employment : Innovation + Job News

Unlike the Progressive Conservatives, who have been touting a "million jobs plan," and the Liberals', who are proposing a $2.5 billion "jobs and prosperity fund," direct job creation measures play a smaller role in the New Democrats' election platform.

Andrea Horwath is focusing on so-called "pocketbook issues"—ways of lessening the financial burdens many families face (via measures like tuition freezes and lowering the HST on hydro bills)—but less so on specific employment issues.

Among the measures the NDP is proposing:
 

• Starting in the first year of an NDP government, offering companies job creation tax cuts, to a value of up to 10 per cent of an employee's salary (and capped at $5,000). The party claims this will generate up to 17,000 new jobs.
• By the third year of an NDP government, lower the small business tax rate to three per cent. (It is currently 4.5 per cent.)
• Offer incentives for the manufacturing sector to upgrade and expand, thereby enabling companies to grow and generate spin-off employment. Few details are provided in the platform, which simply states that "Our plan will reward companies that invest in buildings, machinery, and equipment in Ontario with an Investment Tax Credit."
• Topping up a federal retraining program for workers aged 55 and up. (The amount of the top up is not spelled out in the platform.)
• Launching an "emerging industries fund." Again, details are scarce: it would focus on the high-tech and creative sectors, but the size of the fund is not specified.

The party is also promising some small-scale hiring in the public sector: new funding for 250 nurse practitioners, and up to 2,000 new teachers and educational assistants.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: NDP party platform
 

The art of the job hunt. It's a tricky one—high stakes, scary, and often hemmed in by regimented processes (as anyone who has had to prepare an application for electronic readers seeking key words well knows).

Hoping to help ease things for both employers and employees: Deskribed, a Toronto startup that wants to help match up job seekers with positions that are not just okay, but the perfect fit.

The current problem: many of our needs often aren't covered in the standard job-hunting process. For an increasing number of workers, quality of life issues are becoming at least as important as considerations like salary or status—and those circumstances, which make a job fit well or poorly into our lives, are often inadequately captured, if at all, in standard job descriptions or hiring processes.

Deskribed co-founder Karim Gillani first came up with the idea a couple of years ago, when he was living in San Francisco and working at RIM.

"I was in this situation where my job was great but…I was looking for a change and i thought to myself that rather than going out to look for jobs…wouldn't it be great if i could just set up exactly what i want for myself, and get opportunities sent to me—real opportunities that were good for me."

And so he decided to build just that.

Deskribed's goal, he says, is to serve as a "time saver for the type of people who have a job but are dissatisfied in some way and are looking for a better way to find their next opportunity."

Those job seekers set up profiles that include "things like your commute time, your role seniority, the work culture—things that don't often come out in a typical job application…we decided to put those things that really affect your quality of life in up front."

And those would-be employees are being matched up with companies that understand the importance of those values. Deskribed's ideal employers are "high growth early startups, typically companies that have recently raised a round of funding and looking to hire"—and who understand that the key to attracting talent isn't as straightforward as it used to be.

Deskribed is currently very focused—both on Toronto, and on the technology sector. Over time they anticipate growing geographically (particularly to other cities with high concentrations of tech jobs) and then expanding into other industries. In the meantime, they are doing some hiring themselves: the startup currently has five staff, and is looking to add some front end developers to their own employee pool.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Karim Gillani, co-founder, Deskribed
Photo: Jason Hoffman

The most interesting of the opportunities we've seen this week:

Several key organizations and institutions in Toronto are currently seeking help. First up is the Pan Am Games, which is hiring a coordinator for partner integration. The role is for someone to handle strategic and operational planning for integrating GTHA transit agencies into the Games; three to five years of project management experience working with multiple stakeholders is a must.

Next up is Ryerson University, which is adding a work placement element to its School of Creative Industries program. They need a work placement coordinator to commence research into the logistics, potential partners, and establish the groundwork for the new placement system.

The Centre for Social Innovation, Toronto's leading social enterprise hub, needs some technical help and is hiring a lead drupal developer to update, maintain, and customize several of CSI's platforms and sites. Also in need of some technical assistance is public broadcaster TVO: they are hiring a web infrastructure architect to engineer and maintain their various websites.

Moving onto the arts sector, radio station JazzFM91 is looking for a full time journalist with at least five years of experience, to research and report stories both for broadcast and online. The National Ballet of Canada is seeking a junior graphic designer, who will focus primarily on digital marketing. Some print work will also be included, as will maintaining the ballet company's Tumblr. And Business for the Arts, a national charity that helps businesses support the arts community, is looking for a coordinator for their mentoring program, a new initiative that will involve about 50 arts organizations and 20 mentors.

