STAFF REPORT ACTION REQUIRED. Job Fairs and the City of Toronto SUMMARY RECOMMENDATIONS. Date: January 19, Economic Development Committee.

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1 STAFF REPORT ACTION REQUIRED Job Fairs and the City of Toronto Date: January 19, 2011 To: From: Wards: Economic Development Committee Heather MacVicar, General Manager, Employment & Social Services All Reference Number: SUMMARY The City of Toronto is committed to ensuring that the Toronto labour market remains strong through continued supply of qualified and competitive candidates. The City works with both employers and job seekers to increase their level of inter-connectedness to achieve this commitment. To ensure that initiatives intended to build employer/job seeker connections translate into real results, the context of each party must be understood. Employers are diverse in their respective hiring needs and preferences, and job seekers are highly varied in their situations and required supports. Thus, effectively increasing the connections between job seekers and employers is not a one size fits all solution. This report provides an overview of three City of Toronto approaches to effectively building connections between Toronto employers and job seekers: Conventional Job Fairs, Career Information Fairs, and. Collectively, these three approaches address the diverse spectrum of needs, preferences, and required supports. This report also outlines the ways in which the City of Toronto remains committed to increasing employer/job seeker connectivity and how in 2011, it will demonstrate leadership in this area both as a service-manager and as an employer. RECOMMENDATIONS The General Manager, Employment & Social Services, recommends that: 1. The City of Toronto continue to build connections between employers and job seekers by hosting, participating in, and supporting job fairs across Toronto in ways consistent with those described in this report. 1

2 2. Employment & Social Services with Human Resources and other divisional and community partners plan and host a Toronto Job Fair in Financial Impact There are no financial implications arising from this report. DECISION HISTORY There is no decision history as this is the first time this issue is being brought to Committee. ISSUE BACKGROUND The City of Toronto plays an integral role in strengthening the local labour market. To ensure that employment opportunities are accessible to qualified candidates, the City works with its partners to build connections between employers and job seekers and build the competitiveness of potential candidates. Through these initiatives, the diverse needs of unemployed and under-employed city residents who may otherwise have difficulties accessing the labour market are also met. In collaboration, the City and its partners have implemented three main approaches that collectively address the diverse needs of Toronto employers and job seekers. Conventional job fairs are one of these three approaches and thus, are one piece of the larger strategic picture of effectively increasing employer/job-seeker accessibility. All three approaches are described in the Comments section below. Conventional job fairs and the City of Toronto: With respect to conventional job fairs, the City fulfills three main roles: the City as an employment-service manager, the City as an employer, and the City as a supporting partner. As an employment-service manager, the City plans, coordinates, and administers job fairs in partnership with employers, community based groups and agencies. Consistent with the City s shift towards place-based initiatives, job fairs have been planned with consideration to the hiring preferences of diverse employers and the unique needs, opportunities and aspirations of local communities. Often in partnership interdivisionally, City divisions that plan and implement job fairs primarily include Toronto Employment & Social Services (TESS), Social Development Finance and Administration (SDFA), Economic Development and Culture (EDC), and Human Resources (HR). As an employer, the City attends job fairs (both City hosted and non-city hosted) to raise awareness about career opportunities in the Toronto Public Service and recruit interested candidates. In this way, the City is actively seeking out diverse, qualified candidates and proactively increasing the accessibility of its employment opportunities. Thus, the City 2

3 as an employer is making strides towards its goal of strengthening Toronto s local labour market. As a supporting partner, the City works with non-city organizers to ensure that job fairs across the city are accessible to lower-income job seekers. For example, at the annual National Job Fair downtown, in addition to the City attending, TESS provides admission tickets or reimbursement for entry fees to job-seekers who are identified as lower income. City-involved job fairs have ranged in size from smaller events with a few hundred in attendance to large-scale events with an attendance of several thousand. The largest City job fair in recent years was the East District Job Fair in 2008 with a recorded attendance of over 6000, including 55 employers. City-involved fairs also range in their degree of specialization. While many fairs are generalized (i.e. open to all employers and jobseekers), others are specialized to the needs of a particular community (e.g. Lawrence Heights Community Job Fair, 2010), a particular employer or sector (e.g. Financial Services Job Fair, 2009), or a particular demographic (Scarborough Youth Job Fair, 2010). COMMENTS Toronto s labour market boasts a diverse range of industries, workplaces and required qualifications. This diversity can be an economic strength for the city by providing wide employment opportunities for Toronto residents and an attractive market for outside companies; however, it also translates into a wide array of hiring needs and preferences. Toronto job seekers are equally diverse and experience a varied range of accessibility challenges that impact their level of success in gaining and retaining employment. The City understands the link between a strong labour market and its accessibility for job seekers, and thus, works to build connections between employers and job seekers. To effectively achieve this, the City must work in a way that addresses the diverse spectrum of hiring needs of employers and employment needs of job seekers. Thus, narrowing the gap that can exist between these two groups in a way that translates into real results requires integration and collaboration among stakeholders and often strategic innovation. It should be based upon a foundation of strong relationships with employers and job seekers and include accessible locations and effective outreach and promotion activities. Increased connections between employers and job seekers holds significance in many ways: it provides employers with the ability to make more informed short-list decisions and promote their organization or company to a wider pool of applicants; it provides job seekers with opportunities to build their work-related networks and gain information directly from employers. The increased connections are also a critical part of making employment opportunities more equitable in Toronto. For vulnerable groups who continue to experience higher than average rates of unemployment, the gap between the labour market and job seekers can be particularly wide and can leave many employment opportunities and career paths out of reach. Bringing together employers and vulnerable 3

