Resources
The resources identified on this page are intended to provide families with information and strategies to support home based conversations about Labour Market Information and skills needed to enter and succeed in the workplace. The sites and documents referenced contain links to external sites providing the user with access to more detailed information. The information and resources that have been identified are available in both English and French.
Families and student influencers are encouraged to review resources and links available through the Secondary and Post-Secondary pages to explore how educators are supporting career exploration in school and other types of resources and opportunities available to Secondary and Post-Secondary students. While some of the resources may be similar to ones found on the Families page, other resources specific to each province can be used to inform discussions about opportunities in each of the Atlantic provinces.
CERIC is a national not for profit organization that focuses on advancing career education and research in counselling and career development. CERIC offers free resources and publications in print and digital format to support career exploration. Some publications that can help to inform career conversations are identified below. You can also access several other publication topics that may be of personal interest on their website.
- 10 Ways to Engage in Children’s Career Development - Families have a significant role in helping children make career decisions. This article, written by Robert Shewchuk and published in the 2014 issue of CERIC’s Careering magazine, offers strategies on how to engage with children in these very important career conversations.
- 5 ways to talk with young children about work and careers - In this April 2019 article published on CERIC’s CareerWise website, Kimberly Howard and Stephanie Dinius talk about how children from a very young age try to understand and make sense of their observations of the world of work. The authors offer developmentally appropriate strategies that families can use to facilitate career exploration with their children.
- Principles in Action: Shattering the Career Path Myth Lowers Students’ Anxiety About the Future - This article, written by Brittany Gilbert for the Spring-Summer 2020 issue of CERIC’s Careering magazine, addresses assumptions about when and how career paths begin for today’s youth and the importance of understanding that one’s career is a lifelong journey.
- What you need to know about Canada’s new Skills for Success framework – this article published in June of 2021 provides an overview of the 9 skills introduced in the new Skills for Success framework. It also addresses how and why the research for the framework took place and the significance of updating these skills to support a successful entry into and progression in the workforce. To summarize from the article “ The new and revised skills and competencies provide better alignment with other modern skills frameworks and will likely result in some strong skills-focused research in Canada ”.
This site offers information on Employability Skills and why/how they are needed to “enter, stay in and progress in the world of work”. Brochures and posters can be downloaded as PDFs. The Conference Board of Canada and the Future Skills Centre recently partnered to launch an online platform called OpportunNext to help users explore skills based career paths.
The federal government LMI website contains general labour market information and reports relevant to each province, trend analysis, job postings and more. This site, along with provincial LMI sites, is a good resource for supporting student learning.
The LMiC is a national organization that engages with a broad range of stakeholders to produce current and relevant LMI materials. Reports such as understanding skills and best practices in producing and interpreting LMI can be found on their website.
myBlueprint is a career platform used by students across the country. Schools in each of the Atlantic Provinces have access to the All About Me tool for elementary students or the Education Planner for junior and senior high school students. These tools help students begin the process of career exploration, engaging them at the high school level in planning for further education/ training and the workforce. Parents should speak with their child and/ or teacher about how to access the student account and create a Family Account. The family account allows you to view student artifacts and reflections, including the goals they are setting, occupations they are interested in, and what they are learning in school. This can benefit conversations you can have around career exploration.
The National Occupational Classification (NOC) is Canada’s national system for describing occupations. You can search the NOC to find where an occupation is classified or to learn about its main duties, educational requirements or other useful information. Additional information about NOC codes and classifications can be found in their Tutorial and Career Handbook.
SCC is a national organization with a mission to engage youth in interactive experiences that positively profile skilled trades and technology careers. Each of the Atlantic Provinces has a provincial body that supports students, in their understanding of a broad range of careers and skills and education required by those careers, through career awareness workshops, interactive events and competitions. Families and students have access to information and videos on Skills for Success and preparing for entry into the workforce. SCC has created a Job Search Tips booklet to help students develop their cover letters and resumes and prepare for job interviews.
In 2021, Employment and Social Development Canada (Government of Canada) published a Skills for Success framework which provided an updated to the Essential Skills Framework. The 9 skills outlined in the Skills for Success framework reflect the key skills necessary to success in work, life and the community. This site provides users with access to descriptors of each of the skills, videos and links to self-assessment tools.
Statistics Canada is the national statistical office that produces information on Canada’s economy, society and environment. A November 2020 report produced by StatCan addresses labour market outcomes for post-secondary graduates from 2015.
This is a Government of Canada site that offers resources and tools to support youth entering the workforce. These resources and tools focus on helping youth reach their potential by providing information on key topics that include getting a job or gaining experience, exploring careers and building skills, and planning education.