Federal Internship for Newcomers (FIN) Program Questions and Answers

The Federal Internship for Newcomers (FIN) Program is an interdepartmental initiative which offers young newcomers to Canada the opportunity to gain valuable work experience within the Federal Government. The FIN Program builds on the previous Immigrant Internship Pilot Program (IIPP) at Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and the Young Newcomers Internship Program (YNIP) at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). In partnership with Local Agencies Serving Immigrants (LASI), Service Intégration Travail Outaouais (SITO) and World University Services of Canada (WUSC) the FIN Program provides a mechanism through which foreign-trained professionals may be hired for 2 back to back casual appointments of ninety days each.

The expanded program is being led by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Expansion of internship initiatives such as IIPP at ESDC and YNIP at IRCC was one of eight recommendations identified by IRCC’s Parliamentary Standing Committee in their November 2009 report on Foreign Credential Recognition.

An interdepartmental working group has been established to guide expansion of internship opportunities to other federal departments/agencies. Members to date include;

• Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC)
• Canadian Security Intelligence Services (CSIS)
• Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (AAFC)
• Natural Resources Canada (NRCan)
• Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC)
• Industry Canada (IC)
• Health Canada (HC)
• Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)

Newcomers often face greater challenges than Canadians when searching for employment commensurate with their skills and educational background. They lack Canadian work experience, networking opportunities, and are often unfamiliar with the Canadian labour market. The program offers newcomers valuable Canadian work experience within the Federal Government and aims to enable a smoother integration into the Canadian labour market.

Within ESDC, the Human Resources Services Branch (HRSB) is managing the program. Chantale Tremblay (819-654-7426) is the director responsible for overseeing the FIN Program and Cristina Lancia cristina.lancia@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca (819-654-3170) is the Departmental FIN Program Coordinator.

Local Agencies Serving Immigrants (LASI), World University Services Canada (WUSC) and Service Intégration Travail Outaouais (SITO) are the non-governmental immigrant-serving organisations who collaborate to provide candidates for the FINP.

The previous Immigrant Internship Pilot Program within ESDC received an employer award from Hire Immigrants Ottawa, a community organization promoting the fair integration of immigrants in the labour market in the National Capital Region (NRC). On May 17, 2010 HRSDC received a United Way Community Builder Award in recognition of the Internship Program. Also, on March 28, 2011, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) was among the winners of the Best Employers for New Canadians awards for 2011. A key factor to ESDC winning this award was the Federal internship for newcomers program.

The program:

• Draws on the expertise and unique perspectives that newcomers can bring to the department;
• Supports the Clerk’s commitment to public service renewal and diversification of the workplace; and
• Helps to address employment equity challenges through the promotion of a diverse and representative workforce.

Managers find the Internship hiring process to be useful in finding applicants who match a position’s specific criteria. The initial screening and interview process is handled by CIC/HRSDC/LASI, and managers are provided with 3 resumes that correspond with their position requirements. All managers who have participated in the program in the past agreed that hiring an intern was beneficial to their coaching and managerial skills.

The Program enables newcomers to:

• Obtain essential Canadian work experience in the federal public service
• Build networks
• Gain an understanding of the Canadian labour market
• Enhance their communication skills

Interns are qualified, Foreign Trained Professionals who are in need of assistance initiating their careers in Canada. In his graduation speech Michael Li captured the impact of the Program:

"A year and half ago, I was desperately searching for a job in private sector, never thought that one day I could even work for federal government… The IIP profoundly changed my career path and many aspects of my life as an immigrant in Canada; I can now contribute to the meaningful work which I never dreamed of before. My life wouldn’t have been the same if wasn’t for this wonderful program."

The hiring process is conducted through the following steps:

1. Manager identifies a position within his group that can be filled for a short term period: replacement for temporary absence; short term initiative; special short projects.
2. Manager must ensure to have approval for wages and accommodation for the position identified.
3. Manager completes the automated FINP Request Form containing their contact information and basic information about the position.
4. IRCC, in collaboration with participating departments, will conduct interviews as part of the screening process to assess essential and asset qualifications.
5. Manager is provided with résumés of three applicants.
6. Manager may wish to conduct informal interviews of their three applicants to select the right fit for their group (applicants not selected will be returned to the general pool).
7. Intern is hired based on the staffing mechanism to be used (casual, part-time worker, term external non-advertised, indeterminate external non-advertised). The sub-delegated manager assumes full responsibility for the request and supporting documentation provided.

