Setting course with the Find Your Path tool
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Ministries across the B.C. government are responding to the Digital Plan’s calls to action with new services, products and practices. We’re excited to showcase the teams working to build an inclusive, accessible and connected public service.
In today’s post, the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills demonstrates the new Find Your Path tool.
Bridging gaps with connected services
Connected services link across government to bridge service gaps and solve people’s complex problems as a whole. They play a vital role in the operations of a digital government by boosting efficiency, enhancing user experiences, promoting inclusivity and resulting in cost savings. By adhering to Mission 1 outlined in the Digital Plan, the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills (PSFS) prioritizes and delivers accessible, inclusive and connected services. This ensures that the government can meet people’s needs and remain adaptable in an evolving digital environment.
PSFS’ Digital Services Hub initiative follows the call to action of “collaborating across government to identify service gaps and opportunities for enhancing individuals’ service journeys.” The initiative focuses on streamlining the digital ecosystem for career and education seekers, to provide more intuitive and seamless user experiences.
The benefits of this approach are clear in their latest product: the Find Your Path tool.
How it started
Many students and career seekers aren’t sure what their education and career options may be, making it difficult to understand the educational or training programs that will best enable them to realize their goals. Navigating across the service ecosystem could add to this confusion and uncertainty, especially when siloed tools and resources didn’t fit together well.
PSFS had an opportunity to build a better connected service experience that helps make this journey clear and offers support to a wide variety of people, each with their own specific needs. Leveraging an in-house team of user experience (UX) researchers, content strategists and designers, the ministry has adopted a user-centric approach to enhancing the ecosystem of tools and resources, including launching the Find Your Path tool.
A path for everyone
Find Your Path is a wayfinding service designed to help people explore various education and career pathways, find relevant education programs in B.C’s public post-secondary system, and apply directly to the program of their choice. Launched in November 2023 as part of PSFS’s Digital Services Hub initiative, this tool aims to empower students and career seekers by providing personalized guidance and resources to help them make informed decisions about their future and pursue pathways aligned with their aspirations.
The team built the tool to support a wide range of possible tasks.
People exploring Find Your Path can see a wide range of information based on their interests, skills and goals. Details of possible education and training programs are provided, which are then mapped to related careers. The inverse is also true, so users can explore careers of interest to them and understand the educational pathways available.
Insights on relevant education and training programs, as well as job descriptions, salary expectations and forecasted job opportunities, enable people to navigate their journey more effectively. People can customize their education and career pathways based on their individual preferences and circumstances, and can save, compare and share options to tailor their journey to their needs.
With access to comprehensive data, students can make more informed education and career decisions.
Using the tool
From the beginning, a variety of categories and topics are available for users to explore on the home page.
People can explore categories of careers and education of interest to them, each of which include a range of different topic areas. They can then narrow their options to the area that most appeals to them, or review multiple areas before proceeding further.
When the user selects a specific category, they are then presented with two distinct types of results: career opportunities are highlighted in purple, while education opportunities are indicated in blue.
The career opportunities section presents a diverse list of potential job options, each focused on specific areas of expertise and requiring various levels of education and work experience. By clicking on the “Explore career” button, users can access detailed information about each job, including an overview, typical roles and responsibilities, common job titles, average salaries in BC and general education and experience requirements.
When a student selects one of the program options the tool provides detailed information about various college and university programs offered by different schools in BC, including program length and cost, potential job opportunities, and a customizable map of the possible educational pathways.
The path ahead
From January 1 to April 30 of 2024, the Find Your Path tool saw over 70,000 unique visits from learners connecting to post-secondary programs, training paths and careers. Building on their success, PSFS is committed to ongoing enhancements for the entirety of the Digital Services Hub ecosystem. WorkBC.ca, StudentAidBC, EducationPlannerBC and the BC Council on Admissions & Transfer are key areas of focus for the project team. Ongoing collaboration between these business areas is paramount to the ongoing success of this work, and a cross-representative steering committee provides strategic direction and ensures alignment with user needs and expectations.
The team is leveraging past insights while conducting ongoing research to understand the needs and expectations of their diverse user base. Recommendations to improve the ecosystem are being actioned with a focus on intuitiveness, consistency and utility.
PSFS is also dedicated to integrating Indigenous perspectives and ensuring accessibility for newcomers to B.C. and Canada within this initiative.
Overall, the Digital Services Hub initiative aims to continue improving consistency and coordination among diverse digital assets, and helping people in B.C. as they seek education and career opportunities.