Youth Employability Skills Project

Youth Employability Skills Project

This initiative was developed in response to feedback from employers involved in the Summer Student Employability Skills Program. Employers reported that students lacked important employability skills resulting in an unsatisfactory summer employment experience. Feedback from employers demonstrated that an increasing number of students required orientation to workplace expectations and as issues arose, required support during their employment.

The NSCDA partnered with Futureworx, a recognized leader in developing employability skills through the use of ESAT (Employability Skills Assessment Tool), to develop and deliver two pilot projects, for the summers of 2018 and 2019. The goals were to promote learner self-awareness surrounding employability skills and to help participating students alter behaviours that were identified as problematic in the workplace. By orientating students and employers to this approach and by using ESAT to support both parties during the program, improved outcomes were anticipated.

The project was funded by the NS Department of Labour and Advanced Education Youth Initiatives, and supported by Labour and Advanced Education Workplace Initiatives, as well as the Centre for Employment Innovation (CEI) who conducted two extensive evaluations of the pilot projects.

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Youth Employability Skills Project Banner | NSCDA