4 groups, such as newcomers and racialized youth, is a critical step in ensuring that Toronto s labour market is fair and accessible to all Toronto residents. City approaches to building job-seeker / employer connections Based on its prior experiences, the City now utilizes three main approaches to building connections between job seekers and employers:, Career Information Fairs, and. Each approach has a respective place in the City s ability to increase connectivity between employers and job seekers and uniquely sits along a spectrum of customization of focus, intensity of supports and degree of employer involvement. Appendix A lists examples of each approach. City approaches to building job-seeker/employer connections: Structure and intent: Degree of employer involvement: Intensity of support for job seekers: Generalized Moderate Low Customized High High Conventional Job Fairs Career Information Fairs Customized Recruitment Conventional job fairs are events in which employers and job seekers meet and network through an informal, self-guided process. Typically, employers manage booths where they share information about their organization/company and related job opportunities and where job seekers can submit resumes directly to the employer. Job fairs can be high profile events as they are familiar to residents, employers and media alike and can attract a large volume of employers and job seekers. They can be generalized (e.g. open to all employers) or specialized, for example, by sector or seasonal positions. Virtual/online job fairs have begun to emerge as an alternative to in-person events. Job fairs bring together a large number of employers and job seekers in a single place and time. Thus, it provides each party with exposure to diverse candidates and opportunities respectively and allows for workforce networks to be substantially increased. Job fairs can be successful events for employers who prefer a simple, less-involved approach to connecting with potential candidates and for job seekers whose primary barrier to employment is access to employers (i.e. they are prepared to enter the hiring process and simply need to connect with employers in order to do so). Its flexible format makes it ideal for larger corporations, SMEs, and non-profit agencies alike. As a limitation, the open format creates challenges in monitoring attendance and subsequent outcomes. Each year, the City hosts a multitude of job fairs across Toronto, providing significant numbers of job seekers with access to a wide range of sectors (e.g. professions, skilled labour, etc ) and employers (e.g. large corporations, SMEs, non-profit agencies, etc ). 4

5 Career Information Fairs Career Information Fairs (CIF) include events and activities in which participants learn about particular jobs or sectors directly from the employers, community-based agencies, educators and industry experts in a given sector and receive information about the services and supports available to help them gain a position in the sector. Such activities could take the form of a presentation-style workshop (e.g: Pre-Apprenticeship: Women transitioning to trades, 2010) or an informal networking event (e.g. Green Energy Career Fair, 2010). CIFs provide employers with the opportunity to promote their sector or industry, while at the same time, providing participants with the information required to maximize their qualifications. They also provide participants with the ability to learn the intricate details of a specific occupation or sector directly from the employer and thus, to make more informed career planning decisions. They are beneficial for employers who prefer to personally deliver labour market information and for job-seekers who require additional direction and focus in their career path or specific information on a particular occupation to successfully compete within the sector. While CIFs may result in increased employer/job-seeker connections, the intent of the initiatives is informative in nature, and thus, they may not necessarily translate into the direct hiring of participants. The Internationally Educated Professionals Conference (IEPC) is a high profiled example of a City-supported career fair. The IEPC hosts workshops and networking opportunities from a diverse selection of sectors and employers (including the City of Toronto). Through this conference, internationally educated professionals are provided with firsthand information on specific sectors in a Canadian context and on accessing and succeeding within the Canadian labour market. (CR) is a combination of the previous two approaches. CR initiatives are programs that work directly with employers and targeted job-seekers to understand employer needs, strengthen the qualifications of job-seekers, and facilitate a best-fit matching process. The programs can be customized to the needs of a geographic area (i.e. a particular neighbourhood), a given population (e.g. by age, by ethnicity, by gender, etc ), and/or employers in a particular sector. Specifically, CR programs have 6 main components: Targeted Outreach: persons of a specified population (e.g. neighbourhood residents, youth, etc ) are recruited. Coaching: Participants are matched with job coaches and receive one-on-one support to identify career goals and ways to increase their employability. Learning Opportunities: Participants take part in a variety of employment related skill or knowledge building activities. Screening and Matching: Employers enrolled in the program share current and upcoming opportunities with program staff. Participants are screened and qualified candidates are matched with job opportunities and employers. 5

