Deadline looms for job training
Getting Ready for Employment and Training Course kicks off next month
Jessica Davey-Quantick
Northern News Services
Monday, August 22, 2016
NUNAVUT
A new round the Getting Ready for Employment and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) kicks off in five Nunavut communities on Sept. 12.
The deadline to apply for the program, which will be offered in Cape Dorset, Naujaat, Coral Harbour, Taloyoak and Sanikiluaq, is Aug. 25.
In its second year, the program is a 14-week work readiness training created specifically for people on social assistance and is offered, in partnership with Nunavut Arctic College, at no cost to students.
"The whole purpose of developing the G.R.E.A.T. program was to help people who may not have an attachment to the labour market to work toward developing one and to help people transition off of social assistance and become more self reliant," said Deatra Walsh, manager of labour market programs in the career development division of the Department of Family Services.
"And part and parcel of that is to help people build their self confidence, their belief that they can go out and get work."
The program includes mentored work experience, teaches resume and interview building skills, offers essential skill development like upgrading literacy and numeracy, and this year will also include an introduction to computers course.
Walsh says many of the students who ended up working after the program found work through their job placements.
"We had people working in the local service sector, but also we had people working within the trades and that sort of thing. It was a very wide range," she said.
According to the director of income assistance at the Department of Family Services, Larry Journal, there are approximately 8,400 Nunavummiut receiving social assistance in an average month.
That means, according to Journal, that approximately 40 per cent of Nunavummiut receive social assistance.
"The reasons why so many people are in need of assistance in the territory are complex," he stated in an e-mail to Nunavut News/North. "Many people may not have finished high school, many may not have extensive work experience, or have, up until this time, not been able to participate in the labour force for any number of reasons. Participation in the labour force depends upon skills, education and training, as well as demand. In some communities, particularly smaller ones, the demand for workers may not always be high and there may not always be opportunities available."
Last year 70 people graduated from the G.R.E.A.T. Program. While the Department of Family Services is still collecting data on how many graduates found work or enrolled in further education after the program, Journal says that early results show that around 31 per cent of graduates have found jobs. "There are places where we can help people fill the gaps in that they need either to get work or to enter into training and become self confident. It's helping to fill in some of those pieces," said Walsh.
To enroll in the September courses, participants must get in touch with their income assistance worker in their respective communities. The next step is an assessment with Nunavut Arctic College. The final assessment for the September offering will be on Aug. 25. Walsh adds that the program is also expected to be delivered in January in Clyde River, Kugaaruk, Arviat, Qikiqtarjuaq, Kimmurut and Sanirajak.