All interns in the FIN Program must possess the following Essential Qualifications:

• A post-secondary degree (assessment of international credentials not mandatory)
• Residency in Canada 10 years or less
• Other criteria based on category (e.g. written communication for EC)

The screening process follows these steps:

1. Candidates apply to GC Jobs using their email address. During the application period.
2. All Candidates who meet the essential qualifications will be interviewed by a board (LASI, CIC, ESDC and relevant departments. based on category) to aid in placement.
3. Using the screening report and interview guide as a tool, the selection committee (comprised of representatives from participating departments) identifies candidates to recommend for each job requested based on the skills and qualifications that managers listed on the FINP request form.
4. Each manager receives several names (optimally three) for each of the positions to be filled (as determined by the screening committee).
5. Once all job matches are made, candidates who are still in the pool but were not offered a position will be notified.
6. Following the acceptance of a position by the intern, support will be offered to interns in the form of cross-cultural training, mentoring and departmental Orientation sessions.

Managers are asked to send in their request forms as of May and will then receive résumés early August. As all interns are expected to start their contract by the end of August or early September, managers must select an intern as of early August and submit the required documentation to HR and Security. However, hiring from the FIN Program can be done anytime throughout the year.

Hire Immigrants Ottawa (HIO) will provide cross-cultural training and support for both managers and interns. All of the managers who attended the cross-cultural training and orientation session were pleased with the training and information they received in previous years. The majority of managers were very impressed with the human resources and administrative assistance that was provided for them.

Different learning activities are also offered to interns. E.g. tour of Supreme Court of Canada and of Parliament; session on “How to apply for jobs open to the public”; etc. A calendar of learning activities / training will be provided to both interns and managers.

A mentoring program is in place to help interns integrate into their new workplace. Mentors are an important part of the Federal Internship for Newcomers Program as they can help interns navigate the culture of the Canadian workforce and can provide interns with networking opportunities.

The primary purpose of the FIN Program is to allow newcomers the opportunity to gain valuable Canadian work experience. It is one of the only initiatives in the Federal Government that offers internships to permanent residents as well as Canadian citizens. Interns will be casual employees and will therefore be allowed to work for no more than 90 days within a calendar year. As the program is set-up to span two calendar years, it provides the opportunity for two consecutive casuals, which totals 180 working days.

Casual employment letters of offer indicate clearly that casual workers should have no expectation that this term employment will lead to permanent employment. At the moment, only candidates who are Canadian citizens can be considered for permanent employment upon completion of the internship, unless there is a specialized skill set required for which no qualified Canadian citizen can be found.

The majority of participants in the internship, including managers, mentors and interns reported positively on the experience. However, one of the main difficulties encountered was the difficulty for the interns to pursue employment within ESDC after the maximum 180 day internship unless they had become Canadian citizens. Managers, interns and mentors must remain aware throughout the internship that no further extension of a casual appointment is possible.

As preference is given to Canadian citizens during selection processes, interns who are successfully participating in an external selection process must receive their citizenship or wait until all Canadian citizens in the pool are appointed before they are considered for an appointment.

Managers who do not have a vacant position for this year’s program are encouraged to become mentors for FIN Program interns. The mentoring component is an enjoyable way to support the Federal Internship for Newcomers Program which provides coaching and support to new interns. Mentors are an important part of the Federal Internship for Newcomers Program as they can help interns navigate the culture of the Canadian workforce and can provide interns with networking opportunities.

Finally, promoting the Federal Internship for Newcomers Program to colleagues is another great way to help, especially if you have previously participated in the Internship Program.

• For hiring process information send an email to ESDC FIN Program nc-finp-esdc_pfsna-edcc-gd@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca
• For general information on the FIN Program please visit the IRCC's Foreign Credentials Referral Office responsible for delivering the FIN Program to all federal government departments.