Our blog has moved

Please visit us at http://blog.vancouverinternships.ca

Slovenians can work in Canada from 2010

From DFAIT:

Canada Signs Youth Mobility Agreement with Slovenia

On behalf of the Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pierre Guimond, the Ambassador of Canada to Hungary and to Slovenia, today signed an agreement with Slovenia under Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada’s International Youth Programs. This agreement will make it easier for Canadian and Slovenian youths between the ages of 18 and 35 to travel and work in each other’s country for up to one year.

“This agreement will facilitate cultural exchanges involving young Canadians and Slovenians,” said Minister Cannon. “Such exchanges benefit not only the personal and professional development of these youths but also the long-term international interests of both countries.”

The agreement, signed in Ljubljana, Slovenia, by Ambassador Guimond and Peter Debeljak, Director of the Office of the Republic of Slovenia for Youth, will be tabled in Canada’s Parliament in the coming months and implemented early next year.

Canada currently has bilateral arrangements on youth mobility with 20 countries. Europe is one of the most attractive locations for young people to gain international work experience. An agreement with Poland was the most recent to be implemented, in August 2009. Canada also signed an agreement with Spain in March 2009 and both countries are in the process of preparing for its implementation. Furthermore, Canada is expecting to sign agreements in the coming months with four other European countries.

The mission of International Youth Programs is to foster close bilateral relations between Canada and other countries through exchanges that give young people an understanding of other cultures through travel, life and work experience abroad. This experience enhances the personal and professional development of participants, giving them a competitive edge in the global job market.

Internship Interview Picture

This wasn’t of the interview itself – just a picture a block away from the interview, on our walk back to catch a taxi.  This is in Horseshoe Bay (about 40 minutes from downtown):

Canada – Poland Youth Mobility Visas Now Available

The Canada-Poland Youth Mobility Programme is now open [http://geo.international.gc.ca/canada-europa/poland/youth_jeunes/menu-en.aspx ]. This program will allow 500 young Poles between the ages of 18 and 35 to come and live and work in Canada for up to 1 year.

This visa is broken into three parts:

Working Holiday [Open for any internship or work experience program]
Requirements: Aged 18-35
NB: No pre-placement required

Professional Development [Paid Professional Internships only]
Requirements: aged 18-35 ; open to young professionals for work in their field
NB: Pre-placement required

Internship Program [Paid Professional Internships only]
Requirements: aged 18-35; open to students currently enrolled in Polish post-secondary institution
NB: Pre-placement is required

……. Google Automatic Translation Follows ……..

Kanada-Polska Youth Mobility Program jest już otwarty [http://geo.international.gc.ca/canada-europa/poland/youth_jeunes/menu-en.aspx]. Program umożliwia 500 młodych Polaków w wieku 18 i 35 do zamieszkania i pracy w Kanadzie przez okres do 1 roku.

Wiza ta jest podzielona na trzy części:

Working Holiday [otwarci na wszelkie staż lub praktykę zawodową programu]
Wymagania: w wieku 18-35 lat
Uwaga: Nie wcześniej miejsce wymagane

Rozwój zawodowy [Płatny staży zawodowych tylko]
Wymagania: w wieku 18-35 lat; otwarty dla młodych specjalistów do pracy w swojej dziedzinie
Uwaga: Pre-umieszczenie wymagane

Internship Program [Płatny staży zawodowych tylko]
Wymagania: w wieku 18-35 lat, adresowany do studentów aktualnie uczęszczających do Polski po instytucji wtórnych
Uwaga: Pre-umieszczenie jest wymagane

We’re looking for a paid intern

VancouverInternships is a year-old work experience placement company.  We manage the internship and work experience programs for a dozen ESL schools and Career Colleges around Metro Vancouver, Canada.  Our job is to create interesting and rewarding internships for young international students.

We have a small office in downtown Vancouver, near the Woodward’s complex and Tinseltown shopping centre.  Our office has 3 staff members, and we are a tight-knit, and supportive group.

We’re looking for a 4th person to join our team for a 4 to 6-month internship [depending on your availability].  If you are currently enrolled as a student at a university or college in any country and have the right to work in Canada – or you qualify for an internship visa (open to citizens of the European Union, the UK, the USA, Australia, NZ etc…) then we would be open to meeting you – either in person, or via video chat.  We are looking for students majoring in business (preferably), or one of the social sciences.  English fluency is a must, and a second language is preferred – French, and German are at the top of our wish list.

This intern will support our Student Services Agent, assist with host company recruitment activities, he or she will also contribute to marketing, and will have the opportunity to develop and carry out one marketing, host recruitment, or customer relationship project from concept to delivery during their term with us.

This internship is for 30 hours per week, and pays $9/hour.

To apply, please submit your resume and cover letter to contact@vancouverinternships.ca .  Your cover letter should include information about your current courses and GPA at university, a reason why you want to work with us – and if you’re from out of town, why you want to come to Vancouver.

