29/05/2025
As the Centre of Excellence for Employability (CfEE) Canada begins to take shape in Ontario, a bold new direction is being charted – one that centers professionalization, innovation, and practitioner voice in the evolution of employment services.
Developed through a collaboration between the Institute of Employability Professionals (IEP) and Fedcap Canada, CfEE Canada will be structured around four foundational pillars: Practitioner & Participant Relationship Excellence, In-Work Support, Employer Engagement, and Policy & System Change. These pillars will align with IEP’s Quality Improvement Framework (QIF) to ensure that excellence, inclusion, and continuous improvement are embedded in future service design and delivery.
1. Practitioner & Participant Relationship Excellence
CfEE Canada will champion the development of trust-based, professional relationships between practitioners and participants. Upcoming initiatives will support practitioners in building their interpersonal skills, applying emotional intelligence, and tailoring support to participants navigating complex or fluctuating barriers. This work will align with QIF principles around participant-centered delivery and practitioner judgement.
2. In-Work Support
Sustainable employment will be a central focus. CfEE intends to build systems that help practitioners and service providers support participants beyond job start. This will include piloting methods to track participant milestones, map practitioner touchpoints, and laying the foundation for more personalized and proactive in-work supports.
3. Employer Engagement
CfEE Canada will aim to shift the practitioner-employer relationship from transactional job development to strategic, co-designed workforce solutions. New tools and training will be developed to help practitioners identify workforce gaps, promote inclusive hiring practices, and position job seekers as value-aligned candidates. The early stages will focus on testing new employer engagement approaches through small-scale pilots.
4. Policy & System Change
A key priority will be ensuring that frontline experience influences policy and funding decisions. CfEE will develop a Policy Insight Bank to capture practitioner insights, real-world service challenges, and labour market observations. These insights will be translated into actionable recommendations that inform system-level strategy across SSM regions.
