Posted: November 15, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
There are plenty of occasions in the workplace that may leave you walking on eggshells. To help you navigate those sticky situations, Vicky Oliver, author of 301 Smart Answers to Tough Business Etiquette Questions, looks at various scenarios.
Posted: November 15, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
At the first of the Work and Learning Network’s 2011/2012 symposiums, John Servage drew on his 35 years of experience to present a rich case study which described how this troubled group of workers used employee-driven learning to turn their department around. John described how he and his staff broke the department into inquiry teams, and empowered them to change the way they worked together.
Posted: November 14, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
The Canadian Journal of Career Development is a partnership project between CERIC and Memorial University of Newfoundland with the support of The Counselling Foundation of Canada.
Posted: November 14, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
The disappointing Statistics Canada numbers are in stark contrast to economists’ expectations that 12,000 new jobs would be created in October, after 61,000 new positions in September. The loss of 32,000 jobs in the private sector in October was the third consecutive monthly decline in that category.
Posted: November 14, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
While many workers feel pressured to soldier on with their jobs when they're sick, there’s a growing consensus that ill employees could be doing more harm than good by reporting for duty.
Posted: November 2, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
Wage earners will feel the pinch, as the bulk of jobs created will likely be low-paying, but more broadly the economy will suffer as the trend puts a damper on consumer spending, says Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist at CIBC World Markets.
Posted: November 1, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
Recent high school graduates are exceptionally optimistic about their financial futures, with most expecting they will have an annual salary of $70,000 within 10 years and will have purchased their own home, according to a new survey. The B.C. Securities Commission conducted the survey of 3,000 young adults to assess the effectiveness of secondary-school financial-education programs.
Posted: November 1, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
A host of new social media tools, recently launched by the Government of Alberta, are helping Albertans plan their careers and connect to hundreds of jobs across the province.
Posted: October 31, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
Whether your own employment situation reeks of entry-level desperation or you’re simply looking to move up the ladder with a bigger pay cheque, the offer of a promotion can be enticing. There may, however, be just as many reasons to pass on a promotion as there are to accept.
Posted: October 28, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
The market value of a bachelor's degree is something students - and their parents - want to know as they rack up expensive tuition bills and loans. It turns out it may not fully prepare them for the labour market as much as they thought.
Posted: October 27, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
The Office of Literacy and Essential Skills (OLES) will host a webinar on Thursday, November 3, from 12 to 1:30 p.m. Eastern time. The objectives of the presentation are to share good practices and lessons learned, as well as HRSDC tools and resources that may benefit Aboriginal agreement holders and other organizations, and advance literacy and essential skills.
Posted: October 27, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
Baby boomers' retirement dreams took a major blow this week with two new reports finding that Freedom 55 is now more like Freedom 66 or 67. According to Statistics Canada, a 50-year-old worker in 2008 could expect to remain in the labour force another 16 years - 3.5 years longer than pre-retirees of the same age in the mid-1990s.
Posted: October 25, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
Menial No More suggests that Ontario’s adult education system could be enhanced by integrating adult literacy and essential skills education with digital skills, basic science and job-specific training. Other countries are finding success by fusing essential skills, such as reading, writing, and numeracy, with digital skills and science, engineering, technology and math. The results to date have been positive, with workers moving to employment more quickly and earning higher wages.
Posted: October 25, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
Amid an uncertain economic climate, Canadian workers can expect average salary increases of 3.1 per cent in 2012, The Conference Board of Canada has revealed at its Compensation Outlook conference.
Posted: October 21, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
Coaching differs from more traditional management models in that it's designed to improve how people interact with each other and promote a so-called "culture of inquiry," rather than certainty. It's not just about asking questions but the questions that inspire action or problem-solving.
Posted: October 21, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
Career coach Karen Goins has advice for those out of work that could be followed by the employed as well. She says you should never stop looking for a job, even if you have one. You should always have your eyes open, always be asking around about other opportunities, and never accept that you're stuck in a job for life.
Posted: October 21, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
The Association of Canadian Community Colleges commends the report of the Expert Panel reviewing Federal Support to Research and Development for its recognition of the importance of college-business collaboration in applied research and innovation.
Posted: October 20, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
Small businesses are a key driver of Canada's economy, accounting for about 98 per cent of all business establishments in the country and about two-thirds of the private sector workforce.
Posted: October 20, 2011 |

Categories: Essential skills, Learning
The OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) will
support countries in their efforts to design and implement policies which foster both the development
of skills and the optimal use of existing skills.
Posted: October 19, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
The Build Your Career with Essential Skills website connects people with the tools and resources they need to be successful at work – including 50 profiles recently updated by HRSDC, online assessments and customized test result reports. It also features instant customized learning plans that link the learner to classroom-based upgrading in their local area and free online resources.
Posted: October 17, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
All workplace meetings are good in theory but often these and countless other conference room characters can derail a gathering. This article points out seven of the biggest meeting offenders, along with advice you can use to avoid becoming one yourself.
Posted: October 13, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
The working world presents its own catch-22 for many folks just starting out in the job hunt. Most employers prefer to hire candidates with experience but as many frustrated job-seekers will tell you, experience is hard to come by when no one’s willing to hire you without it.
Posted: October 12, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
“Skype ... re-establishes the professional side of the interview,” explains E. A. Clarke, an Ottawa-based partner with StoneWood Group Inc. “It becomes a dedicated hour. People dress for it, they prepare for it.”
Posted: October 12, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
"The Tri-Mentoring Program at Ryerson University is one of only two programs in Canada committed to integrating culturally and linguistically diverse students into a university and professional setting," says Kabir Abdurrahman, program coordinator.
Posted: October 12, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
Just in time for National Boss Day October 17, new research from OfficeTeam indicates few workers today are angling for the top spot.
Posted: October 7, 2011 |

Categories: Essential skills, Learning
The president and chief executive officer of CLLN will lead in consolidating, enhancing and promoting the strengths of the organization in addition to its network, the provincial and territorial coalitions and its partners. Applications must be submitted by October 24, 2011.
Posted: October 7, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
Following two months of little change, employment rose by 61,000 in September, all in full-time work. This increase pushed the unemployment rate down 0.2 percentage points to 7.1 per cent, the lowest rate since December 2008.
Posted: October 7, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
"The reality of Canada's labour market is that the unemployment rate in many key occupations is less than four per cent, even in the current economic climate," says Tony Meehan, publisher at Mediacorp. "The steady march of demographics is bringing many employers to the realization that they need to become more attractive places to work - not just to ensure future growth, but simply to maintain the operations they have now."
Posted: October 6, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
This two-week class in Regina involves not only learning how to make cold calls on potential employers, but also charting them on a wall chart that everybody can see, along with the number of letters and resumés sent out.
Posted: October 5, 2011 |

Category: Essential skills
“It’s all about access,” says educator Dale Kirby from Memorial University of Newfoundland. “People who have jobs, children, mortgages and all those kinds of things now have an opportunity to continue their education.”