Top five student-friendly companies in Canada
Not many of us want to go from waking up and having class for a couple hours to dragging our butts to an office working 9 to 5 every day, but we all have to grow up sometime. Whether it's helping to pay for school, offering extensive training or just having lots of fun events and perks, these businesses are helping students make their transitions to the working world a little easier.
Haberno
habaneroconsulting.com
This Calgary- and Vancouver-based intranet portal designer was ranked the number-one best workplace in Canada by the Globe and Mail.
Whether you're in school or just recently graduated, Habanero offers multiple co-op and internship opportunities that have received awards for their training programs and workspaces.
Partnering with a number of post-secondary institutions, Habanero provides work experience for students in a variety of courses such as consulting and business analysis, design, development, and quality assurance, with four- to eight-month placements many leading into full-time work.
Habanero encourages staff to be healthy and active, giving each employee an annual $800 fitness credit that they can use toward gym memberships, rock climbing and even kickboxing!
Loblaw
In partnership with the University of Toronto, Loblaw offers international pharmacy students internships for a period of four months while they complete their studies. Once students are fully licensed, they may be offered permanent positions.
Loblaw also offers recent university or college graduates a program called grad@loblaw (loblawgrad.ca). This program is not like a typical internship — it's a permanent, paid, full-time position that focuses on learning and development, setting grads up for long-term success working for the company.
Grads in this program receive training in an area that they are interested in, such as operations, merchandising, HR, finance, supply chain or IT, and receive an up close and personal feel for the business while gaining valuable experience and mentoring.
Upon completion of the program, graduates may find themselves a job in their chosen department.
McDonalds
mcdonalds.ca
With approximately half of its employees 18 years old or younger, McDonalds realized that there was a need to help young scholars on their journey.
To help employees balance work and studies, McDonalds started a scholarship program. For over 25 years, the company has awarded thousands of scholarships as a way of recognizing and rewarding restaurant employees for their achievements at work and at school. Since the program began, more than 4,000 McDonalds employees have been granted scholarship awards totalling over $2 million.
McDonalds Canada offers a $1,500 Educational Assistance Bursary and nine annual $10,000 Employee Scholarships to employees every year.
Intuit Canada
intuit.ca
This tax and finances software company helps students and recent grads with their internship training program. Whether a student is looking for experience in the summer between semesters or is looking for something full-time after graduation, Intuit can help.
Its paid extensive training has a personal mentor guiding you through the ropes to success, giving students one-on-one feedback.
As part of training, Intuit gives employees time to brainstorm ideas for product development and company improvement measures, and gives them time to work on these projects to make them happen. How many business let you think up, make and test-drive your product during your first few weeks?
Intuit pits interns' ideas against each other, and offers money, prizes and bragging rights to the intern with the best ideas.
New employees have access to the on-site fitness center, free on-site oil changes, a free massage center and 32 hours of paid time off to volunteer at charities.
Google
google.ca
Google's internship program is so famous they made a movie about it. Google holds internship training camps, with 14 in North American alone, ranging in all kinds of jobs from advertising to mobile development.
If you can get through this camp and be one of the lucky 1,500 chosen applicants out of 40,000 each year, Google will treat you like a king. They offer a paid internship with free room and board on their campus and unlimited free food made by top chefs.
The Toronto Google headquarters features multiple game rooms, a music room for jam sessions, massage rooms, a mini-putt course, a nap room and library with secret tunnels and passageways. During internships, there are multiple games and team-building exercises like cake-decorating contests, scavenger hunts and races, making this highly coveted internship the one to beat.
habaneroconsulting.com
This Calgary- and Vancouver-based intranet portal designer was ranked the number-one best workplace in Canada by the Globe and Mail.
Whether you're in school or just recently graduated, Habanero offers multiple co-op and internship opportunities that have received awards for their training programs and workspaces.
Partnering with a number of post-secondary institutions, Habanero provides work experience for students in a variety of courses such as consulting and business analysis, design, development, and quality assurance, with four- to eight-month placements many leading into full-time work.
Habanero encourages staff to be healthy and active, giving each employee an annual $800 fitness credit that they can use toward gym memberships, rock climbing and even kickboxing!
Loblaw
In partnership with the University of Toronto, Loblaw offers international pharmacy students internships for a period of four months while they complete their studies. Once students are fully licensed, they may be offered permanent positions.
Loblaw also offers recent university or college graduates a program called grad@loblaw (loblawgrad.ca). This program is not like a typical internship — it's a permanent, paid, full-time position that focuses on learning and development, setting grads up for long-term success working for the company.
Grads in this program receive training in an area that they are interested in, such as operations, merchandising, HR, finance, supply chain or IT, and receive an up close and personal feel for the business while gaining valuable experience and mentoring.
Upon completion of the program, graduates may find themselves a job in their chosen department.
McDonalds
mcdonalds.ca
With approximately half of its employees 18 years old or younger, McDonalds realized that there was a need to help young scholars on their journey.
To help employees balance work and studies, McDonalds started a scholarship program. For over 25 years, the company has awarded thousands of scholarships as a way of recognizing and rewarding restaurant employees for their achievements at work and at school. Since the program began, more than 4,000 McDonalds employees have been granted scholarship awards totalling over $2 million.
McDonalds Canada offers a $1,500 Educational Assistance Bursary and nine annual $10,000 Employee Scholarships to employees every year.
Intuit Canada
intuit.ca
This tax and finances software company helps students and recent grads with their internship training program. Whether a student is looking for experience in the summer between semesters or is looking for something full-time after graduation, Intuit can help.
Its paid extensive training has a personal mentor guiding you through the ropes to success, giving students one-on-one feedback.
As part of training, Intuit gives employees time to brainstorm ideas for product development and company improvement measures, and gives them time to work on these projects to make them happen. How many business let you think up, make and test-drive your product during your first few weeks?
Intuit pits interns' ideas against each other, and offers money, prizes and bragging rights to the intern with the best ideas.
New employees have access to the on-site fitness center, free on-site oil changes, a free massage center and 32 hours of paid time off to volunteer at charities.
google.ca
Google's internship program is so famous they made a movie about it. Google holds internship training camps, with 14 in North American alone, ranging in all kinds of jobs from advertising to mobile development.
If you can get through this camp and be one of the lucky 1,500 chosen applicants out of 40,000 each year, Google will treat you like a king. They offer a paid internship with free room and board on their campus and unlimited free food made by top chefs.
The Toronto Google headquarters features multiple game rooms, a music room for jam sessions, massage rooms, a mini-putt course, a nap room and library with secret tunnels and passageways. During internships, there are multiple games and team-building exercises like cake-decorating contests, scavenger hunts and races, making this highly coveted internship the one to beat.
