BOLT Charitable Foundation

BOLT is a charitable foundation and was started by Tridel with a mandate to assist under-resourced youth to connect to careers in construction by providing access to training and employment opportunities. The BOLT Program recruits youth in priority GTA neighbourhoods. It includes facilitating live construction site visits, providing systems navigation and advocacy to address barriers to employment in the industry, employment support and job placements.

Purpose Co was contracted to review the existing BOLT job shadowing program and design and deliver customized training to BOLT program staff. The review identified current program practices that are positively contributing to successful hires and employee retention. It also identified specific opportunities to enhance or adapt current program practices in order to increase the number of people that are hired from job shadowing placements and to improve retention. Specific focus was placed on participant screening and selection, job matching, career development and employment retention (post-placement) services. In response to the findings from the program review, the staff training consisted of highly experiential methods (for example, simulation learning, opportunities for application and feedback, real-life case studies from BOLT’s experience, etc.) and current best practice research from workforce development and social work.