Job Links still ­offering support, from a distance

By Gordon Lambie

Like with everything else, the work of the team at Job Links has a little different these days than it was just over a month ago, but the mission of the organization remains the same: to help English-speaking Canadian citizens or permanent residents in the Eastern Townships to understand, access and succeed in the job market.
“We are still offering the same services, the only difference is they are offered virtually; through phone, e-mail and zoom meetings,” shared Courtney Nichols, the Job Links Secretary. “We are also trying to help our clients navigate through their new situations and offer encouragement and mental health support.”
Those services include assistance with job searches and interview techniques, career counseling, and networking, and are offered to somewhere in the range of 200 people across the Estrie region at any given time.
According to team member Jessica Girard, Job Links began in 1995 as a project of Townshippers’ Association but has transformed over the years since into its own entity.
“We were a Townshippers’ project, and then we became our own project,” said Girard, explaining that the work is now supported in large part and managed through the Eastern Townships School Board, although the organization maintains active and important partnerships with Townshippers’ and the Carrefour Jeunesse Emploi (CJE) youth employment network. In many ways the work of Job Links is similar to that of the CJE, but Joblinks has a specific mandate to serve English speakers.
Before the coming of the pandemic, Girard said that she was on the road three days a week trying to meet clients in their own communities in recognition of the fact that not having easy access to the job market can make mobility between rural communities a challenge.
“We try to be a flexible as possible,” she said.
For more information about the work of Job Links and the assistance it offers visit http://joblinks.etsb.qc.ca/

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