National Occupational Standards

Ensuring the resilience of Canada’s electricity sector requires industry, educators, training institutions, regulatory authorities and policy makers to have an in-depth understanding of the current and forecasted competencies in a rapidly changing labour market. This includes the skills, knowledge and ability requirements of current and emerging roles. The electricity sector workforce is not a “just in time” workforce: our industry is highly educated, with most jobs requiring post-secondary education and long lead times to full competency when an employee enters a role: an average of four years to full competency on most roles.

EHRC’s National Occupational Standards (NOS) address this need by providing comprehensive skills analysis for a variety of current and emerging occupations. NOS are voluntary guidelines that have been developed with industry stakeholders to provide businesses, educators, trainers, and job seekers with practical guidance.

How Are NOS used?

Employers, employees, and educational institutions can put NOS to a wide variety of uses:

  • Supporting personnel certification or accreditation programs.
  • Informing curricula for colleges, universities and apprenticeships.
  • Assisting recruitment by informing job descriptions.
  • Providing a benchmark for employee appraisals.
  • Identifying career paths in order to promote employee retention.
  • Evaluating the competencies of potential employees, including internationally trained workers (ITWs).

Learn how to implement NOS with our How-to Guide for Employers and How-to Guide for Trainers.

Job Profiles and Resources

Acknowledgements

EHRC would like to recognize and thank the members of the steering committee that made this work possible:

  • Wesley Johnston (Chair), Vice-President, Business Development, Finance and Operations, Canadian Renewable Energy Association
  • Kathy McCrum (Vice-Chair), VP HR and Safety, SaskPower
  • Pam Rafeiro, Staff Officer, Power Workers Union
  • Jim Sponagle, Business Manager, IBEW Local 1928
  • Phil Mckay, Sr Director, Operation, Canadian Renewable Energy Association
  • Tony Scott , Lead Project Planner, NSB OMEGA/Nalcor Energy
  • Gregg Whitty, Operations Manager, Canadian Electrical Contractors Association
  • Sujeethra Shanmukarajah, Compensation Specialist, Hydro One
  • Dana Knoll, Data & Analysis Supervisor Recruitment & Diversity Department, Manitoba Hydro
  • Ben Hrabanek, HR Business Partner, Transalta
  • Bianca Sporea, Developer, On-site Generation, Transalta
  • Ashley Winslow, Sr.Human Resources Advisor – HRIS & Analytics, Fortis Alberta

This project is funded by the Government of Canada’s Sectoral Initiatives Program.