What is the Career Ready Fund?

The Career Ready Fund is a wage subsidy to support employers in the automotive and advanced manufacturing industries to hire engaged and talented students.

Funding and support are available to help you hire students across all McMaster Faculties, including Engineering, Business, Science, Social Sciences, Health Sciences and Humanities. The fund will subsidize salaries for eligible McMaster students who are hired for a work placement between May to August 2021.

As a leading educational and research institution in Canada and the world, it is our goal to continue to foster connections between industry and skilled talent. McMaster University has a strong commitment to employment equity; through the Career Ready Fund, we’re building a pathway to connect students from equity-seeking groups to your industries.

Employer Eligibility

To qualify, organizations must meet at least one of the following criteria:

Be an employer in the automotive manufacturing industry, with at least 50% of the total sales revenue from the automotive supply sector:

• “Automotive manufacturing” refers to motor vehicle manufacturers, parts suppliers and tool, die and mold makers that manufacture motor vehicle components in Ontario. This includes manufacturers that have shifted to produce medical supplies and equipment in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Be an employer in the advanced manufacturing industry, with at least 30% of the total sales revenue from the automotive supply sector:

• “Advanced manufacturing” refers to businesses that develop and adopt innovative technologies to create new products, enhance processes and establish more efficient and cost-effective ways of working. This includes advanced manufacturers that have shifted to produce medical supplies and equipment in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as employers in information and communications technology, automation, computation, software, sensing and data transfer networking (Internet of Things, or IoT), technology developers and technology suppliers.

Position Eligibility

For a position to be considered an eligible work placement for a student, it must meet the following minimum requirements:

• The participant is in a workplace.
• The participant is exposed to authentic demands that improve their employability, interpersonal skills and transition to the workforce.
• The experience is structured with purposeful and meaningful activities.
• The participant applies university or college program knowledge and/or essential employability skills.
• The experience includes participant self-assessment and evaluation of the participant’s performance and learning outcomes by the employer and/or university/college/training delivery agent.
• The experience counts towards course credit or credential completion; or, is formally recognized by the college or university as meeting the five criteria above.

Note: For Faculty of Engineering students, the work placement must also meet criteria and qualify as an eligible co-op experience with the university.

Have questions or need support?

Our team of recruitment and career experts is here to help. Please connect with our team at hire@mcmaster.ca, and we can assist with the recruitment process, student career-readiness, accommodation requests and enhanced support for students with disabilities.

• Canada Summer Jobs: 50-100% of wage is covered. Offers support for employers providing supervised career-related work experience for young employees.
• Eastern Ontario Development Fund: Provides funding to businesses, municipalities and not-for-profit organizations for economic development in eastern Ontario.
• Ontario Development Fund: Provides funding to businesses, municipalities and not-for-profit organizations for economic development in southwestern Ontario.
• Job and Prosperity Fund: Businesses, business associations and entrepreneurs can get funding for projects to enhance productivity and help them compete in the global marketplace.
• Summer Experience Program: Provides funding to not-for-profit organizations, municipalities, Indigenous organizations and First Nation communities in order to create meaningful summer employment opportunities for students.
• OCE Voucher Program: Four funding opportunities provide Ontario businesses with financial support to work with academic partners to solve industry problems, develop new products & services, and to create online tools that support market expansion and exporting opportunities.

