Employment Transition

Helping Workers Help Themselves

Ww do you do when your boss
comes in and says the dreaded
words, “I’m afraid we’re going to
have to let you go?” Or, when your
full-time job suddenly becomes part-
time? What about the thousands of
people who are daily experiencing
technological changes that require
new training, new skills, new
competencies? Are they prepared? Are
you prepared?

Statistics show that during every
working day in 1993, an estimated
17,000 Canadians aged 16 to 69
experienced a major transition.
Approximately 4.3 million
individuals, or 27 per cent of those in
the labour force, at some point in 1993
underwent a change in labour force
status. That is, they moved out of the
labour force, back into it, became
unemployed, or underemployed. The
labour force has become fluid,
changing constantly and transforming
daily.

“Most people go through
at least one or two
employment transitions in a
year,” says Colleen Rudy, an
instructor with Contract
Services and Extension
Programs at Capilano
College. And in this
transition, Colleen says that
it is just as difficult for
employers to find suitable
employees as it is for
employees to find suitable
employers.

“This is because the North
American labour market operates on a
free market approach,” she explains.
There is no structured system to
ensure that a connection is made to
enable an exchange of the workers’
skills for the employers’ dollars.

“As a result, there are literally
hundreds of thousands of positions not
filled throughout the year simply
because the worker was not able to

Lynn Jest (left), director of Contract Services and Extension
Programs, looks at a Resource Guide for Successful Employment
Transition with Colleen Rudy, the College’s representative who
worked on the guide with several other colleges, organizations and
the provincial government.

_ “The issue is that the social
safety net is disappearing. We
have to take responsibility for
our personal strategic plan and
figure out how to be self-
sufficient.”

— Colleen Rudy

identify their skills with potential
employers. We help these people by
assisting them in implementing a
personal marketing plan that works.

“The same problem occurs within
organizations,” Colleen continues.
“Workers are often underemployed,
thus depriving the worker and the
organization from benefiting from the
skill sets on hand, which can range
from actual physical labour through to
intellectual innovation.”

Because of these changes, the B.C.
Ministry of Education, Skills and
Training, Program Operations Branch,
funded and co-produced a Resource
Guide for Successful Employment
Transition. The project was developed
by the ministry in partnership with
industry, labour, Douglas College,
Burnaby Skills Centre, Langara
Community College, University
College of the Fraser Valley, Capilano
College, and Kwantlen University
College. It is the first of its kind and is
geared towards helping organizations
cope with and plan for change as a
result of company reorganization,
expansion, or closure.

Employment transition is a multi-
faceted process that differs for each
individual. Whether you are an
employer, a union representative, or
an employee, the process of managing
these changes can be complicated and
chaotic. The resource guide presents

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