For those with an interest in the environment, the Ontario Land Trust Alliance, which works to protect agricultural and wilderness lands across the province, is looking for a new executive director. Candidates should have at least five years of senior management experience, and while the position is based in Toronto it does involve some travel throughout Ontario.

Urban environmental group Evergreen is hiring an event and client services leader, a parttime casual position for someone to provide support to the many events that venue hosts throughout the year. Finally, Greenpeace Canada is looking for a human resources coordinator to manage the development and implementation of that organization's HR policies.

Do you know of a creative and innovative job opportunity? Let us know!

Over the past few days, Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak has begun unveiling the details of his major jobs-creation strategy, with the attention-grabbing name "Million Jobs Plan." (As some commenters have pointed out, Statistics Canada puts Ontario's unemployment rate at 556,000, so this may be hyperbolic.)

The plan starts, counter-intuitively to some, with a promise to cut jobs: 100,000 of them, to be precise, from the public sector rolls. This will include cuts to all sectors with the exception of health care, and also reduce transfers to municipalities. The rationale is that by cutting those jobs (and also instituting a public sector wage freeze), the PCs could eliminate the provincial deficit more quickly, thereby lowering the government's need to raise money through taxes and creating a more business-friendly economy.

"I take no joy in this, but it has to be done if we want job creators to put more people on the payroll in our province," Hudak said at a recent press event about this plan.

Both the Liberals and the NDP have lambasted this proposal, saying it will directly lead to unemployment, and undermine key services across the province. Premier Kathleen Wynne called it a "pink slip pledge" and warned it could push the province into a recession.

Hudak also wants to increase opportunities for apprenticeships, by increasing the allowable ratio of apprentices in the trades.

"For every single apprentice in many trades you have to have four or five journeymen, so they limit the number of opportunities. Allow each journeyman to mentor and train an apprentice, one each, and that'll help create 200,000 positions," he said when pitching the plan. (Wynne's response: just because you allow someone to take on an apprentice, that does not guarantee they will choose to do so; there's no evidence this will directly lead to a massive increase in apprenticeship positions.)

Another major plank of Hudak's platform is a business tax cut of 30 per cent, which he contends would leave to the creation of 120,000 new jobs. Though he did not provide the math which led to that figure, he said that in general a major business tax cut "will send a signal fire right across the world to say, 'Invest in Ontario. Add on that new machine."

So far, the PCs have produced by far the most headline-grabbing jobs strategy, and also by far the most controversial. Many commenters are already saying that its boldness will be key in the campaign, strongly attracting some in the business community, while strongly alienating many others who worry about the state of public services (not to mention all the voters who themselves hold public sector jobs).

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (multiple press events)

Toronto has a growing number of accelerators, innovation hubs, and other organizations designed to help support young ventures launch and develop successfully.

Up next: many of those organizations, along with more traditional institutions, are starting to collaborate, forming partnerships that capitalize on their strengths and creating opportunities for people from various sectors to share their respective areas of expertise. A few months ago, for instance, Ryerson and St. Michael's Hospital announced a partnership to help the former's engineers and the latter's clinical scientists work together.

Another new partnership was announced recently between OCAD University and the Centre for Social Innovation. The goal is to develop a social enterprise-specific stream within OCAD's overall entrepreneurship hub, called The Imagination Catalyst. The Imagination Catalyst was created to help young enterprises with commercialization; this new partnership will do the same for social ventures in particular: enterprises that have some human, cultural, or environmental goal.

As part of this new collaboration, OCAD U will offer residencies to three CSI members at its Imagination Catalyst incubator, helping with access to funding, and providing other entrepreneurship support. CSI, meanwhile, will offer membership—including access to space, a vibrant community, and other funding sources—to all those incubated by Imagination Catalyst.

"Apart from start-up funding, introductions to venture /angel investors, etc., we believe any incubator experience is enhanced if you have a diverse set of start ups in the space," explains Petra Kassun-Mutch, executive director of Imagination Catalyst.

"Diversity in our case means legal form, scale, sector, and level of experience. We believe the social enterprise sector is an extremely important and growing part of the start up community space."

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Petra Kassun-Mutch, executive director, Imagination Catalyst, OCAD University

The most interesting of the opportunities we've seen recently:

First off, for those with an interest in green jobs, urban environmental organization Evergreen has several openings right now. They are currently seeking an animator for outdoor programs, primarily to focus on outdoor activities for children and familiies. Next up is a post for a project manager for national engagement to support grant programs and other national initiatives. Finally, they are looking for a food program coordinator to deliver workshops, support the farmers' markets, and work on partnerships and community development.

