Project Integrate

With rapid and often confusing changes to the labour market, career pathways are becoming less linear and predictable for Canadian youth entering the workforce.

Youth often face challenges understanding emerging opportunities and recognizing transferable experience. Infrastructure is needed to help youth navigate employment paths in more responsive, personalized, and targeted ways.

The Future Skills Centre is investing $2.5M in a two-year project led by OTEC, MaRS Discovery District, and First Work, which explores the creation of a single, technology-enabled employment pathway for youth.

This project explores how competency assessment models can be enhanced by technology to support more targeted employment skills training. OTEC’s ALiGN assessment and job-matching model is designed to “screen in” candidates in the absence of transferable skills or experience. MaRS’ Employment Pathway Platform is a career guidance tool created in partnership with Google to help create career paths in a rapidly changing economy.

This project integrates both technologies from OTEC and MaRS into a single cohesive platform covering two key stages of the employment and skills development process. First, the platform identifies occupations that fit with a youth job seeker’s interests and then, secondly, explores the required skills to be successful in those roles. In partnership with First Work, key partners will be included in youth employment services organizations.

This project will engage 2,000 youth in pursuit of the most efficient skills training path to employment and ongoing career navigation in Western, Central, and Atlantic Canada.

Evaluation Strategy

This project will be evaluated using tools and approaches aligned with its goals, context, and stage of development. The evaluation will focus on generating the right evidence at the right moment to move the intervention forward. Read more about our evaluation strategy.

Featured Projects

Project

Facilitating Access to Skilled Talent

• July 2025

• Immigration Employment Council of British Columbia

FAST helps participants build job readiness, navigate Canadian workplace culture and connect with credentialing resources. The program features six sectoral streams ranging from information technology (IT) to seniors care.

• 
  Inclusive Economy
• 
  Pathways to Jobs

3
Related Reports

• Interim Evidence ReportPDF

  Facilitating Access to Skilled Talent (FAST)

• Phase 2 Final ReportPDF

  Facilitating Access to Skilled Talent (FAST)

• Phase 3 Interim ReportPDF

  Facilitating Access to Skilled Talent (FAST)

Project

Success@Work Skills: Preparing Workers and Systems to Navigate Change

• July 2025

• Manitoba Institute of Trades & Technology

Developed in response to the challenges amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic, this program combined competency-based microcredentials, culturally relevant curricula, and wraparound supports to empower participants with the skills and confidence to thrive in their chosen fields—while also helping meet evolving workforce needs. 

• 
  Inclusive Economy
• 
  Pathways to Jobs

1
Related Reports

• Final Evaluation ReportPDF

  Success@Work

Project

Enhancing a National Recruitment System for the Unionized Construction Industry

• July 2025

• SkillPlan: BC Construction Industry Skills Improvement Council

This project’s overall goal was to design and test virtual strategies to recruit more individuals, especially those from underrepresented groups (women, Indigenous Peoples, racialized people, newcomers and youth), to careers in the construction trades.

• 
  Inclusive Economy

3
Related Reports

• Summary ReportPDF

  Expanding and Enhancing a National Recruitment System for the Unionized Construction Industry (Virtual Recruitment Phase Two)

• Phase 2 ReportPDF

  Expanding and Enhancing a National Recruitment System for the Unionized Construction Industry

• Phase 3 ReportPDF

  Expanding and Enhancing a National Recruitment System for the Unionized Construction Industry

View all Projects