Hiring students offers pipeline into future talent
Hiring students can help transportation and logistics companies meet current needs, build a talent pipeline and beat the competition for the best candidates.
Companies should make hiring students a part of their recruitment toolkit in an industry where only 8% of the workforce is under the age of 25, a quarter is over 55 years old, and the job vacancy rate continues to grow, said Ramon Smits, manager, stakeholder relations, Trucking HR Canada (THRC) during a webinar.
Smits said the federal government is offering a student work placement subsidy through THRC. Employers must be related in some way to transportation or logistics. They could be manufacturers that transport their products, for example, or an IT company working in the supply chain sector. “When in doubt, reach out to us,” he said.
Employers can receive up to 70% of wages paid, up to $7,000 per term, Smits said. They must offer work-integrated learning, and employ the student for at least 10 hours a week, for four weeks. Funding is provided for students who are citizens, permanent residents or refugees.
Jannett Ioannides, George Brown College’s (GBC) Centre for Business Field Education and Partnership business developer, said the institution has 15 programs for work terms – an academic term/semester dedicated for students to work with an employer.
Co-op or internship
Ioannides said GBC has four-year degree, three-year advanced diploma, and one-year post-graduate students looking for work. They are studying marketing, human resources, finance, accounting, business administration, international business, supply chain and operations management and project management.
They can be offered a paid co-op position working for up to 40 hours a week, or an internship where they may work for up to 24 hours.
Students apply for the job and the company conducts interviews and makes the decision to hire them. “The job’s not handed to them on silver platter, they have to earn it,” Ioannides said.
The funding can help a company hire students not only in transportation- and logistics-related jobs but also in human resources and accounting, as long as it is a valuable experience for the student, Smits said.
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This is really a very complicated issue to talk about. For new drivers to be market ready it takes a long time and a lot of personal willingness to learn and adapt to a new industry. In my 26 years of trucking in Canada, I’ve seen a lot of people get their commercial license and shy away from the industry because they are completely disappointed with the reality. Trucking is not really a trade/profession of choice anymore and personally if I had to do it all over again, I would never get into it. Sorry, I don’t want to discourage some people out there.
So, to sum it up, basically the government is going to pay for data entry clerks for C.H. Robinson, and cashiers for Loblaws. Excellent use of government funds … NONE of which puts a new driver in a truck.
Hiring students for transportation and logistics and pay them nothing this will be new plan for this company. There are many companies who hire them but pay them nothing $19 cad for hour for truckers and no proper training. You people need to close this smaller company who are taking advantage of this student fist and them place minimum wage plan for truck driver as well.