The Rapid Skilling System Playbook
As our world changes at lightning speed, Canadians need to adopt new skills regularly and quickly in order to thrive in an ever-evolving workplace. This playbook gives practical, real-world examples of how the Rapid Skilling System (RSS) can help build the future workforce in a more adaptive and inclusive way.
What is Rapid Skilling?
Rapid Skilling is an increasingly popular term used to describe the ability to learn or acquire a skill quickly in both the physical and digital realms. It’s used by job seekers looking to pivot into a new career, and it is also often used within the workplace to retrain employees so they can take on a different role within a company when their previous responsibilities become irrelevant, often due to advances in technology.
Introducing the Rapid Skilling System
Click below to navigate all five elements of the Playbook
element 01
Labour Market Information
Insights into local industry demands help community leaders, educators, and policymakers create effective workforce solutions for sectors with high demand.
element 02
Skills Assessments
Skills assessments and competency frameworks act like a roadmap, helping learners identify their strengths and weaknesses, guiding them on the best route to acquire the skills needed for the job market.
element 03
Skills-Based Training
Skill-based training accurately targets the evolving needs of industries, enabling individuals to continuously adapt and learn new skills required by a fast-changing work environment.
element 04
Credentials
As the number of credentials available to learners surges, consistent quality standards and metrics across the credentialing system is the key to ensuring their usefulness for learners and employers alike.
element 05
Job Placement
To land a job is the initial goal but it doesn’t stop here: the ongoing success of the Rapid Skilling System relies heavily on employers adopting skills-based practices in both hiring and career development initiatives.
Who is this Playbook for?
For anyone working behind the scenes to help people thrive in their careers, whether you’re developing curriculums for an online bootcamp, providing employment services in a community organization, planning L&D initiatives within a corporate environment, or facilitating skill-building sessions in government programs, this Playbook is for you.
How to use this Playbook
In this playbook, you’ll learn about each of the five components of the Rapid Skilling System, including what they are, and how they work together to build a more sustainable talent pipeline. Through the best practices and resources provided, you’ll also learn how you can apply the RSS into the work you do. You may find the “innovation in action” section helpful, if you’re interested in learning from the pioneering examples of others working in the field.
Introducing Sarah
Age: 29
Her story: Sarah recently immigrated to Canada from Sri Lanka, seeking better opportunities for herself and her young daughter by pivoting from her former career as a nurse to become a Data Analyst. We’ll follow Sarah throughout the Playbook and see how the five elements of the Rapid Skilling System impact her retraining journey.
*NOTE: Sarah is not a real person, but a persona we’ve created based on a collective of people whose struggles and barriers are real.
Why do we need the RSS?
The way we are currently training our workforce in Canada is fragmented and broken. With the constant need to acquire new skills, it’s not always realistic for people to go back to university and get another degree to keep up–it will take too long, cost too much, and create a need in the workplace while they take time away.
The stakeholders in the system–employers, workers, community organizations, and governments–are all working hard on solving this problem, but they aren’t working together in an integrated way.
The RSS pinpoints five key components that stakeholders can start working on together to create a more connected and responsive training system to build Canada’s future workforce.
Creating a more equitable society
The training system of today has long relied on the traditional cultural capital of having degrees from esteemed universities or jobs at prestigious companies. That’s why we need to create a better system that levels the playing field and allows a fair pathway into the job market for those who are not favoured by the traditional system, such as those who are racialized, those with lower socioeconomic status, including new Canadians who don’t yet have “Canadian” work experience, but have recognizable and valuable skills.
Ready to get started?
Start your exploration of the Rapid Skilling System now with Element 01. Labour Market Information.
element 01
Labour Market Information
Insights into local industry demands help community leaders, educators, and policymakers create effective workforce solutions for sectors with high demand.