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Corporate Connections Program

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Corporate Connections Program

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Empower Your Workforce, Amplify Your Brand

The Corporate Connections Program is a complimentary corporate outreach initiative by OACETT to replace the 360 Partnership Program. This program is tailored for HR managers and executive leadership looking to develop their technical talent and elevate their company’s profile in the engineering technology community. It offers a win-win solution: your organization supports staff certification, professional development, and volunteerism, and in return, gains enhanced visibility, networking access, and recruitment advantages across OACETT’s 21,000+ members. By aligning with OACETT’s motto “Our Certification | Your Success,” participating companies demonstrate their commitment to excellence while reaping tangible benefits in talent growth and industry recognition.

Key Program Objectives


1. Employee Certification & Lunch-and-Learn Sessions

Guiding and encouraging your employees to become OACETT-certified (C.Tech., C.E.T.), adding a layer of resilience and expertise to your teams. We do this by offering complimentary lunch-and learn sessions, which provide details about how your employees can become certified, the support provided by our certification team, and how this will bring value to your organization. 

Find out more below! 

At the heart of Corporate Connections is a commitment to help your staff achieve OACETT certification. OACETT will provide on-site or virtual “Lunch and Learn” sessions tailored to your organization’s schedule. These interactive seminars educate your employees and HR team on how to get staff certified as a Certified Technician (C.Tech.) or Certified Engineering Technologist (C.E.T.) and why it matters. We demystify the certification process – explaining requirements, timelines, and highlighting the benefits of certification for individuals and employers (e.g. validated skills, adherence to industry standards, enhanced project credibility). We also explain the additional benefits OACETT members gain beyond becoming certified including perks and access to invaluable volunteer and networking opportunities. 

As a Corporate Connection partner, you’ll have a direct line to OACETT’s member services for personalized guidance. This might include consultation on assessing assistance with group applications or answering one-on-one questions from your team. Our goal is to make it convenient for your staff to pursue certification. We can even help you establish an internal “certification roadmap” or member-in-training program for new graduates and junior staff, ensuring a pipeline of certified professionals within your ranks. 

Investing time in your employees’ certification pays off. Certified technologists and technicians bring up-to-date knowledge, proven competencies, and a commitment to a professional code of ethics into their work.

Randstad 2025 Skills in Engineering Report identifies OACETT certification as being in high demand alongside key technical skills such as AutoCAD, project management, and health and safety. This means your encouragement of certification can be a selling point in recruitment and a mark of quality on your projects. Corporate Connections helps your team attain these credentials through lunch-and-learns and ongoing support, strengthening your company’s technical capabilities. 

2. Brand Exposure & Recognition

Showcasing your company’s brand, projects, and people to a targeted audience of engineers, technicians, technologists, government, and academic stakeholders. Joining the Corporate Connections Program unlocks extensive branding and marketing exposure to OACETT’s audience of technology professionals, educators, industry leaders, and stakeholders. 

Your company can showcase its brand, services, and success stories through multiple channels: 

Take advantage of sponsorship opportunities at OACETT events, from local chapter events to the high-profile Annual Conference and Awards Gala. As a partner, you receive priority access and discounted rates to sponsor or host booths at these events, putting your name in front of attendees that include hundreds of certified engineering technologists, applied science professionals, government officials, and key college faculty demonstrating industry leadership. You can also collaborate with OACETT chapters to host technical tours or professional development talks at your facilities, positioning your company as a thought leader locally. 

Enjoy visibility in OACETT’s publications, which reach tens of thousands of readers. Our quarterly magazine, The Ontario Technologist (OT), circulates to over 22,500 members, partners, and colleges. As a Corporate Connection partner, you can contribute to the content by submitting a success story or profile of one of your certified employees to be featured or by placing a branded article showcasing your organization’s innovations or a special project. We also maintain a digital edition of the OT magazine with interactive content.  Partners can embed videos or links in their stories, leveraging an average of 17,000 page views per issue. All content is further amplified via OACETT’s social media. In short, your brand story gets told through trusted industry channels, lending credibility and wide exposure. 

OACETT’s website and social platforms will actively promote our Corporate Connection partners. Our website (over 10,000 users and 48,500 page views per month) will list your company logo and profile in a special partners section, acknowledging your commitment to certification.  

