Evidence of meeting #20 for Veterans Affairs in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was clients.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Dick Harris Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
The last one, for example, was whether for the clients you assist there is any particular area that seems to be the most popular that eventually evolves into employment.
Director of Program Delivery, Career Transition Services, Right Management
I would say we're seeing our folks landing in all industries at all levels. It really depends upon their objective. In our job bank, for example, we have everything from clerical positions all the way up to senior management positions.
Conservative
Dick Harris Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
Do you feel, if you critique yourself, that you are underachieving or overachieving?
Director of Program Delivery, Career Transition Services, Right Management
I want a middle carrot. I feel we're doing our job.
February 9th, 2012 / 4:25 p.m.
Operations Manager, Career Transition Services, Right Management
I would also say that we get incredible testimonials from the individuals we've helped and continue to help. That to us suggests that we are doing our job and we're doing it well.
Conservative
Conservative
Wladyslaw Lizon Conservative Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, witnesses, for coming here this afternoon.
The first quick question is for Ms. Gueulette. You mentioned that you have 20 clients overseas or outside the country. How do you serve them?
National Contract Manager, CanVet Vocational Rehabilitation Services, WCG International HR Consultants
Under privacy regulations, the only way we're allowed to serve them is over the telephone and through the mail. We will often try to find third-party providers in the country where they're living. We have clients in the Netherlands, in Germany, in Thailand, and all over. So we often try to find other resources in those countries when we get a referral like that. But it's challenging, for sure.
Conservative
Wladyslaw Lizon Conservative Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON
Do you look for employment services there?
National Contract Manager, CanVet Vocational Rehabilitation Services, WCG International HR Consultants
Well, we will provide the services over the phone if we can provide third-party providers. Not every country is built the same as Canada, so it can be a real challenge. We often need to spend a lot more time finding out what the lay of the land is in those countries.
If we can't find employment supports for them in that country, then we'll provide them over the telephone. We've had some good successes, though.
Conservative
Wladyslaw Lizon Conservative Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON
The second question is probably for all of you.
What would be the most sought after profession or trade by potential employers? Who are they looking for? Can you name several?
Director of Program Delivery, Career Transition Services, Right Management
That's the $64,000 question.
Conservative
Wladyslaw Lizon Conservative Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON
Are they looking for IT engineers, mechanical engineers? Are they looking for bricklayers?
National Contract Manager, CanVet Vocational Rehabilitation Services, WCG International HR Consultants
It depends on which part of the country they're living in. Every part of the country is different. If they're living in Alberta they're looking for skill sets related to oil and gas. If they're living in other parts, then they're looking often for different skill sets. It really depends, from my perspective.
Operations Manager, Career Transition Services, Right Management
From what I've seen from some of our statistics, a lot of people are looking for people with an operations and logistics background: avionics, electrical, statistics, so they can do auditing and accounting, security enforcement, things like that.
Again, as Tricia said, the hiring depends on the region, the business tempo. I would say that generally they are looking for people who have the leadership skills, agility, organization, dedication, and commitment to the work.
Bill said it's a $64,000 question, so I hope we've provided some guidance on that.
Director of Program Delivery, Career Transition Services, Right Management
I really think it's not just the technical piece. We always get focused on that. We get that question all the time from people.
It's the robust set of skills, and I would say there are a lot of interpersonal and attitudinal pieces that Canadian employers.... We've had a lot of folks come to us wanting to get on our job bank because they want access to leaders: people who can play on a team exceedingly well, who are mission-focused, get the job done, and are dependable. These are things that people in the military take for granted. It's a composite between the technical skills and the generic transferable skills.
Conservative
Wladyslaw Lizon Conservative Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON
How many of your clients are not looking for employment with a company but rather going for self-employment? If they do, how do you help them to achieve their goal?
National Contract Manager, CanVet Vocational Rehabilitation Services, WCG International HR Consultants
We actually are bound by a return-to-work hierarchy within our contract. Our first goal is whether we can get them back with their current employer. Then, can we get them back to work with a different employer but doing a similar job? The very last rung of that return-to-work hierarchy is self-employment, because it often doesn't have as much success if it's not well supported.
We do have some of our clients who have gone into self-employment. Prior to supporting a plan or making a recommendation on that, we'll do a labour market analysis. We'll often do what we call a self-employment assessment to make sure the skill set is there to support building a business. We'll look at many different factors of the client's situation.
We do have a number of clients who have gone into self-employment and they have been quite successful. I can't give you an exact number, but I could get it for you if you'd like.
Director of Program Delivery, Career Transition Services, Right Management
If I could answer, it's similar: we would have to look into our number. What we do is we coach people around developing a business plan, so helping them learn how to do a market analysis, putting cashflow projections together. We're not accountants or lawyers, but we would teach them how to reach out to the appropriate business professionals.
It is a very small number. One of the things I do with Right Management, which I'm known for in the organization, is self-employment coaching. I've actually offered a number of programs within Right Management on this.
It's smaller than the civilian population, but we get people at both ends. We've had a few people buying franchises. We're getting a lot of people at the senior ranks getting into consulting. We've had very few people start their own small businesses.
We could get a number for you, but it's pretty small. It's a lot smaller than I expected when we started with CTS.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Greg Kerr
Thank you, Mr. Foster. We're over our time quite a bit.
That ends round one of questioning. We will go into four-minute rounds next, starting with Ms. Papillon.
NDP
Annick Papillon NDP Québec, QC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
First off, I want to thank our witnesses for coming here to be with us today. I also want to commend you on your work; I know it is appreciated. I would just like to ask you a few questions.
What would you say are the specific needs of these veterans when they attend an information session or a job fair? I know a bit about what goes on. I know you work on crossover skills, résumés, and so forth. Which considerations do you feel are the most significant, from the outset, for veterans?
Director of Program Delivery, Career Transition Services, Right Management
If they're coming to a job fair, they can't just show up. They need to have some counselling and coaching, and they have to be clear about what their focus is. I think we had conversations over here about the notion of transferrable skills. They have to be clear about what they want. They have to be able to market themselves accordingly.
A counsellor will help them determine what their goal is in the job market and then build a plan to get there. That also includes building a strategy for marketing themselves effectively. Part of that strategy is developing a résumé. The résumé has to be clear about who they are, what their accomplishments and successes have been, their strengths, and how they relate to the employer they're thinking about. We would never coach someone to go to any career fair; it would only be a job fair that was relevant to them.
If they had an electrical trade in the military and they want to continue using those electrical skills on the outside, they should be attending job fairs where there are manufacturing, electrical trade types of opportunities, and meet employers who reflect their particular goals.
NDP
Annick Papillon NDP Québec, QC
If I understand correctly then, the support is not all that different from, say, what a civilian would receive. There, as well, efforts are made to identify skills and help the individual readjust more effectively.
Director of Program Delivery, Career Transition Services, Right Management
Absolutely. The hardest thing for military folks is taking the hundreds of transferrable skills they have and learning how to apply them. People often ask us about the greatest challenges we experience when working with them. It is getting them focused on the next stage of their careers. When they have clarity on that, the coach can help them learn how to articulate and communicate those skills into marketable skills for employers. But it's not up to us to make that decision for them. They have to make the choice of career based on their own interests, strengths, desires, motivation, and sense of mission and purpose--if that makes sense.
Did I answer your question?