Career Coaching Where Your Journey Begins!

 This is a pilot project whose objective is to provide people with overhauled, donated computers. The project is for unemployed or underemployed people who do not have the use of a computer.

By re-homing PCs, we can help people develop computer skills, access the online job market, and become employed.

• Those receiving a computer must have access to the internet or be willing to get it.
• Those receiving a computer are asked to give back to the community by choosing an organization to donate volunteer time. 

Computer skills are very important both in finding work and in doing most jobs. Having reliable access to a computer will help build and maintain people's computer skills. The computers received from this program will come with some training in its use and information materials for later reference. 

An added benefit of this program is that it reduces electronic waste.

If you are interested in this outreach program....give us a call 250-782-2628

THANK YOU to Lake View Credit Union for donating PCs and providing financial support from their Community Social Responsibility Fund. 

 https://lakeviewcreditunion.com/ 

"Lake View Credit Union’s history of member service began in the years after the great depression. Born in Dawson Creek on August 1943 with 12 members and $6, in September 1944, the credit union had 141 members and share capital of $25,820. LVCU had the distinction of being one of the fastest-growing credit unions in British Columbia, and today we proudly service over 10,500 members with assets over $310 million.

In 1974, LVCU expanded its services by opening a branch in Chetwynd, B.C., and in 2001 it became the only financial institution in Tumbler Ridge, B.C. Today, Lake View Credit Union continues to serve our members, led by the vision and direction of our Board of Directors."

LVCU MISSION: 

Your Partner As You Define Your Future. 

LVCU VISION:

 L = Loyal to our Partners

V = Visionary in our Operations

C = Committed to our Staff, our Members, our Community

U = Understanding your Needs   

 THANK YOU to North Peace Saving and Credit Union for donating PCs and laptops. 

 https://www.npscu.ca/Business/ 

"North Peace Savings & Credit Union is a sound, co-operative financial institution that encourages the success and well-being of our member-owners, staff, and community.

We are a democratic, ethical, and innovative provider of financial services to our members and clients. Our members have a say in the future of the credit union and have a share in its earnings.

We are committed to our members' banking needs and work harder and closer with our clients to find the right solutions to the challenges they face.

As a local financial institution, we understand them well. This has led to breakthrough products and services that meet the needs of our members and clients, from simple day-to-day banking to complex business transactions."

“Obair has given me the skills to build a brighter future. Through Obair I now have a great job in a relaxed environment, and I have started on my long-term plan of becoming a Paramedic and helping my community. With the confidence, I have now I have been able to take big steps in my life and am now in the process of buying my own house and starting a farm”

I am a 41yr old single mother of four children. I have been a server for the last 15 years and have loved it! But more recently I had been wanting more out of life for myself and my kids. I wanted a career, somewhere I could grow and make enough to support my kids and the lifestyle I dreamed of having. I heard about Obair Society through a friend who was also a co-worker of mine at my previous job. I walked into Obair skeptical but that quickly diminished as soon as I sat down and talked with Shaely Wilbur. Instantly I was put at ease about where I was starting out and what I wanted to accomplish. With all the steps laid out, I quickly saw my path being laid out in front of me. It was exhilarating to have such a great group of people seeing and believing in me and helping me achieve my goals every step of the way. After seeing all that Obair could do for me I could not be happier to start my career right here in the very same place that I started my journey. As a Vocational Coach at Obair, I have been welcomed with open hearts and infectious smiles. I am on my way to a rewarding career as a Career Development Practitioner and I am extremely grateful for the opportunity. 

