ESTEVAN - Former Estevan resident Andrew Wahba has partnered with the Southeast Sask Economic Partnership (SSEP) on a new Career Shift program.
In an interview with the Mercury and SaskToday, Wahba said the three-month initiative is designed to support individuals who might be impacted by the transition away from coal-fired power.
Using the artificial intelligence software with Tech Career Bridge, where Wahba is the executive director, participants with receive personalized career exploration, training opportunities through LinkedIn, skill gap assessments, and connections to local job opportunities.
"Our partnership with SSEP enables us to offer 30 scholarships to individuals in the SSEP region, allowing them to participate at no cost," said Wahba.
Funding is through the provincial Municipal Coal Transition Assistance Program.
"Is there a way that we can look at individuals and their current skills that they've acquired in life and … in their current jobs? And then use technology to pull those out, and compare them to potential careers that they could go towards, and then identify that gap in the middle and provide training for them to upskill so that they can consider different careers and then have a pathway to upskill and get the training so that they're in a better position to get those jobs?" asked Wahba.
It's a self-directed program that people can do on their own time, Wahba said, and hopefully will put them in a better position to consider new eventual careers and look at having the opportunity to get into those careers. Participants will have to attend two in-person sessions.
"We've developed the technology to identify people's skills. We've partnered with LinkedIn because … LinkedIn Learning is a remote, online learning management system with all kinds of content to upskill and to train in different business areas, and it's very specific," said Wahba.
"What's ideal about that is it can be done anywhere. It can be done on your own time. So, we thought the combination of being able to personalize individuals' skills and the job career pathways for them, and then identify that skill gap, and then augment that by using LinkedIn Learning so they could take the courses that they require to put themselves in better position for that career."
They're happy with how the technology is working, and LinkedIn is a massive company. Training is very specific.
"It's a really good opportunity to identify skills that people maybe aren't aware that they have," said Wahba.
With participants able to work at their own pace, Wahba said it's ideal for those who are really busy with their careers and families.
"The idea is to give them different ideas of potential careers that they could go into, or even build on the career that they're already in, and then the last piece of it is looking at the jobs that are available in the area and providing that connection for them."
Wahba said the program has been well-received based on their discussions with people at the Southeast College, the Southeast TechHub and elsewhere.
Applications are now being accepted. The deadline is Sept. 3 and the program will start on Sept. 9. Anyone who is interested can visit the Tech Career Bridge website.
