2020 has been an unprecedented year on a global scale for every industry, government and community organization. Job seekers, entrepreneurs and artists across our province have relied on YES’s free and low-cost services for more than two decades, and now, 2020 marks the 25th anniversary of this non-profit English-language service provider.

YES, formerly known as Youth Employment Services, is celebrating its anniversary in a big way, an updated name (and new logo to boot!) and an even more robust service offering to English-speaking Quebecers of all ages who are looking for employment or to start and grow a business.

YES Evolution
At the time of its founding in 1995, YES focused its efforts on supporting English-speaking job seekers from the Montreal area between the ages of 16 and 35.This was in response to the outflow of young Quebecers leaving the province in search of employment opportunities elsewhere. Within its first year of existence, YES expanded its services to offer support to entrepreneurs.

Over the next few years, YES continued to expand its specialized service offerings, and by the year 2000, a new initiative to support artists as entrepreneurs came about, which included business coaching, daytime and evening workshops, as well as an annual conference. YES has also expanded their service delivery geographically, working with regional partners and leveraging technology to support job seekers and entrepreneurs from all walks of life across the province.Last year alone, YES’s business coaches travelled almost 27,000 km to deliver support services to entrepreneurs outside of Montreal.

By removing all age restrictions for entrepreneurship and artist services, and broadening the age restrictions for job seekers to 18-40, YES has further bolstered its support to English-speakers in Quebec.

As YES grew, the move to a larger office space was required and since 2008, the organization has been in their current offices on Sherbrooke Street West in downtown Montreal. YES rounded out its core programing with the launch of its Human Library, a mentorship program that helps connect artists, entrepreneurs and job seekers with experienced professionals and support networks in the province.

Over the years, YES has offered niche programming in response to the needs of the community. An example of this is a series of programs and projects focused on increasing, retaining and advancing women in STEM careers, that ran from 2012 to earlier this year, the Women in Technology (WIT) Program, the STEM Mentorship Program and the Advancing Women in STEM pilot project.

In 2018, YES responded to the needs of English-speaking newcomers to the province with its Employment for Newcomers Program, designed to address the needs and challenges of those looking to integrate into the Quebec workforce. “We’ve seen an increase in the diversity of origin for the English-speakers seeking our services,” says Kathy Slotsve, Director of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement at YES. “We’ve worked to create programs and workshops for those clients as well.”

Speciality Programming
Perhaps what sets YES apart from other similar organizations is not only the wide variety of services available under one roof, but also the creation of targeted programs for specific fields and industries. “We’ve always been very holistic in our approach with our clientele by really responding to the needs of the individual,” says Slotsve. “We work with each client on an individual basis to really assess their needs, as opposed to having a formulaic response to everything. As a result, we’ve evolved from focusing only on English-speaking young job seekers in Montreal to now, having grown exponentially, serving all of the different facets of the English-speaking community in Quebec.”

The proof is in the pudding, or in this case, last’s year’s results. In 2019-2020,

  • YES’s Job Search Program provided 2740 one-on-one counselling sessions and 314 workshops to almost 1500 clients.
  • The Artist Program provided more than 1400 services to 655 artists.
  • The Entrepreneurship Program provided almost 6000 one-on-one business coaching sessions to almost 2500 clients, more than half of which were new to the organization.


Every client success is celebrated, with 83 per cent of job seekers at YES finding success last year and more than 500 Quebec businesses registered. Not even the global pandemic in 2020 has been able to stop YES from supporting its clients. In fact, during the first six months of the pandemic, all service and entry fees were completely waived in order to further support their clientele.

Prior to the pandemic, the vast majority of YES’s services took place in person. These days, YES has flipped the switch to a primarily virtual format, with everything from workshops, to coaching and counselling being offered online or by telephone. “Since March, we have been seeing a big uptick in workshop and event attendance online,” says Slotsve.

While the majority of services can be moved online, some events, like YES’s artist pop-up events—What the Pop!—were modified to take place outdoors in a physically distanced, safe manner. The event was extremely popular, with thousands of attendees visiting two pop-up outdoor galleries on September 5th.

Women in Entrepreneurship
ELLEvate Women Entrepreneurs, which launched last fall, is a three-year program designed to engage and support women in entrepreneurship through networking events, mentorship, business coaching and workshops.

Through ELLEvate Women Entrepreneurs comes the coveted annual ELLEvate Pre-Accelerator, where 10 women with high-potential start-ups are selected to participate in a three-month intensive over the summer, learning to start, grow and pitch their businesses. The summer intensive culminates with a “demo event” in which the participants pitch their businesses to a judging panel of local business leaders and earn the chance to win one of four prizes with a total value of over $20K.

The 2020 cohort featured a variety of businesses, such as a vegan meal delivery service, clean sustainable beauty products, a mobile app for online marketplaces, sustainable luxury fashion, and a travel planning platform, just to name a few. To find out which of the 10 participants won this year’s grand prize, visit https://www.yesmontreal.ca/

Looking to the Future
With employers and job seekers navigating the new normal, YES will continue to support its clients with innovative and niche programs. “Our 25 years have been marked by versatility and offering the services that our community needs,” says YES’s Executive Director, Aki Tchitacov. “We are continuing in this direction, bringing opportunities for more women to fulfill their entrepreneurial potential, working closer with all levels of government to bring about policies that address the unique needs of the English-speaking community in employment and entrepreneurship, and building our capacity to better serve our diverse clients and work in concert with all our stakeholders from volunteers to peer organizations.”

After 25 years and counting, YES is reinventing its persona from ‘Youth Employment Services’ to ‘YES Employment  Entrepreneurship’, which more accurately describes the diversity in its programming and clientele. They’re also hosting a Virtual Experiences Fundraiser and Corporate Giving Challenge online to raise the much-needed funds that help fuel their services, as their annual fundraiser gala was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions.

No matter where you are on your job search or entrepreneurial journey, YES has a solution for you. If you’re an artist looking to make your art a source of income, YES has got you covered too. “As always, we strive to be an effective and credible voice for the English-speaking community in Quebec, ensuring that all talent and potential has a place in a cosmopolitan, prosperous Quebec,” says Tchitacov. To find out more about upcoming workshops or the full scope of YES’s service offerings, visit https://www.yesmontreal.ca.