Partnering for Success in Youth Employment (PSYE) is a collective impact initiative to improve labour market outcomes for 15-29 year olds in Ottawa.  We will increase participation in the labour market and other employment outcomes, by creating pathways to economic opportunities (employment and entrepreneurship) for youth living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods.  PSYE is coordinated by the Social Planning Council of Ottawa and currently has 18 partners.  For more information visit the PSYE website.

(See also: Overview)

Job Seekers & Employers:  Search Jobs & Post Jobs for free from our MAGNET PORTAL

Magnet is a new network powered by a data-rich, job-matching technology that quickly and accurately connects job seekers to employers based upon skills, preferences and talent needs.

In a bid to help job seekers find meaningful employment and give local businesses access to the talent they need, the SPC is mounting an ambitious campaign to register job candidates and local employers with Magnet, a new network powered by data-rich job-matching technology.

The Magnet network promises to radically change the way Ottawa job seekers find meaningful employment and how local businesses source talent to meet their skills requirements.

What’s different about Magnet is that it provides both job candidates and employers with a one-stop, supply and demand job hub to connect the right candidate to the right job – quickly, accurately, and efficiently.

Job seekers sign-up by completing a profile and are then provided with tailored job postings that match their skills, qualifications and job preferences. The system is designed to have job opportunities chase candidates, meaning that every time a suitable new job is posted, qualified candidates are automatically notified.

A unique feature is that every candidate’s identity is shielded until they decide to communicate with a potential employer about their job opening. The platform also gives job seekers and employers the option to use multimedia to more effectively market themselves, their job posting or their organization.

For businesses large and small, the Magnet network provides a fast, cost-effective and easy-to-use channel to post a job and tap into the supply of qualified talent that they need. After an employer posts a job, the innovative technology provides the company with a pre-screened list of top candidates who meet the specified skills requirements and have expressed an interest in the position. The system also lowers search costs and allows companies to remain connected to qualified candidates even if they are not currently hiring.

Magnet was developed by Ryerson University, in partnership with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC), which represents about 60,000 employers and two million jobs, as a unified and coordinated response to pressing unemployment and underemployment issues. 

Get started now! 

PSYE was launched in 2015 to mobilize a broad cross section of the community to improve unemployment and under-employment of 15-29 year olds in Ottawa, by increasing economic opportunities for youth (employment and entrepreneurship). The initiative is comprised of four inter-related strategies:

1. Building effective systems and cross-sector collaboration

2. Ensuring youth are well prepared to support the new economy, with “credentials” to prove it

3. Creating effective pathways for youth to connect to meaningful economic opportunities

4. Making the existing local job market transparent (especially small and medium enterprises) and expanding sustainable local economic opportunities.

The first three strategies are implemented at the neighbourhood level, building on the knowledge of community development teams in priority neighbourhoods about their local businesses, youth and services. Activities will be piloted in 4 neighbourhoods and scaled to 12 neighbourhoods.

The fourth strategy occurs at the City-wide level, bringing diverse sectors together around mutually reinforcing activities informed by the neighbourhood work. We will engage business, increase agency collaboration and transition governance from agencies to a cross sector table.

See Summary of our Theory of Change

 PSYE is based on research produces in collaboration with “Youth Leadership for Change”, highlighting that:

• the labour market has changed dramatically
• most hiring happens through the “hidden job market” (i.e. personal connections)
• improvement in youth employment is beyond the capacity of agencies alone and particularly requires the active engagement of business.

PSYE is led by the Social Planning Council of Ottawa, with the active and generous participation of over 20 partners, including community health and resource centres (comprising youth, neighbourhood community development and employment services), the United Way Ottawa re community wide change initiatives, a collaborative of youth researchers, youth serving members from the Ottawa Ethno-cultural Coalition representing groups facing exclusion in the labour market and academia. The Ottawa Child and Youth Initiative provides the senior governance role, as it incorporates senior management from all of the primary youth serving sectors. Governance is being transferred to a new “Roundtable on Youth Employment”.

We are grateful for the support of United Way Ottawa and Innoweave’s Youth Collective Impact Fund (Laidlaw Foundation, McConnell Foundation and the Provincial Government).

In 2015, with youth from “Youth Leadership for Change”, we completed a participatory service mapping initiative identifying what’s working in employment supports for youth as well as key gaps and opportunities for collaboration. The research is feeding into a new partnership-based career oriented mentoring initiative and the action plan of the recently established Local Employment Planning Council.

With youth in “Youth Leadership for Change”, we also completed a neighbourhood research project with employers in four neighbourhoods (Carling near Bayshore, Walkley east from Bank, Donald and Queen Mary, Byward Market). We are working with neighbourhood-based stakeholders to enhance supports for community economic development in neighbourhoods and targeted economic sectors (for example, see BGFT). (See the Update to the OCYI Council of Partners, Feb 19, 2016) 

We are currently seeking entrepreneurs to volunteer for our “Business Advisory Table”.

(See Overview & Application)