Competitors collaborating to support skills-to-employment for all Canadians.
Skills Council of Canada is pleased to announce its partnership with Canadian media company Edge Factor, which through the power of storytelling has developed a suite of multimedia and interactive trades programs that will add to the value of the Skills Council of Canada’s Skills development efforts.
Earlier this year, Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development (MLTDS) SDF RD2 awarded the Skills Council of Canada with $3,824,399 in funding to support their Project - Breaking Down Barriers – Skills-To-Employment Collaborative Support Ecosystem (“CSE”). Skills Council of Canada’s CSE project is working to solve the totality of our province’s fragmented skills industry by bringing together and integrating educators, employers, service providers, government agencies, mentors, career development support resources, and sustainable technologies all within the Skills Council of Canada’s platform. The scope of solutions and collaborative model enables the Skills Council of Canada the flexibility and resources to support industries facing labour shortages.
With baby boomers exiting the workforce in droves, leaving more job vacancies than there are people in Canada to fill them, Statistics Canada reported on July 28, 2022, that there were 1,005,700 unfilled positions at the beginning of May, which was 42% higher than a year earlier. With Canada in the throes of a serious labour shortage, the key to supporting Canadians is to create solutions that bring together partners, content, services, technologies, and shared resources. Within the skills industry, bringing together partners can also mean collaborating with competitors. Skills Council of Canada believes that by working together, competitors can become complementary to each other and in the end provide a greater benefit to the job seekers and the province. Edge Factor is a fitting example of this.
“Working together with Edge Factor has created a larger, more streamlined, scalable solution that addresses the multitude of job seekers’ requirements. By continuing to integrate partners and their supporting resources with the Skills Council of Canada’s Collaborative Support Ecosystem (CSE), we are building a stronger skills development solution for all Canadians. Edge Factor’s team is aligned with our vision and supportive of our efforts to help as many job seekers as possible. We are excited to collaborate with the Edge Factor team as we continue to work towards long-term collaboration.” said Kate O’Neil, Vice President of Partnerships at Skills Council of Canada.
Skills Council of Canada approached Edge Factor to discuss adding their inspirational and explorational trade multimedia content to its platform. With first-time job seekers entering the workforce, the Skills Council of Canada believed that simply providing assessments and learning pathways may fall short if the job seeker’s expectations for their chosen career, were misaligned. Edge Factors’ career content dives into the trades through great storytelling that provides the viewer with a much better understanding of the career, the skills required, the level of effort to obtain that career, and much more. After multiple meetings, it was determined that the synergies, alignment of vision, complimentary content, and systems would lend themselves to a much larger collaboration to create sustainability and future support for all Canadians.
“Having produced thousands of films, tv shows, and modular learning productions, my team and I are particularly eager and excited by this project as it works to create a larger scalable opportunity for us all. Working with Skills Council of Canada has been a surprise, in that our vision, synergies, and the willingness to collaborate, share resources, and build solutions that help us all grow together has been truly remarkable.” Jeremy Bout, President & Founder, Edge Factor.
Edge Factor and the Skills Council of Canada have been collaborating on a multi-phased plan to support all Canadian job seeker’s skills development opportunities. Edge Factor is developing additional multimedia content to support Skills Council of Canada’s participants as part of the CSE project work while their current library is being integrated into Skills Council of Canada’s Learning Management System. In parallel to these efforts, more robust integration of platforms is underway to help create a long-term sustainable solution that will continue to add more value and opportunities for job seekers and employers across the province, and then Canada.
About Skills Council of Canada Inc.
Skills Council of Canada Inc. (Skills Council of Canada) based in Ottawa, Ontario is a social impact-focused organization building holistic integrated solutions that support Canada’s Sustainable Development Goals with a prime focus on education-to-employment. Operating in collaboration with Indigenous and non-Indigenous organizations, the Skills Council of Canada promotes skills development for: the development of good health/well-being, access to quality education and equal employment, gender equality, access to clean drinking water, affordable clean energy, decent work for economic growth, innovative technology ecosystems, infrastructure, reducing inequality, sustainable communities, and developing partnerships required to support these efforts.
Skills Council of Canada’s Collaborative Support Ecosystem (CSE) includes thousands of skills courses, thousands of job role assessments and subject-based assessments, access to thousands of one-on-one mentors, tutors, career counselling, wellness coaches, and so much more, all managed by Skills Council of Canada’s robust learning management system. The CSE program also enables the Skills Council of Canada to provide its entire offering for free to all participants and partners.
About Edge Factor
Edge Factor’s smart platform and story-driven tools inspire people to explore, prepare, and connect on their career journeys. Together with schools, companies, and service providers, Edge Factor empowers learners of all ages to discover careers and get connected to real-world opportunities.
Edge Factor equips educators, workforce leaders, and families with age-appropriate e-learning and career exploration multimedia experiences. Using the power of cinematic storytelling to guide people through a Career Journey from "I have no idea what to do with my life!" to, "I have browsed the opportunities, made informed decisions, and successfully launched a local training and career pathway!" Edge Factor’s e-learning library equips learners to discover industries, careers, CTE/ SHSM and postsecondary programs, Soft Skills, STEAM, and local opportunities. Edge Factor has created thousands of learning objects with accompanying lesson plans and interactive activities - and is adding new content daily!
If you are interested in learning more about Edge Factor contact us at info@edgefactor.com We’d love to hear from you.
