Current Projects
Check out our current workforce development services and projects below and find out how you can access supports. If you are in need of or anticipate the need for recruitment support, Restaurants Canada is here to help. Please complete this short form to identify the type of support you’re looking for and the Director of Workforce Development will respond.
Cultivating Skilled Domestic Talent
Restaurants Canada is facilitating cross-sectoral collaborations to implement a partnership model that brings restaurants and select employment service providers together to execute training and employment supports programs for job seekers that will provide participants with core competencies for skilled positions as defined by the restaurant industry. The goal is to address the shortage of skilled talent coming through immigration and post-secondary culinary programs in a sustainable manner. Benefits to restaurant partners include:
Access to a source of skilled domestic talent trained in core competencies for skilled kitchen work as defined by the restaurants involved
- Establish ‘hand in glove’ recruitment processes that align with hiring cycles and needs
- Actively partnering with programs will allow for first access to trained cohorts
- First access to wage subsidies and incentives if available for hiring program participants
Opportunity to be involved in program delivery (as desired) to further inform the perspectives and training of the job seekers
- Delivering workshops, bringing participants into the restaurant to see the workplace, offering job trials, shadow shifts, placements leading to employment, etc.
Actively partnering with programs ensures program sustainability, thus creating a reliable source of candidates trained in core competencies required for skilled positions
If you are interested in being a key restaurant partner for one of these collaborations in your community, please contact Donald Guse Salah, Restaurants Canada’s Director of Workforce Development: DSalah@restaurantscanada.org. To view programs up and running, including contact information for the service partners so you can connect and recruit from training programs in your community, please visit the Recruitment Resources
Best Practices for Employing Today’s Youth
As the sector that provides the greatest number of first-time jobs, leads in sustainability practices, and actively champions social justice in communities across the country, we are uniquely positioned to continue attracting young talent. Today’s youth bring a heightened awareness and expectation around environmental and social impact, and it is important that we continue to clearly communicate the meaningful work already happening across our sector. By doing so, we can strengthen awareness among young people, continue to draw them in, and reinforce our identity as a values-driven, community-focused sector.
RC has partnered with FirstWork to develop practical toolkits designed to support your workforce strategies. These resources will help you stay best-in-class in recruitment and retention practices
To learn more about the development of this toolkit, please contact: DSalah@restaurantscanada.org or APham@restaurantscanada.org
Upcoming Projects
Restaurants Canada is always considering what we ought to identify as future priorities to support the industry through new and exciting projects. As new priorities are identified and projects are developed to support them, we will release details to members and update the website accordingly.
If you have suggestions for what we could be focusing on or workforce development project ideas to share, please contact Donald Guse Salah, Restaurants Canada’s Director of Workforce Development: DSalah@restaurantscanada.org
