The Cosmos Career Pursuit program is an initiative designed to help individuals gain the knowledge, skills, and training to compete and secure work in a dynamic and always changing labor market. Our program is made possible by our partnership with the United Way, and through it we offer unemployed, under-employed, and marginally employed Albertans the opportunity to gain training and employment in a range of industries and roles.
Typically, this program would include in-person training, job shadow opportunities, and one on one mock interviews. However once the pandemic hit, our employment specialists found themselves in a position where they would need to find a way to pivot around this new hurdle.
As a result of this new challenge and our clients needing us more than ever, Cosmos’ employment practitioners got to work and started developing the Career Pursuit Program into one that was pandemic-proof. They hosted Zoom sessions, Google classrooms for workshop training and courses, and even developed “how-to” Power Point presentations in the event that our clients had no previous knowledge of said platforms. And yes, a lot of us were transitioning at this time to online delivery methods for work or school; but bear in mind that many of our Career Pursuit clients have very little computer skills to start with, so this is a tremendous accomplishment!
Despite these challenges, the Cosmos Career Pursuit program managed to run over 175 employment workshops, design over 140 resumes and cover letters, and out of the 70 clients who had job interviews, 57 of those individuals found jobs.
These are the stories of the pandemic we so rarely hear, but should make time to reflect on more. The past 18 months have been long, at times very sad and dark months, and for all of us, at one point or another, it is easy to get caught up in dwelling in the negative.
Rather than look back on this time and focus on how hard or dark it was, it is important we stop and reflect back on how resilient we truly are. Never forget, no. We can’t simply forget the past 18 months ever happened, nor should we. But it is important we show ourselves and our fellow community members grace when we reflect back on this historic chapter in our lives; and that we remember to celebrate our resilience, both on an individual level and as a collective.
To learn more about this program, or any of Cosmos Community Support Services’ programs visit: https://www.cosmosreddeer.ca/disability-services/career-services, or call (403) 343-0715.