6 Interviewing and On-boarding: Qualified candidates engage in an interview with the employer and/or other selection activities and receive feedback on their performance. Retention: Successful candidates receive on-going support and communication to strengthen their ability to thrive within the new position. To ensure that CR programs are relevant and customized to labour market needs, employer involvement is a critical component of these initiatives. CR programs build strong City-employer relations and offer specialized supports to job seekers to address a wide array of barriers to employment. They are appropriate for employers who are willing and able to be engaged throughout the planning and implementation process and beneficial for job seekers who experience more complicated challenges and who may require one-on-one customized support to increase their employability. Program evaluations have shown promising results for both employers and participants with a significant increase in the employability of participants, a high ratio of participants hired through the program, and a successful job retention rate. City CR examples include Partnership to Advance Youth Employment (PAYE), EMS targeted recruitment, Toronto Fire Services targeted recruitment, and the TTC targeted recruitment. Moving forward: City of Toronto future directions The City of Toronto will continue to strengthen the Toronto labour market by increasing the connectivity between employers and job seekers. Leadership and coordination for future initiatives will continue to be provided by the Senior City Employment Services Steering Committee (SCESSC), a committee comprised of senior staff from a crosssection of City divisions and ABCs. The SCESSC will provide strategic directions on distribution and coordination of the above-mentioned approaches both inter-divisionally and across Toronto and on aligning the respective initiatives with the City s overarching objectives and priorities. Initiated by SCESSC, the City of Toronto Job/Community Fair Tracker remains a strategic planning and monitoring tool towards ensuring that job and career fairs are aligned with employment-related priorities city-wide and remain an integrated part of employment service strategies in communities. It also assists in evaluation as it captures information, including outcomes, about job fairs and career information fairs. Launched initially as a pilot, the tracker was being implemented throughout 2010 and is currently managed by TESS. It is anticipated that summary reports will be available later in With the leadership structure established, the City is now well positioned to launch a City of Toronto job fair in Through this event, the City will increase accessibility to public service opportunities for Toronto residents and recruit new candidates through a targeted approach. In this way, the City will demonstrate leadership as a Toronto employer and serve as an example in its goal towards increasing employer accessibility. 6

7 In addition to a 2011 Toronto job fair, the City will continue to increase connections between employers and job seekers by planning, implementing and hosting diverse initiatives in each of the three approaches described above. Conclusion The City of Toronto is committed to continuing to strengthen the City s labour market by ensuring that Toronto employers and Toronto job seekers have access to each other in ways that translate into real results. Accessibility issues in this context can be defined differently depending on the situations of the employer and job-seeker. To ensure that the connections between employers and job seekers are built in effective ways, the City must address the wide spectrum of situations of both groups. The three City approaches described in this report collectively addresses this diversity. With Council approval of the recommendations in this report, the City will continue to effectively build employer/job seekers connections in this way and, with the development of a 2011 Toronto job fair, will provide leadership as a Toronto employer in the goal towards increasing employer accessibility. CONTACT Heather MacVicar General Manager Employment & Social Services Telephone: (416) Fax: (416) hmacvic@toronto.ca SIGNATURE [Heather MacVicar, General Manager, Employment and Social Services] 7

8 Appendix A Building Job Seeker / Employer Connections: Sample List of City of Toronto Initiatives by Geographic Distribution ( ) To effectively build connections between job seekers and employers in a way that achieves successful outcomes, the City of Toronto has implemented three approaches: conventional job fairs, career information fairs, and customized recruitment. These three approaches collectively respond to the diverse needs of Toronto employers and job seekers. For each approach, the City has planned, implemented and hosted a multitude of initiatives in all four regions of Toronto. To provide an indication of the range of City initiatives, a sample list is included below. North (Ward 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 23, 24, 25, 33, 34) Opening Doors to Your Future Investing In Neighbourhoods Employment Fair Career Information Fairs Lawrence Square Career Canada Day Lawrence Heights Youth Apprenticeship Fair Green Energy Career Fair Annual Spring and Fall PAYE Recruitment Initiatives Toronto EMS Toronto Fire Services TTC Annual Youth Seasonal Hiring Initiative East (Ward 35, 36, 37 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44) Councillor Thompson's Annual Job and Career Expo Raymond Cho's Annual Spring Job Fair Career Information Fairs *Pre Apprenticeship Women Transitioning to Trades Annual Spring and Fall PAYE Recruitment Initiatives Toronto EMS Toronto Fire Services TTC Annual Youth Seasonal Hiring Initiative 2010 PR&R Youth Summer Jobs South (Ward 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32) National Job Fair Regent Park Community Youth Job Fair (Pam McConnell's Annual Job Fair Career Information Fairs Newcomer Fair Pathways to Trades Forum Annual Spring and Fall PAYE Recruitment Initiatives Toronto EMS Toronto Fire Services Regent Park Careers in Financial Services (RBC) TTC Annual Youth Seasonal Hiring Initiative Annual Landscape Information and Job Fair West (Ward 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 13) Annual Community Connections Job Fair Runnymede Teen Job Fair Career Information Fairs Career Moves Canada Career Day Annual Spring and Fall PAYE Recruitment Initiatives Toronto EMS Toronto Fire Services Cool Rexdale Green Roofing Woodbine Centre Job Fair TTC Annual Youth Seasonal Hiring Initiative 8