Ontario fund gives youth a career kick-start
Of 1,200 participants who have completed short-term placements, 84% landed jobs
Cosmo Hosten has been fascinated with cars ever since he was little, but he was never able to get a job that stuck.
A new provincial program for unemployed youth put those things together, helping him land a training stint at Canadian Tire, which led to a full-time job as an automotive service adviser — checking people in when they bring in their cars.
“This opportunity has changed my life. They gave me a chance to improve my skills, and now I have found something I can call a career,” said Hosten, 29, who now works at the Canadian Tire near Eglinton Ave. and Caledonia Rd.
He’s one of 10,760 Ontario young people who have been given shortterm job placements through the province’s new Youth Employment Fund, meant to help bolster their resumes, develop references and even find a job. Some 1,200 participants already have finished four- to six-month placements. Of those, 84 per cent have landed jobs, some of them right where they trained, ac- cording to figures to be released Thursday by MPP Brad Duguid, Ontario’s minister of training, colleges and universities. “I’m thrilled that more than 10,000 youth of all abilities and backgrounds have already benefited from this important program,” Duguid said. The fund is aimed at young people who face barriers to employment, such as being on social assistance or having a disability, or who are aboriginal or have a poor work history. The province pays $7,800 for each student — $6,800 to the employer, to help cover training costs, and $1,000 to the student to cover things like the cost of getting to work. “That provincial money is absolutely critical; it allows us to take young people who lack the skill set and take the time to help them catch up,” said Steven McCarthy, owner of the Canadian Tire that hired Cosmo. “The biggest barrier some of them face is their age, and this gives them the kick-start to get into jobs and develop the confidence and the tangible skills they dearly need.” The goal of the fund is to place 25,000 students in short-term work settings over the next two years, as part of the government’s larger $295-million Youth Job Strategy. More than 5,000 employers already have taken part.