The deadline for applicants is November 15th, 2009.  Internship begins Monday, 11 January, 2010.

NB: Visa support will be provided for international interns.

FAQ: What are the benefits of an internship?

ESL VERSION
You can improve your English by speaking with coworkers and clients and customers. You will also learn industry-related vocabulary, get a valuable letter of reference from the company, and most importantly – complete requirements for graduation from your ESL school program of studies.

FAQ: What is an internship?

ESL VERSION
An internship is a type of work experience where you volunteer to help at a company and learn how they do business. It can be paid or unpaid.

ENGLISH VERSION
An internship or co-op placement is a period of paid or unpaid practical experience. Internships allow you to use your classroom skills in a real world setting, and build valuable contacts for your future career. Finally, and most importantly, they allow you to complete work experience requirements for your college or university program.

Summer Wrap Up

It’s a bit early – Labour day is still something like 2 weeks away – but I’ve got all the details in front of me now, so why not? Our first summer in business.

I started this company back in December – working on different related projects.  With some legalese out of the way at the end of May – we moved head first into internships.  Since doing so just a few months ago – we’ve taken more than 100 bookings, placed 50 interns across Canada, and brought on a host of schools with a collective student body of more than 1,000.

The last month alone trebled our Paid IT Hosts and doubled our placement capacity in that field.  The same too for retail and hospitality in Vancouver.  Unpaid internships and resort placements remain bountiful and almost limitless.

With two new staff members starting with us in the coming weeks – and our new capacity to market in French and Arabic(!) – we’re slated for another round of growth.  We’re going to take a few weeks to digest – to settle down, get people trained, launch our new website and then it’s back to expanding.  It probably wouldn’t be prudent to list everything we plan to do – but it’s all going in the same direction as we are now.

At the moment – of the 6 companies in this field here in Vancouver, we’re now number 3 in terms of volume.  Our expansion plans through March, 2010 – will move us up to 2nd spot without sacrificing flexibility, affordability, or most importantly of all – quality.

Looking back at our business plan, this summer comes out at the high end of our reasonable expectations.  As the owner of the company, I’m very happy with where we are right now and even happier to see where it positions us for the rest of the year.

Rather than leave it at that though, here are two quotes I really liked from our interns’ reports that I hope say a lot about the job we’re doing:

Perla:

I have met my internship goals, I wanted to know how able I am to work in a different country with a different language and now I feel confident about it. I feel that I got more experience in my field as well…Thank you for the support that I received form both Vancouver Internships and my host company.

Pill Jung:

The most interesting part of my internship is not only learning culture, English, and computer skills but, building my career… I can get great experiences more than I expected.

Internships of the week

We’ve had another busy week for internships here in Vancouver.  Fortunately I brought my camera:

First off is Vicky – here’s Vicky for her interview at one of our ’4 best internships ever’.  Absolutely insane how amazing that job is.  Incredible:

Next, here’s Thatiana, she enrolled in one program, but we had a last minute opening and upgraded her to paid professional.  She got the internship and will be working in a combined: office admin + marketing +  finance role.  It sounds hard, but the company will provide training:

Finally, there’s Perla – I dropped in on her during a site visit and was really impressed by how well she is doing:

FYI:  We do accept boys into our programs – we placed three boys last week too – eCommerce, Finance, and Paid IT.

The four best internships

Internship number four was one we did last year, this was with a ski pro. The internship was based up in Whistler and the intern assisted the ski pro in events planning and coordination for groups of foreign skiers.  They’d show up in Whistler, get shuttled away by limo to their luxury hotel, wined, dined, hot tubs were involved, and then they’d jump on a helicopter and ski down a virgin run on some untouched, remote mountainside.  The intern got to participate throughout, and was showered with thousands of dollars in free ski swag.

Internship number three was with a new media company – actually a sports media company.  They organize all these events at baseball, basketball and hockey games.  Without getting in to too much detail, the intern’s first day on the job saw him photographing models for 8 hours.  He was sooooo happy.

Internship number two was with a toy importer.  They bring in a lot of unusual things – like those giant sumo suits you sometimes see in competitions at bars.  The intern was a marketing assistant, she worked on some new marketing materials for them and kept in contact with some of their clients.  It was a really great work environment and would be fine just like that.  But what makes it amazing is come trade show season, they took the intern with them.  Free flights and hotels to a half dozen trade shows around North America.

Internship number one is in finance.  I took a student to interview for this downtown yesterday and was blown away by how impressive it is.  The intern will work with the Chief Operating Officer and CEO as an executive assistant / project manager.  She will assist them in keeping all of their quarterly projects on track, she’ll assist with documentation, coordinating projects with other employees, and she’ll have privilleged access to basically everything, and all this inside a brand name multi-billion dollar investment firm.