Facing the prospect of long-term unemployment, Eva Yvonne Guiboche turned to the one source she felt sure could hurtle her toward her dream job. She enrolled in a practice firm to find out first hand what life in business was like.
Urban Circle, a Winnipeg practice firm serving the province's Aboriginal community, was the perfect launching ground for Guiboche's new career.
"I saw the Urban Circle ad in the paper offering training opportunities for real jobs for those on social assistance and with no work experience," says Guiboche, a 34-year-old status Ojibway who had a Grade 12 diploma, two children, and a sparse work resume. "At my first interview with Urban Circle, we determined which line of work I wanted to do and which I was best suited for."
Guiboche entered the banking and retail program in the mid-1990s, where she learned cashiering and basic computer skills, as well as intensive preparation for job interviews. "The program stresses how the business world works - by doing and by practising, practising, practising," she says.
After finishing the program, Guiboche worked at a bank, Manitoba Telephone Systems and later the Investors Group handling mortgage transactions. She has since returned to Urban Circle as an accounting clerk while she takes certified general accountancy courses part-time. "It all started with Urban Circle, and I'm proud to give something back to my community," she says.
A practice firm simulates real business. And while the production and transfer of goods and money is virtual, the transactions with other practice firms around the world and in Canada replicate all aspects of local and international trade.
Practice firm staff also produce catalogues of products and services that are marketed amongst other practice firms who buy and sell from one another with the aim of gaining virtual profits. Every practice firm is linked to an existing business which acts as mentoring company by providing expert advice.
"Everything resembles reality except the actual production and exchange of money, which remains fictitious," says Marie Rubsteck, managing director of the Canadian Practice Firms Network (CPFN) based in Quebec City.
The practice firm model is an adult learning concept that originated in Germany 50 years ago. Today there are more than 4,000 practice firms in 40 countries, with their national headquarters belonging to the European Practice Enterprise Network (EUROPEN).
The concept came to Canada in 1995 when the CPFN was launched in Quebec. Since then the idea has spread to Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec. The CPFN serves more than 40 practice firms, although not all practice firms belong to the organization.
Urban Circle offers something unique, shining a spotlight on Aboriginal culture, and providing workshops spearheaded by First Nations elders focused on traditional medicines, Aboriginal languages and lifeways.
Another graduate, Michael Lothian, hails his practice firm as the key to his success. "I didn't do well in school and working in places like movie theatres and video stores, I didn't quite fit in," says Lothian, 24. "My communication skills were poor and I didn't get along with bosses, so I kept moving from one dead-end job to another. What I really needed was solid direction to get my career on track."
Lothian first learned about Douglas College's The Training Group from his adviser at a local employment help centre in Coquitlam, B.C. He says he was told that the four-month program, a pilot project for unemployed youth, operated as a virtual enterprise offering participants upper management responsibilities in a true-to-life business environment. The Training Group is funded by the federal Human Resources and Skills Development Canada's (HRSDC) Coquitlam office.
"I knew this would kick start my career path and give me the tools needed to land - and keep - a job," he says, adding that he excelled as The Training Group's HR co-ordinator, managing a staff of three.
"I wrote company policy, kept detailed records of disciplinary actions and facilitated company meetings. I learned how to communicate effectively and work within a team structure - knowing when to speak, when to listen and how to make tough decisions," Lothian says.
Lothian was selected as valedictorian at the project's inaugural graduation ceremonies for the 20 participants in September 2004. "I extolled the program's values and benefits, one that instills the confidence to pursue our career dreams," he says.
Today, Lothian is enjoying a retailing position, selling photography equipment and electronics at a London Drugs big- box outlet. "But I am planning on opening my own multimedia and music business one day," he says.
"The success of the pilot project for youth was a primary influence on the decision of the local HRSDC office to fund a new practice firm providing work experience for new Canadians, to help each participant meet their needs for gaining employment, including training in Canadian workplace culture and vocabulary and in Canadian employability skills," says Julian Gardiner, The Training Group's program manager.
Dijana Bosjnak-Krstic used another practice firm, Mode Canada Fashion (MCF), to hone the skills she needed to land her first job in Canada.
"I learned a lot," says Bosjnak-Krstic, a 36-year-old landed immigrant from the former Yugoslavia with degrees in economics and marketing who came to Canada in 2000.
"As an HR assistant at MCF, I conducted mock interviews with clients, drew up lists of candidates for various positions and made recommendations to the HR director. I received good feedback on my strengths and weaknesses," she says.
Bosjnak-Krstic calls her experience at MCF a constructive exercise and earlier this month she began work on a one-year contract as a marketing assistant and researcher in a non-profit organization.
MCF, which is funded by HRSDC, works with unemployed people in the Kingston, Ont. area, offering training in accounting,administration/ clerical, network specialist, programmer/analyst, marketing, sales, purchasing, communications and graphic design.
Bosjnak-Krstic learned about MCF earlier this year from her employment counsellor.
"Thousands of unemployed individuals across the country have benefited from this training initiative by updating their skills and gaining bona fide work exposure, while actively seeking employment," CPFN's Rubsteck says. "The vast majority of these individuals regained the self-confidence they had lost along with their employment and were able to re-enter the job market after only a few weeks of participation."
MCF's director Lana Pinhey, says one of her organization's primary goals is helping craft a first-class workforce.
"As a CPFN member, our virtual enterprise endeavours to consistently contribute trained, adaptable, professional individuals to the labour force through a 12-week development program," she says. "Participants work in a friendly, risk-free place where mistakes are considered learning opportunities, while achieving expertise in regional, national and international business commerce."
The practice firms success rate (on a national average) hovers around 80 per cent of those entering the program finding employment, Pinhey says.
That is what Svitlana Chepurna is banking on. With a medical background and a college degree in graphic arts earned in the Ukraine, she arrived in Toronto in 2000 with high hopes. But her difficulty with the English language was an insurmountable hurdle during interviews. Her HRSDC employment adviser recommended Simpressions, a Markham, Ont., practice firm.
Since opening its doors in 2003, Simpressions has helped 140 individuals acquire skills transferable to the working world.
"Ours is a virtual printing company with accounting, marketing, HR, web design and basic computer programming divisions," says Deborah Tracy, the organization's IT specialist. "Participants must have the base education in their field to be accepted into the program, although clients don't get a pay cheque while they are in the 12-week program."
Chepurna, 40, has just completed eight weeks as a web designer (assigned to develop the organization's intranet website) and is now ready to tackle the job market. "Simpressions is helping me create a powerful resume, as well as giving me Canadian work experience I didn't have before," she says. "It's great."
(Jack Kohane can be reached at kohane@businessedge.ca)
