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Wanted: More Interested Employers, More Work Experiences for High School Students

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For high school students, choosing their postsecondary destination is a critical decision point. Various kinds of work experiences better prepare students to make the transition from high school to work, apprenticeship, college and university.

More Work Experiences Needed for High School Students

The new four-year Ontario high school program includes a literacy test, community involvement, and additional mathematics, science and career education to help students succeed in our competitive economy. The new program emphasizes the importance of out-of-classroom career-related experiences for students, and for the first time requires all school boards to offer cooperative education, work experience and school-work transition programs to all interested students.

Efforts are under way to expand the availability of these programs for high school students across the province. That's where the involvement of employers is critical.

In a 1999 Roper Canada study, 95% of Canadian employers rated work experience during high school as valuable. Yet in the same survey, 45% of high school students reported zero current work experience. (Source: Junior Achievement / Amway Survey of Employers and Students)

To top of documentEmployers Needed

To meet the increased demand for work placements for students, schools need more employers willing to provide them with work experiences.

Employers can help connect students to the world of work by increasing their career awareness and providing various kinds of work experiences. By working together, employers and schools can ensure that students develop the skills, attitudes and knowledge necessary for future success.

To top of documentOffering Students Work Experiences

As an employer, you can offer students a variety of work experiences. Programs range from short-term, one-day events to having a student with you for a whole semester (four months).

Short-Term
Several hours to one day

  • Career talks, classroom visits
  • Involvement in career fairs or career days
  • Worksite or industry tours
Medium-Term
One day to four weeks
  • Job shadowing
  • Work experience

Longer-Term
Time commitment varies ­ up to 18 weeks per year

  • School-work transitions
  • Cooperative education
  • Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program
  • Mentoring

All students, no matter what their future destination after high school, benefit from work experiences. The programs they choose will vary according to their interests and future goals.

To top of documentHelping Students Benefits Employers

Students look to schools to teach them academic and workplace skills. Work experiences give students exposure to a variety of career options, help boost their confidence and let them build a network of references.

Students look to employers to give them a chance to prove themselves in real-life work settings. There are numerous benefits for employers who offer students work experiences.

Building the Talent Pool

Work experiences:

  • create better-prepared workers, and reduce time-consuming and costly recruiting, hiring and training efforts;
  • help enhance the work ethic in students, and provide valuable lessons such as pride in a job well done, punctuality, dependability and honesty.

Boosting the Employee Satisfaction Quotient

  • Employees who work with students gain new leadership and interpersonal skills.
  • Employees say their morale is improved and they enjoy the enthusiasm of youth.
  • Work experiences reinforce the organization's commitment to its workers and their families, by benefiting the children of employees.

It Makes Economic Sense

  • Youth unemployment is persistently higher than the adult rate, while employers scramble to find good and committed employees.
  • Giving students work experience helps promote a variety of career choices. It also enlarges the pool of qualified workers in sectors with shortages of skilled employees.

It's Good for All of Us

The bottom line is that when students make a successful transition from school to work, it's good for all of us — our society, our economy, our workplaces and, most of all, our students.



To top of documentProvincial Partnership Council Urges Employer Involvement

The Provincial Partnership Council was created in April 1999 to lead an employer recruitment effort and to help create more opportunities for high school students to get work experiences. Top business and community leaders from across Ontario have joined forces with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities in support of this effort.

"The pool of 33- to 55-year-olds will decrease by 25 per cent over the next five years. Talent is becoming the currency of the 21st century. Those companies that can sustain high levels of talent in their organizations will be the ones equipped to compete, and to grow."
Source: Michael McInerney, President of Sibson Canada. September/October, 1999, Connected in Trade, The Toronto Board of Trade

To top of documentEmployers Endorse Programs That Offer Work Experiences

Here is what some employers have to say about their experiences with these programs.

Thomas A. Flanagan, President and COO, BMO InvestorLine: "Students are an incredible resource for us, and we have, in fact, hired a number of them when they completed high school. We would encourage any employer looking for young, creative talent to come forward and involve their organization in these programs."

Nathalie Ouellet, Associate Producer, Mega TFO Children & Youth Programming
"Employers should be open to the idea of welcoming a student - I think they will be pleasantly surprised."

Dominic Totino, Director of Maintenance, Aviation and Flight Technology, Seneca College Aviation Program:
"It gives the industry a chance to show off good things about that particular industry and get students involved in it."

Mike Morgan, Program Head, Toronto District School Board:
"I would encourage every company out there to really invest in this program."

John Cordeaux, Chef, Fairmont Royal York Hotel:
"It gives us the opportunity to seek these young people right from an early stage and hopefully these people will be our future culinarians."

Madeline Dennis, Coop Education Coordinator, Sunnybrook & Women's College Health Sciences Centre:
"This is your future, our youth. So support it - welcome it with open arms. You won't be sorry."

Brian dePoe, Program Director, E-Z Rock:
"You want to get somebody that's good. You want to get them good, you have to point them in the right direction early on - and this program does that. I've seen it work and I certainly encourage any business to try it."

Catherine Swift, Chair, CEO and President, Canadian Federation of Independent Business:
"Employers are willing to train in the specific skills for the job in their workplace, but they want the person to have a decent work ethic. They want them to be punctual; they want them to be willing to learn; they want them to have a good attitude and enthusiasm, and those things that are very generic. You do that in one job and you're going to learn and pick up those skill sets that will apply right across the board for your whole life."

Charlie Coffey, Executive Vice-President Government & Community Affairs, RBC Financial Group:
"Education is the foundation of Canada's economic well-being and the prerequisite to sustaining our quality of life. This makes school-to-work transition programs - programs that help bridge the gap between learning and working - that much more of a high priority."

To top of documentMaking the Connection, Getting Involved

  • Not sure where to start? Call the education ministries toll-free at 1-800-387-5514 or check our online School Board list to help you get matched with your local school.
  • Contact the Ontario Learning Partnership Group (OLPG) for more information about programs in your community. Call 1-888-672-7996 or check out their website at www.olpg.on.ca.

Special thanks to the Ontario high school students and employers who are featured in this publication.


ISBN 0-7778-9108-5