Federal program gives young newcomers paid work experience and reason to hope

Fashion designer Soniagandhi Chinnasamy left her job at a clothing company in one of India's largest cities last year to move to Canada with her husband, a chef who landed a job at a hotel in Saskatchewan.

The 28-year-old woman struggled to find a job in her field in Regina. She said she was repeatedly rejected for her lack of Canadian references and began questioning her future in Canada.

"When they said no experience no Canadian experience I don't know what to do because if someone gives me a chance to work, then only can I gain experience, right?" she said.

The unemployment rate is generally twice as high for newcomersto Canada who have been in the country for less than five years than for other workers, according to Statistics Canada.

Chinnasamy, who holds a college degree in textiles and fashion design, is self-conscious about her limited English, but she's confident that, if given the chance to prove herself, her skills and work ethic would speak for themselves.

She was right.

In December, Chinnasamy started working part time at the Dean Renwick Design Studio in Regina, a fashion house known for custom couture, after getting a little help through the door from a six-week federally funded work placement.

Paid work experience

Chinnasamy is one of thousands of workers expected to benefit from more than 270 employment training programs across Canada that target young people under 30 who face barriers, including people of colourand those who recently arrived in the country, live with disabilities andexperience homelessness or poverty.

In March, the federal government invested nearly half a billion dollars over three years through its Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS) program to fund the projects.

The Regina Open Door Society, which helps settle refugees and immigrants, applied for moneyto run 14-week employment programs for newcomers.

It pays participants a minimum wage while they takeeight weeks of job readiness training that helps with letter writing, interview skillsand workshops on workplace culture. The training is followed bysix weeks of work experience. The agency recruits local companies that put newcomers on the payrollfor six weeks, reimbursed by Ottawa.

Willow Iorga, an employment instructor withtheRegina Open Door Society, said the value of the work placement is significant for young refugees and immigrants.

"It's standard to have three professional references. A lot of times they don't have any Canadian references, so it provides a reference, it provides Canadian experienceand then the opportunity to network," she said.

Iorgasaid she was initially worried that local companies would be reluctant to takeinterns during the COVID-19 pandemicand was relieved to find that wasn't the case.

At a marketing firm in downtown Regina,two of her students have managed to turn their internships into real jobs.

Hafsa Degmaster, 26, and Rajdeep Kaur Minhas, 29, are computer programmers from India who each hold a bachelor's degree in computer science. Minhas also has a master'sin information technology.

Yetthey both struggled to find jobs in their field after moving to Canada.

Degmaster, who arrived in Saskatchewan two years ago with her husband, a pharmacy assistant, said she was growing frustrated.

"I was giving up and losing hope that I would find a job," she said.

"I was not getting calls or interviews. I don't have professional experience [in Canada] and I had some trouble with my resum."

So, Degmasterenrolled in theYESSprogram at the Regina Open Door Society.A counsellor helped Degmasterfix her resum "according to Canadian workplace culture," she said, then connected her with a six-week job as a website developer at the online marketing firm.

WATCH | The challenges of finding work in Canada:

2 young women from India describe their struggle to find jobs in Canada

4 years ago

Duration 1:34

Fashion designer Soniagandhi Chinnasamy and computer programmer Hafsa Degmaster landed part-time jobs after completing paid work terms in the federally funded YESS program.

Company topped up minimum wage

Her new boss, Jeph Maystruck, co-founder of Strategy Lab, was eager to discover new talent arriving in the city and told the Regina Open Door Society to tap him for work placements. He said hosting workers for six weeks is "a really easyway for basically a long job interview."

Maystrucksaid he generally distruststhe accuracy of resums and finds they don't convey someone's character.

"It's an easy way to say, 'I'm really good at this, I'm really good at this.' ... Oh really, well, when it comes down to it, how are you as a person? How are you at work? How do you talk to people? Do you smile when I see you in the morning? All those little things you don't know until you're in the workplace," hesaid.

For his two interns, Maystruck topped up the minimum wage of $11.45an hour in Saskatchewan an expense coveredby Ottawa to $15 an hour because he believes that's a more reasonable living wage.

He said that the federal government's contributionmadetaking internsa low-risk venture for his small company.

"It would be hard for a lot of companies, I could see, just to say, 'Hey we're going to flat out pay someone for six weeks without knowing what's going to happen.' Without that program, I don't know how companies would ever do this," he said.

"To them, I would say, 'Thank you.'"

And now that the work placement has finished, Maystruck's website department has promised both women as much part-time work as possiblebased on project demands, until they can turn it into full-time employment.

'I didn't expect this opportunity'

If a permanent full-time job doesn't materialize for them at Strategy Lab, Maystrucksaid he will act as their reference and help them network.

And for that, Degmastersaid she is thrilled.

"I am feeling more confident now," she said.

Back at the Dean Renwick Design Studio, production manager Matthew Donnellysaid he also finds it difficult to gauge a person's passion and work ethic without spending time with them.

After six weeks of supervising Chinnasamy, he was impressed enough to hire her on part time after her internship ended.

"You have to love it. You have to love design to really thrive here and enjoy the work," he said.

Chinnasamyis working three shifts a week at the company to start, with a promise of more to come, depending on the economy and seasonal demand.

"I'm really very, very happy because I didn't expect this opportunity," she said.