Managed by EnerQuality, the OHBA Job Ready Program recruits, pre-screens, and qualifies prospective workers and provides the necessary training and skills development required by the Ministry of Labour.
Interested employers can hire these job-ready workers for a six-month, full-time paid placement, typically into non-unionized entry-level positions.
There is no cost to participate in the program. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is provided to all participants and employers could receive up to a $3,000 incentive (per hire) with the ability to convert participants to full-time employees at the end of their placement.
We caught up with Brian Cooke from Air Sealing Professionals to learn how their Job Ready Hires helped them grow.
Air Sealing Professionals offer home builders, renovators and homeowners AeroBarrier technology that takes the stress out of air sealing homes, highrises and commercial buildings.
What were your employees responsible for?
Job Ready participants held general labour roles and helped new and existing homes be more energy efficient through air tightness technology.
“We’re working with new technology, so we're starting from scratch when we bring anyone on board. Both employees that we’ve hired through the OHBA Job Ready Program brought an enthusiasm to learn. [The Job Ready participants] really helped our company through an exciting growth period.”
How did the program improve your recruiting and onboarding processes?
“The program drastically cut the amount of time, effort, and stress we invested in hiring, from a two or three month process down to about a week. The program is so strong and the resumes are proactively ready to go every time we reach out. They all met what we were looking for and checked a lot of boxes, so the program is such an incredible time-saving tool.
“Construction is a high risk environment so it was great to have candidates who understand what’s required to be on an active construction site and it’s helped us jump in instead of the more cautious or anxiety-filled approach of trying to get someone who has never worked in construction and now is trying to get up to speed. It definitely advanced our onboarding process by a couple of weeks.”
What was the most impactful part of the program for you?
“The OHBA Job Ready Program has helped us through an exciting growth period as a company—from a couple of us and a truck to now 12 full-time employees.”
“As a small company, scaling is one of the things we always worry about. As you grow, you have to hand over the reins to the next generation of leaders in your organization and we always feared we had a gap. Now we have two young leaders through the OHBA Job Ready Program—it’s helped us scale in a big way.”
Looking to fill your entry level construction role quickly with a qualified candidate? Check out the OHBA Job Ready Program website to get started.
OHBA Job Ready Blog Series
Learn more about how we provide the most thorough pre-jobsite entry level training in the construction industry in our blog series:
