BUILD A FUTURE WORKFORCE-ONE TALENT AT A TIME
The shortest path from classroom to career—connecting young Canadians with underserved employers
CANADA'S TWO WORKFORCE PARADOXES
EXPERIENCE PARADOX: you need experience to get the opportunity, yet the opportunity is how you gain experience.
TALENT PARADOX: youth unemployment is at a 15-year high, yet employers struggle to find the talent they need.
As AI reshapes entry-level work, Canada faces a generational workforce challenge requiring new solutions.
WHO WE ARE
Youth unemployment in Canada is at a 15-year high, while AI is transforming the future of work faster than ever before. Canada is facing a generational workforce challenge that cannot be solved with yesterday’s solutions.
CanWorks is a workforce development nonprofit helping close both gaps by making
- real-world experience more accessible to POST-SECONDARY STUDENTS & GRADUATES
- emerging talent more accessible to UNDERSERVED EMPLOYERS including SMEs, startups and nonprofits.
CANWORKS GET REAL PROGRAM
GET REAL Program enables:
- Post Secondary students & graduates launch meaningful careers
- Underserved employers discover and grow with emerging talent
Through our Get Real Program, we prepare emerging talent—and reduce hiring risk for employers—at no cost:
- Designed with employers
- Built with students
- Mentored by industry professionals
- Grounded in real-world experience
- Measured by employer and student success
Program Objectives:
- Real-world experience that builds job-ready skills §Industry mentorship that develops professional confidence and workplace readiness
- Student-powered, employer-informed solutions that reflect today's workforce needs
WHY WORK WITH US
Students & New Graduates
- GAIN REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCE
- LEARN FROM INDUSTRY MENTORS
- BUILD
PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS
Industry Mentors
- HELP LAUNCH A CAREER
- DEVELOP LEADERSHIP SKILLS
- LEAVE A LASTING LEGACY
Employers
- ACCESS JOB-READY EMERGING TALENTS THROUGH CANWORKS' GET REAL PROGRAM
- REDUCE HIRING RISK WITH 90-DAY WORKPLACE MENORSHIP
- SAVE TIME RECRUITING MOTIVATED, PRE-SCREENED CANAIDATES
- BUILD TOMORROW'S WORKFORCE TODAY
WHAT OUR PARTICIPANTS ARE SAYING
Our students provide the strongest evidence. One told us he learned more in four months at CanWorks than in his entire fourth year at a leading Toronto university. Students who are not yet graduating extended their programs because they do not want the learning to end.