goals and blast through barriers (whatever they may be). Our employment partners are local businesses with a strong commitment to mentoring and skills development. We work hard to match all participants with a job in their field of interest.
Here’s how it works:
1. Identify your strengths and abilities, and build on your skills with three weeks of paid, in-class learning and exploration. Workshops include:
- Career planning
- Resume writing
- Goal-setting
- Confidence building
- Managing stress at work
- Workplace communication skills
- Know your rights at work
2. Explore your own learning goals, interests and career options. You might:
- Strengthen your computer skills
- Build up workplace certifications (e.g. First Aid and CPR, WHIMS, Working at Heights, Smart Serve, Food Handlers Certificate)
- Take courses to explore your field of interest
- Meet with experts working in your field of interest
3. Thirteen weeks of work placement:
- Gain work experience in your chosen field, or try out something new
- Develop new skills on the job
- Earn while you learn and work
We work with students to overcome barriers to employment – anything from transportation challenges to dealing with social anxiety. We can offer a range of supports, such as:
- Help with transportation
- Job-related clothing
- Housing assistance
- Childcare assistance
- Community referrals
“As far back as I can remember, I was always in love with technology. My dad used to repair computers. I was fascinated by the graphics, the movement, how it all worked together. It’s the one field I was really excited about.
“At the time I was working on my social anxiety and just getting back into the workforce. It was a big challenge in my past, but in this program, I felt really comfortable. The staff were very patient and reassuring, and they helped me find different ways to manage my anxiety in the workplace and out in society.
“After my placement, I was hired on directly. We don’t just fix computers, we help clients create websites, we work with networks, we build custom applications. It’s really broadened my experience. I can go anywhere from here.”
- Jeremy Johnson, C3 Solutions
Employers
Mentor Youth as an Inspire Employer
A program empowering youth aged 15-30 with specialized training, workplace skills, and hands-on experience. Earn a wage subsidy, be a mentor, and help support a talented pool of motivated youth seeking opportunities to grow in the workforce.
We provide a wage subsidy for the full 13-week placement. You can even use this funding to create and test a new position within your organization – a great way to grow your business and get to know a candidate’s skills and strengths on the job.
This program is highly tailored to individual needs. We will work with you to identify any additional training to help a candidate succeed in your workplace. We are here at every step to provide coaching and support throughout the placement. Many Inspire placements result in a permanent hire!
Discover Customized Workplace Training
Our workplace literacy program provides customized upskilling solutions for employers, building on the strengths of your team.
The first step is an occupational needs assessment: a conversation with the employer to get to know your hiring process, experience with training, and expectations for working with PELC. Next we’ll perform individual assessments with your team. Once we understand your workplace goals and employee strengths, we will present a customized plan for training to meet your needs, and how best to deliver it.
County Kids Read is a longtime partner of PELC, and shares our mandate to empower the community through literacy – in this case, by providing children with access to new books.
The local non-profit organization is managed and operated by a volunteer board who bring deep knowledge and experience to their roles. They identified a need for strong succession planning and record management to support their growth. We started our work together as they began a project to digitize their files, using Google Workspace for both records management and communication.
We performed an occupational needs assessment to gather information on their organizational structure, current skill levels and desired learning outcomes. Every participant completed a digital skills assessment and a learning styles assessment, to give us a clear understanding of what content was needed and how best to deliver it.
Instruction was delivered over three sessions with hands-on activities, carefully organized to hit specific learning targets. Since the group’s experience with Google varied, participants often worked in pairs to support each other’s learning. Board members were energized by the training and applied their skills immediately!
