New website chat bot helps Grand Erie job seekers connect with local work

A new chat bot featured on the Workforce Planning Board of Grand Erie’s website helps job seekers quickly find local employment opportunities and career resources by answering questions and guiding users to tools such as job listings, resume builders and labour market information.

Paris Independent Staff

Staff Contribution

Job seekers in Brantford and surrounding communities have a new digital tool to help them connect with local employment opportunities.

The Workforce Planning Board of Grand Erie has launched a chat bot on its website designed to help people quickly find jobs and access career-related resources, including resume tools, wage information and training pathways.

“Thousands of area residents already know our job board is the go-to source to see local jobs, but they may be unfamiliar with the many other useful resources they can access,” said executive director Danette Dalton. “The chat bot provides a quick, easy way to find information tailored to a person’s questions and needs.”

Dalton said the planning board has introduced about 15 online tools over the past five years, with roughly a dozen forming part of its Grand Erie Jobs toolkit. Together, the tools allow users to explore career options, identify in-demand occupations, review local wage data, create basic resumes and learn more about apprenticeships and skilled trades.

Additional resources include a Newcomers Gateway that lists supports for people new to the region, as well as tools for employers, such as a recently launched Business Resource Toolkit.

“The chat bot can help people maximize these resources,” Dalton said, noting it also enhances services for residents of Brantford, Brant County, Haldimand, Norfolk, Six Nations of the Grand River and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.

The chat bot responds instantly to questions typed by website visitors, using pre-approved information developed by the planning board and refined through user testing. It is not staffed by a live person and does not generate new information on its own, instead providing consistent answers based on existing content.

The project was developed in collaboration with Fahad Sheikh, a student in the UX design program at Wilfrid Laurier University Brantford. The initiative is part of an Employment Ontario project funded in part by the governments of Canada and Ontario.

The Workforce Planning Board of Grand Erie is one of 25 non-profit organizations across Ontario that provide leadership in labour force planning at the community level.