Monday, 10 March 2014

What is Second Careers Really All About?

              Second Careers is a program offered by the federal government to help laid off workers cover the expense of going back to school.  It’s a program where taxpayer’s money helps to retrain people that find it hard to regain employment after a lay off.  But does it really do what it claims to?

               About 2 years ago I got laid off from my company.  After looking into this program and realizing I needed to go back to school in order to be able to obtain sustainable employment, I applied for Second Careers.  Well let me tell you about the roller coaster I was sent on after that. 

               It started off as a walk-in, where a meeting was then set up for another day with a career counsellor.  I came back for the follow up appointment, where I was put through an eligibility assessment. The results were in; I was eligible as long as I could prove that I was actively job searching for 26 weeks.  No problem I thought.  So I started the application and tracking all the jobs I was applying for.  After 26 weeks and numerous meetings with my counsellor I finally finished my application and submitted it for approval.  To my surprise I got a call back from her within days, telling me that submitting my application for approval was under review and it may not even be submitted at all.  Are you kidding me? I thought.  I explained that due to the fact that I had completed the application based on her guidance, it was my right to have it submitted to the Ministry and they could make the final decision.  She agreed and went forth with submitting it. 

About 2 weeks later the call came in, the Ministry of Education wanted to talk to me.  So I returned their call.  Guess what?  They asked me if an eligibility assessment had been done with me from the beginning.  I proceeded to explain that I was told 26 weeks of job hunting made me eligible.  That’s when I found out that I was never eligible at all and basically 26 weeks of my time had been wasted. Their reason……I had customer service experience so they felt I was able to obtain sustainable employment.

My question now is who really is eligible for this program and exactly what kind of schooling is the government willing to cover the cost of?  I would love to hear about anyone who found themselves in a similar situation.  Do you agree with the purpose of this program or do you feel it’s just a waste of taxpayers’ money? 
Here’s a link to the program information, check it out and let me know what you think.  http://www.secondcareerontario.com/web/second_career/landing/?gclid=CIqCyfOaib0CFYhaMgodSiIA-g

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