Youth Employment Strategy Guide for Applicants

Career Focus

Career Focus provides post-secondary graduates with career-related work opportunities in Canada and abroad to support their development of advanced skills, to help them make career-related links to the job market, and to assist them in becoming leaders in their field.

Career Focus offers youth a range of work experience, learning and skill-building activities to help them choose careers and to encourage them to pursue advanced studies.

As well, the Sectoral Career Focus Program component supports National Sector Councils and other cross- sectoral organizations which, in turn, develop work experience opportunities for post-secondary graduates.

The International Academic Mobility component of Career Focus provides opportunities for post-secondary students to study outside Canada under reciprocal agreements between Canadian post-secondary institutions and those in other countries.

Eligible Participants

To participate in Career Focus projects, youth must be:

• between the ages of 15 and 30 (inclusive) at the time of intake/selection;
• post-secondary graduates;⁸
• Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or persons on whom refugee protection has been conferred;⁹
• out of school;
• legally entitled to work according to the relevant provincial/territorial legislation and regulations;¹⁰ and
• not in receipt of Employment Insurance (EI) benefits.¹¹

Post-secondary graduates are limited to participation in one Career Focus project.

⁸ Post-secondary graduates may be graduates of degree or diploma programs at universities, colleges, post-secondary schools of technology, post-secondary institutes and CEGEPS. These may be either publicly or privately funded institutions.

⁹ Refugee protection must be conferred under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Persons awaiting refugee status, as well as those who hold a temporary visitor visa, student visa or work visa, are ineligible to participate in a Youth Employment Strategy initiative.

¹⁰ In those provincial/territorial jurisdictions where labour legislation states a different minimum age for employment, the age eligibility for Career Focus should be adjusted to reflect provincial/territorial requirements. Any underage participants will have to leave the program regardless of the point at which they are identified. Any other applicable legislation or regulations must also be observed.

¹¹ Participants must not be in receipt of EI. Priority will be given to non EI-eligible youth (i.e., not entitled to Part 1 or Part II benefits). EI recipients wishing to participate in a Career Focus project should consult an EI agent and voluntarily withdraw from EI.

Project Activities

Through Career Focus, post-secondary graduates participate in career-related work activities that respond to their specific needs, including workshops and seminars on advanced employability skills, coaching and mentoring opportunities. These activities:

• assist post-secondary graduates in acquiring advanced skills, such as project management, entrepreneurial and leadership skills; and
• help both youth and employers by ensuring that the young person's skills and experience respond to emerging opportunities in Canada's knowledge-based economy.

Career Focus links highly skilled young people with potential employers to provide a combination of career-related work experience and innovative skill development and learning opportunities. This ensures they will be more responsive to the rapidly changing Canadian labour market and ready to meet the challenges of the knowledge-based economy.

More information for employers

More information for youth

About the Youth Employment Strategy

Thirteen Government of Canada departments and agencies work in partnership with business, labour, industry, not-for-profit and voluntary organizations, rural and remote communities and all levels of government to help young people get the information and develop the skills and work experience they need to prepare for and participate in the world of work. To read more about this initiative click here  or call Youth Info Line: 1 800 935-5555.