Previous page: Nova Scotia's e-channel makeover
Organizations that are participating in the recruitment campaign include Halifax Regional Municipality, Maritime Forces Atlantic, Capital District Health Authority and the Public Service Commission. Currently, about 30,000 Nova Scotian's are employed by these organizations throughout the province.
In addition to hosting networking events throughout the country, a virtual recruitment campaign has been created online with job postings at: http://opportunitiesns.ca/
HR consulting firm The People Bank has been hired by the Nova Scotia government to facilitate the events and run the online recruitment campaign.
Opportunities Nova Scotia is occurring in two phases. The first was deemed a success by the province as it connected 95 employers (representing more than 2,300 jobs) with 4,500 job seekers in Nova Scotia. The second phase involves Nova Scotia employers visiting cities in Ontario and Alberta, and will also include networking events.
Part of the reason for launching the Opportunities Nova Scotia campaign was to address the aging and evolving workforce of the province, according to Service Nova Scotia Minister Jamie Muir.
Over the next five years, approximately 45,000 Nova Scotia workers will be eligible for retirement. The occupations that will be most affected include management, health, education, government, and financial services.
The province expects to see the most job opportunities opening up in the areas of healthcare, aerospace, financial services, IT and the skilled trades, according to Deborah Bayer of Service Nova Scotia.
Statistics Canada has already seen an estimated 30 per cent increase in the number of individuals moving to Nova Scotia from other provinces and territories in Canada last year, compared to Nova Scotia's average in-migration over the previous three years.
Broadband coverage
"We've got a lot of stuff going, but we've got some areas to catch up on," said Muir. "The province is committing to having 100 per cent broadband coverage by the end of 2009."
Muir added that in order to establish a complete e-delivery system, the broadband coverage is a necessary component. "It's been a major priority of the government for the last two years or so."
He said that once the broadband is up and running, then a lot of other projects will be able to come to fruition.
"We've actually leveraged technology on quite a number of fronts. One is the BizPal partnership with the federal government which is up in two pilot sites, and the initial feedback from that is pretty encouraging," said Muir.
"For those who are in the business world and have to deal with three levels of government, to have three levels of government sitting down at least (with BizPal) you can go to one place to get the information that you need and proceed from there."
He noted that it will take time but eventually the goal is to have common forms at all levels of government. For example, a form that the federal government requires which has the same information as what a provincial government form would have will be combined into a single form.
"I see the expansion of that not only making the information centralized, but it really should improve the process and make it more user-friendly," Muir said.
Another initiative in Nova Scotia that has been in operation for a couple of years is the Property Online initiative, according to Muir.
"We're now moving to an electronic system of registering properties and we've got over half a million properties which have migrated to that new system."
The province requires people in the legal profession who are in the business of property transactions to use the Property Online service, he said.
Another project underway is the Nova Scotia business registry which works in conjunction with the province's Access Centres.
Access Nova Scotia is a provincial government initiative designed to improve access to programs and services at all three levels of government, and to make it easier to do business with the government. Access Nova Scotia Centres provide hands-on information, forms, applications, and services including counselling and mediation.
"We are trying continually to design new systems, and upgrade our technology so we can serve the people better." Muir said.
Related content:
Access Nova Scotia opens more doors
Public service needs 'constant evolution', says Nova Scotia exec
Provinces eye one-stop-shop for service delivery
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