Job Coach Training Offered At Northlands College

Job Coach Training Offered At Northlands College

Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 13:43

A new course will train northerners how to help others become more “job ready”.

Starting Sept. 8, students in the three-week job coach training course at Northlands College will learn how to support people who are having a tough time adjusting to being part of the workforce.

The course is being sponsored by the Gary Tinker Federation, whose mandate includes helping northern people with disabilities find employment.

The GTF’s co-ordinator, Clarence Neault, says that he’s hoping to build a labour pool of people who know how to assist someone who’s struggling with everything from how to set up an effective workspace, to understanding an employer’s requirements.

He says that because of limited work opportunities in their home community, a new employee might lack some basic job skills.

“They know what work is, but they don’t understand what it requires, because they don’t have the opportunity to learn or to have the job experiences. So job coaches are becoming more and more necessary, as we help people get through that first little bit and learn what they didn’t always learn in remote communities. Nobody’s fault, but it’s still what the employer requires,” Neault says.

Neault says that receiving counselling from a job coach can be an important step toward achieving independence in the workforce.