The Federal Internship for Newcomers Program, which is offered by the Foreign Credentials Referral Office (FCRO) of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), provides the eligible newcomers an opportunity to work with and get Canadian work experience within the participating public and private sector organizations for the period as specified. Permanent residents and Canadian citizens who have lived in Canada for less than ten years Can apply for this program.
It is a national program that collaborates with Participating Immigrant Employment and Settlement Agencies across Ontario.
The aim of the Federal Internship for Newcomers Program:
– to help the newcomers integrate into the Canadian labor market by giving them valuable Canadian work experience.
– to encourage diversity in federal departments as well as support public service renewal within the federal government.
At present, this Program is delivered in partnership with the immigrant-serving organizations (ISOs) which are mentioned below:
National:
World University Services Canada (WUSC)
Ottawa/Gatineau:
Local Agencies Serving Immigrants (LASI)
Service Intégration Travail Outaouais (SITO)
Greater Toronto Area (GTA):
Members of the Consortium of Agencies Serving Internationally Trained Persons
(CASIP) (current members include COSTIImmigrant Services, ACCESS, Skills for Change, JVS, Micro Skills, Job Start, Humber College, and Seneca College)
Vancouver/Victoria:
Immigrant Services Society of British Columbia (ISSofBC)
Additional locations are decided as per departmental demand.
The selection process of the FIN interns:
– Applicants have to be registered with any one of FIN’s ISO partners listed above.
– Applicants have to be screened by the partner ISOs to ensure job readiness (functional language capacity in English or French [minimum Canadian Language Benchmark of 6],
– referral to proper licensing or evaluation body for assessing the credentials, and referral to extra training for résumé-writing and courses for job-coaching if needed
– If the ISO seems the candidate as job ready, he/she can apply online at Http://www.jobs.gc.ca during spring.
– CIC screens applications against the merit criteria conducts interviews and refers resumes to the hiring manager.
– Hiring managers do the required reference checks, informal meeting along with the security clearance of a single or many candidates for a specific position.
How does the FIN Program work?
The program begins with a casual 90-day appointment for the intern followed by a second occasional appointment if possible in the same group. This increases the opportunities to learn across the Government of Canada. Most of the interns start their placements in September, but an organization can request qualified candidates for the entire year as well. Every intern will have a mentor during the internship and is trained.
Interns are given placements based on their qualification and the requirements of the departments. This process begins early in the year so as to accommodate the security clearance