Pools

The EAW Pool is a group of candidates who have been pre-assessed and are ready to be referred to Hiring Managers in the Ministry of Social Development.  If you have recently applied to one of our EAW Pool postings you can expect an email notification on whether or not your application successfully screened in. 

When a position becomes available, the Recruitment Consultant will work with the designated Hiring Manager to match pre-qualified candidates to the role. As vacancies arise in the locations you identified, you may be contacted to complete further assessment.

Our process involves contacting you via e-mail to confirm your interest. You will have 48 hours to respond to the email if you are interested.  We will then provide you with more information about the position and final assessment (i.e. an interview and/or testing, and reference checks).

EAW Pools will be in effect for approximately 4 months. After this time they will be disbanded and reposted.  As a hiring team, we make every effort to keep our EAW Pools current to ensure applicants remain interested in the locations and current opportunities.  Re-posting on a regular basis provides us with an opportunity to update pools and also allows more opportunity for applicants to apply and update their applications.

Individual Postings

Individual postings (non EAW Pool) will continue to appear on the Job Opportunity website for vacancies at specific locations throughout the province.  Vacancies for these types of postings are part of the standard competitive process used throughout the BC Public Service.  (They are not part of a pooling process.) You will need to apply for individual postings that appear on the Job Opportunity website.

EAW Recruitment Practice Guidelines:

1. Your failure to respond to correspondence or show up for assessment and selection processes will indicate to the recruitment team you are no longer interested in EAW opportunities and you will be deemed to have withdrawn your application from any further consideration.
2. Applicants who re-apply within 6 months of an unsuccessful online pre-employment test will not be eligible to re-write the test.
3. Applicants who re-apply within 6 months of an unsuccessful final assessment (ie: interview and/or reference check) may not be eligible for further consideration. This is effective the date of your regret notification.
4. Pool Specific: Applicants may decline one opportunity for assessment. A second decline will indicate to the recruitment team you are no longer interested in EAW pool opportunities and you will be deemed to have withdrawn your application from any further consideration.
5. Pool Specific: We are actively recruiting for EAW positions and do not accept requests to place applications on hold. If you are not available for the EAW pool at this time, your application will not be considered further. 
6. Pool Specific: Applicants who decline an offer of employment will be removed from the EAW competition and will not be placed back in the pool.

Applicants are welcome and encouraged to re-apply on future EAW pools and/or individual competitions when they are readily available for assessment and available to start work. 

For a detailed list of EAW offices by location, view this map.

Frequently Asked Questions:

1. Where can I find more information about the role of an EAW?

You can find out more about the role of an Employment Assistant Worker by going to our website.

2. What is the salary range for the Employment and Assistance Worker position?

The EAW Position is a “Growth Position” which means the compensation levels are progressive through an eight level pay grid based on pre-determined criteria and levels of experience. The salary range is from $38,588.68 to $49,015.79 annually.

3. Is a Criminal Record Check required for an EAW position?

Yes. The requirement to complete a Criminal Record Check (CRC) is based on the requirements of the position. If you are offered an EAW position you will be asked to complete the appropriate CRC paperwork.

4. How do I submit my profile/resume?

Check out How to Apply on the Employment Opportunities Website or watch our video for a step by step guide. 

5. I am already in the EAW Pool, how do I update my profile and resume in the Recruitment System?

Check out How to Apply on the Employment Opportunities Website or visit our video for a step by step guide.

6. I have recently moved and my contact information has changed, whom should I notify?

Please access the Career Centre on our employment opportunities website and please update your resume and profile with your current information.  

7. Once I am in the pool, how long will it take to get a position?

This is dependent on the Ministry of Social Development’s current hiring needs. The pool is created to fill future EAW opportunities for the Ministry of Social Development and as there are always a large number of successful candidates it can take some time to move through the process.

8. Will I be contacted before I am referred to a position?

Yes. The Hiring Centre will contact you to confirm your interest before referring you to a position.

9. Can I be referred to more than one position at the same time?No.

10. If I am referred to a position, can I decline the referral and still remain in the pool?

See EAW Pool Practice Guidelines above for the answer.

11. If I am screened out from consideration for the EAW Pool, will I receive notification?

Yes. You will receive an email notification if you have been screened out.

12. If I am screened out from consideration for the EAW Pool, will my profile remain in the recruitment system?

Yes. Once you have set up your profile, it will remain in the recruitment system allowing you to apply to other opportunities as they are posted.

13. Is there a time limit or expiry on the EAW Pool?

An EAW pool will be evaluated to determine expiration timelines based on meeting the hiring needs of the Ministry of Social Development. Applicants will be notified via email when a pool has expired.

14. Once a pool expires can I re-apply?

Yes, if you are notified that a pool has expired, you may re-apply to the next EAW Pool posting.

*Tip: To ensure you are notified about all future EAW pool postings, we recommend you set up a personal job search agent to alert you to this and to other job opportunities you might be interested in applying for. Please visit the Career Advisor blog to view a video about setting up a specific job search.

