Faculty of Workforce Skills Development

Business Services

Essential Skills Resource Centre

Seneca College is proud to present the York Region Essential Skills Resource Centre to support essential skills development of individuals – employed, unemployed, under-employed, job seekers, adult students and adults interested in improving their skills whose goals are work-centered.  Essential skills are the skills needed for work, learning and life. They provide the foundation for learning all other skills and enable people to evolve with their jobs and adapt to workplace change.

Through extensive research, with input from employers, Provincial Governments, the Government of Canada and other national and international agencies, nine essential skills have been identified and validated. These skills are used in nearly every occupation and throughout daily life in different ways and at different complexity levels:

Nine Essential Skills

Reading Text: refers to reading material that is in the form of sentences or paragraphs and generally involves reading notes, letters, memos, manuals, specifications, regulations, books, reports or journals. Reading Text includes forms and labels if they contain at least one paragraph, print and non-print media (for example, texts on computer screens and microfiche, and paragraph-length text charts, tables and graphs.

Document Use: refers to tasks that involve a variety of information displays in which words, numbers, icons and other visual characteristics (e.g., line, colour, shape) are given meaning by their spatial arrangement. For example, graphs, lists, tables, blueprints, schematics, drawings, signs and labels are documents used in the workplace.

Numeracy: refers to a workers’ use of numbers and their being required to think in quantitative terms.

Writing: includes writing texts and writing in documents (for example, filling in forms), as well as non-paper-based writing (for example, typing on a computer).

Oral Communication: pertains primarily to the use of speech to give and exchange thoughts and information by workers in an occupational group.

Working with Others: examines the extent to which employees work with others to carry out their tasks. Do they have to work co-operatively with others? Do they have to have the self-discipline to meet work targets while working alone?’

Continuous Learning: examines the requirement that more and more jobs require continuous upgrading, and that all workers must continue learning in order to keep or to grow with their jobs.

Thinking Skills: consist of Problem Solving, Decision Making, Critical Thinking, Job Task Planning and Organizing, Significant Use of Memory and Finding Information.

Computer Use: indicates the variety and complexity of computer use within the occupational group.

This research is the basis for the Occupational Profiles which can be found on the Government of Canada’s Essential Skills website; www15.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca. Over 200 jobs are profiled on this site. These profiles can help you research occupations. This can help with career and succession planning, building job descriptions and training plans and well as exploring various job requirements.

By registering with the centre, you will be able to assess your skills level, access resources and tools, compare your skill level to occupational requirements and upgrade or strengthen your skill levels to meet goals.

Essential Skills Resource Centre at 905-780-9622, ext. 307

NEW - Success in the Workplace - Communication and Business Skills Training for Immigrant Professionals. Free skills training program for immigrant professionals who are working in their field and want to improve their career prospects. Employer participation is key and we will request feedback from current employer throughout the course.  Evening classes begin in September 2009 at the Markham campus. 16 week part-time program combination of in-class and on-line learning. Contact Amy Koning at 416-299-6625 ext. 258 for more information.

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