• Co-operative Education Tax Credit: 25-30% tax credit, up to $3,000 per 12-16 week work term. For Ontario-based co-op employers only.
• Industrial Undergraduate Research Assistance (NSERC): Awards $4,500 for a 12-16 week work term. For private companies that hire undergraduate researchers.
• OCE Smart Seed Fund: Young entrepreneurs aged 18-29 from across the province of Ontario with technology or innovation based start-ups can earn up to $35,000 in funding.
• Ontario Innovation Tax Credit: 10% refundable tax credit, up to $300,000 per year. For Ontario corporations that hire students for scientific research and experimental development.
• Scientific and Experimental Development Program: 20-35% investment tax credits. For Canadian corporations that conduct scientific research and experimental development.
• Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation: List of programs which provide funding for existing and growing sectors in Northern Ontario.
• Export Market Access: A Global Expansion Program: Grant coverage up to 50% of eligible costs. For operations at least 2 years old, with 5-500 employees and minimum annual sales totaling $500,000.
• Mitacs: Globalink Partnership Award: A $15,000 research grant in the Canadian professor’s name to support student travel and accommodation expenses, research-related expenses, and student stipend.
• SWILP: Student Workplace Integrated Learning Program: The Canadian Government will be investing $73 million to create 10,000 paid student work placements from 2017 to 2021 in the STEM and business fields.
• College and Institutes Canada Clean Tech Internship: If your business is in the science, technology, engineering or mathematics fields, you may be eligible to hire an intern for a new environmental or clean tech position or project. Awards a wage subsidy of up to $15,000.
• Science Horizons – Youth Internship Program: The Science Horizons Youth Internship Program is a wage subsidy initiative to help recent graduates in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) acquire work experience in STEM positions with an environmental focus. The program provides up to a maximum of $15,000 in wage subsidies to help employers hire the talent they need and help recent STEM graduates gain skills to secure full-time employment in environmental STEM fields.
• Talent Edge Internship Program: OCE provides a $10,000 contribution for a project-based internship with a clearly defined R&D component.

Alberta

• Alberta Innovates Health Solutions: Support health research and innovation activities focused on enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of the health system, improving health outcomes and ensuring advances from research translate into technologies, tools and policies for better health.
• Summer Temporary Employment Program: 4-16 week wage subsidy program that provides funding to eligible Alberta employers to hire high school or post-secondary students into summer jobs from May to August.

British Columbia

• Training Tax Credit: The training tax credit provides refundable income tax credits for employers who employ apprentices enrolled in apprenticeship programs administered through the Industry Training Authority.

New Brunswick

• Training Tax Credit: The training tax credit provides refundable income tax credits for employers who employ apprentices enrolled in apprenticeship programs administered through the Industry Training Authority.

Newfoundland

• Training Tax Credit: The training tax credit provides refundable income tax credits for employers who employ apprentices enrolled in apprenticeship programs administered through the Industry Training Authority.

Nova Scotia

• Training Tax Credit: The training tax credit provides refundable income tax credits for employers who employ apprentices enrolled in apprenticeship programs administered through the Industry Training Authority.

Quebec

• Training Tax Credit: The training tax credit provides refundable income tax credits for employers who employ apprentices enrolled in apprenticeship programs administered through the Industry Training Authority.

Yukon

• Yukon Research and Development Tax Credit:Refundable corporate and personal income tax credit of 15% or 20% for eligible expenditures incurred by a corporation.
• Yukon STEP Program: Offers students an opportunity to gain practical experience in their field of study and utilize their theoretical knowledge in a workplace setting.

Summer 2021–Winter 2022

Experience Ventures, powered by the Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking at the University of Calgary, enables college and university students to make an impact alongside real-world innovators. Experience Ventures is funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Innovative Work Integrated Learning Initiative.

Experience Ventures placements will enable your organization to:

• Engage students with minimum impact on your time and resources.
• Diversify the talent pool that seeks to work in social impact and/or tech innovation.
• Recruit early talent to your local innovation economy.
• Contribute to the success of your campus-linked incubator.
• Tap into the different insights and perspectives of students.
• Evaluate prospective talent.
• Give your up-and-coming team members the opportunity to develop their managerial skill set.

An entrepreneurial thinking placement is a structured, short-term paid opportunity with a start-up or social venture that has partnered with a student’s school. The goal is to empower students to develop and apply entrepreneurial thinking skills aimed at making them future ready. Experience Ventures offers five types of entrepreneurial thinking placements:

• Hack-a-thon or tech-a-thon: A one- to two-day event in which companies present students with real world challenges and ask them to provide innovative solutions.
• Challenges: Taking place over several weeks, these require students to build out more complete solutions to social, business, design or community challenges.
• Projects: Companies present students with a specific project, and the school matches it to talent from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds.
• Student-in-Residence: Students selected by the incubator receive unique opportunities to work with several companies over the course of a term.
• Interdisciplinary Team Projects: Incubators create teams of students from more than one discipline and provide them with a project for a venture or group of ventures.

Get started

Contact nealean@mcmaster.ca to register with Experience Ventures.

FAQ