It may feel a bit early in the year to begin thinking of your summer employment needs, but there is a looming deadline regarding funding from the Canada Summer Jobs Program. This program is a great opportunity that will help you create employment opportunities in Lac du Bonnet for our youth.
First, let’s examine a few of the benefits of hiring a summer student.
1. Hiring a summer student can help you tackle your never-ending to-do list
I don’t think that we have ever worked with a business or non-profit organization that doesn’t have a long, ongoing list of things that need to get done regularly, never mind the wish list of projects you hope to complete someday. While some of these tasks may not make or break your business, getting them done could certainly contribute to better business practices, more organization, increased efficiencies, and a real sense of accomplishment as you move your business or organization forward.
Hiring a summer student to help you manage these tasks or hiring a student with the right skills and knowledge to tackle some of the projects on your wish list can put you ahead of the game, both strategically and financially.
2. Hiring a summer student can bring a fresh perspective to your team
Diversity is the key to any good team environment, but even the best teams can get tunnel vision, which often leads to getting stuck in a rut. Hiring a summer student can inspire you and your team to reexamine the way your company operates. A new person on the team can bring a unique perspective to the challenges you have been facing or new operational practices you want to implement. Even the questions they pose during the training process can provide valuable insight.
When you hire a summer student, you are provided with the ability to examine your business through fresh eyes. Take advantage of this opportunity by including your hire in as many of the day-to-day operations as is suitable. Invite them to meetings or brainstorming sessions, make them feel like part of the team, question methods, offer their opinions, and create a safe communication environment.
3. Hiring a summer student can teach you a lot
Whenever we think of hiring someone, we get wrapped up in everything we have to teach the student. What if we took the time to focus on what we could learn as well?
Speaking from personal experience, I received my formal marketing training 20 years ago. Think about it, Facebook didn’t even exist then, and my textbooks didn’t include things like digital marketing. While I have maintained my knowledge through self-education since then, I have found that working with marketing students or recent graduates can contribute a lot to my knowledge and skillset – all I have to do is listen.
Let’s face it, in many situations, the age of the summer student will be a significant diversifier, and this can be a good thing. There is no denying that different generations have different skills and experiences or that their current understanding of the basics, in any field, are valuable and important principles that we sometimes forget.
4. Hiring a summer student allows you to share your knowledge and develop talent
When you hire a summer student, you are investing in the future workforce of our community. You have the opportunity to help shape our youth by providing them with valuable work experiences, inviting them to be a part of the team and giving them a sense of responsibility and purpose. After all, the summer students we consider hiring this season are future doers and thinkers, problem solvers, and tomorrow’s leaders.
Generally, our youth are eager to learn, so let’s teach them. Go beyond treating summer students as warm bodies who can handle a certain task for a few months. Challenge your summer employees, give them relevant tasks, and allow them to see the results of their work, all while growing your business.
Canada Summer Jobs Program Overview
The Canada Summer Jobs Program provides wage subsidies to employers from not-for-profit organizations, the public sector, and private sector organizations with 50 or fewer full-time employees to create quality summer work experiences for young people aged 15 to 30 years. Funded employers are not restricted to hiring students — all youth aged 15 to 30 years may be eligible participants.
The call for applications is open from December 21, 2020, to January 29, 2021.
Canada Summer Jobs is an initiative of the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy, which aims to provide flexible and holistic services to help all young Canadians develop the skills and gain paid work experience to successfully transition into the labour market.
The Canada Summer Jobs program objectives align with the redesigned Youth Employment and Skills Strategy and are as follows:
- provide quality work experiences for youth
- respond to national and local priorities to improve access to the labour market for youth who face unique barriers
- provide opportunities for youth to develop and improve their skills
For CSJ 2020, the Department introduced temporary flexibilities to respond to the needs of employers and youth in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The program will continue to offer these temporary flexibilities for 2021 in order to continue to support employers and youth. The following temporary flexibilities will be in place for CSJ 2021:
- Wage subsidies: Funded public and private sector employers will be eligible to receive a wage subsidy reimbursement of up to 75% of the provincial or territorial minimum hourly wage. Under regular rules, private and public sector employers are only eligible to receive up to 50% of the provincial or territorial minimum wage.
- Part-time employment: All funded employers may offer part-time placements (for example, fewer than 30 hours per week). Under regular rules, all CSJ-funded employment has to be full-time (a minimum of 30 hours per week).
- Employment period: All funded employers may offer job placements between April 26, 2021, and February 26, 2022. Under regular rules, all CSJ-funded positions have to be completed during the summer months.
- Changes to project and job activities: All funded employers may amend project and job activities if the proposed project is impacted by COVID-19 restrictions after an agreement is signed. In such cases, the employer should contact Service Canada to discuss potential amendments. All changes must be approved by Service Canada.
Get more information about and apply for the Canada Summer Jobs Program before January 29, 2021
