www.iechamilton.ca

The IEC Catalyst , June 2010

 

employerregistry.ca
How it connects students with their career mentors

Sal Macaluso (Right) with his career mentors at GHBN

You have probably heard a lot about the workforce shortage anticipated in the coming years. How can educators help thier students to make connections with their potential future employers, who will allow them to test-drive a career and prepare them to fill the poistions that will be open in the next few years?


Well, it might not be as complicated as you think once you find out about www.employerregistry.ca, the Ministry of Education’s online community dedicated to connecting local employers with tomorrow’s workforce. This is how grade 11 studnet Sal Macaluso from St. Mary Secondary School met his career mentors at Golden Horseshoe Bioscience Network (GHBN). Justin Policarpio, Research Analyst and Communications Officer at GHBN didn’t know much about providing experiential work experience opportunities for high school students prior to meeting Beth Gibson, the School-to-Work program manager at IEC. With the help of IEC, Justin registered his organization at www.employerregistry.ca, enabling him to post a co-op placement vacancy for a student interested in communications and science.

Sal grabbed the opportunity and started doing his co-op placement at GHBN. He is responsible for supporting Justin in many aspects of GHBN’s communication work including writing for their blog, tweeting, preparing flyers and building networks for upcoming events. Sal said he is interested in Biochemistry and plans to go to Med school, so working at GHBN has given him the chance to learn more and develop his network in his area of interest.

Even though Sal works at GHBN for just a few hours a day, he managed to become a useful addition to the GHBN team. Justin wrote on their blog recently stating ‘the social aspect of the GHBN website has been getting good feedback and it is all thanks to our Grade 11 co-op student Sal.’  Justin added that mentoring Sal has proven to be tremendously beneficial because he can now fully count on Sal to handle the communication aspect of their work while he is not around. As a result, Sal has been offered a summer job at GHBN. In addition, Sal has been a great help for a new start up company called Campus Helper that matches tutors with students. Justine asserted that Sal’s contribution in providing a fresh, youthful perspective for how to market this initiative to youth has been tremendous.

Justin recommends career mentoring as a great way of introducing students to the real world of work, “while also getting things done with your work that you otherwise just can't fit in your schedule.” He noted that “the process is simple, and the people at the Industry Education Council are great and very efficient in what they do.”

So, are you ready to connect your studnets with potential career mentors in our community? Contact IEC and we will help you register you at www.employerregistry.ca, the online community connecting local employers with students through a range of exciting opportunities.

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