Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER CANADIAN HR REPORTER February 24, 2014 February 24, 2014 NEWS NEWS 3 français workperks workperks ® WorkPerks ® is Canada's largest employee discount program . Give your employees instant access to a growing list of over 1,200 perks for restaurants, brand name stores, local shops, tickets, travel and more — redeemable at over 6,000 locations nationwide. Let us show you why many of Canada's top employers are using WorkPerks ® to uniquely enhance their overall benefi ts package and help employees and their families save money every day. quite simply, anywhere. perks nationwide. online and in your pocket. www.venngo.com/perks © Copyright 2014 Venngo Inc. All rights reserved. WorkPerks ® is a registered trade-mark of Venngo Inc. All other trade-marks are the property of their respective owners. V1_20140131 workperks Breaking the 'no job, no experience' cycle Breaking the 'no job, no experience' cycle RBC's Career Launch program to give 100 new grads practical workplace experience RBC's Career Launch program to give 100 new grads practical workplace experience BY LIZ BERNIER IT'S A statistic that gets thrown around almost casually now: e youth unemployment rate is nearly double that of the general population. Overall, the unemployment rate in Canada clocked in at seven per cent in January. But for those between the ages of 15 and 24, the landscape was twice as bleak, with unemployment sitting at 13.9 per cent. at's one of the reasons RBC unveiled its new Career Launch program, aimed at providing 100 recent graduates with the practi- cal workplace skills they need to gain a competitive edge in a tough job market. "In a nutshell, it's really to ad- dress the cycle of experience: No job, no experience," said Zabeen Hirji, chief human resources of- fi cer at RBC in Toronto. "As we all know, the youth un- employment and underemploy- ment issue is one that we see get- ting a lot of attention… and as we look at that, we know that we need to do some more creative things to help our youth develop their full potential." And helping a new generation of young people develop their po- tential is not just a need — it's a responsibility. " is is a generational respon- sibility to ensure that that next generation gets the leg up they need to be globally competitive in a very fi ercely competitive, global economy," said Brad Duguid, On- tario minister of training, colleges and universities. " at's only going to happen if our young people get real job experience — and that's what this program does." Community engagement, networking e program is one year long and will off er 100 participants from across the country the chance to move through multiple work rotations to gain experience in different business areas. Par- ticipants will be paid during the program. "It really is a combination of on-the-job experience, commu- nity involvement, formal learn- ing, mentoring and networking," said Hirji. ere will be three separate ro- tations, beginning with the pro- gram associates spending time at one of RBC's branches to learn foundational business, customer service and workplace skills, said Hirji. "Things like collaboration, communication, teamwork, lead- ership and other aspects. And re- ally that experience of being in the workplace will serve them well in wherever their career takes them," she said. e second rotation will see the associates go through a commu- nity/charity rotation, where they will partner with a not-for-profi t organization. e third and fi nal rotation will see the associates move into a spe- cialized area to gain more specifi c experience and skills, said Hirji. "Being a large bank, sometimes it's not as known that we have many roles in areas like fi nance, technology, marketing, human resources, and so the associates will have an opportunity to work in one of those areas and develop the experience and a bit of exper- tise there," she said. One thing that sets the Career Launch program apart is its focus on networking and col- laboration, according to Shaliza Karim Ladhani, a recent graduate and program associate based in Vancouver. " e minute I got (to the ori- entation), I got to meet so many amazing people. ere's a huge culture of collaboration and I think that these relationships that I'm going to build are going to live way past this one-year career launch program," she said. Networking opportunities will be off ered to encourage the asso- ciates to build relationships they can take with them once they're fi nished the RBC program, said Hirji. "Relationships matter. So what we'll be doing is giving them that opportunity to meet with people from different sectors, as well as from within RBC, to develop those networks." Not just another internship e program has a lot more to off er than typical internship pro- grams for recent grads, or the MULTIPLIER > pg. 10 " e youth unemployment issue is one we see getting a lot of attention... we need to do some more creative things to help our youth develop their full potential."

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