Catalyst March 2009

INDUSTRY-EDUCATION COUNCIL OF HAMILTON

Welcome to the

NEW IEC Catalyst!

As executive director of the

Industry-Education Council, it is

my pleasure to introduce you to

this publication and to explain

how we plan to use it.

Like all newsletters, the purpose

of the communiqué is to share

knowledge.

Our goal is to bridge an

exchange of ideas between our

education partners, our business

partners and the community. We

envision this newsletter

becoming a forum for

information and discussion where

you can voice your concern

about current community issues

and ultimately speak about the

solutions. We hope to highlight

innovation and innovative people

and also to deal with the more

difficult realities that businesses

face today.

Perhaps the most important thing

for me to say is that we are your

Industry-Education Council, and

as such, we want this newsletter

M A R C H 2 0 0 9

Partners in Education Breakfast

and the IEC to be useful to you.

To emphasize that, we have

enlisted Minister Milloy to come

to our Partnership Breakfast on

April 30th to speak about his

Ministry’s solution-oriented

Second Career program. This is

an Ontario government initiative

designed to provide funding for

people who are unemployed and

want to re-educate themselves in

order to begin the next phase of

their career.

See WELCOME page 4

Hon. John Milloy

Minister of Training,

Colleges and Universities

Second Career provides

career planning and financial

support specially designed to

help laid-off Ontarians

participate in long-term

training for a new job. Career counsellors in

Employment Ontario offices across the province can

help you take the first step.

Focused on Lifelong Learning

“Rebound—the Next Great Adventure” Thursday April 30, 2009

Two exciting and timely speakers

Career changes and lifelong learning go hand-in-hand on April 30th

7:30 am to 9:45 am ~ LIUNA Station

Dr. Nancy Irwin

Currently a practicing psychotherapist and clinical

hypnotist, Dr. Irwin trained as an

opera singer and was a professional

stand-up comedian. Clearly no

stranger to career changes and new

adventures, Dr. Irwin motivates

audiences to “Pull a 180!” by sharing

stories from her book, YOU-TURN:

Changing Direction in Midlife, 43

inspiring stories of real people over

40 who started down a new path.

Inside this issue:

Careerapalooza 2

Passport to Prosperity 2

Apprenticesearch.com 3

Co-op Education 3

Careerapalooza cont. 4

Hire Maturity 4

Hire cont. 5

Help Wanted 5

Gen Y 6

IEC Board of Directors 7

IEC Sponsors 7

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 2

BOOK NOW!! Discount Early Bird Tickets $40 per person or $350 for table of 10 until April 1st

Call 905-529-4483 ext-226 to reserve your tickets.

B U S I N E S S E D I T I O N

As a Hamilton employer, you

won’t want to miss out on the

benefits of participating in this

year’s Careerapalooza, a

golden opportunity to

showcase your organization

and industry to thousands of

Hamilton’s most creative,

bright and enthusiastic young

people.

Careerapalooza, Hamilton’s

premier hands-on career trade

show for 15 to 30 year-olds,

consistently draws more than

2,000 bright enthusiastic young

people where they discover

and learn more about leading

Hamilton organizations.

This year’s event – the fifth in

the Careerapalooza series –

has been renewed and

refreshed. It promises more

hands-on, dynamic, interactive

displays, seminars, workshops

and demonstrations than ever

before.

You’re invited to participate in

several ways:

• Stage a memorable,

interactive, hands-on

activity at a display booth,

seminar or workshop.

• Provide a dynamic

animator for a show or

demonstration on our

main stage.

P A G E 2

“Do you have a recruitment plan

to address our changing

workforce realities?”

As you think about your

answers, consider the following:

More than 26,000 Ontario

employers have added a tool to

their toolbox to help them

address their workforce

challenges. They recognize that

changing demographics, an aging

and retiring workforce, booming

labour markets in other regions

and trends in education and

training are impacting the

availability of a skilled and

educated workforce in the

future.

So what are they doing that you

might not be?

They’re engaging high school

students in school-work

Who is going to work for

you in the next 10 years?

In fact, this question may be

keeping you up at night.

Forward-thinking businesses

are planning ahead to address

their long-term human

resource needs. So, the next

questions are: “Do you have a

long-term plan for attracting

good, young talent to your

business or industry?”

programs, while they’re still in

school.

By providing students with

meaningful work experience

opportunities, employers are

helping to create a skilled

workforce for the future –

something that is critical not

only for individual employers,

but for our shared economic

prosperity.

Be part of this employer-led

initiative – mentor, train and

recruit youth today for your

workforce tomorrow.

To learn more about the

Passport to Prosperity and

how you can get involved,

please call Beth Gibson at

905.529.4483 ext. 224 or visit

www.employerregistry.ca

• Recruit candidates for

casual, part-time or

summer employment.

