I strongly believe that having a thriving workforce in Penticton is critical to the success of our community, especially ensuring there are great jobs for our youth who want to stay in Penticton.
There are two great programs in the B.C. Southern Interior that we have used that I highly recommend for all employers in the Okanagan to look at, Career Focus and Get Youth Working managed by Bowman Employment Services. Both programs are very easy to apply for, the turnaround time has been quick and the reporting requirements are not difficult. Bowman has been great to work with and I’ve enjoyed talking with them about how they have helped create jobs and help young people find employment in the Okanagan.
Career Focus is funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment Strategy and is designed for youth between 15 and 30 who reside in the Southern Interior who have a high skillset and are looking for a career. The program can provide up to $7,500 over a 26-week internship. This can offset training costs and other associated costs when hiring a new employee.
Get Youth Working is for youth between 15 and 29 and is designed to help BC Youth improve existing skills and gain new ones through practical experience and training and provides a $2,800 wage subsidy to the employer over three months. This is an important program to help youth get their first job or gain new skills at a lower risk to the employer. Look at the success stories (http://www.getyouthworking.ca/successstories) and you will quickly see how this program helps youth and employers.
The Get Youth Working program has assisted thousands of employers province-wide to hire over 4,700 youth including over 500 in the Thompson Okanagan region with over 90 per cent of the youth completing the program. Employing and seeing the enthusiasm and work ethic from these great young people has been personally satisfying to me. I encourage all employers in the Okanagan to look at these programs to keep our youth here and improve the skills of our work force.
On the subject of enthusiastic youth, we were recently approached by Unite co-founder Jay Bell to sponsor the 5th annual Startup Weekend Okanagan held in Kelowna over 54 hours starting Friday evening on March 10. We jumped at the opportunity to be a Gold sponsor. These weekends are important for the growth of the tech community in the Okanagan.
Over 54 hours, between 50-120 developers, designers, marketers, product managers, and Startup enthusiasts share ideas, form teams, build products and launch Startups! Jay and his co-founder Jesse Brown attended Startup weekend twice and won awards for “Best Use of Cloud Technology” and “Craziest Team.” Jay says, “The weekend was beyond compare to anything else I have done event wise in the Startup Community. We met so many people that we are still good friends with today. Even though we didn’t work on Unite at a Startup Weekend, the connections we made and skills acquired have helped us get to where we are today.”
The organizing team is made up of great community leaders in tech and business. The early bird rate is still available, and if you’re still not convinced, check out this video
The next #TechBrew is Friday, Feb. 17 at 6 p.m. at Kettle Valley Station Pub.
Keith MacIntyre is a tech columnist for the Penticton Western News and the owner of Big Bear Software Inc.