The London Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) provides economic development services which include providing workforce development leadership to connect businesses with education institutes and employment sector agencies. With London companies relying heavily on the city’s top quality workforce, the LEDC works with organizations across industry sectors to help them build a strong talent pipeline. Additionally, working with partner organizations ensures availability of a skilled and dynamic workforce by attracting global talent to the city.
Access to a diverse and talented labour pool is a leading driver for companies when making investment decisions. Western University, Fanshawe College, and several vocational schools in London attract close to 60,000 students to London every year. The city of London’s reputation as a safe, affordable and vibrant community plays a major role in attracting students from the Greater Toronto Area and overseas.
New provincially funded Campus Linked Accelerators at Fanshawe College and Western University are geared towards developing youth entrepreneurship activities in London, helping to encourage and support students to stay in the city after graduation.
The LEDC has been recognized as being one of the first economic development agencies in Canada with a dedicated Workforce Development focus. The overall mandate is to match employer’s needs to candidate pools as well as to employment support agencies. This continues to be a major focus for the LEDC to ensure businesses have the talent they need, and London residents have the career and employment opportunities they are seeking.
Key services the LEDC provides related to talent include:
- Recruitment – The LEDC helps companies connect with a network of employment sector services to recruit for open positions. Using a variety of tools (online portals, job fairs, marketing and outreach), the LEDC assists companies to attract and retain skilled talent in key sectors.
- Training – Employers are able to benefit from customized training programs that enable them to be more efficient and productive.
- Youth – Early engagement with students at our education institutions ensures that the city of London is on their radar for future employment and entrepreneurial opportunities.
- Consult & Plan – LEDC assists companies, education providers, employment sector agencies, and other not-for-profit stakeholders in keeping a pulse on changing market conditions and its impact on the labour market.
Initiatives
The LEDC has created a Concierge, your self-serve guide to the city of London, Canada. From health care to business resources, to employment services and employer resources, the Concierge is your gateway to discovering London’s key spaces and places. On our resources page, you will also find our Business Directory to explore hiring businesses in London, as well as our funding portal to help your business get connected to government and private financing. These were created to help employees and employers in London access services and resources they need. Additionally, the LEDC posts news and events that help connect London’s workforce to training development, networking opportunities and conferences to learn and engage with other business leaders in the community. Some other workforce and talent development initiatives the LEDC is involved with includes:
- London’s Community Economic Road Map – A five year strategy intended to serve as a catalyst for maximizing economic success across our community. It identifies local strengths, weaknesses, prioritizes economic opportunities and presents an action plan to maximize economic success. The Road Map will help guide the activities of the City and partner organizations over the short, medium and long term time horizon. The Road Map is a result of a comprehensive process undertaken by the City of London in partnership with the London Chamber of Commerce and the London Economic Development Corporation. Five economic priorities are of focus for the Road Map, including strengthening London’s entrepreneurial network, creating a supportive business environment and a vibrant urban core, ensuring a top quality workforce, and positioning the city as a hub for medical innovation.
- Student 2 Business (S2B) – To be held on March 2nd, 2016 at the London Convention Centre, S2B is the marquee event that connects post-secondary talent to career opportunities in London, Canada. Employers, keen to connect with their future workforce, share their advice, needs and opportunities with tomorrow’s talent. For more information or to register for the event, please visit: http://www.ledc.com/s2b.
- London Tech Jobs – London’s digital creative sector is booming and has more than 1,000 open job positions. London Tech Jobs gives access to companies and their job postings, as well as community resources within London’s growing digital creative sector. Visit http://ledc.com/tech-jobs to discover who is hiring.
Our Local Workforce Development Board
Workforce Planning Boards gather intelligence about the supply of labour and the demand side of the local labour market by working with employers to identify and meet their current and emerging skills needs. The primary role is to help improve understanding of and coordinate community responses to labour market issues and needs.
The Elgin Middlesex Oxford Workforce Planning and Development Board is one of 26 organizations across the province forming the Workforce Planning Ontario network. One initiative the Workforce Board has been promoting is the EmployerOne Survey. The survey provides a way for employers to receive reliable local labour market information. It is designed to get this information while respecting employer’s confidentiality and limited time. The survey allows employers, once a year, a chance to communicate an employer’s workforce needs directly to stakeholders who provide solutions.
Visit http://www.workforcedevelopment.ca/ to learn more and explore local projects.
