Grand Erie Jobs Board Expands

The Workforce Planning Board of Grand Erie has launched Grand Erie Jobs 2.0 to better help residents find work, research careers and learn about local businesses.

Grand Erie Jobs 2.0 builds on online tools introduced a year ago that connect people with jobs and community services in Brantford; the counties of Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk; and Six Nations of the Grand River and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. The City of Brantford Economic Development & Tourism Department is a key sponsor of this initiative.

The most widely used tool for the past year has been a job board that shows local job openings, typically more than 1,000 each month.

“Grand Erie Jobs has quickly become our region’s largest, most comprehensive job board and thousands of residents have used it over the last year to search for work and explore career paths,” said Danette Dalton, the Workforce Planning Board’s executive director. “These exciting new tools will give individuals even more information about local wages, in-demand occupations, skill requirements and which employers hire most frequently. Our goal is to offer residents a full toolbox of tools they can use to be successful.”

The number of online tools has doubled to eight, including some new ones that could be useful to local businesses, economic development leaders and employment services. The new tools are:

• Occupation Finder: Provides information on all 500 occupations, identifying local wages, employers and demand from businesses.
• Industry Search: Provides information on different industries and identifies local companies from each industry.
• Sector Locator: Uses a map to show local companies that hire for specific jobs, and highlights where those businesses and jobs are concentrated.
• Talent Finder: A tool that employers, recruitment firms and communities can use to target talent attraction campaigns for hard-to-fill jobs.

All tools are accessed through the Workforce Planning Board’s website.

Dalton said that the Workforce Planning Board has ambitious plans to create additional online tools that help people navigate the local job market, discover how to improve their skills, and tap into available training, education and employment.

“We are building a must-use community resource. We can use these tools to build a stronger, more resilient workforce and a robust local economy.”