International students gaining access to the labour market through a new federal program
International student Artem Maksimov was discouraged when he learned that most internship postings in Canada were for permanent residents or citizens only.
Without professional networks or practical knowledge of workplace culture here, the 20-year-old from Ukraine feared he would never get his foot in the door to compete with Canadian peers for jobs when he finishes his undergraduate degree in computer science at Conestoga College in Waterloo.
“Most employers expect people to have Canadian experience,” said Maksimov, 20, who came to Conestoga in 2021, before Russia invaded his homeland just months later. “That’s hardest part for us to look for work in Canada.”
But a new program funded by Ottawa is giving international students like Maksimov hope in landing the networking opportunities and job experience needed to find permanent work in their field of study.
The Business + Higher Education Roundtable, a not-for-profit organization based in Ottawa, has launched five new work-integrated learning partnerships in Ontario, British Columbia and Nova Scotia to help international students transition from studies to the work world.
Working to improve ‘labour market outcomes’
Matthew McKean, the organization’s chief research and development officer, said the programs provide mentorship, networking and brief work experience to as many as 3,500 students through business partners, and help schools and employers build the infrastructure needed for such learning experiences.
“It’s an opportunity for us to build programming where it didn’t exist before and for students who didn’t have access to it,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is to improve the labour market outcomes of international students, to get them more oriented and point them in the right direction toward careers that they have been trained for.”
Critics have long urged both federal and provincial governments to invest in work-integrated learning experience for post-secondary students and extend existing programs to Canada’s growing number of international students. The 2023 federal budget allocated $197.7 million on student work placement programs this year with a portion of the funding directed to international students.
“Lack of work experience acquired during studies has been cited as a primary barrier to international students finding a job after they graduate,” said a report by RBC Economics & Thought Leadership in 2022. “Getting international students in the door is the first step in the immigration process as they develop skills, culture, language and networks that make them more likely to stay in the country.”
Initiatives include using AI technology to support students through personalized professional development as well as connecting them with opportunities, paid and unpaid, in health care and social assistance, construction, manufacturing and the digital economy.
‘These students are extremely underserved’
Schools taking part so far include Capilano University and University of Fraser Valley, in B.C., University of Waterloo, York University, University of Ottawa, George Brown and Centennial colleges in Ontario, Nova Scotia Community College and community groups such as EnPoint and Wayble.
Pat Chaisang, co-founder and CEO of Wayble, a website bringing together students and employers, said 56 per cent of international students face job search challenges after graduation and some 70 per cent don’t find employment in their field of study.
“These students are extremely underserved,” said Chaisang, herself a former international student from Thailand, who launched the startup platform in 2021. “International students need a better pathway to the workforce. There’s not a lot of employers that want to commit to hiring international students. Even the federally funded wage subsidy program for internships is not available to international students.”
Last March, Wayble did a trial program to place 60 international students through training, mentorship and work experience with employers in telecommunication, technology, retail and professional services. Chaisang jumped on the opportunity to scale up the pilot program when she heard of the call for funding proposals.
‘You learn about work culture and protocol’
In January, it started the first of six cohorts — each with 50 spots — to connect students with employers. During the six weeks of training, participants, who must be enrolled in an undergraduate degree program, attend workshops in resume writing, job searching and interview techniques while meeting with mentors for tips and being assigned small tasks and projects by the companies.
Maksimov, who participated in Wayble’s inaugural cohort, said the practical advice he received from his mentor was invaluable because the help he gets from his school career centre is more general and not focused on his field.
“I had my own ideas of how things work in Canada. My mentor gives me a Canadian employer’s perspective of what’s expected of me,” said Maksimov, who was assigned a sales project at a software company. “Here, you learn about work culture and protocol.”
One of those things he learned from his two-week unpaid job placement was the importance of observing organizational structure by reflecting on a brief employment he had at the help desk of a Canadian IT company, where he once passed over his supervisor and went straight to the senior manager with an issue.
Might need a bit of help with communication
“I was not supposed to do that in my position,” Maksimov recalled. “No one would teach you about these things. Here, I can make mistakes, ask questions and get feedback. I’m certainly more confident now after knowing these things.”
Ken Osborne of Osborne Partners Ltd., was matched with five international students at his merger and acquisition company. They met twice a week to go over and critique the tasks such as social media campaigns they were assigned to.
He recognized the participants generally had strong technical skills but might need a bit of help with communication. For instance, some of the students didn’t know when to be formal and when to be causal so by default would carry themselves in a formal manner at all times.
“Universities aren’t teaching students generally the skills needed to be in professional positions,” said Osborne, whose four previous jobs all came through referrals. “So it’s more important than ever for them to get real life work experience.”
“If they work for me for two weeks and they do a good job, I can refer them to other groups (in my network) that might be hiring. That’s way more effective than spamming out a thousand resumes. That doesn’t work in this day and age.”
This article was first reported by The Star
