Objectives
The Ready to Work - Tourism Careers (RTW) program is a national initiative of the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council (CTHRC) and is administered by Tourism Human Resource Organizations in each province and territory. In our province, the RTW program is administered by the Saskatchewan Tourism Education Council (STEC).
Nationally, the program objectives are:
- to provide unemployed and/or under-employed people (new immigrants, social assistance recipients, Aboriginal peoples, and individuals without post-secondary education) with the skills and experience necessary to put them on the path to long-term, stable employment and a career in tourism.
- to develop a stronger training culture in the tourism sector.
- to reduce employment barriers for young people through on-the-job skills development.
- to provide participants with the personal/teamwork skills that employers demand.
- to develop and make accessible useful training tools to the tourism sector.
- to ensure that 75% of participants remain employed for at least six months following classroom instruction and hands-on skills training, with the goal of either achieving permanent full-time employment and/or returning to school.
- to assist the tourism sector with recruitment and job readiness of new hires.
- to provide participants with transferable employability skills.
- to build on existing partnerships with provincial training programs to ensure an effective transition from high school to the tourism workforce.
STEC adapts program content by working closely with Saskatchewan's tourism sector and its evolving needs, as well as addressing the needs of participants in order to reduce/remove barriers to successful, long-term employment. We strongly believe that the RTW program can be replicated across other sectors.