15. Do I have to wait a certain period of time before I can re-apply?

No each posting is considered a new intake process. Please note if you failed the online pre-employment test you must wait 6 months before re-applying.

16. What is the online pre-employment test?

This is an online skills assessment candidates are given 2 hours to complete.  It measures analytical thinking abilities, applicants ability to solve problems and job-relevant personality traits related to the ministry’s core competencies.  

17. Are candidates provided information to study for the online pre-employment test?

No

18. Does the online pre-employment test also test for Word, Excel or other computer applications? 

No

19. If I fail the online pre-employment test, can I re-apply?

You must wait 6 months following your unsuccessful result before applying to a new posting.

20. I am having difficulty using the BC Public Service recruitment system, who should I contact?

Please click here to access our help resources.

Thank you for your interest in the Employment and Assistance Worker position with the Ministry of Social Development.

Contact Us for questions on this process, please leave us a message by clicking on the title of this blog. We will be happy to provide you with a response (note: your message will not be posted to this site).

Our Career Advisors are also available Monday-Friday, 8:30am to 4:30pm PST.

Thank you and please continue to visit this site for further updates.

The EAW Pool Recruitment Team
The Hiring Centre
BC Public Service Agency

 If you are not currently a BC Public Service employee start by selecting “Not a BC Public Service Employee” from our home page.

1. Select “Submit Resume” to begin.
2. Complete the next page with as much detail as possible.  Fields in red are required in order to submit your profile.
3. Upload your resume – there are two ways to do this:

a)      If you have a resume in electronic format such as PDF or MS Word, you can upload it to our Recruitment System by selecting “Upload your Resume”.

b)      Or, you can also copy text from an existing document and paste into the “Your Resume” field in your online profile.  You can also type a summary of your employment history, job skills, qualifications and education in the “Resume” field in your resume profile.

     4.    Before completing your online profile, tell us if you would like to be considered for other career opportunities which match your qualifications.  Also, please click “I Accept”      after reading the “Statement of Understanding”.

You will receive an email notification to confirm your profile creation detailing your username and password.

 If you are a BC Public Service employee, your base profile has been created on the Employment Opportunities site, and will require you to complete the required fields (in red) and upload your resume if you would like to apply for posted position.

1. Through the “Employee Portal” click on “Employee Access”.
2. Click on “Edit my Internal Profile”.
3. Fill in the red fields and add your resume to the “Your Resume” field
4. Be sure to tell us if you would like to be considered for other career opportunities (bottom of page) and also to click “I Accept” after reading the “Statement of Understanding”.  Click on the “Save” button.

You will receive a message in red at the top of the next page that says “Success!  Your internal profile has been updated”.

 If you have any questions regarding this process, please call one of the Career Advisors at 1-888-944-3327, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., or email us at TM.Mailbox.Talk.to.us@gov.bc.ca.

The first question is easy: Starting now and continuing into February, co-op jobs will be posted on our Employment Opportunities Website along with all the other government jobs. You can find them by searching under the “Student” job category in the Quick Job Search page. The posting will list all the pertinent application and qualification details and state which faculty(ies), if any, you must be registered in to apply for the job.

There will likely be a fair amount of response to these postings so be sure to take the time necessary to ensure your application looks its best. As to the “How many?” question, there is no way of knowing. Each ministry oversees its own co-op opportunities based on its present staffing and budgetary needs, so quite literally, what you see is what we have.

Co-op jobs are an outstanding way for students to gain exposure to a professional government work environment, make great contacts and populate your resume with some valuable experience. If you have further questions give me a call, or post a question right here on the blog by clicking on the title above.

1. The profile you have when you apply to a job is the profile we receive for that job. In other words, once you’ve applied you cannot revise your resume for that specific job. Trying to remove yourself from consideration because you submitted the wrong resume won’t work either because once you’ve retracted your application you cannot reapply for it. This is why it is so important to craft your resume first, make sure it is targeted for the position you are applying for, and then hit the “apply” button. After that you are welcome to revise your resume for another position as many times as you wish.
2. On the subject of crafting that resume profile, a lot of callers have had this experience: They write their resume up in Microsoft Word, then cut and paste into the field in their online profile. However, instead of a nice formatted resume they get a bunch of HTML formatting code that looks like the dog chased the cat across your keyboard. Understandably the caller gets concerned that their resume will look awful and it will cost them the job they’re applying for. Rest easy, this isn’t the case. Despite what you may see, from our end things normally look just fine, and if a few stray lines of code appear it will not influence how we evaluate your resume. A tip to avoid the HTML code appearing however would be to cut your resume out of Microsoft Word, then paste it into a simple text application like Notepad on the PC or TextEdit on your Mac to strip out the HTML coding. Copying the text from that simpletext application into the online profile should remove all that unsightly code.

Hope that answers some of your questions, and please keep those calls and letters coming.

Cheers,

Pat