Cultivating the new workforce
Terrence Belford
The Globe and Mail
November 17, 2009
When Miranda Fong finished her Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Waterloo, she looked around to see how best she could apply her education to finding a job. The prospects were not dazzling, she says.
But after graduating from George Brown College's two-year food and beverage management course last May, Ms. Fong, 24, stepped right into what she thinks is a dream job as a sales and marketing associate at Stratus winery in Niagara-on- the-Lake, Ont.
She was not alone. Kevin Lin, acting manager of career services at George Brown says 90.8 per cent of graduates from that course found jobs in their field within six months of graduation.
Mike Oliverio, 25, found himself in a similar position. He graduated from McMaster University in Hamilton with a commerce degree in 2007. He went straight to work in the accounts payable department of the City of Hamilton. He hated it.
When two friends suggested taking a one-year postgraduate course in human resources management at Humber College in Toronto, he leapt at the chance. Just before graduating last spring he had two job offers - one from the Ontario Government on a two-year internship contract and one from Staples, the business supply chain.
He took the government job and says he as "happy as a clam."
The placement rate from Humber's HR management course runs between 85 per cent and 95 per cent a year, says program co-ordinator Graeme Simpson. "I get six to 10 calls a week from companies looking to hire our graduates," he says.
When it comes to equipping young people to find jobs in their chosen field after graduation, Canada's 155-plus community colleges have been a success story, says James Knight, president of the Association of Canadian Community Colleges, which is based in Ottawa.
"The only national statistics we have are those compiled by Statistics Canada in 2007," he says. "StatsCan reported 9 out of 10 college graduates found jobs in their field within six months of graduation.
"Each province has its own annual survey called the Key Performance Indicator and, from what I have seen, that 90-per-cent rate is bang on."
Mr. Knight offers one more telling observation. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business surveyed its members "and CFIB said they would be hiring 6 college grads for every university grad this year," he says.
"The great thing about colleges is they produce graduates with instantly usable skills. They have the practical knowledge employers need."
The proof of that pudding is in courses where 100-per-cent placement after graduation seems to be a standard.
At Oakville, Ont.'s Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, for example, graduates of its four-year degree program in arts and animation regularly post 100-per-cent success rates at finding jobs, as do those from its information technology security course, says Mary Preece, vice- president academic.
At Humber, graduates from its three-year package and graphic design course consistently post between 95 per cent and 100 per cent job placement rates, says Vass Klymenko, program co-ordinator.
At Lethbridge College in Alberta, those coming out of its engineering technology and agriculture technology programs enjoy a 95-per-cent-plus chance of finding a job in their field.
In British Columbia, Douglas College's dental assistant, health care support and dispensing optician graduates are in such high demand that their chance of finding work is about 100 per cent, says college president Scott McAlpine.
The big success Canadian community colleges are enjoying finding jobs for their graduates stem from the way they operate, say college teachers and administrators.
"We are really an on-demand supplier of skilled workers to industry," says Lethbridge's Peter Leclaire, vice-president academic.
To stay on top of demand, each college has business advisory panels for every course. Those business leaders tell the college where demand for skills lies now and in the foreseeable future.
Colleges then do their own research - they take into account the restraints of cost and physical plant and if the numbers make sense, create courses to meet specific needs, explains Peter Madott, associate dean at Humber's business school.
The reverse is also true.
"As we see demand lessening for a particular course, we start to wind it down," he says.
Another factor in their job placement success rate is that most college courses include some form of internship or co-op placement, says Mr. Madott.
That is how Ms. Fong found her job with Stratus Winery.
"As part of the course we did a tour of Niagara wineries and I really like Stratus," she says.
"While the company was not a regular internship employer I asked our course director if he could see if they would take me on for the co- op term, which finishes the course.
"They did and I guess they were pleased with what I had learned because they offered me a full-time job part way through the co-op term."
The future for college graduates looks bright, says the ACCC's Mr. Knight. As the economy comes out of recession and as baby boomers retire, there will be high demand for skilled grads.
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Where the jobs are
Each year the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities conducts a phone survey of community college graduates six months after graduation. Among those questions is in what type of job they found full-time work.
Top 10 jobsClass of 2007
1. Social assistance (1, 378 full time jobs)
2. Professional, scientific and technical jobs in the business sector (1,012)
3. Licensed practical nurses (894)
4. Food service and drinking places (616)
5. Administrative and support services in the field of applied arts (572)
6. Nursing and residential care facilities (481)
7. Administrative and support services in business (454)
8. Credit intermediation and related activities (443)
9. Educational services (411)
10. Accommodation services (339) .
* Classifications are based on 2007 North American Industry Classification System
Terrence Belford