Skills Link

Skills Link funds community organizations that assist youth facing barriers to employment. Community advisors work closely with youth to help them decide the kind of job they want and the skills they need to get it. Together, they develop an action plan, tailored to assist the young person in meeting his or her employment needs and career goals. The youth then works through the action plan until he or she finds a job or returns to school.

The Basics:

Contribution recipients can be businesses, organizations (such as not-for-profit, professional, labour organizations, or employers), institutions (public health or educational), band/tribal councils, Aboriginal organizations, or municipal governments.

Youth are eligible to participate in Skills Link if they are:

• Between 15 and 30 years of age;
• A Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or person who has been granted refugee status in Canada;
• Legally able to work in Canada;
• Not receiving Employment Insurance (EI) benefits;
• Out of school; and
• Facing barriers to employment. For example, youth who have dropped out of school, live in a rural area, have a disability, are a single parent, are Aboriginal, or have just immigrated to Canada.

For more information and to apply, interested businesses and organizations should:

• call 1 800 O-Canada (1-800-622-6232), TTY: 1-800-926-9105;
• visit a Service Canada Centre.

Other Youth Employment Programs:

• Businesses and other organizations can receive contributions toward offering post-secondary graduates opportunities to obtain career-related work experience through the Career Focus program.

• Canadian employers - not-for-profit organizations, public sector and smaller private sector employers (50 or fewer employees) - can apply for wage subsidies to create career-related summer jobs for students between the ages of 15 to 30 through the Canada Summer Jobs program.

• Advertise summer job opportunities for students by contacting your Service Canada Centre for Youth (SCCY) which is open from early May to August each year.

• Young Canadians between the ages of 15 and 30 who are unemployed or under-employed can acquire the experience and skills they need in the labour market by working as interns in host federal government organizations through the Federal Public Service Youth Internship Program (YIP).

• Students and recent graduates can find summer job and internship opportunities from across Canada through the Young Canada Works program from Canadian Heritage and Parks Canada. This program includes opportunities to improve second language skills, work in heritage preservation and work within Canada's National Parks system.

• Full-time students can post their resume at the Federal Student Work Experience Program (FSWEP) Web site and apply for student jobs within the federal Public Service of Canada.