Also in this sector, The Backyard Urban Farm Company, which helps individuals set up organic vegetable gardens at their homes, is looking for a social media coordinator for a six-week summer contract. The position is open specifically to post-secondary students returning to school in the fall.

Finally in the environmental realm, the Toronto Botanical Garden is seeking an office administrator to provide administrative, database, and systems support.

If you love getting around on two wheels, bike adventure company Sacred Rides is hiring a business development director to help grow several new programs, camps, and other riding activities, with a particular focus on increasing women's participation in mountain bike riding.

YouthfulCities is a global initiative that assesses cities based on their friendliness to those under 30. The organization is currently seeking an event planner to work four days a week over the summer (May through August).

Career Skills Incubator, which helps the underemployed develop their skills in key areas, is hiring a project manager for a six-week contract. The successful candidate will spearhead a pilot project aimed at getting people to explore careers in the non-profit and charitable sectors.

Finally, the Gay Men's Sexual Health Alliance is seeking a Campaign and Resource Development Project Lead to support existing and new projects and outreach campaigns.

Do you know of a creative and innovative job opportunity? Let us know!

More than a decade ago, the Toronto City Summit Alliance (now CivicAction) and the Maytree Foundation conducted some community outreach, asking what the most compelling issues facing Toronto were—including which issues were being neglected and required more attention.

One key issue that came up in that survey: integrating immigrants effectively into the city's labour market. And so those consultations led to the creation of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC).

This week, the organization is celebrating its 10th anniversary at an awards ceremony that will also honour individuals and organizations for their leadership in this sector.

When that initial survey was conducted, community groups said that while there were many immigrant settlement organizations, "there weren't a lot of organizations that were focused on this issue of opportunities for skilled immigrant labour," says TRIEC's executive director, Margaret Eaton.

And the resources that were being devoted to the issue were scattered. "Mentoring had been done in different organizations," she goes on, but once the new organization was formed "they came together under that umbrella," allowing for a better distribution of talent and increased scale of activity. The core of TRIEC'S activities is a one-to-one mentorship program that currently has 1,300 pairings; Eaton says that those who go through the program see an average increase in earnings of 62 per cent.

Reflecting on the past decade, Eaton says that "one of the big things we've seen is that some things have stayed very much the same: skilled immigrant unemployment is still double what it is for university-education Toronto-born population. if anything, it has gotten worse through the recession."

When asked why she said that, one key factor is that "the economy has changed so much. we're now seeing secondary migration—[people] coming to Toronto first, then moving elsewhere in Ontario or out west," where there are more plentiful job opportunities.

On the positive side, there is now an Ontario commission looking at regulated professions to try to make their requirements much more transparent to the applicants, easing the process for new immigrants who want to transfer their credentials from elsewhere so they can pursue their professions here.

As part of its 10-year anniversary, TRIEC is also looking to the future, and expanding its strategic objectives. "One of those," says Eaton, "is employer culture—looking at the glass ceiling that immigrants experience."

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Margaret Eaton, executive director, TRIEC

When the minority Liberal government unveiled its draft provincial budget last week, the document lasted barely a day before being trashed: the opposition parties refused to support the government, and a snap—though widely anticipated—election was called.

Ontarians will go to the polls on June 12, but they already know a great deal about what the Liberals will be running on: that short-lived budged doubles as a convenient campaign platform. And one of its centrepiece proposals is a major employment initiative. The other parties will likely follow with their own jobs-creation strategies (we'll cover those as they are released) but in the meantime, here are the highlights of the Liberal proposal.

The Liberal government's plan centres on a $2.5 billion "jobs and prosperity fund," a new 10-year initiative that will focus on helping businesses develop internationally, and become more productive. It will also include grants to help attract new major businesses to Toronto. The money will be allocated to several sectors, including $40 million a year for food and beverage manufacturing and $20 million over four years for the increased acquisition of health products. This will be combined with other initiatives, like ongoing efforts to establish a cooperative capital markets regulator (so far British Columbia and the federal government have joined the talks).

Though NDP leader Andrea Horwath announced that her party would be voting against the budget, she specified that this reflected a general distrust of the Liberal government rather than objections to the budget itself, which is widely regarded as NDP-friendly. For their part the Progressive Conservatives characterized the Liberal plan as "corporate welfare" and say they will create jobs by lowering payroll and corporate taxes.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Ministry of Finance

Our economy relies on several categories of workers: citizens, permanent residents, and workers here under various classes of visas.

