Workplace Ed. Training Programs

Workplaced Education Programs are sponsored by:

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2024 Fall Workplace Education Courses Open Now

Registration for the 2024 Fall Courses is open now, stay tuned for more updates! For more information, please contact Susan Fox at membership@straitareachamber.ca or call 902-625-1588.

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Funding Program/Data Collection Note: Certificate programs are funded through the Workplace Education Initiative of NS Labour and Advanced Education. As a result, data collection is required at the beginning of your participation in any one of these programs through a Workplace Education Service Registration Intake Form.  For more information on the program and collection of data, check out the FAQ, or review our Collection, Input and Disposal of Personal Information Policy Statement.  Contact us for more details.

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Courses Descriptions

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Below is the list of all the courses that the Strait Area Chamber of Commerce offers in partnership with the Nova Scotia Labour and Advance Education. Click on the course name to view its description or scroll the page. Every season a new line up of courses are offered according to the need and demand of the Business Community. If you cannot find a course that best suits your needs, contact us at 902-6215-1588 or info@straitareachamber.ca

Business 101 (Achieve Business Growth and Profitability)
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    • Define your strategic position
    • Complete SWOT analysis
    • Identify your guiding principles
    • Define your positioning statement
    • Cultivate a safety culture throughout your business
    • Define key elements of a marketing strategy
    • Assess the competitive landscape
    • Define your product/service offerings
    • Develop & strengthen distribution channels
    • Assess your promotional strategy
    • Understand fundamental pricing terminology
    • Identify profitable pricing strategies
    • Assess your Cost of Goods Sold and profit margin
    • Define team building and characteristics of high functioning teams

  • Define fundamental HR practices
  • Principles of running an effective meeting
  • Prioritizing, delegating and effective time management
  • Define the project planning cycle
  • Develop work breakdown schedule

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This course is for businesses, especially trades-based businesses, to help them define strategies to help their businesses grow. This course creates stronger and more resilient businesses and forms part of the certification for the Atlantic Trade Business Skills Certification for journeymen.

Computer Tools for Business (Cloud for Business)

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    • Free storage on cloud services
    • Automating backups to cloud
    • Sharing Documents via cloud services
    • Collaborating and group work via Cloud sharing
    • Creating pdfs
    • Free business apps
    • Office Suite and Open Office via the cloud

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This course is for people who are looking to find cost-effective ways to improve efficiency in their business – great for people on the move!

Customer Service Excellence in a Multigenerational Marketplace

    • Identifying customer service standards for great service
    • Applying best practices for evaluating customer service
    • Developing strategies for communicating with customers
    • Identifying and navigating “moments of truth”
    • Managing difficult customer situations
    • Continuous improvement strategies for customer service across the generations
    • Customer service models
    • Building a superior customer service culture
    • The RATER model
    • Setting, managing and exceeding customer expectations
    • Service standards and evaluations
    • Trust and the customer service relationship
    • Effective listening skills for customer service
    • Email techniques for customer service
    • The seven types of challenging customers
    • The role of professionalism in customer service

  • Phrases to use and to avoid
  • Navigating difficult customer situations
  • Reducing customer turnover
  • How different generations prefer to be served as customers

E-Commerce Solutions for Small Business

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    • Course Details and Concepts
    • Choosing an Ecommerce Platform, what are the options
    • Products. Creating a product model, sourcing, pricing, marketing, stock management
    • Customers. Migrating current customers, understanding your customer’s needs, choosing a CRM system.
    • Order Process. What business rules do you need to have in place, or change?

  • Platforms: Facebook Store, Etsy Store, Pinterest Store, Instagram Store, Twitter Store, Shopify Store, Kijiji Options, Drop Shippers and Bulk Digital Sales

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This course is for people who are either beginning to sell online, or want to improve how they sell products online, through existing eCommerce solutions.

Financial Management

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    • Accounting definitions
    • Financial Tools- deposit book, sales invoices, payment devices, online storage, log book, online payroll calculator
    • Role of the auditor and audit proofing
    • Financial Organization- controlling, protecting, organizing paper flow, storage
    • Basic Bookkeeping- debits, credits, journal entries, different options for accounting systems
    • Basic financial statement –income statements and how to read, prepare and improve them
    • Government Reporting- requirements, process of completing
    • Tax issues and the process of filing taxes
    • Computerization Options- Sage 50, QuickBooks, mobile applications
    • Pricing of products and services
    • Budgeting A-Z- personal requirements, budget for business, excel spreadsheet introduction (prepare manually)
    • Cash Flow projection
    • Financial Analysis –liquidity, solvency, turnovers and comparison to industry standards

  • Accounting Activity- review of all concepts

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This course is for businesses, especially trades-based businesses, to help them improve the overall financial management of their business. This course forms part of the certification for the Atlantic Trade Business Skills Certification for journeymen.

Human Resource Essentials

      • Building a staffing strategy
      • Identify HR needs
      • Develop organizational chart
      • The Hiring Process
      • Create Job Analysis, Job Specification, and Job Description
      • Develop recruitment strategy
      • Design job postings, interview and selection process
      • Design Performance Management System – goals, appraisals, disciple, termination, exit interviews

    • Human Resource Best Practices
    • Create and design personnel files, employee policies, procedures, training practices
    • Create employee friendly work cultures
  • Lead and manage meetings
  • Design a Succession Planning process – goals, role of record keeping and key questions and decisions

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This course is for businesses, especially trades-based businesses, to help them develop efficient and effective human resource strategies that will directly impact their ability to attract, manage and retain employees. This course forms part of the certification for the Atlantic Trade Business Skills Certification for journeymen.