 I was referred to the Tomorrow's Workforce Now, a program by a community agency I went to due to my impending homelessness. At the time of my entry into the program, I was sleeping on friend's couches, moving from family members to friends. My mental health was suffering due to recent life changes and trauma. With the help of my Vocational Coach, I sorted out my finances. Completed my taxes. I used the tax refund to get myself sorted as far as my homeless condition. The action planning helped me to get a vision of the career path I wanted to follow. I met regularly with my Coach and we sorted through and determined barriers to my career goal. I registered for the college upgrading program. Finances were paramount as a barrier, so I choose a career-related field of study with the help of the Tomorrow’s Workforce Now program who paid for my training program and Safety Certification. I was promised to work by a safety company and was set to start my first job when there was a downturn in the company’s contracts. Since I had quit my part-time job at a baristas shop, I needed work. The coach in the TWN program helped me transition my thought to develop a targeted resume for several jobs and I consequently settled for a job I said I would never do. Service at McDonald’s. I could not believe it, my coach encouraged me to see that this step could be a great learning experience in teamwork moving at a fast pace and working with people. She helped me to see that Nursing and working at this job at McDonalds and many parallel transferable skills. Within two weeks the safety company called me, I turned them down. I was appreciated at McDonald’s the manager saw my intrinsic worth and gave me fulltime steady work. I realized that a stable life and income were important to me now. I saw that this stability could help me sort through past trauma and make peace with this past and become more ready for my future in health care. I am now able to see other avenues of study that can solidify my career path. During my time working with the Tomorrow’s Workforce Now program, I participated in a short-term entrepreneur project at a local Friendship Centre. Today, I am self-sufficient, my bills are not in collections, my credit score has zoomed. I discovered that I was a natural leader and had a mind for business. For now, I am working and learning I stay open to the endless possibilities, that my coach has helped me to see are mine.  

I just want to thank you for helping me get the needed equipment to start towards my bookkeeping and graphics design goals. The computer enables me to download the course for Quick Books so I can I needed to learn booking keeping. Without the computer I wouldn’t have even been able to start anything in regards to graphic design and the desktop book keeping course. I only had an I-Pad available to me before. I also received a CD that gives me access to familiarizing myself with graphic design. It is just meant for personal use so I won’t be able to do any designs for clients but it will familiarize me with basic graphic design. I am a quarter way through my bookkeeping course and am looking into what I can find to teach me my graphic design course. I haven’t found anything yet but I’m sure I will soon. There is a course online through a college in Toronto that I might be able to get into to teach me about graphic design. I can’t find anything on Udemy yet that is useful for the program I have. The program I got to teach me book keeping with quick books is a Udemy course online that has been informative but because it’s a US course I’m not able to download the needed programs to teach me properly but it has directed me to upload my own business information which I have and will do. Once I’m done that I will be able to get into more of the teaching aspect of quick books. 

I am so appreciative to have the computer and needed CD’s to get me started. With time I will find the right course to teach me graphic design and I will be able to get started on learning more about my book keeping CD once I up load my business information. Especially now that I’m out of work doing hair I will have time to figure this all out soon I’m sure. Thank you again. I’m excited to see where this goes.

OnJune25th 2019 I met with a Career Coach at Obair Economic Society hoping to enroll in Tomorrow's Workforce Now. Following the interview to enter the program I was immediately assisted. I was on the verge of becoming homeless; I had recently been fired and felt pretty hopeless and helpless. I had invested the last of my savings to pay for one more month of rent. I had no food and no money for other essentials. The coach helped me to understand that even though I had been fired I had a right to apply for Employment Insurance. The coach showed me a website online where I could do my own taxes. So that day I did them with the coach keeping watchful. I had a refund, it would help me through the financial rough patch, I would get GST it would help me. Things began to fall into place. Over the next few weeks, that coach and I worked together. The coach would assign me simple career assessments, I would compete them and just like that, I began to believe in myself. The coach pointed out the personal attribute I had that I never noticed. One such attribute was my organizational skills and the manner in which I dressed and applied makeup. . I learned about Action planning and I was on my way. Since I do like to write things down keeping a journal and completing my action plan was just what I needed to begin to reinvent myself. I made some difficult decisions in my youth and had not completed high school this was a barrier for me to reach any career goal I pondered. Following my Action plan carefully and keeping all my appointments and homework allowed me to begin to form a future plan.

I knew if I was I to succeed in turning my life toward continued success I would need to move from my hometown. I love to research, this natural talent allowed me to find a college near to some family members who could be supportive. Within a little over two months, I had employment insurance benefits, , moved and was registered in the GED prep course at Norquist College. The coach continued to keep in following my move out of province to school. The Coach showed me how to apply for my long-form birth certificate so that I could get a passport and potentially my Status under the Indian Act.

While attending the GED prep course I became interested in the Flight Attendant training program. I discovered the joy of having a company recruit me before I even completed the training. As I was preparing to enter my exciting Flight Attendant Training the COVID-19 pandemic changed everyone's plans. Instead of wallowing in self-pity as I might have done a year earlier I stepped up to the plate and am continuing my high school graduation requirements using the amazing online courses available in the wake of the Pandemic.

I am finding staying focused on online courses, but I know that this is because it is not my dominant learning style. I have not given up my career goal, it will still be completed, and I will be even more ready than I would have been for education in this  new "normal"