One group that historically faces some of the greatest challenges is the category of temporary migrant workers—a group that has more than tripled in recent years. In 2000, there were 89,746 migrant workers in Canada; in 2012, that number was 338,213.

Temporary migrant workers are now admitted to the country at a much greater rate than permanent residents—the inverse of what was the case decades ago. This pattern holds locally, as well. the number of migrant workers in Toronto increased by 237 per cent between 2006 and 2012.

A new report just released by the Metcalfe Foundation, which works towards building a more equitable and inclusive society in Canada, examines the current state of affairs for migrant workers here. A hint of its findings can be gleaned just from the title: "Profiting from the Precarious."

The report gathered information via interviews and consultations with migrant workers in Toronto and Southern Ontario, and focuses on the growing for-profit labour recruitment industry, which helps match potential workers with employers, and assists those workers as they manage the bureaucratic processes involved in coming here.

The problem: according to the report, "widespread abuse of low-wage migrant workers at the hands of disreputable recruiters has been documented by academic and community-based researchers for years. Significant numbers of migrant workers are brought to Canada by recruiters who charge oppressive 'recruitment fees,' including fees for jobs that do not exist and jobs that are different than promised."

Though some legislation took effect in 2010 to try to provide better protection for migrant workers, the report found that "a mere $12,100 in illegal fees has been recovered from recruiters and only eight investigations are ongoing. Meanwhile, the Caregivers’ Action Centre reports that since the law was enacted, two-thirds of its members have been charged illegal recruitment fees."

The report provides a number of recommendations to help improve matters.

"A proactive regulatory model that is enforced by the employment standards branch and that builds in federal/provincial multidirectional oversight is both necessary and a best practice." Crucially, it goes on, "proactive licensing of recruiters, registration of employers, and significant security deposits to ensure that funds are available to compensate workers whose rights have been violated."

There is also the question of giving potential migrant workers better tools to make informed decisions about their employment here. New regulars must "address the significant information gap that recruiters and employers exploit. Registries with meaningful information about recruiters, recruiters’ supply chains, and employers must be publicly available and easily accessible. Information empowers workers."

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Profiting from the Precarious (Metcalfe Foundation Report)

The most interesting of the opportunities that we've come across lately:

The University of Toronto has two particularly interesting openings right now. The Department of Family and Community Medicine is looking for a research assistant to support a study examining the delivery of healthcare to patients with chronic pain issues. Applicants should have a master’s degree in social sciences, health administration, or psychology. Meanwhile, the office of the vice president for research and innovation is seeking an entrepreneurship manager to identify company creation opportunities that emerge from the university's research.

The Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF), which helps young Canadians who want to launch their own ventures, has two opportunities of note right now. They are looking for a regional marketing manager who will be based in their Toronto office, but focus on supporting the regional offices in the western provinces. And they are also on the hunt for a social media and content creation coordinator to handle online content across all platforms.

In the cultural sector, TIFF also has several openings at the moment. Among them: a scheduling coordinator for festival programming for candidates with at least one year of arts administration experience; an assistant for festival programming to provide administrative support; and an assistant for volunteer and intern resources for someone with at least one year of experience in volunteer management.

Also in the cultural sector, Soulpepper, Toronto's largest theatre company, is looking for a development coordinator, ideally with at least two or three years of experience in non-profit fundraising. The Literary Press Group of Canada, a non-profit that represents the country's literary publishers, is looking for an education and engagement manager, to tackle both internal and external projects. Finally, the City of Markham has a nine-month contract available for a discovery coordinator to manage and administer several theatre-related programs.

Do you know of a creative and innovative job opportunity? Let us know!

The most interesting of the opportunities we've seen this week:

Local food service organization The Stop, which runs everything from a farmers' market to nutrition classes for kids, is staffing up for the summer season. Among the positions they are looking to fill: three community garden assistants to take on maintenance, garden tours, and community event organizing; a cooking and growing assistant to develop activities for children in summer camp programs and assist with other programs as needed; and a food bank animator to support the weekly Tuesday market, as well as the drop-in and food bank programs. All of those posts are 12 week contract positions, and start at the beginning of June.

In the cultural sector, a couple of key organizations are looking for help. The Theatre Centre—which recently completed a major overhaul of an historic Queen West building that will now serve as its new home and a local arts hub—is looking for a general manager to oversee this new phase of their growth. Candidates should have at least three years of experience in non-profit arts management. And Harbourfront Centre needs an online content specialist to research, write, and edit materials for all their online sites and platforms.

