Atlantic Trade Business Seal

Atlantic Trade Business Seal (ATBS)

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The Atlantic Trades Business Seal Program is a continuing education program for Atlantic journeypersons to advance their business and leadership skills and to gain regional career mobility. The seal can prepare journeypersons to take over a managerial role at their company or to start their own business. For journeypersons who are already business owners, the program can help them develop the skills needed to take their business to the next level.
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You can achieve your Blue Seal by taking each of the following Workplace Education programs – Financial Management, Business 101, Marketing for Business, and Human Resource Essentials. Although the courses are specifically designed to help journeypersons attain this certification, please note that these courses are open to anyone interested in increasing their skills in these areas!
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In rural areas, ATBS courses will be predominately delivered through the regular Workplace Education small business programs. Participants will be able to take the four programs over a period of time as it works with their schedules. Like all of the Workplace Education programs delivered by the Chamber, these programs are completely FREE, and are supported by NS Labour and Advanced Education.  In more urban areas, journeypersons would be required to pay for these types of courses through institutions such as the NSCC.
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Each year, the Strait Area Chamber provides the business community across the region with between 15-20 certificate skills development programs, and we are very excited to be adding the “Blue Seal” certification programs to our roster!  Programs are offered in groups 3-5 times per year at convenient times.  (All training programs are held at 609 Church Street in Port Hawkesbury unless otherwise indicated).

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Contact us today to find out more or to register!

Email info@straitareachamber.ca or call 902-625-1588. 

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Scroll Down for ATBS Course Descriptions!

Current Course Offerings Underway Now!

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Course Descriptions – Atlantic Trades Blue Seal

Financial Management

• Accounting definitions
• Financial Tools- deposit book, sales invoices, payment devices, online storage, log book, online payroll calculator
• Role of the auditor and audit proofing
• Financial Organization- controlling, protecting, organizing paper flow, storage
• Basic Bookkeeping- debits, credits, journal entries, different options for accounting systems
• Basic financial statement –income statements and how to read, prepare and improve them
• Government Reporting- requirements, process of completing
• Tax issues and the process of filing taxes
• Computerization Options- Sage 50, QuickBooks, mobile applications
• Pricing of products and services
• Budgeting A-Z- personal requirements, budget for business, excel spreadsheet introduction (prepare manually)
• Cash Flow projection
• Financial Analysis –liquidity, solvency, turnovers and comparison to industry standards
• Accounting Activity- review of all concepts

This course is for businesses, especially trades-based businesses, to help them improve the overall financial management of their business. This course forms part of the certification for the Atlantic Trade Business Skills Certification for journeypersons.

Human Resource Essentials

• Building a staffing strategy
• Identify HR needs
• Develop organizational chart
• The Hiring Process
• Create Job Analysis, Job Specification, and Job Description
• Develop recruitment strategy
• Design job postings, interview and selection process
• Design Performance Management System – goals, appraisals, disciple, termination, exit interviews
• Human Resource Best Practices
• Create and design personnel files, employee policies, procedures, training practices
• Create employee friendly work cultures
• Lead and manage meetings
• Design a Succession Planning process – goals, role of record keeping and key questions and decisions

This course is for businesses, especially trades-based businesses, to help them develop efficient and effective human resource strategies that will directly impact their ability to attract, manage and retain employees. This course forms part of the certification for the Atlantic Trade Business Skills Certification for journeypersons.

Marketing for Business

• Define & Identify core components of a marketing strategy
• Identify the USP (unique selling proposition)
• Create a positioning statement
• Develop target markets
• Create a value proposition
• Develop marketing objectives
• Gathering and analyzing data using the four main primary research methods
• Develop pricing strategies for each product in the product line
• Define costing terminology
• Identify components of a promotional campaign
• Determine the marketing budget

This course is for businesses, especially trades-based businesses, to help them define strategies to market their business. This course forms part of the certification for the Atlantic Trade Business Skills Certification for journeypersons.

Business Skills 101 (Achieve Business Growth and Profitability)

• Define your strategic position
• Complete SWOT analysis
• Identify your guiding principles
• Define your positioning statement
• Cultivate a safety culture throughout your business
• Define key elements of a marketing strategy
• Assess the competitive landscape
• Define your product/service offerings
• Develop & strengthen distribution channels
• Assess your promotional strategy
• Understand fundamental pricing terminology
• Identify profitable pricing strategies
• Assess your Cost of Goods Sold and profit margin
• Define team building and characteristics of high functioning teams
• Define fundamental HR practices
• Principles of running an effective meeting
• Prioritizing, delegating and effective time management
• Define the project planning cycle
• Develop work breakdown schedule

This course is for businesses, especially trades-based businesses, to help them define strategies to help their businesses grow. This course creates stronger and more resilient businesses and forms part of the certification for the Atlantic Trade Business Skills Certification for journeypersons.