Literacy Link South Central

Meeting the Needs of Modern Manufacturers

(February 2020 - March 2021)

The manufacturing sector represents the second largest group of employers in the region, and these employers consistently report difficulty filling open jobs.

One of the most frequent issues manufacturing employers face is candidates with a lack of soft skills. With many dedicated learners on the employment goal path within LBS programs, we believe there is an opportunity to help both manufacturers and learners meet their goals.

Through this Ontario Labour Market Partnership project, we will be working with representatives from manufacturing sectors to identify jobs that do not require high levels of education and to identify key soft skills critical for employment. With those skills in mind, we will produce an easy-to-use tool to help manufactures identify soft skills in their applicants, and determine suitability / match for their business.

We will also draft a process that can help manufacturers more easily access potential hires from LBS programs, and conversely, create a strategy to create a more direct LBS to manufacturing employment pathway.

This project will be supported by our partners in the Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium and the London Region Manufacturing Council, the Elgin Middlesex Oxford Workforce Planning and Development Board, and the London Economic Development Corporation.

Project Documents and Reports

Literacy Link South Central's new Soft Skills Assessment Tool for Manufacturing

Local labour market information makes it clear that manufacturing employers are struggling to find people to fill entry-level positions. Compounding the issue is that some applicants do not have the soft skills they need to be successful in the job. We believe that an assessment that can measure critical soft skills skills before someone starts a job can help. It will support employers in finding applicants that are a good fit, and help both job seekers and skills upgrading programs know what kind of training can help people targeting entry-level positions in manufacturing be successful at work.

Learn how to use our new Soft Skills Assessment Tool for Manufacturing in by viewing this 22-minute webinar:

Soft Skills Assessment Tool (2021)

French: Évaluation des compétences dans le secteur manufacturier (2021)

Literacy Link South Central's soft skills assessment contains two parts. The first is the Life Effectiveness Questionnaire (LEQ) and it offers 24 statements that should be ranked on a scale of 1 (that doesn't sound like me) to 8 (that sounds like me). It’s an assessment that's used internationally as it is proven to be both reliable and valid. The second part of the assessment is a Situational Judgement Test (SJT), which offers nine real-life workplace scenarios along with possible response options. This style of assessment demonstrates good validity, and was developed in partnership with representatives from the manufacturing sector in the London Economic Region.

Soft Skills Assessment Guidebook (2021)

French: Guide d’utilisation de l’outil d’évaluation des compétences de base du LLSC (2021)

The Guidebook shares information about this project, outlines each of the statements and scenarios and which soft skills they are measuring, explains how to score the assessment and provides information on interpreting the results.

Note: For each person whose soft skills you plan to evaluate, you will need to print one copy of the Assessment Tool (above) and one copy each of both Attachment A and Attachment B from the Guidebook. Attachement A and Attachment B have been extracted from the Guidebook as a the Assessment Scoring Package (below) to make it easier to print.

Soft Skills Assessment Scoring Package (2021)

This scoring package contains the scoring key for the Situational Judgement Test along with the overall Soft Skills Assessment scoring sheet. They can be found as Attachment A and Attachment B in the Guidebook (above).

Growing Together: A Communications Strategy for Litearcy and Basic Skills, Employment Programs, and Manufacturing (2021)

This Communications Strategy outlines strategic ways to strengthen communication and understanding between Ontario's Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) community and manufacturing employers. Several key messages are outlined for different audiences including manufacturers, Employment Services staff, Ontario Works caseworkers, LBS learners and LBS practitioners.

Finding the Way: Building a Stronger Path Between LBS and Manufacturing (2020)

The report "Finding the Way" represents a plan - a pathway to better connect the Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) field with local manufacturers, and vice versa. The goal is to provide employment-bound LBS learners with new pathways to build their skills and prepare for entry level jobs in manufacturing.

Employer Engagement Summary Report (2020)

A key element of this project is the development of a soft skills assessment tool to help manufacturers identify job candidates with the soft skills they are looking for. To inform this work, interviews were held with 11 manufacturing employers representing the largest subsectors in the London Economic Region (LER). This report outlines the process for, and results of those interviews.

Employer Engagement Infographic (2020)

This visual representation of the information gathered through our key informant interviews shares the top skills employers are looking for, education levels they require, hiring methods manufacturers are using, and more.