Digital retail startup Slyce, which we featured last week, is growing, and therefore also hiring. Currently they are seeking an iOS developer, a systems engineer with at least five years of experience working in a Linux environment, and a database engineer, also with at least five years of Linux experience. All positions are full-time, and come with employee stock option plans.

Also in digital hires, Forward Vision Games, which develops games that help build financial literacy, is looking for a developer to work on their cloud-based simulation games.

Do you know of a creative and innovative job opportunity? Let us know!

"People with developmental disabilities have much to contribute in the Canadian labour market. Yet, existing research suggests that the rate of employment among this population is much lower than it needs to be."

That was the comment from Dr. David Nicholas, associate professor of social work at the University of Calgary, upon hearing the news that the federal government will be investing in new job support for youth with autism spectrum disorders.

Announced as part of the federal budget, the government is investing $11.4 million over four years in a program called CommunityWorks Canada.

The program is modelled on one that is currently available in Calgary. The funding will go to developing a national network of cities that offer similar services. Program participants, who range in age from 12 to 24, will work on developing key social, communications, and problem-solving skills that are essential in any employment environment. The program is delivered via one-on-one peer mentoring, and the ultimate goal is to equip participants with the capacity to pursue work successfully, and live more independent lives.

Some details are still in the works, but a representative from the Etobicoke-based Autism Speaks Canada—which will be operating the program in partnership with the Calgary-based Sinneave Family Foundation—told us that the plan is to have two or three of the new centres open within the next two years, and a total of six centres (including the original Calgary location) open in four years. Organizers are hoping to ramp up to 1,200 participants per year, across all of the locations.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Carrie Habert, Marketing Director, Autism Speaks Canada

"One of the first things I did when I got here [in 2010]," says Emma Westecott, assistant professor of game design at OCAD University, "was try to find out who else was teaching games."

She found a kindred spirit in Steve Engels, a senior lecturer in computer science at the University of Toronto. They met, and they had their students meet, and "one of the things that became evident was that a lot of the games our students were making could be much better if they were working together." So they started doing just that, and it went well enough that they decided to set up a showcase at the end of that first year of collaboration.

It's four years later, and this past weekend Level Up marked its fourth instalment: an interdisciplinary, multi-institutional showcase of student work in gaming that allows graduating and senior students to show off their work, engage in a bit of friendly competition, and—crucially—meet potential employers.

This year more than a dozen institutions participated, and over 50 team projects were included in the showcase. Organizers estimate that 1,000 people attended—200 more than last year.

Why an off-campus showcase? "It became obvious to me that with a new subject matter," Westecott explains, "that working with community was the best way to build expertise."

Toronto has a well-established gaming sector—it's a growing and dynamic part of our local economy—and one key goal of Level Up is to help introduce students into that community, sniff out potential internship opportunities, and tap into a network that will help them as they leave school. It's also a great way to measure your progress.

"For our students, it helps them see what their games are like in comparison to what other games are being made; from potential employers' point of view, it makes it easier to see everyone in one place."

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Emma Westecott, Assistant Professor, Game Design, Digital Futures, OCAD University

The most interesting of the opportunities we've seen recently:

Attention book lovers: Random House of Canada is looking for an editorial assistant to provide both editorial and administrative support for its executive vice-president. Duties will range from reading manuscripts to drafting meeting agendas.

For those with experience in the performing arts, Harbourfront is hiring an assistant production coordinator and is seeking applicants with stage management, production, and customer service experience.

For those with an interest in cinema, the National Film Board is seeking an administrative assistant with at least four years of relevant experience; candidates must be functional in both French and English.

In senior arts-related hires, The Corporation of Roy Thomson and Massey Hall is seeking a new director of programming. Candidates should have strong networks within the industry and a demonstrated record of sound financial management.

Finally in the cultural sector, the Toronto Arts Foundation is looking for an executive assistant to work with their CEO, providing administrative, project, and planning support.

Moving on to local food, the Withrow Park Farmers’ Market currently has two openings: they are currently seeking a market manager to oversee all market activities, and a market assistant to focus on providing activities for kids aged two to 10. Both positions are part-time and run from May through October. Meanwhile, Karma Co-op Food Store is looking for a general manager for a one-year contract to cover a maternity leave vacancy. Applicants should have at least three years of retail grocery management experience.

Elsewhere in urban environmental opportunities, the Toronto Botanical Garden is hiring a library manager to oversee their extensive book and periodical collection, and boost the library's role as a community resource. Candidates should have a library science degree and at least two years of professional experience.

Do you know of a creative and innovative job opportunity? Let us know!