The front page of the September 17th Toronto Star explains how an undercover journalist attended a college meant to prepare her for work as a Personal Support Worker. While there, reporter Diana Lomislic received minimal training (complete with erroneous information) and was helped to falsify her resume and references. This is not an isolated case, writes Star reporter Dale Brazao, “Miller's school is one of hundreds of unaccredited colleges operating in the province, in open defiance of the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.”

Problems are also emerging for publicly funded colleges. The Globe and Mail reports, “Ontario's ombudsman slammed the provincial government Tuesday for failing to keep closer tabs on publicly funded colleges in a report that found a northern Ontario school left some of its graduates unqualified for jobs.”

The HR recruiting, hiring and on boarding processes are structured to weed out unacceptable certifications and false claims, however, it may also be important to take a closer look at the training that employees are choosing to access on their own.

Recommended or in-house training with organizations are structured to ensure they match employee’s job requirements. However, more employees are accessing education outside of work and some may make the wrong choices.

To further both individual and corporate performance goals, it would be helpful if managers and employees could communicate about course choices to ensure that they are appropriately matched to employee’s current responsibilities and career aspirations. Thus, the development discussion between manager and employee could include both employer-led training and additional educational opportunities.

References:

Brazao, Dale. “Entrepreneur a jack of all trades, qualified in none.” The Toronto Star [www.thestar.com]. September 17, 2009.

“Ombudsman slams Ont. government for not keeping closer eye on colleges.” The Globe and Mail [The Canadian Press] [www.theglobeandmail.com]. August 25, 2009.