Flexible, Fast, Free: This Is The Future of Post-COVID Training

Powered by Google, ComIT offers no-cost, needs-aware training for Canada’s Indigenous communities

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA, CANADA, September 23, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ —

Early October will mark the beginning of a new course term with ComIT, a registered charity that provides solutions to the talent gap problems which, exacerbated by the pandemic, continue to plague candidates, employers, and communities at large. With 100% scholarship support, ComIT will open its doors to Indigenous students across Canada, inviting people to take charge of their new normal and recode their futures, for free.

The final course offering in the calendar year, ComIT’s programs have been represented across 15 cities, connecting more than 750 people in need with more than 150 companies, mentors, and long-term employers with continued plans for expansion in 2022. Each course is planned, designed, and delivered by local professionals working at industry-leading companies, and the programs are tailored to relevant and urgent market needs.

‘Indigenous talent is vastly underrepresented in Canada’s IT sector as it stands,’ says Pablo Listingart, Executive Director of ComIT. ‘That’s a loss for students and for employers; eager and able students aren’t able to take their rightful place in the workforce, and employers are missing out on the kind of local talent that will spearhead and speed up their recovery.’

The Recoding Futures program was developed to offer community-specific training to Indigenous students, covering topics such as Design Thinking, HTML, CSS, and Javascript, with additional courses offered on resume building, interview skills training, and the ongoing development of soft skills. Each program aims to help with the difficult transition between in-class learning and real-world employment by tackling the most common barriers to entry and targeting the specific, local labor market needs.

Barriers have created a paradoxical problem of the post-COVID age, in which the match between candidate and employer has perhaps never been harder to make. Despite a heroic recovery of the roles shed throughout the pandemic, a national survey conducted by Ryerson University reports that 37% of small and medium business owners have had their business affected by a shortage of skilled workers.

Many Canadians remain un- or under-employed, but the rate is even higher among Indigenous communities. Women, in particular, are seeing more barriers to workforce re-entry according to a recent study by Statistics Canada. By August of last year, the number of employed Indigenous women was only 88% of its pre-pandemic level. And for Indigenous youth between the ages of 15 and 24, the rate of unemployment had increased by 11% from 2019.

Accessible and relevant training can empower Indigenous professionals in two important ways. First, needs-aware training can give talented IT students the power to work for companies across locational boundaries. The ability to deliver relevant work from anywhere can be instrumental in reaching talented candidates in remote communities who might have additional part-time engagements or caretaking responsibilities. In addition, IT training can result in intra-community change; developing IT infrastructure, producing websites and e-commerce services for local businesses and organizations, and helping to connect local startups and ventures to a wider audience.

So far, ComIT has succeeded in connecting 80% of its graduates to successful employment opportunities, a highly competitive rate. Providing students with no-cost, virtual access to archived lessons, the Recoding Futures program is a model for the future of post-COVID
resource accessibility, a vision in which talented candidates don’t have to choose between school, family, employment, community involvement and financial wellbeing.

‘When all hands are on deck, our economy is strengthened,’ Listingart comments. ‘We’re not there yet, but if we focus on the accessibility and relevance of our resources, we can move in the right direction.’

About ComIT

ComIT is a registered charity that provides free training and professional development opportunities in information technology. Their courses are taught by IT professionals working at leading companies, with a curated curriculum built to ensure graduates are equipped to meet the needs of the immediate labor market. ComIT believes that the democratization of education and opportunity is Canada’s path forward—beyond the task of recovery and into an improved, accessible new normal.

Darryl Brisebois
MackaseyHoward Communications
+1 514-518-4328
darryl@mackaseyhow.com
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