“You all have the potential to be someone great,” said Roxanne Qzance.
Qzance, a facilitator with Saskatchewan Indian Training Assessment Group Inc (SITAG), was addressing 12 adults gathered for a luncheon last Friday, May 6 to celebrate their completion of an employment skills program.
The program, the SIIT - SITAG JobFind Project, was offered at the SIIT Creighton Work Prep Centre this spring.
Ranging in age from 18 to 37 years old, participants joined the program from Pelican Narrows, Denare Beach, Creighton, La Ronge and Flin Flon.
In the six-week class, participants focused on meeting their shared goal of securing and maintaining employment.
Participants learned about marketing themselves and targeting the jobs they wanted, and gained job-hunting skills from developing resumes and cover letters to cold-calling and hitting the pavement to communicate with employers.
The class had been a success in a number of ways, said Qzance.
Five of the 12 participants had secured employment locally during the course of the program; and the other students were actively engaged in the interview and follow-up process with employers, the facilitator said.
Perhaps most importantly, though, the participants were exiting the program with increased confidence, stronger presentation skills, and a better sense of what they had to offer in the workplace.
“They’ve changed,” said Qzance.
JobFind student Gillian Linklater, 32, said the course helped her build the confidence she needed to seek out the jobs she wanted.
“I found skills and abilities I didn’t know I had,” she said.
Through the course of the program, Linklater realized that she had some natural leadership skills.
“I helped the students a lot with computers, the ones that were struggling,” she said. “I helped them job search, and showed them how to use the internet, because some of them didn’t really know how.”
Since she started JobFind, Linklater has received two job offers from local businesses, and has started training for her new part-time job at Creighton Super Stop, also known as the Petro Can.
“I’m ready and excited to start working with Petro,” she said with a smile. “I want to be a good employee for them.”
Qzance noted another success story: one student who was interested in becoming a pilot is now enrolled in a pilot-training program after being accepted into two different schools.
“Those are the things that we encourage participants to reach for,” she said.
“These goals to them were just childhood dreams, but now they are actually visualizing these goals and realizing they can attain them, that it’s for them.
That they belong in the working class, the economy, just like everybody else.”
Qzance noted that a key step for job-seekers making the leap from dream to goal involves acknowledging barriers.
In the class, participants discussed the barriers that were preventing them from moving ahead in their careers – barriers such as childcare needs, a lack of a driver’s license or health issues – and identified strategies to manage those hurdles.
To help JobFind graduates continue to address barriers, SIIT CWPC staff have committed to offering ongoing support for exiting students after the program ends, explained Theresa Wride, a job coach at the centre.
She said that support might take the form of counselling, mentorships, connections to resources or employers, and problem solving as students navigate the workforce.
Myrna Ewing, manager at SIIT CWPC, drove this message home as she greeted the students gathered at the luncheon.
“We are here to support you,” she said, after acknowledging by name each student who had completed the course. “We are here to help you succeed.”
The SIIT-SITAG JobFind Project was jointly funded by Northlands College and Woodland Cree Enterprises Incorporated.
