The Counsellor Resource Centre (CRC)
is an on-line national and international resource for career development and
employment counselling specialists.
The CRC Website was developed to provide a forum for career development and
employment counselling specialists throughout Canada to share best practices and
exchange information. This site is maintained in partnership by HRDC and the
International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance (IAEVG).
Development of the CRC in Canada
In 1996, HRDC put together a team of counselors to
create a reference site for practitioners in the field of career development and
employment counseling. The process began with an analysis of the needs of the
potential users of the site. The needs analysis covered most geographic areas in
Canada through focus group meetings and interviews with key informants,
organized by HRDC. More than 100 people were consulted to ascertain the needs of
the professional community. At the same time, the development team conducted a
survey of Web sites in Canada and abroad related to the themes of career
development and employment counseling. The Canada
Workinfonet site (the largest Canadian library in career development) was
used as the starting point for this task. The aim of this first step in
developing the CRC was to identify what already was available on the Web that
related to career development and employment counseling and to see how closely
the existing information matched the needs that were being identified by the
professional community.
Once the needs analysis was complete and the survey of existing web sites was
finished, the development team designed two draft architectures for the site.
The vision was to create a web site developed by counselors for counselors.
Pooling our Resources was used as the main theme for the site. In the fall of
1996, HRDC assembled an advisory group (or consulting committee) to provide a
reaction to the results of the needs analysis and the draft plans for the
development of the site. The consulting committee consisted of academics, career
development practitioners from national and provincial organizations, and public
sector stakeholders across the country. The final product that resulted from the
consulting committee was in actual fact a starting point. It is hoped that
professionals in the sector concerned will nourish the Web site so that there is
a genuine pooling of resources that results in a one-stop site for conveying and
exchanging the information that is essential to our profession.
Background of the IAEVG and HRDC partnership
The International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance (IAEVG)
and Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC)agreed in 1999 to create a working
partnership to expand and maintain the CRC for the benefit of career development
practitioners. What has been agreed up to now:
- HRDC will develop in association with IAEVG an international version of the
CRC :
- English , French , German and Spanish languages will be the official
navigation languages of the site. However, as a result of a partnership with
Finland, the Finnish language was added
- The current architecture (table of contents) of the CRC site would be used
as the template to add new resources, that is, links to websites provided by
other countries. As new material is submitted, HRDC would add their country name
to indicate to users the country of origin for each resource. Participating
countries would have to assign one coordinator to be in charge to identify and
collate sites according to the architecture. The web administrator of the CRC
(Michel Turcotte) will then upload the information on the CRC site.
The information provided in this web site comes from the Essential Skills
Research Project of HRDC.
show how the Essential Skills are used in different jobs
over 170 occupations profiled
most of the jobs described can be entered from high school
provides a set of scales to describe the use of these skills, ranging from
simple to complex tasks
a collection of authentic materials used in a wide range of Canadian
workplaces
suggestions on how these materials, or others like them, could be used in
classroom activities
a User Guide that introduces the collection and takes a closer look at
Reading Text, Document Use and Writing as they are used in the workplace and
other real life tasks
Career Circuit's Virtual Resource Centre (VRC) is a Database on current
programs, tools, and services related to youth career/future-building. Accessed
online and through CD-ROM technology, the VRC Database is designed to jumpstart
councellors knowledge of Youth Service Agencies’ resources and then connect
them with the people and information spaces that can make a substantial
difference in their work.
Job Futures
Job Futures is a comprehensive,
up-to-date national Web reference tool designed to provide Canadians with
information on current and future labour market conditions to help them make
informed education, skills and career planning decisions. The site provides
labour market information on key labour market trends and determinants affecting
labour market conditions. It also presents information on current and future
labour market outlooks for 226 occupational groups and 155 post-secondary fields
of study.
Job Futures has been available on the internet since 1997-1998. Feedback and
evaluations indicated there was a need to present the information in a more
flexible and user-friendly format. The Government of Canada has responded by
revamping the Job Futures site to present trend information in a more realistic
and user-specific manner. A "Tips" section has been added to explain
how to use the information on the site. Visitors can even take a quiz to help
them determine what careers best suit their interests.
CACEE's Work Web
Provides authoritative information, advice and services to employers,
students, and career centre personnel, in the areas of career planning and
student recruitment.
Career Explorer An
online library of easy-to-use career articles, self-assessment and career
planning tools, lesson plans and many other online resources.
HRDC Job
Futures 2000 Important information for anyone in the process of making
decisions, or advising others about making decisions, related to career or
educational planning.
Work
Destinations
This site offers occupation-specific information on work conditions,
placement and recruitment, labour market information, local living
conditions, social services, training and education opportunities.
Work Search
Designed to help Canadians search for work on-line and develop effective
work search strategies.
