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Career Edge Blog

Sep 08
Love3

This Labour Day Career Edge Organization celebrates 10,000 internships!

By Uncategorized

By guest contributor, Anne Lamont, President & CEO at Career Edge Organization

10000 cupcake celebration

It is truly a privilege to be part of an organization that has had such a positive impact on the Canadian business community as well as on individuals and families across the nation. Leading a passionate and dedicated team further enhances this experience.

While it is a pleasure, however, it is often a challenge as well – this is especially true in challenging economic times. So when the opportunity to celebrate arises, we embrace it.

As you might already be aware from our press release, our special edition e-newsletter or other announcements, we recently reached a significant milestone in our organization’s history and it is with pride that we can now proclaim that through our Career Edge, Ability Edge and Career Bridge paid internship programs, our internship numbers have surpassed 10,000.

Our small team recently gathered and celebrated with cupcakes – each one with an individual staff member’s name – a testament to the importance of each team member’s contributions.

Our internship programs have not only launched 10,000 careers, they have also provided employers with over 10,000 talented interns. Additionally, thousands of individuals have had the opportunity to be a mentor or a coach to an intern, which for many was an invaluable experience that contributed significantly to their own professional growth and development.

Our former interns or alumni, as we refer to them, represent individuals who came to Career Edge Organization, frustrated by their inability to secure meaningful work opportunities in their professional fields. Through the commitment and support of our valued host employers, who opened up their minds and doors to quality, diverse talent, we have launched the careers of engineering, marketing, human resources, operations, IT and business professionals across the country in a variety of industries such as financial services, technology, health care and telecommunications to public service, pharmaceuticals and the environment.

Career Edge Organization is proud to have uncovered such a wealth of talent by looking beyond mainstream candidates and tapping into under-utilized sources of talent, in order to help employers connect with the right talent who have the right skills and fit with their unique environments. It is our quality talent, our ability to adapt to change, our openness to new ideas and technology, and many other factors that have allowed us to stand where we are today.

We hope you will join us in celebrating this incredible feat as we celebrate 10,000 successful internships and look forward to achieving the next 10,000!

Sep 02
Love4

This September, try a virtual job fair

By Uncategorized

If July is all about picnics and BBQ’s, September is about getting back to business. For students everywhere, it’s back to school. Around the same time, the pace seems to pick up at most organizations, as everyone returns from summer holidays.

September is also known to be a busy month for hiring, with a myriad of college, university, independent and niche job fairs for employers to participate in, giving them the opportunity to meet diverse job-seekers including a large cohort of recent graduates ready to launch their careers.

While nothing can truly replace the job-fair atmosphere and the opportunity to meet hundreds of candidates face-to-face, job-seekers have increasingly become tech-savvy researchers. Today, it seems the most dynamic job fairs are taking place online.

Your “virtual booth” might be the careers page on your website, or your profile on an online job board. These days employers can showcase their brand, people, community involvement and accomplishments all online, where job-seekers will know to look for them.

A word of caution though – grads are starting to become wary of online job boards noticing that many of the postings come from third party recruiters and offer little visibility to the actual employer. Furthermore inexperienced entry-level grads are competing with job-seekers at all levels for jobs that typically ask for at least 2 or 3 years of experience.

This is what makes Career Edge and Ability Edge such safe havens for both job-seekers and employers. Recent graduates as well as recent graduates with disabilities can apply to real jobs from real employers in an environment where they are only competing with other recent grads. Furthermore employers have nothing to hide in this niche environment – their postings are protected from the public and only visible to qualified registrants of our paid internship programs.

Today’s world is all about efficiency and connectivity – the best opportunities are at your fingertips, and talent is just a mouse-click away.

Aug 27
Love4

5 Tips to Set Your Intern Up for Success (From an Intern’s Perspective)

By Employer

Career Edge Organization has connected thousands of prospective interns with host employers for over a decade. I am delighted to be one of these fortunate job seekers to land a role that has allowed me to make leaps and bounds in my professional development after only a few months.

What constitutes a successful internship?

In contrast to my fellow 500-odd interns currently filling positions at host organizations across Canada, I believe I have a unique perspective by working with an intern’s success story from my role at Career Edge Organization itself. In my role as Project Coordinator and Sales Support Assistant, I interact with interns enrolled within the three different internship programs  and at all levels of participation. I assist initial job seekers with the registration process and the completion of their internship documents prior to their start date. I provide them with resources throughout their internship and continue communication once they have achieved alumni status.

Considering the extensive amount of Career Edge internships I witness on a habitual basis, I have been able to make a fair assessment of what an intern requires from their employer to succeed in their role, all while growing professionally toward the objective of a rewarding and progressive career.

Read More

Aug 17
Love4

An innovative screening technique enables employers to achieve their recruitment goals

By Uncategorized

By guest contributor, Heather Brown, Applicant Screener

As an Applicant Screener for the Career Bridge paid internship program, it’s really inspiring to know that over 1400 internationally qualified individuals have successfully gained professional Canadian work experience through our program.  But, I’ve come to realize it’s not just the interns, however, who are benefiting from the program.   Employers benefit too.  It’s essentially a “win/win” situation, both for internationally qualified job seekers and for employers seeking quality, diverse talent with exceptional English or bilingual English/French communication skills.

Read More

Aug 10
Love4

“Why aren’t more businesses hiring immigrants?” Good question!

By Uncategorized

I came across an interesting editorial today written by Rick Spence for the Financial Post. The article, entitled “Why not hire newcomers?” also appears in the Montreal Gazette, the Calgary Herald, the Edmonton Journal, the Ottawa Citizen and many others.

The stats are surprising, considering the skills shortages felt by businesses across Canada:

A survey by the Canadian federation of Independent Business shows 78% of small business owners reported not hiring any recent immigrants between 2003 and 2006.

The article, featuring an interview with the Indian-born President of Pitney Bowes, Deepak Chopra, highlights the benefits of hiring foreign-trained professionals as well as some tips to “help more businesses benefit from Canada’s cultural diversity.”

Chopra leads by example, not only utilizing the skills of a global workforce but also providing ongoing support and training to help break down cultural barriers. For example, at least 40 senior staff members at Pitney Bowes are mentoring new immigrants through The Mentoring Partnership program offered by TRIEC.

According to Spence, Chopra recommends the following three tactics:

  1. Engage in strategic planning
  2. Get to know other cultures
  3. Form an advisory board

We’d like to add a 4th tip to the list:

You guessed it… Career Bridge.

Our paid internship program for Internationally Qualified Professionals has not only provided incredible opportunities to skilled immigrants, it as also provided our clients with incredible talent. Most people know we work with numerous medium and large organizations across Canada such as RBC and the Government of Ontario. Well, small businesses hire Career Bridge interns too.

So while 78% of small businesses hadn’t hired immigrants between 2003 and 2006, we know of numerous small businesses working with us today to bring international skills and knowledge to their workplaces, such as Interkom, Polar Mobile, AMR Process Inc. and many others.

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