Thank you, Mr. Chairman and honourable members of the committee.
On behalf of Right Management, we are pleased to have been invited here today to discuss our role as the national contractor for Career Transition Services, under the aegis of the new Veterans Charter.
My name is Bill Foster, and I am the director of program delivery at Right Management for CTS. Joining me today is my colleague, Carol Hurst, the operations manager for CTS, who will be answering questions with me following this opening statement.
Right Management is a leader in talent and career management workforce solutions within ManpowerGroup. Our clients are large and mid-sized businesses from a wide range of industries, and include over 80% of the Fortune 500 and 70% of the Fortune Global 500. Our firm has earned its reputation as a leader in talent and career management through the sustained excellence of our execution, for our responsiveness, and for the wisdom of our counsel. The scope and scale of our capabilities and solutions are unparalleled in our industry.
Right Management has developed extensive experience in and career transition solutions for various militaries around the globe. Since 1998, for example, Right Management has served as the sole contractor for the U.K. Ministry of Defence's career transition partnership, which provides support for an estimated 18,000 service leavers annually. Manpower, our parent company, also provides recruitment services for the Australian defence force.
To supplement the committee's understanding of the program, I will provide an overview of the following aspects of CTS, which includes CTS's program objective; CTS's program elements and deliverables; who can benefit; performance measures and quality assurance; and how members and veterans find out about the program.
The overall objective of CTS is to facilitate the transition to civilian work for Canadian Forces members and veterans by providing services to assist them to develop the knowledge, skills, and plan necessary to prepare for and successfully obtain suitable employment.
CTS's program elements and deliverables are comprised of three-day career transition workshops, individual career counselling, and job finding assistance.
The purpose of the three-day workshops is to begin the career transition planning process. Workshops are delivered on or near a base or wing, and are open to all CF members and reservists, both medically releasing and non-medically releasing. The frequency of these workshops depends on demand, with a total number delivered averaging approximately 150 per year nationwide. The classroom size is capped between 10 and 12 participants to permit maximum interaction and coverage of core job search topics, such as résumé writing and interview practice.
The content for these small group experiential workshops includes coaching and preparation of draft résumés; development of interviewing skills; identification of transferable skills and conversion of military language into civilian terminology; development of a job search strategy; and identification of other Veterans Affairs and Canadian Forces services. As well, workshop participants are eligible for an additional hour of individual résumé feedback and professional formatting assistance after completion of the workshop.
The objective in the individual career counselling and job-finding assistance phase of the program is to develop a customized career transition plan that assists clients in finding suitable employment. The role of the CTS career counsellor at this stage is to help clarify and explore potential career options with the client, based on his or her technical and transferable skills, work experience, interests, abilities, and strengths, and assist in pinpointing educational or training options, where appropriate.
Additional outcomes of career counselling include résumé development, covering letter preparation, interview practice, market research skills development, and networking coaching.
When ready for their job search, CTS clients receive job-finding assistance tools and guidance to market themselves to potential employers and prepare for potential interviews. This includes, among other things, 24/7 online access to an exclusive CTS national job bank, comprising over 200 hiring organizations and search firms across 35 different industries; quarterly communiqués providing labour market and job search trends across Canada; access to an online database of 17 million companies worldwide for market research; opportunities to attend meet-the-employer events and career fairs; job offer evaluation; and social media training, e.g., LinkedIn profile development.
Who can benefit from CTS? Here is a list: CF members in the career planning process, allowing them sufficient time to obtain identified qualifications, education, and certifications required to support their civilian choice prior to release; CF veterans with two years of release seeking employment or a career change; reservists; survivors; Canadian Forces income-support recipients; and CF members anticipating being medically released.
The benefits to members or veterans of participating in CTS include the following. Availability: CTS is available prior to and after release from the military in both official languages. National coverage: CTS workshops are conveniently held near bases or wings across the country. Portability: clients can continue to benefit from their individual counselling program regardless of where they reside. Consistency: clients receive the same core service and deliverables across Canada. Coaching excellence: CTS clients receive guidance, support, advice, listening, and hope provided by a team of highly experienced civilian counsellors. Skills for life: CTS clients learn career management skills to adapt to the changing world of work. Confidence building: clients develop confidence, resilience, and self-reliance. Quality assurance: Veterans Affairs and Right Management are committed to service excellence.
Turning to performance measures and quality assurance, the success of the contract will be judged on the basis of achievement of certain critical performance indicators. The purpose of these performance measures is to demonstrate clearly the performance of Right Management in key areas crucial to a successful outcome for Veterans Affairs clients, to provide evidence of trends that underlie performance, and to provide information for future planning.
The key measures against which Right Management reports are timeliness of access to services; effectiveness of outreach efforts; effectiveness of the workshops; percentage of those who achieve suitable civilian employment within six months of commencing job searching; client satisfaction rates as determined from clients' satisfaction with key elements of the service provided and with the service overall.
Right Management also provides detailed management reports so that the level of utilization, quality, and cost-effectiveness can be assessed in detail across all elements of the service provided.
How do CF members and veterans find out about CTS? Right Management has a close working relationship with Veterans Affairs and the Canadian Forces to market and promote CTS through a number of communication channels, including but not limited to the following: Veterans Affairs Canada offices and employees; the Veterans Affairs website; marketing publications, including brochures and posters; Veterans Affairs newsletters and press releases; Canadian Forces base resources, such as base splash pages; the Canadian Defence Academy; Second Career Assistance Network seminars on CF bases across Canada; Canadian Forces release clerks; base commanders, senior administrative officers, and supervisors; personnel selection officers, PSOs, in both the regular force and the reserves; joint personnel support units and/or integrated personnel support centres; Military Family Resource Centres; Learning Career Centres, LCCs; the Royal Canadian Legion and other military associations like ANAVETS; Right Management offices; CTS workshops and CTS counsellors; hiring organizations; and perhaps most importantly, word of mouth.
In closing, we are proud to deliver career transition services on behalf of Veterans Affairs Canada. Right Management will continue to apply its service excellence to the delivery of the program to meet the needs of CF members and veterans, helping them make a smooth transition to the civilian work world. More importantly, we are honoured to continue to provide support to individuals who have served their country with such dignity and dedication.
Thank you again for the opportunity to speak to the committee. Carol and I look forward to your questions.