First Work is Ontario’s employment network and association group responsible for convening, researching, and advocating for employment service providers and the jobseekers they serve.

Explore First Work Membership

First Work convenes the sector for knowledge sharing of best practices, offering organic professional development in regional specific groupings.

Explore Training Opportunities

First Work trains the employment service providers who comprise our publicly funded workforce development sector in Ontario.

Explore Research

First Work research supports evidence-led approaches for equitable employment to inform policy decisions.

Explore Advocacy

First Work advocates for a sustainable employment services delivery network and the jobseekers served through these critical public services.

Sector Engagement

First Work gives organizations and professionals access to services designed to support all perspectives of government relations, regional needs, and local priorities. We provide tools and resources to help members save time, eliminate guesswork and ensure equitable service delivery to all jobseekers, regardless of the barriers they face or where they live in Ontario.

  • Advocacy & Government Affairs
  • Regional Targeted Priorities
  • Top Industry Trends and Issues

Amplify your voice.

Workforce Development Innovations

First Work tackles complex employment-related challenges and identifies new, innovative solutions. Bringing together the various actors that shape workforce development policy; we advance, test, and leverage new approaches for better outcomes.

  • Emerging Service Approaches
  • Program Innovation Pilots
  • Information & Technology Integration

Learn with us.

Strategic Collaboration

First work creates partnerships and strategic alliances to leverage our ability to address employment challenges and increase our collective impact. We identify and secure partners who share our commitment to young people and newcomers and their employment journey.

  • Public, Private, and Non-Profit Partnerships
  • Research & Evaluation
  • Mobilization & Partnership Agreements

Join the conversation.

Knowledge Advancement

First Work provides learning and professional development opportunities tailored to youth engagement, workforce development and industry professionals. We host conferences and educational events to strengthen the capacity of the sector.

  • Conference & Learning Exchanges
  • Community of Practice
  • Credentialing & Certifications

Explore our signature initiatives.

Cultivating Talent

First Work engages with Employers to provide sustainable employment solutions by discovering career pathways, creating youth friendly workplaces, articulating skill requirements, and connecting jobseekers, especially youth and newcomers, to the local economy.

  • Labour Mobility Pathways
  • School-to-Work Transition
  • Fostering Entrepreneurship

Discover evidence-led policy.