4 programs you need to know if you want to be a paid intern
by Riggs Zyrille Vergara, Publishing Editor
Although the summer is about to end and the semester will start in just a month, it pays to be prepared for the next summer if you’re planning to have an internship. There are even some internships that are offered throughout the school year.
But I find that two of the things most students are worried about their internships are what their future job entails and if they’re getting paid. I have compiled a list of programs that different kinds of post-secondary students can apply to for a high-quality paying internship.
Venture for Canada
If working for a start-up or growing company is one of your interests, then Venture for Canada might be the right program for you. They are a non-profit organisation who recruit students and recent graduates to work at startup companies through their mission of growing entrepreneurship in Canada.
They offer paid internship opportunities all year round and an applicant can even have the chance to do multiple internships. Even if you are already with an employer and they may not be able to pay you, you can still apply to Venture for Canada for the opportunity of a wage subsidy of up to $7,000 per student per term.
Another nice thing about this program is that they don’t let you go out to your chosen company or employer unprepared. They offer a preparatory intern webinar and a library of thousands of virtual courses.
ICTC WIL Digital Program
Another program that subsidies businesses and non-profit organisations to offer paid internships is the ICTC Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) Digital program. ICTC can offer a wage subsidy of up to $5000 or $7000 for underrepresented post-secondary students.
These underrepresented groups include women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), Indigenous students, newcomers, students with disabilities, visible minorities and first-year students.
As expansive as this program might be, one of the main requirements is for the job position to be “digital/technology immersive and uses technology either entirely or in some capacity.”
What makes this program different is that the organisation or business who will employ you as an intern needs to apply first before you as a student can apply to acquire the subsidy.
Calgary Economic Development WIL program
With a $2.5 million investment from the Alberta Ministry of Advanced Education and a $2.9 million investment from the pan-Canadian research and innovation organisation Future Skills Centre, the Calgary Economic Development (CED) is piloting a work-integrated learning (WIL) program for all the seven post-secondary institutions in Calgary.
Through this program, students can have access to a one-stop online portal where they can be matched with a paid internship opportunity fitting with their field of study.
Another part of the program is partnering with small and medium-sized businesses and non-profit organisations and letting them explore work-integrated learning opportunities through the support of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and the Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations.
Municipal Internship Program
If you are a recent graduate who wants to gain experience working in your municipal government, the Municipal Internship Program offers an opportunity for graduates to gain focused practical experience in three streams of government work.
The program lasts for 18 months and it allows the graduates to be mentored by a senior municipal professional in their chosen stream of either administrator, finance officer or land use planner.
The administrator stream is where graduates from any discipline can “gain experience in areas such as policy development, legislative services, community development, economic development, and communications.”
The two other streams include the finance officer stream and land use planner stream. The former only accepts graduates with a diploma or degree in accounting or finance or a business-related degree and the latter only accepts graduates from a land use degree planning program or a planning-related degree.
