Working Warriors (WW) is a community owned database that helps Indigenous individuals find employment and employers find Indigenous employees.
Why do First Nations need Working Warriors?
Through a decade of consultation with communities, industry and government, some of the challenges that have been identified are First Nations do not have adequate HR systems, resumes or a way to market themselves to industry. Today, it is mandatory for industry to hire Indigenous workers for major capital projects; yet industry does not know how to find or connect with them. As a solution to these challenges Working Warriors and the National Association of Indigenous Workers (NAIW) was created.
The Working Warriors portal includes:
- An online Community resource information system (CRIS) that tracks education and the skill set of community members;
- A program that manages assets related to economic development;
- A step-by-step resume builder;
- Community status reports;
- Indigenous owned business directory.
The NAIW provides communities and industry with a standardized engagement process, employment opportunities, cultural awareness, and other general assistance.
A new social networking employment portal is being added to Working Warriors. Some features include:
- A place for employers, Indigenous people, communities and organizations to engage with each other;
- Easy access to national employment and educational opportunities;
- Easy communication between band administration offices and their members.
This new feature becomes an opportunity for First Nation communities, employers, organizations and individuals to promote their skills and talents on their profile page. You can expect to see these new features in December 2016.
Next steps after implementation:
- A 1-day training session for all the administrative users in each community so they can easily navigate through and use the database to its full potential.
- JEDI and NAIW will be connecting with employers to use the portal to promote Indigenous employment.
Data collection is currently taking place in 3 communities with 4 already completed in New Brunswick, in partnership with the Joint Economic Development Initiative Inc. (JEDI), the National Association of Indigenous Workers (NAIW) and the department of Post-Secondary Education Training & Labour (DPETL). The process includes hiring a lead researcher within each community to collect data through a short survey. The information is then entered into the Working Warriors database where only the community administrator has access. There is no cost to maintain this database, only a commitment from the community. For more information on Working Warriors and how to get it into your community, contact Michael Hennessey at JEDI, Michael.Hennessey@jedinb.ca.
Discussions are currently taking places for NAIW/WW to open its first national office in Fredericton…..stay tuned!
Cecelia Paul, Aboriginal Labour Market Information Research Analyst, will be a regular contributor to the JEDI blog. From St. Mary’s First Nation, Cecelia graduated with her Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 2011. Upon completion she worked with JEDI on a number of different projects as a Project Officer, and then in the past year worked on the NBAMET Project as client coordinator. During her time at JEDI she also obtained her Technical Aboriginal Economic Developer Certificate (TAED) with CANDO, and a certificate in Human Resource Management with UNB.