Web links employers, trainers and job seekers

Circle of Trade Show Guide Supplement

Page 7

Attention Aboriginal job seekers-everything you need to find the job you're looking for, or to access the training you need to get the job you want, is now available through the Inclusion Network Web site.

The new site-www.inclusionnetwork.com -will allow you to post your resume online, find out which employers are looking for Aboriginal candidates and find information on which post-secondary institutions are offering Aboriginal programming.

The site was created by the Aboriginal Human Resource Development Council of Canada (AHRDCC) as part of its mandate to increase the participation of Aboriginal people within Canada's labor markets. The AHRDCC's goal is to turn the Inclusion Network into the country's number one employment resource for Aboriginal people.

The Inclusion Network is also a valuable tool for businesses seeking Aboriginal employees, post-secondary and training institutes wanting to attract Aboriginal students, and employment centres serving Aboriginal clientele. Not only can these organizations provide information to Aboriginal job seekers through the site, but they can also find Aboriginal employment candidates through the site's database of Aboriginal talent. The network also allows the organizations to share information, allowing for development of a more holistic, team approach to training and recruiting Aboriginal employees.

Crystal Kosa is national manager of human resources strategies for AHRDCC. She explained that as a small organization providing services on a national level, the Web-based Inclusion Network seemed the best way to link employers with the Aboriginal talent pool.

While the Inclusion Network job board is national in scope, employers posting positions have the option of targeting specific areas and just looking for candidates in those areas.

"When you post a job on Workopolis, it's there, and if you know about it, you can go to Workopolis. But with our system, not only does it go on the job board, but the employer, if it's a job in Edmonton, for example, they can choose all of the Aboriginal employment centres ... in Alberta, and they can target the educational institutes that have Aboriginal programming, and the job opportunity will go to them. So it goes to the job board; it also is a targeted distribution of the job," Kosa said.

"It's taken the whole job board technology a step further. And it's a niche market. Workopolis and Monster, they're mainstream. They do similar to what we do, except they don't distribute the jobs. But they want to get into the niche marketing of Aboriginal people and people with disabilities, etc. So they're talking to us about partnering, Workopolis is."

In addition to doing regional searches, employers also have the option of searching the Aboriginal talent database by the type of position they are trying to fill.

"Just search on somebody, in human resources for example, and anyone who's put inthe key word of human resources will come up in the list, and employers can use that to search for candidates as well."

The talent database on the site has been operating since mid-April, and already has more than 200 candidates registered. Kosa hopes to have that number up to 2,000 candidates by September. So far, close to 50 employers have registered with the network.

Employers and educational institutes must pay a fee to use the Inclusion Network system, to help cover the costs involved in creating and updating the many databases offered by the network. But use of the network is free to all Aboriginal job seekers, bands, friendship centres, and Aboriginal employment centres across the country, Kosa said.

"And once they register, they can receive all of these job opportunities and training opportunities. They can access the databases of information. We've got a database of post-secondary institutes with Aboriginal programming and sector councils and members, and there's some othr tools on there."

The sie also includes databases of scholarships, bursaries and awards available to Aboriginal people.

While the Inclusion Network is still relatively new, those that have tried it out have been impressed.

"It's all been very positive," Crystal Kosa said. "It's a new initiative. It's kind of a new technology to the Aboriginal market. And so we're still in the early adopters phase, getting people to come onto the system. Kind of like when bank cards came out. I didn't get one for two years, because I was waiting to see. So there's still a lot of that. There's employers waiting to see. CIBC, for example, was one of the ones that wanted to wait and see, you know, how we were doing and how it was becoming adopted at the Aboriginal community level and at the employer level. And they just called today because they had seen a presentation I had done in Ottawa, and they called and said, 'Yes, I saw it, I liked it, I love it, I want to get on board right now. You've built some critical mass.' And that's the biggest thing right now, is building the critical mass of the whole supply and demand-the jobs and the Aboriginal talent. So we have a huge marketing campaign going . . . and we attend trade shows and we do workshops across the country. We attend different conferences and meetings, etc. to get the word out there."

For Aboriginal people looking for employment, the process of getting hooked up to the Inclusion Network is quite simple-just go to the Web site and register.

"You put your name, address, phone number, all your contact information, e-mail, whether you want to relocate, the salary you're looking for. And then there's a table of competencies around communications, different computer software programs, you know, typical competency stuff that you can check off. And that's how employers will search for you. You can also upload your resume, or create a resume. And we're looking for everything from people who are interested in labor tades, right up to professional. We'e got a professional marketing person who's looking for an executive job, for example. We've got Oracle programmers. We've got a lot of IT people, we've got some trades, we've got human resources, consultants. I'm always amazed when I go in there and do a new count and do a random search. . . It's very interesting."

The network currently has about 100 post-secondary institutes listed in its database, although not all have registered yet to use the Inclusion Network system.

For more information visit the Web site at www.inclusionnetwork.com, or call 1-866-711-5091.