| There Are Two Ways for Employers
to Become Involved in TechWORKS! |
| 1 |
Offering work experience placements within company departments.
These placements are typically technology-based, but are increasingly
being offered in other organizational functions such as accounting,
human resources, marketing and information systems among others.
|
| 2 |
Pairing a secondary student with a post secondary co-op student
through the TechWORKS! Secondary/Post Secondary Co-op Mentorship
Program.
|
Both types of placements are typically 40 to 100 hours in length
and are unpaid. For more information on the TechWORKS! Secondary
School Work Experience and work experience, please see Frequently
Asked Questions (FAQ).
Feedback from Employers
"TechWORKS! and the TechWORKS! Secondary/Post Secondary
Mentorship Program allow us to make contact with the up-and-coming
employees of tomorrow. It keeps us in touch with what's going
on in the secondary schools and gives the students a glimpse of
possible career opportunities."
Marlene Jan
Human Resources
CreoScitex
"TechWORKS! placements with the City provide a good introduction
to the engineering and maintenance aspects of public works."
Russ Carmichael, AScT,
Manager of Infrastructure Maintenance,
City of Coquitlam
"TechWORKS! makes the administration easy. This is a
way for our company to give back to the community and encourage
students into the technology industry."
Shannon Clements,
Human Resources Representative,
Alcatel Networks
"TechWORKS! is helping build a marketable student population
to fill employment opportunities in the field of technology."
Karen Bell,
QA/QC Supervisor,
Sultzer-Mitroflow
"Well-chosen and helpful students who wish to learn.
TechWORKS! staff work to find the best student-placement fit."
Greg Webster,
Technical Services Manager
Dowco Computer Systems Ltd.
There
are some 120 private and public organizations participating in TechWORKS!
The majority have requested that their names not be presented on
this site.
Steps to Get Involved?
| 1 - Defining the Placement |
 |
The first step is to draft a Placement Profile, available
as a MS Word document. The Profile is used to define the placement
and match the secondary student with the placement opportunities
your organization is offering. For an example of a completed
Profile, download the Sample Placement Profile.
(NOTE: The above files will download to
the directory set in the your browser preferences. If you
are working in MS Windows the Profile should appear on your
screen. Select File/Save As and save the file to your preferred
directory. Then select your browser's Back button to return
to the Employer page on the TechWORKS! site. If you have any
problems, please contact techworks@asttbc.org)
|
|
Contact the TechWORKS! representative
in your area.
|
|
Have the representative meet with the placement
sponsor(s) within your organization to refine the placement
details and evaluate the working environment. |
| 2 - Matching Placement & Student
|
|
TechWORKS! allocates each placement to a school district
with a matching career program such as electronics, information
technology, health sciences and so on.
|
|
The district then selects a student enrolled in the program
for an interview with the employer. Placements are identified
by an ID number and are protected within in each school district's
work experience database so they are only allocated through
TechWORKS! This allows employers to plan work experience opportunities
for the year while reducing the need to evaluate additional
placement requests.
|
| 3 - Placement Monitoring & Reporting
|
|
The student's teacher is responsible for completing paperwork
required by the district including WCB coverage and monitoring
the student during the placement.
|
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At the conclusion of the placement, the student and teacher
report to TechWORKS! on placement strengths and opportunities
for improvement. This information is then relayed to the employer.
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