|
The Small Business Internship Program provides small and medium-sized businesses financial support to hire a post secondary student intern to assist them in their adoption of information and communications technologies to increase their productivity and competitiveness. The program offers the students hands-on experience working on e-commerce projects under the mentorship and coaching of entrepreneurs. Student interns will gain an appreciation of entrepreneurship, and an opportunity to explore career possibilities. How does the Small Business Internship Program work?Small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) from Lanark County and North Leeds submit an application to Valley Heartland CFDC. If approved, they can hire a student intern to help them take advantage of information and communications technologies (ICT) to help grow their business. SMEs will have the flexibility to hire the interns that possess the skills and abilities for their specific project or needs. The SMEs negotiates the wages of the intern using Government of Canada Treasury Guidelines. Once the 12-week internship is over Valley Heartland CFDC will reimburse 75 percent of the eligible costs of wages, up to a maximum of $10,000. The SME gets the information and communications technologies help they need to grow their business and the students gets valuable on-the-job experience. What are the eligible costs? Eligible costs that can be claimed by participating SMEs are 75% of the student interns’ wages to a maximum of $10,000, for a period of up to 12 weeks. How does the Small Business Internship Program address the ICT needs of SMEs?A significant number of SMEs are currently simply connected to the internet or are passively on-line, and might not be taking advantage of the possibilities offered by e-business. The Small Business Internship Program seeks to improve the competitiveness of SMEs by supporting businesses to actively market on-line and improve their competitiveness with e-commerce practices and technologies. Note: Projects of a purely technological nature (for example: website development, server installation, database maintenance, data entry, etc. ) and those aimed at supporting educational activities (for example: organizing conferences, workshops, or exhibition, creating promotional material, participating in training projects, etc. ) are ineligible under SBIP.Businesses What are the eligible criteria?To be eligible for this program, your firm must: Be a small or medium-sized enterprise with less than 500 employees; Wish to enhance your e-business capability. Valley Heartland CFDC will assess the projects against the following criteria: Will the internship meet SBIP’s objectives? Will it give a student intern meaningful work experience? Will it give the student intern 12 weeks of work? Will the employer provide a minimum of 25 percent of intern wages and related eligible costs? Will the internship run between May 1, 2010 and March 31, 2011?
All employers will be notified as soon as possible whether their project was approved or unsuccessful. The SME is then responsible for hiring and advertising their student intern position at universities and colleges, on job boards or other job advertisements as the SME sees appropriate. Students How can students become SBIP Interns?Students interested in being a part of the SBIP must meet the following criteria: Be under the age of 30; Be enrolled in a post secondary education program (or have recently graduated from such a program) AND intending to return to school; Be pursuing education in an information and communication technology-related field where information technology (IT( knowledge and skills are important, e.g. business, e-commerce studies, computer science;· Be legally entitled to work in Canada (this includes permanent residents of Canada but does not include those awaiting permanent status, or persons with temporary work visas, such as students who have graduated and have temporary work visas); and Be willing to compete for the positions.
How to apply? Hiring for SBIP will be done by the SMEs who are involved in the program. Post-secondary students should check job boards at their local universities and colleges as well as any places where job advertisements may be placed by businesses looking for student interns. Interested post-secondary students who meet the criteria can send their resume along with a covering letter to the participating small and medium-sized businesses. What are the student interns’ obligations? SBIP student interns are expected to: Demonstrate motivations, shared responsibility and commitment to achieving project goals; Submit a short project report to the employer by the completion of the project; Provide their consent to participate in the evaluation/assessment of the project; Complete and submit the Participant Information Form (PIF); and Not be in receipt of Employment Insurance at the commencement of the internship.
____________________________________________________________________________ For additional information contact:
Jennifer Lynch, Program Officer
Tel: 613-283-7002 ext. 113 (888-784-7605); Fax: 613-283-7005
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Note: To view PDF files you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. If you do not have it installed, click on the icon below and download Acrobat Reader for free from Adobe's website. 
To download a Word document, right click the mouse and choose "Save Target As".
|
