Empowering Vulnerable Populations Through Meaningful Employment

Improving employment possibilities and social development for vulnerable populations

 Janice Parviainen, Lumina Learning Partner  

Business Need

 We are working to fulfil a need to create a long-term strategy that addresses some of the underlying challenges and barriers for vulnerable populations to access meaningful employment. Vulnerable populations include persons with disabilities, visible minorities, youth, Indigenous Peoples, women, newcomers, and refugees. Especially those without formal credentials. We wanted to increase the success rate of placements of individuals into careers and roles that they have a clear potential for, thereby increasing their chances for success. There is also a need for wrap around and continued support for the individual’s economic and social development that is easy to access. 

Lumina Learning Solution

We have partnered with a sophisticated, innovative platform to match employers with individuals seeking employment AND an employment support agency. We created this project to enable individuals to connect to meaningful employment opportunities that match their aptitude, qualifications, and interests. The outcomes are:

1. Candidates complete a Lumina Spark Questionnaire and receive an abbreviated Lumina Spark Portrait for increased self-awareness. They discuss this with their employment counsellor as available. The Portrait is integrated directly into the innovative platform for a seamless experience for the candidates. The outcome is an enhanced online, psychometric-based talent-to-role fit assessment and job-matching model researched by Lumina Learning and confirmed by benchmarking studies.
2. Increased number of qualified job opportunities for persons with disabilities, visible minorities, youth, Indigenous Peoples, women, newcomers, and refugees. Especially those who are low-skilled and without formal credentials. This model cross populates the individual’s scores across multiple industries and careers including hospitality, retail, landscaping, baristas, and more. This aids individuals without a clear career path by showing them some areas in which they may find success.
3. Enhanced training and increased access to services and resources for vulnerable populations.

All applicants will have access to resources by signing into ONE platform alone. Users have free access to an online learning platform that is filtered toward their unique occupational needs and interests. This includes resources on resumé building, networking, cultural norms, workers’ rights, and interviewing skills. In addition, users have access to information on support services such as where to register for language classes, social services, and Arabic speaking networks as needed. The resources and messaging sent to users are locally specific, to ensure relevancy and usability.

Results

Lumina Learning has currently researched the fit scores for:

1. Hotel and tourism industry, specifically housekeeping, food and beverage servers, and kitchen staff
2. Retail industry, specifically Retail Assistants and Retail Managers
3. Landscaping Technicians
4. We are currently researching the fit scores for Baristas

We have helped over 400 candidates (and growing) to find meaningful employment in careers of interest.