As the Ontario government expanded Second Career and renamed the program Better Jobs Ontario, many more people who face challenges finding stable jobs have become eligible now, including self-employed individuals, youth, and those on social assistance. If you have been unemployed for six months or longer and are part of a low-income household, you may benefit from these changes. We compiled the information from the official government portal for Better Jobs Ontario.
What is Better Jobs Ontario?
Formerly known as Second Career, the program aims to quickly help unemployed workers rejoin the workforce. The program focuses on training programs that take 52 weeks or less to complete, including micro-credential programs. However, even if you have not been laid off or unemployed for more than six months, you may qualify to receive up to $28,000 in funding. The criteria include:
• without work but actively seeking employment and currently available to start work, or;
• not working more than an average of 20 hours per week, or;
• engaging in unincorporated self-employment without a business number, such as a gig work for an average of 20 hours per week or less.
Laid-off due to COVID-19
While the Better Jobs Ontario program is open to unemployed jobseekers, a fast-track stream is available if you were laid-off because of COVID-19 and want to retrain for jobs in sectors that have potential future employment.
If your application meets all the following criteria, you will go through a faster approval process, giving you access to training sooner:
- You were laid off on or after March 1, 2020.
- You have a high school education or less; you were laid-off from an occupation requiring no more than a high school education and job-specific training, such as food and beverage servers, flight attendants and retail salespersons.
- You were laid-off from an industry hit hard by the pandemic, such as hospitality and food services, transportation and warehousing or wholesale and retail trade.
- You want to train for a career in demand in a local community or provincial priority area.
We offer certificate and diploma programs in Technology, Business, Education, and Healthcare for you to learn new skills in less than a year to help you get back to work fast. Get in touch with our student advisors through email at [email protected], or take the assessment on this page for our prompt response.