In whatever way you

participate, you will:

• Excite young people

about your business and

industry

• Encourage them to learn

more – by going to your

website, blog, Facebook,

You Tube site or Twitter

• Be ready to hire the best

and brightest for part-

time or summer jobs.

See Careerapalooza page 5

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 2

A hands-on career trade show for 15 to 30 year-olds

March 10, 2009 ~ 10:00 am to 4:00 pm

Hamilton Convention Centre

P A G E 3 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 2

Apprenticesearch.com is a FREE on

-line service that matches

employers and potential

apprentices. The service operates

in several regions of Southern

Ontario, including

Hamilton. Apprenticesearch.com

helps to solve the persistent

problem of skill shortages in our

labour market. Thousands of

skilled trades people will be retiring

within the next five to ten years.

This mass retirement will seriously

impact Hamilton’s labour market

productivity, growth and

competitiveness at home and

abroad.

The apprenticesearch.com website

services three audiences, job

seekers, educators and employers.

Job Seekers will benefit from:

• A guide outlining the Steps to

an Apprenticeship

• Sample trades resumes

• Details of more than 140

skilled trades

• A list of available jobs

• Trade courses at local colleges

Educators will benefit from:

• A guide on how to write a

persuasive cover letter

• Sample trade resumes

• Lesson plans for grade 10

career classes

• Interactive youth games

Employers will benefit from:

• An employer registry to post

their jobs

• Details of tax credits and wage

subsidies

• Tips on how to retain

apprentices

Apprenticesearch.com is

maintained, updated and supported

by experienced professionals. In

Hamilton, jobs seekers, educators

or employers can call Lorraine

Baatz or Sharon Forster at

905-529-4483 for help to:

• Fine tune resumes

• Register on

apprenticesearch.com

• Solve problems or answer

questions.

• Get free labor

• Are training potential future

employees.

While you are working with

students, you can give them hints

and tips on how to do the job

faster, more accurately, and more

effectively.

You will give them a better

understanding of the work force, as

well as great experience and

knowledge.

While we are

working with

you, we

receive real

hands on

training rather

than just

theory.

Let co-op students help you, by

helping them!

Nick, Marketing Assistant

IEC co-op student

Hi my name is Nick. I am 17 years

old. Within the next 10 years, I

might be working with you.

Want to know how you can

prepare me now? If asked to take

on a co-op student, you shouldn’t

have a second thought! By taking

on a co-op student you:

• Can give a student a chance to

learn from the best.

• Can train, teach and share

your knowledge of your

industry to our future

workforce

Cooperative Education Feature

Through apprentice-search.com, we have found several apprentices. Casey,

the young lady in the photo, has proven to

be an excellent worker and has almost completed her

apprenticeship papers. We are very satisfied

with the attentive service

apprenticesearch.com has provided when-ever we have had job postings and will con-

tinue to use this excellent free service.

Phil Silvestri, Controltech

Electrical

Careerapalooza….continued Welcome….continued


To get your creative juices flowing,

here’s what select organizations will

be doing at this year’s

Careerapalooza:

• A construction association will

demonstrate the construction

process from design to

building

• A trade school will be giving a

cooking demonstration

• A civil engineer company show

a grader simulator in action

• A multi-media company will

demonstrate a green screen

and video equipment

To register or learn more please

call 905-529-4483 x-226

people. If you are interested in a taking

on a co-op student; if you are willing to

share your career experience; or if you

have spaces in your employee

volunteerism program, we need to hear

from you. Equally exciting, over the next

year, we will be working to partner

businesses with schools which we believe

will be a win-win for all involved.

Partnership between a business and a

school could mean tutoring; finding used

clothing; playing basketball; coaching; or

running a food drive. That relationship

will be up to the business and the school

to work out but the possibilities are

unlimited.

It is the goal of IEC to simply help, hence,

the name Catalyst.

Mia Wilkinson

[email protected]

group you should consider is

mature workers, those aged 45-

plus.

Mature workers have a wealth of

experience you can tap into.

They’re bright, talented and

motivated. Workers aged 45-plus

are often more dedicated,

disciplined, reliable and loyal than

younger recruits. Most are eager

to apply their proven problem-

solving abilities and to mentor

younger team members.

As the hiring manager, why might

you not be seeing and interviewing

mature workers?

It could boil down to someone in

recruiting, HR or management

excluding them from the interview

list. That person might believe a

mature worker would want more

money than the job pays,

overburden your benefit plan, get

hurt or jump ship. Someone in your

hiring chain might think that a

worker aged 45-plus will be

inflexible, be unable to do the

physical work, be sick more often,

be resistant to learning new skills

or be unable to get along with

younger people.

For the most part, these are largely

myths and the facts have proven

otherwise.

How can you ensure that the most

highly qualified and accomplished

candidates, those who have the

skills, talent and experience to do

the job, will be on your interview

list?

