What is the Federal Student Work Experience Program
The Federal Student Work Experience Program is a program provided by the Federal Government of Canada to help students get meaningful work experience. The goal of the Federal Student Work Experience Program is to help students explore their interests from hundreds of career paths and thousands of jobs.
For employers, the Federal Student Work Experience Program allows them to find students who are willing and eager to work and have indicated an interest in your industry. The program provides an inventory of students who are looking for valuable work experience and helps employers narrow down their choices so that they can find the perfect candidate for the position they are hiring for.
Why is it interesting for employers to participate in the Federal Student Work Experience Program
There are many reasons why it is interesting for employers to participate in the Federal Student Work Experience Program, which include:
- renewing your workforce, getting new energy and new ideas and perspectives
- accessing a diverse talent pool with candidates from across the country
- hiring members of employer equity groups to gain a more diverse workplace
- retaining talent for your company by offering jobs to students who are about to graduate and excel in their work experience program
- increasing your company’s brand awareness with a younger generation
These are just some of the benefits of signing up for the Student Work Experience Program as an employer.
Who are the students from the work experience program?
The students from the work experience program are from all over the country from all levels of school. You can choose to hire a student from high school, CEGEP, college or university and even students working towards their Master’s degree or Doctorate.
This means that your organization is able to find highly talented individuals without having to spend extra money on recruitment. With the Federal Student Work Experience Program, all recruitment and referrals are done by the Public Service Commission, while your organization does the final hiring. Though hiring might take time, your organization will be able to find talented candidates without having to spend money.
Related: How Employment and Recruitment Agencies Work
The students are academically talented, with people representing 15 areas of study and 250 specializations. This means that your organization will likely find a candidate who is dedicated to the industry and will have the drive to work hard.
The work experience program also makes sure to match students with industries they are hoping to find work in after they graduate, which means you might be able to hire them straight out of college or university. This gives you an advantage over your competition as you are able to find the most talented people that are coming up in your industry.
For companies that have decided to switch to an online office, students are also able to indicate if they are able to work remotely, meaning you will not have to waste time with candidates who are unable to work from home. Students are from across Canada, meaning those with virtual offices, have a wide range of choices all with different and unique perspectives.
Steps to hire a student from the Federal Student Work Experience Program
Here are the steps you would need to go through to hire a student from the Federal Student Work Experience Program:
- complete and submit a request for referrals for student workers
- view received selected applications and set up an interview with candidates you are interested in hiring
- double-check that the student meets the Federal Student Work Experience Program eligibility criteria (will be explained in the next section)
- hire your student
- fill in and submit assessment forms that will be sent to you by the Public Service Commission (needed for students entering the program as a requirement for the degree program)
These steps make the Federal Student Work Experience Program easy for any organization to participate in.
Federal Student Work Experience Program rules and guidelines
There are a few rules and guidelines that employers may want to know when looking to hire a student from the Federal Student Work Experience Program.
Firstly, in order for a student to be eligible for the work experience program they have to be:
- registered as a full-time secondary or post-secondary student OR
- a person with a disability in a full-time school program for students with disabilities OR
- participating in adult education and participating in retraining programs at the secondary level
This means that students in the Federal Student Work Experience Program cannot be part-time students and have to be going to school at the same time as working for you.
That being said, you are allowed to have the student work full-time hours during their school breaks. This can be especially handy for those industries where certain times are busier than others.
For example, for people in the tourism and hospitality industry, the summer months are a lot busier than the winter. That would mean that you could hire a student from the Federal Student Work Experience Program at full-time hours during the summer and then have them go down to part-time hours in the off-season.
Another rule to remember when hiring a student through the Federal Student Work Experience Program is that students in their final year of school can only be part of the program until their graduation date. This means that you must do the appropriate paperwork to end their work experience program before they have graduated from school. Even if you plan to hire the student after they have graduated, you need to make sure that everything has been finished vis a vi the Federal Student Work Experience Program is concerned. Make sure to keep good communication lines with the student you hire so that you are aware of when their time in the program will come to an end.
The good part about this rule, however, is that if you do want to hire the student full-time after they graduate you can. Once they are finished with the work experience program, they will be free to work whatever hours are needed instead of only being allowed to work part-time hours. This is a great way to transition the student to full employment as it will be clear as to when they can start their new role.
In terms of payment, there are also a few guidelines to be aware of. The treasury board of the Public Service Commission sets the pay rates for the students depending on the type of student they are. The pay must be stated on the contract signed by the student when starting the work experience and follow the rates set by the treasury board.
For high school and CEGEP students, the minimum payment is $16/hour while for University students in undergrad it is $16.99. If you are hiring a Master’s student or Doctorate the minimum pay in the first year of the work experience is $22.71 and $26.72 respectively. There are also suggested rates for students in the program if they work for you for consecutive years, but those are more flexible.
Once you’ve gone through all the rules and guidelines when hiring a student from the Federal Student Work Experience Program, you can rest assured that the experience will be beneficial for both parties.
