Main objective
To increase small- and medium-sized enterprises’ (SME) adaptability, enabling SME employers to determine whether prospective talent has the skills and abilities to work in a cleanroom environment through an industry-validated certification practical assessment.
The project objectives are to:
- Address the talent shortage within sterile cleanroom environments by building a pipeline of qualified talent with industry-validated cleanroom competencies.
- Provide a clear and structured path for cleanroom skills training.
- Enhance the capacity of Canada’s SMEs to identify and select candidates with the requisite cleanroom skills.
- Help SME employers assess and recognize skills in the labour market and eliminate skills mismatches.
- Promote inclusivity in the bio-manufacturing industry by integrating Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (IDEA) into the design of the certification practical assessment.
Timeline:
April 15, 2024 to September 30, 2024
Industry need
BioTalent Canada’s 2021 LMI forecasts that 65,000 more workers are needed in the bio-economy by 2029. Industry research and consensus confirm one of the largest gaps in terms of skilled talent is working in a sterile cleanroom – a critical component of any bio-manufacturing facility.
Maintaining product quality and safety is paramount in bio-manufacturing. Cleanrooms prevent contamination of sensitive products. Unfortunately, there is a lack of qualified cleanroom workers with the required specialized skills and no way for SME employers to assess whether jobseekers have the necessary cleanroom skills prior to hiring them, resulting in skills mismatches.
Training and certification are important factors needed to build a strong pipeline of talent capable of working in cleanrooms. Building a practical certification assessment to demonstrate that an individual has acquired the practical skills for working in a cleanroom will enable SMEs to hire skilled talent, thereby overcoming talent shortages.
Project Description
The industry-validated practical certification assessment for working in a cleanroom environment will be created through the following steps:
- BioTalent Canada will develop a certification assessment framework based on the National Skills Standard from their previous Future Skills Centre project. At this stage, subject matter experts will be consulted to create a blueprint for the certification assessment.
- A comprehensive bank of questions, tasks and scenarios will be crafted so that candidates can effectively showcase their acquisition and application of learned competencies.
- The resulting questions and scenarios will undergo validation by a larger group, including experts from equity-deserving groups, to ensure accuracy, fairness and alignment with industry standards.
- Finally, a scoring method and rubric will be created to guide assessors in effectively evaluating the candidates.
Eventually, the practical assessment for certification will enable candidates to build competencies for working in a cleanroom environment and help SME employers gauge whether the talent they’re hiring has the skills and abilities needed. For more information about the project, please contact Adriana Saenz at [email protected].
Addressing Talent Shortages in Biomanufacturing Cleanrooms through a Practical Certification Assessment is funded by the Government of Canada’ Future Skills Centre.