WorkInfoNet
WorkinfoNet is a free, comprehensive and bilingual inventory of over 3000
Canadian web sites on career, occupation, learning and labour market
information
WORKink
WORKink's mission is to facilitate communication and provide resources and
information to enhance the equitable and meaningful employment of people
with disabilities.
Youth
Employment Strategy
The Youth Employment Strategy (YES) is the Government of Canada's commitment
to help Canadian youth get the work experience, knowledge, skills and
information they need to prepare for, and participate in, the world of work.
The Canada WorkinfoNET Web site is about helping Canadians connect to the
resources they need in the areas of jobs, work and recruiting; learning,
education and training; occupations and careers; labour market information and
outlook; self-employment; workplace issues and supports; and financial help and
issues.
The purpose of Canada WorkinfoNET (CanWIN) is to ensure that all Canadians
can obtain career, learning and labour market information that is useful to them
in planning their vocational development, and in their conduct of effective job
searches in their own areas and further afield in Canada.
WorkinfoNET is a network of equal partners in all provinces and territories
working together to develop an information network for all Canadians to connect
to work and learning opportunities. The signatories agree to work together, in
cooperation and collaboration, in pursuit of the goals and based on the guiding
principles endorsed in the Strategic Planning and Vision document.
At any given time in Canada, there are in excess of 1.5 million people who
are officially unemployed and looking for work, and millions of others - either
in or out of the labour force - who are thinking about or in the process of
looking for a new job or career opportunity. Even those who have no immediate
desire to change jobs "watch the market", to stay tuned to factors
that may influence their future career opportunities and choices.
To be self-reliant and to prosper in today's rapidly changing labour markets,
Canadians (and those helping them with career transition) need ready access to
quality information to assist them in answering the following questions:
Given my experience, knowledge and interests, in what types of work would
I be most satisfied and productive?
Given emerging labour force trends, what skills and attitudes will I need
to succeed?
What employers may be interested in hiring me? Or, how can I explore
self-employment?
What learning options (full-time, part-time, public or private) will most
improve my prospects for work that appeals to me?
What agencies can help me find good work and learning opportunities, and
what can they provide?
The Internet offers an unprecedented opportunity to provide such ready
access, and several promising initiatives in this direction are already
underway. A growing number of on-line career and labour market information
systems already exist across Canada, and many others are under development. Most
are designed to assist the staff or clients of a specific agency within a
specific geographic region. However, answers to these same questions are needed
by the staff and clients of thousands of agencies across Canada including:
employment centres
schools, colleges and universities
libraries
career resource centers
public and private sector training agencies
placement offices
workers' compensation and vocational rehabilitation offices
human resources departments
community agencies
correctional institutions
military bases and foreign service offices.
Advances in technology - especially Internet - provide an opportunity to:
quickly organize and present comprehensive human resources development
information to users in specific geographic regions, by linking information
from and between neighbourhoods, communities and regions, as well as sources
at the provincial level
share that information with users in other geographic regions elsewhere in
Canada and
organize and share core information - answers to the work and learning
questions all Canadians have wherever they live - within a coherent,
national framework based on the many excellent activities already completed
or underway across Canada
The Canada WorkInfoNet Partnership has been created to:
share exemplary resources and initiatives, combine ideas and expertise,
and plan new initiatives to advance the availability of quality human
resources development information
use information technology - initially Internet - to fill the information
void by integrating many different sources of information in ways that make
it significantly easier for individual Canadians to find what they need to
make informed career and learning choices.
aim to be seen across Canada, within two years, as "the place to
go": - for people who need information with respect to their career and
learning choices and - the quickest way to access needed labour market
information
A number of significant steps have already been taken. Under the initial
leadership of the National Life/Work Centre and Human Resources Development
Canada (HRDC), a consortium of interested individuals and organizations
represented by an Interim Governance Committee has:
mounted an Internet website that provides links to a large number of
information sources at the national, provincial, regional and local levels
helped a group to establish itself as the Partenariat Info-Emploi Canada
WorkInfoNet Partnership Inc. to assume control of the website and take over
and run with the idea of creating and serving as the national information
resource This document describes the vision, goals, strategy and action plan
of the Partenariat Info-Emploi Canada WorkInfoNet Partnership Inc., based on
formal and informal consultations with the Canada WorkInfoNet Interim
Governance Committee and other interested individuals and organizations
across Canada. It will now serve as a reference point and guide for the new
Board of Directors and all Canada WorkInfoNet partners to reflect on and
formulate plans for the vital next stages in the development of Canada
WorkInfoNet.
A coherent information network that enables all Canadians to connect to work
and learning opportunities, building on ideas and expertise from partners at
community, provincial and national levels.
Goals
The following goals will guide the work of the Canada WorkInfoNet partnership
in achieving its vision.
Improve the quality and accessibility of human resources development
information to all Canadians
Become a center of excellence for effective access to human resources
development information sources.
Provide a forum for promoting the interchange of ideas and contact between
professionals and others on human resources development information.
