Sheridan partners with ThirdQuarter to offer Smart Skills workshops for Older Adults

Sheridan’s Faculty of Continuing and Professional Studies has teamed up with ThirdQuarter to offer a specially-designed series of workshops aimed at older adults.  Entitled 21^st Century SmartSkills®, the workshop series focuses on the knowledge, skills, work habits and character traits that have been deemed to be critically important in today’s workplace.

The workshops are being presented at Sheridan’s Hazel McCallion Campus in Mississauga as a series of three modules, comprised of seven sessions each.  The first series focuses on Smart Thinking Skills and the foundations of personal, professional and workplace success.  Series Two is aimed at improving Problem Solving and Communications Skills, while Series Three will develop Collaboration and Team Work Skills.  The first series launched on October 7.

ThirdQuarter was founded in 2010 as a service to bring together experienced job candidates in Canada who are 45+ with companies and organizations.  Today, they connect with 14,000 job seekers every week.  According to Sue Barkman, President and CEO, the agency has achieved an 80% placement rate. 

‘We recognize the growing importance of ‘soft skills’ in today’s workplace, which is why we have teamed up with Sheridan to offer this series of workshops to our clients,” says Barkman.  ThirdQuarter is sponsoring the first and second round of workshops for 30 of its clients, and will be following up with an independent survey to determine their effectiveness.  “Ultimately, we hope to be able to offer these workshops to our clients across Canada,” she said.

Michael Cassidy, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Continuing and Professional Studies, worked with ThirdQuarter to develop the workshop series.  “Now more than ever, it’s generally accepted that we all need to embrace ongoing learning to find our way into our future,” he says.  “In today’s economy, workers need a high level of adaptability and versatility, and these skills are learnable – as these workshops will demonstrate.”

To learn more about ThirdQuarter, visit www. Thirdquarter.ca.  For more information on learning opportunities offered by the Faculty of Continuing and Professional Studies, visit:  https://caps.sheridancollege.ca/