WELLINGTON – Objectif carrière Î.-P.-É. (P.E.I. Career Focus) program will be accepting interns until November. The program is open to French-speaking people aged 30 years or under who have completed postsecondary studies and who are ready to launch their career.
Carol Richard, co-ordinator of this RDÉE Prince Edward Island initiative, said, “We’ll begin internships for groups of participants in September and November, so we’re encouraging all those who are interested to contact us immediately so that we can start the process of finding them a work placement and together determine when they’ll be able to begin.
Those interested can sign up by filling in the application form on the bilingual website: www.objectifcarriereipe.ca/home.
These paid internships, offered for a maximum of 24 weeks, seek to integrate new college and university graduates into a career, preferably related to their field of studies. The program provides a financial incentive to employers to help pay a portion of the intern’s salary.
To be eligible, one must be a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident or have a refugee status; applicants must also have the legal right to work on P.E.I., according to provincial laws and regulations. Those who receive employment insurance benefits are not eligible.
Richard notes that since last fall, the RDÉE has been able to accept 16 participants into the program. Some are currently working in their internships in various fields such as electricity, health, forest engineering, sociology, anthropology, audio engineering and production, computer sciences, graphic design, kinesiology and early childhood education.
The Career Focus program is part of the federal government’s Youth Employment Strategy. The RDÉE is seeking to recruit young adults who can speak French and who are interested in returning to or in staying on P.E.I. to live and work. This program, much like its PERCÉ cousin, hopes to help repatriate young Islanders.