See Hire page 5

As an owner-manager, are you

finding it tougher to recruit and

hire people with the experience,

skills and talents you need to

expand your business?

If you answered, “yes” you’re not

alone.

Research by the Hamilton Training

Advisory Board in 2007 found that

80 per cent of Hamilton employers

felt it will become harder to recruit

skilled employees over the next

three years. Small business

employers said that recruiting and

retaining skilled workers is their

top priority.

So where will you find the skilled

and talented people you need to

grow your business?

The experts agree that one key

Hire maturity – tap into a wealth of experience

To provide additional support, we

have also engaged psychologist Dr.

Nancy Irwin to inspire hope with her

common-sense solutions to the

practical and emotional struggles faced

by those who find themselves out of

work. She is the author of “You-

Turn”, an inspirational book about

people who have changed careers in

mid-life… some out of necessity and

some by choice… only to find that a

whole new world awaits. We hope

that the combination of these two

speakers will provide you with some

basic tools to help your staff.

Beyond the Breakfast, we are working

to connect business with our local

schools. Experiential learning is

foremost in education today which

means your company can play a big

role in helping to mentor our young

On Friday, January 15, 2009, CBC’s The National featured a 15-minute segment entitled, “Help Wanted.”

The experts said the following sectors are largely recession-resilient and are still hiring.

• Electrical power generation and distribution – we still need to power our homes and businesses

• Health care -- especially for seniors, as the baby boomers age, Needed: doctors, nurses, lab technicians, and information

technology experts.

• Education – mainly for adults and seniors

• Police and emergency services

• The food industry – even in recessions, we still have to eat

• Repair industry – anyone who fixes big-ticket items (e.g. houses, cars, appliances, electronics). In downturns, people repair instead

of buy new.

• Public sector/government – As baby boomers retire, there will be strong growth at the federal, provincial and municipal levels.

This is the only sector that gained jobs during 2008.

• Information technology – has seen job growth since the 2000 dot.com bust.

• Environmental/green jobs

• Accounting – organizations still need to count the dollars and report to owners and investors.

• Skilled trades

One expert advised that if you’re in school, stay there. Get more education and become even more highly skilled. He said the skills

shortage is ongoing and will again be a key issue when times get better. The expert said that when the skills shortage again becomes top

priority, we should be ready to fill those jobs with highly educated and skilled Canadians.

Where the jobs are during this recession

Hire….continued


Most importantly, insist that everyone in

your hiring chain put forward the best

candidates regardless of age. You may

want to reinforce this policy by putting it

in writing.

You could also have an aged-45 plus

member of your management team, and

who is closely attuned to your business

strategy, skim through all the resumes

received.

This second review would ensure that

the often younger HR person or

recruiter hasn’t passed over any highly

qualified and accomplished applicants. It

would also help HR and the recruiter to

better understand the qualities that

senior management is seeking in a

candidate.

And last, but hardly least, you may want

to put plans and programs in place to

keep your mature workers happy and

productive – so they’ll stay with you a

long time. But that’s the subject of

another article.

Think about it. Increasingly, mature

workers will become essential to your

business success. As your team members

age, and as fewer younger workers

become available, mature workers will

make up a larger part of your team. Their

wealth of experience, skills and talents

will become even more important to

your ongoing business success.

____________

This article includes extracts from the

Rebound Summary Report.

Rebound: Mature workers back in action is a

one year (to March 2009) community

consultation and research study to

discover and report how local

stakeholders – the community overall,

employment assistance providers,

employers, government, associations and

unemployed mature workers - can do an

even better job to help Hamilton’s

mature workers aged 45-plus to re-enter

the workforce.

To learn more about Rebound, please

contact project manager Paul Muller

at 905-529-4483, or visit iechamilton.ca

and explore the Rebound page under the

“Workforce Development” tab.

Rebound is an Employment Ontario

project funded by the Government of

Ontario.

You might be thinking – "Did I read that correctly? You mean there is a "solution" to fix these entitled & spoiled Generation Y's"?

Unfortunately, that is a popular comment I hear privately from managers who work with Gen Y's. Many view them as the spoiled

generation who expect to be VP next month, who make demands about what they want and have "ridiculous, unrealistic expectations". I

think the truly sad part about this is that too few people outside of this generation really "get" them, and as a result many Gen Y's are

grossly misunderstood, leading to unnecessary generational clashes at work.

