Help wanted at Cape Breton Partnership
Economic development agency hiring people for three positions
The Cape Breton Partnership is in hiring mode, having recently advertised for three new positions including a chief operating officer.
CEO Keith MacDonald said the partnership has grown in recent years, requiring the addition of the new position. Its job description indicates the chief operating office will be responsible for managing policies and procedures and setting goals for performance and growth.
“We’ve taken on a number of new initiatives and activities, all aimed at supporting businesses here in Cape Breton so the decision was made to create a new chief operations officer position to our senior team,” MacDonald said. “The COO’s role will be focused on operational activities of the Cape Breton Partnership, providing oversight to numerous projects and working closely with our staff to ensure we’re meeting the outcomes from all the various work that the partnership is advancing.”
As president and CEO, MacDonald said his own work will continue to focus on providing support to the board of directors and investors and interacting with both the business community and government officials.
The other jobs recently listed included a local immigration partnership project co-ordinator and a co-ordinator for the Cape Breton Connector program, a new program involving new graduates and newcomers.
On Monday, the province announced $100,000 to expand the connector program to the Cape Breton region. The program helps pair young people with local employers, civil servants and community leaders as they look to advance their career.
MacDonald said the connector program will allow the partnership to plan a variety of local networking events to offer opportunities and potential employment for young people. The partnership has been charged with advancing the Prosperity Framework economic strategy, which has included setting up some industry and economic development teams, and it also delivers regional enterprise network programming in the counties of Inverness, Richmond and Victoria.
It is also involved with initiatives such as Mentor Connect, which sets up startups with mentors in the same sector to help navigate the early stages of their ventures.
“We continue to plan for growing and identifying new ways to support businesses throughout Cape Breton,” MacDonald said.
The partnership has also worked with the Department of Labour and Advanced Education to support work transition programs, with more than 200 people taking part in them over the past year. MacDonald said the goal is to provide people “with some confidence and experience and workplace skills so that they can transition back into the workforce.”
The new positions are all contracts and applications closed Friday. MacDonald said they will work with a local human relations company to review the applicants the intention is to have them filled in early April.
The partnership’s chief revenue sources are dues paid by investors, which includes the public and private sector, and funding from levels of government. It currently has six core staff and 20 contract positions around Cape Breton.