OACETT’s Awards Gala not only honors individual and corporate achievements but also serves as an elite networking night. Partners enjoy discounted sponsorship packages for the gala and preference in purchasing event tables. Bringing your executives or high-performing employees to the gala allows them to mingle with award-winning technologists and industry VIPs in a celebratory atmosphere. Moreover, OACETT has many award categories that may apply to your organization, including the technical achievement award (which recognizes companies for contributions to the profession), which will look favorably on engaged partners – it’s a chance to earn prestigious recognition that you can publicize internally and externally. Check out the 2025 winners.

3. Networking & Industry Engagement

Connect your leadership and HR team with a broad network of 21,000+ professionals in 15 engineering technology disciplines across Ontario, including at our Annual Conference and Chapter events. The Corporate Connections Program helps plug your organization into this community meaningfully. 

For HR managers and executives, this means direct lines of communication to industry peers, potential recruits, and thought leaders through the following channels:

Partners will receive invitations to Corporate Connection networking forums, think executive roundtables or virtual meet-and-greets, where you can interface with other partner organizations and OACETT leadership. This is a chance to share best practices on talent development, discuss industry trends, and even explore business collaborations in a relaxed, peer-to-peer setting. Such networking can spur ideas and opportunities beyond what’s possible within your industry silo. 

With 27 chapters, located in six regions across Ontario, OACETT hosts numerous local meetups, technical talks, and workshops. As a partner, your team can easily engage with chapters (we’ll introduce you to chapter leaders in your area of operation).  You might offer your company’s venue for a chapter meeting or a site tour, bringing OACETT members to you. Chapter engagement raises your profile regionally and helps your HR staff stay attuned to what technical professionals discuss at the grassroots level. 

OACETT frequently presents at college career fairs and campus events to inspire the next generation of technologists. As a Corporate Connection partner, your company’s logo will be featured on our college outreach materials and presentations—signaling to students and educators that your organization supports certification and values hiring OACETT members. We can also coordinate opportunities for your HR recruiters or company ambassadors to join us at select events under the OACETT banner, giving you direct exposure to emerging talent. 

4. Talent Recruitment & Retention

Leverage OACETT’s platforms to attract top technical talent and underscore your commitment to employee development—a powerful tool for recruitment and retention. One of the most practical benefits of Corporate Connections is direct support for your talent acquisition efforts. 

OACETT will help you attract and hire qualified, certified professionals in several ways: 

As a partner, you receive complimentary, discounted access to post jobs on the Canadian Technology Employment Network (CTEN) job board. CTEN is a platform that is specifically for engineering technologists and technicians across Ontario. By posting your openings here, you’re advertising directly to the right audience, candidates with the technical skills and certifications you value. Usually, posting on specialized boards can be costly; through our program, you can list opportunities at a significantly discounted rate as a corporate connections partner. This targeted exposure can dramatically cut down your time-to-hire for crucial roles.  

Being part of Corporate Connections signals to job seekers that your company invests in employee growth and professional standards. You are welcome to use the partnership in your recruitment messaging, for instance, mentioning in job ads or on your careers page that “We are an OACETT Corporate Connection Partner, committed to certifying and developing our technical staff.” This differentiates you as an employer of choice for ambitious technologists.  OACETT will provide a digital badge that you can display to highlight this affiliation.

When candidates see that you champion certification, they associate your brand with quality and professionalism, making them more inclined to join your organization. 

"71% of employers surveyed recognized oacett membership and certification." – Environics

Talent acquisition isn’t just about hiring – it’s also about retaining your best people. You boost morale and loyalty by utilizing the Corporate Connections Program to support your employees’ ongoing professional development through certification and OACETT events. Employees are more likely to stay with employers who invest in their growth. Your partnership with OACETT thus becomes part of your retention strategy: it provides staff with networking, mentorship, and learning opportunities that enrich their career, reducing turnover and preserving institutional knowledge. 

A Partnership for Success

Join the Corporate Connections Program to invest in your people and elevate your company’s standing in the engineering technology community. 

This program delivers comprehensive support, from talent development to brand marketing, all under one free, convenient partnership. By engaging with OACETT, you gain access to a vast pool of resources and professionals and a voice in the profession's future. 

Next Steps: This program is free, so getting started is easy. Contact us to enroll your organization and schedule your first lunch-and-learn or strategy call. We will work with you to tailor an engagement plan that meets your HR goals and business needs. Let’s certify your team, build your brand, and create valuable connections that drive success for your company and the engineering technology sector. 

Have Questions?

We’re here to help. For more information or to discuss booking a lunch & learn, please contact: corporateconnections@oacett.org or click the button below to fill out a short form.

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