Establish active partnerships among multiple individuals and organizations
- from community, provincial, and national levels - to build and maintain
the Canada WorkInfoNet connection for all Canadians.
Guiding Principles
Work of the CWN Partnership is guided by the following principles:
Building a partnership that values:
advancing development and access to quality human resources
development information
understanding information needs in the wider context of career
development - a lifelong process of managing work and learning
maximizing the "self-help" capacity of individuals,
organizations and communities
responding to the needs of a full spectrum of users, including equity
and disadvantaged groups
making best use of resources by collaborating with interested partners
in planning, sharing information, ideas and expertise within and beyond
the human resources development field acknowledging sources and
respecting intellectual property
Partners understand and agree that the partnership:
is a partnership of equals with the intent and expectation of mutual
benefit
advances the short and/or longer-term development goals of each of the
partners
recognizes and makes good use of the expertise and contributions of
each of the partners, avoids "reinventing the wheel," and
enables more people to benefit from high quality work that has already
been undertaken
helps expand the community of users and/or those who help others
access and use on-line human resources development information
fosters innovation and advances "state of the art
technology" in on-line human resources development information
helps create or sustain a resource or service that benefits Canada
WorkInfoNet users and partners (especially in areas identified as
priorities for development)
helps build sustainability and support the business plans of Canada
WorkInfoNet and its partners
The term "Canada WorkInfoNet" refers to the national
organization as well as its partners. Each partner therefore implicitly
represents all others in the CWN partnership.
A partner may conduct business or speak "on behalf of" the
entire partnership or another partner, only if conditions for such
representation are negotiated and agreed-upon by the parties in advance.
"Value-added" original content that enables users to customize
their navigation through CWN is recognized as vitally important to the
user-friendliness and depth of learning possible from users' experience on
the CWN website. The partnership supports the active participation of
diverse partners in planning, developing and adapting such content for
various communities of interest.
Some of these principles have been adapted from the work of BC WorkInfoNet.
Canada WorkInfoNet Added Value: More than Just an Online Directory
At the heart of realizing the Canada WorkInfoNet vision is a key strategy: to
move the Canada WorkInfoNet Partnership beyond an "online directory"
function to co-creating, with partners, a premium human resources development
resource which will:
Enhance the users' Canada WorkInfoNet experience by offering
"user-centered" products and tools to assist them in accessing,
understanding and using human resources development information
Ensure the ongoing strategic and financial viability of the Canada
WorkInfoNet Partnership by demonstrating the benefits of a full suite of
human resources development information and value-added services to public
and private sector organizations, in order to secure ongoing and new
financial sources for the Partnership
Provide a common partnership framework within which partners at any level
- national, provincial, community - can undertake a significant, value-added
role on behalf of their clients and organizations
Establish formal active partnerships with provincial groups, leveraging
and supporting provincial and community activities for the benefit of all
partners nationally
Provide flexibility and creativity in delivering value-added services,
enabling the Canada WorkInfoNet Partnership to broker for service
development and delivery or undertake this as a staff function Potential
Canada WorkInfoNet services are outlined in Appendix A.
Following are key strategies to be used in addressing CWN priorities.
A Formula for Success Partnership Building
Establish active provincial, regional, and community participation in the
Canada WorkInfoNet partnership by encouraging the establishment of Canada
WorkInfoNet partnerships in all provinces and territories
Build on existing and new public and private sector partnership
opportunities by creating formal, collaborative links to projects such as
Industry Canada's Community Access Project
Demonstrate effective national coordination of diverse, multi-level
partnerships by ensuring that partnership activities are based on expertise,
resources and ideas pooled from across Canada to advance and share Canada
WorkInfoNet activities.
Timely, comprehensive, high-quality human resources information
Serve as a Centre of Excellence for core employment service products
produced at the national level
Provide access to human resources development information which has been
developed by and is specific to the needs of provincial, regional, or
community partners
Facilitate the sharing and adaptation of that information for use at the
national level, based on Canada WorkInfoNet partners' needs
Encourage the development and sharing of human resources information based
on communities of interest, united less by geography than by a common
interest and expertise in specific human resources information topics
Financing
Actively forge strategic alliances with private sector organizations, to
generate revenues for the Partnership and gain access to private sector
technology and business expertise
Ensure ongoing annual funding from Human Resources Development Canada by
demonstrating the value of the Canada WorkInfoNet partnership through
concrete, collaborative activities designed to establish Canada WorkInfoNet
as the premier carrier of human resources development information.
Partnership Projects
Identify and take action on key partnership projects which:
will be of significant benefit to a large number of users
can be delivered quickly and easily, and
reflect the ideas and expertise of a "pool" of partners at the
national, provincial and community levels.
In the short term, review and undertake one or more pilot projects to advance
CWN goals and clearly demonstrate the Canada WorkInfoNet Partnership "at
work."
Establish Committees of the Canada WorkInfoNet Board to begin the process of
defining key partnership activities and operating terms of reference.