Leadership Communications (Level 1)

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    • Create and Inspire Motivation on a Team
    • Define your Strengths
    • Hold a Difficult Conversation
    • Keys to Leading and Impacting Others
    • Motivating Others
    • Influence how others see you

  • Sharpen your elevator pitch

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This course is for people who are looking to build confidence, influence the way they are viewed by others, and influence the motivation of others.

Marketing for Business

    • Define & Identify core components of a marketing strategy
    • Identify the USP (unique selling proposition)
    • Create a positioning statement
    • Develop target market
    • Create a value proposition
    • Develop marketing objectives
    • Gathering and analyzing data using the four main primary research methods

  • Develop pricing strategies for each product in the product line
  • Define costing terminology
  • Identify components of a promotional campaign
  • Determine the marketing budget

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This course is for businesses, especially trades-based businesses, to help them define strategies to market their business. This course forms part of the certification for the Atlantic Trade Business Skills Certification for journeymen.

MS Excel for Business

    • Business Tips and Essential Excel Tools
    • Creating Budgets and Forecasting

  • Creating Formulas / Absolute Cell Referencing
  • Creating Interactive spreadsheets for your business

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This course is for beginners or normal excel users who want to learn how to build effective spreadsheets for their company

MS Office Suite

    • More effectively use MS Excel, Outlook, Word, OneNote, OneDrive
    • Exploring the Screen and Standard Toolbar and Ribbon Tools
    • Templates, Editing Tools, Copy and Paste Options
    • Simple Formulas, Functions and Conditional Formatting
    • Date, Accounting, Numbers, Currency, Percentages
    • Printing – Single sheet, portion of sheet, all sheets, Fit to page, Page Break Preview, Lock Headings at top of printouts on multiple sheets
    • Setting up, navigating, sending and receiving messages
    • Inserting tables, graphics, and images to emails in Outlook
    • Using Folders and Rules for better email organization

  • Managing multiple calendars
  • Working with documents, navigating, editing text and formatting
  • Using mail merge with MS Excel
  • Setting up, navigating and storing files
  • Utilizing OneNote with internet browsers
  • Differences between Google Drive and OneDrive

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This course is for businesses who want to improve their skills and maximize the benefit of their MS Office Suite to increase efficiency, improve communication, and increase productivity.

SAGE Accounting (Level 1)

    • Foundations of Accounting
    • Accounts Receivable / Accounts Payable
    • Inventory and Services
    • Bank Reconciliation
    • Year-End Procedures
    • Financial Statement

  • Setting Up your books for the first time or auditing a setup that is already in use

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This course is for people who are looking to increase efficiency and reduce time spent on bookkeeping in their business by using an electronic accounting system, and for people who need a variety of financial reporting tools.

SAGE Accounting (Level 2)
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    • Review Financial Foundation Concepts (Financial Statements, Receipts, Invoices, Book-keeping Basics)
    • Configuration – Customizing each Module: Company, Receivables, Payables, Payroll, Inventory
    • Tax Codes – Changing Taxes and Customizing Codes
    • Inventory – Setup, Adding Items, Combining Items, Adjusting Items
    • Inventory –Process Journals Entries involving Inventory Items
    • Payroll – Journal Entries and Reporting
    • Financial Statements – Columns, Hidden Items, Dates, and other features

  • Government reporting- Location, Forms, Print Options
  • Bank Reconciliations
  • Preparing for Year End
  • Making Adjustments to Books

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This course is for people who are looking to increase efficiency and reduce time spent on bookkeeping in their business by using an electronic accounting system, and for people who need a variety of financial reporting tools.

Social Media for Business (Level 1)

    • Facebook Business Accounts
    • Creating great posts for your business
    • Build and Track Brand Loyalty for your business
    • Tracking your insights and creating a success plan
    • Advertising on Facebook
    • Create online strategies to engage your customers

  • Introduction to Social Media Management software PostCron

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This course requires you to have administrative rights to your Facebook & Twitter account if they exist and you will spent $10 in advertising. You MUST already have a personal Facebook account

Social Media for Business (Level 2)
Prerequisite:  Participants MUST have taken Social Media Level 1
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    • Creating a YouTube Channel for your business
    • Creating and editing media
    • Creating and using a media manager for all your online content using PostCron

  • Creating and using a strategy for the 5 categories of posts

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This course requires you to have administrative rights to your Facebook & Twitter account and you will spend $20 in social media features.

Transformational Leadership

Prerequisite: Participants MUST have taken Leadership Communications (Level 1)

  • Foundations of Leadership
  • Leadership Styles/Supervising Styles
  • Applying effective management techniques contingent on the appropriate situation
  • Becoming an Employer of Choice
  • Supervising/coaching/mentoring/supporting/directing
  • Effectively leading a change process in the workplace
  • Demonstrating the characteristics of trust / Anatomy of Trust
  • Developing a strategic plan
  • Applying the five levels of leadership
  • Building a highly functioning team
  • Applying Covey’s seven habits when leading others in the workplace
  • Change Management
  • Maxwell’s Model
  • Maxwell’s Laws of Teamwork
  • Covey’s Seven Habits / Principle Centered Leadership

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This course is for businesses who are interested in developing strong leadership strategies in their workplace, resulting in highly effective and productive teams.

Course Testimonials

Your Success is Our Success.