The Contributors / Cause

Gen Y's were raised in what I call the "Era of Overindulgence" or "Era of Instant Gratification" (I did my doctoral dissertation on this

topic so summarizing it in just 700 words is a challenge). This was an era of well intentioned parents (often Baby Boomers) micro-

managing their children, telling them what to do and what not to do, and usually rescuing them from experiencing the consequences of

their mistakes. In a word, these parents were "over-functioning" (a type of over-indulgence). Unfortunately, what most of these parents

didn't realize is that the more they over-functioned, it actually encouraged children to under-function and it bred an attitude of

entitlement. Basically, it meant these children grew up expecting this sort of treatment from everyone, and they came to believe it was

something they were entitled to, rather than viewing it as a privilege or being undeserved. Add to this mix the fact that during this time

parents were being encouraged to "praise your kids" and "build their self-esteem"– both of which are great ideas. The problem is that

although praise is extremely important, so is giving constructive feedback. If parents only ever give praise, children never learn how to

properly deal with feedback (a struggle for many Gen Y's). At the same time, marketers were starting to realize just how much

purchasing power Gen Y's had, and they were told to "Buy now, pay later" (like the rest of us) and the Internet arrived – all variables

that reinforced instant gratification. Overall, as a culture we overindulged them and made things too easy, and it's important that our

generations claim responsibility in this.

The Impact

The consequences of this shift have been many and significant. I was the keynote speaker at a large conference recently and after I spoke

for 2 hours on this subject, I had a panel of 12 Gen Y's come on stage with me to confirm whether what I was saying was accurate. They

all agreed that behind their "masks" they feel enormous insecurity and anxiety, find it extremely difficult to hear any negative feedback

and struggle to make decisions. I think their honesty was shocking and a massive eye-opener to the 150 managers in the room who

previously may have just viewed them as being spoiled.

The Solution

So what can managers do specifically about the attitude of entitlement? Here are 3 tips:

1. Seek to Understand & Learn from Them

It's easy to blame and point fingers, yet the reality is as I described it earlier – as a culture we have taught them this way! My

challenge is for all of us to look inward, not outward. Instead of blaming them we need to be asking a few questions: What can I

learn from Gen Y? What can they learn from us? Simply changing our perception towards them will radically change how we

communicate to them and how they communicate back to us.

2. Praise & Challenge Them With Respect (Both are Important)

There is power in praise but only if it's authentic, honest and specific (if it's not, don't bother). It's also important to challenge them

(remember they do love to learn) but your tone is essential. As long as managers challenge in a tone of respect, they not only will

be more open to hear it but will want to please you.

3. Throw Assumptions Out the Window & Be Clear About Your Expectations

Gen Y's often grew up having other people rescue them from consequences, so having boundaries may be new to them. Some

expectations that you think should be "so obvious" to them, are not. Again in a tone of respect, be clear about your expectations,

what you need from them, what rewards they can expect to receive for work well done, and also the consequences they will face if

job expectations are not met.

Remember, the goal here is not just to reveal the truth about Gen Y's, or even to "fix them", but to better understand them so that as a

manager you can help them achieve all they are capable of.

© 2005 Dr. Karyn Gordon www.drkaryn.com

The Gen Y “Attitude of Entitlement”: The Causes, Impact and Solution

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 2 P A G E 6

Nancy Di Gregorio, Superintendent, Hamilton-Wentworth

Catholic District School Board

Diane Dent, Professor, Faculty of French, Redeemer University

College

Lloyd Ferguson, Ward 12 City Councillor, City of Hamilton

Art Heidebrecht, Executive Director, Bachelor of Technology

Program, McMaster University

Lily Lumsden, General Manager, YMCA Career Development

and Learning

Rick McClure, Training Manager, US Steel Canada

Ron Rambarran, Vice Principal, Columbia International College

Angelo Ricci, Manager, Bank of Montreal

Chris Spence, Director of Education, Hamilton-Wentworth

District School Board

Louise Taylor Green, Vice President, Human Resources and

Organization Development, Hamilton Health Sciences

BOARD EXECUTIVE

Marcel Castura, Director, Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic

District School Board

Cheryl Jensen, VP, Technology, Apprenticeship and Corporate

Training, Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology

Tim McCabe, General Manager, Planning and Economic

Development, City of Hamilton

Beryl Roberto, Retired President and CEO, Teachers Credit

Union

Pat Rocco, Superintendent, Hamilton-Wentworth District

School Board

Mark Zega, Barrister and Solicitor, Evans, Philp

DIRECTORS

Ron Bailey, Team Leader Human Resources, Professional

Development, ArcelorMittal Dofasco

Shawn Chamberlin, President, Light Computer Centre

IEC Board of Directors

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 2 P A G E 7

ArcelorMittal Dofasco Inc.

CHML Radio

City of Hamilton

Columbia International College

Employment Ontario

Hamilton Community Foundation

Hamilton Spectator

Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board

Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board

Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology

Ontario Ministry of Education

Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities

Ontario Trillium Foundation

Redeemer University College

Service Canada

Teachers Credit Union

Special thanks to our valuable sponsors:

Catalyst March 2009

Documents

Transcript of Catalyst March 2009