Searching for postsecondary students for paid internships next summer

Following PERCÉ’s 16th excellent year in 2019

WELLINGTON – Jan. 7, 2020 – Following a 16th year of continued success, RDÉE Prince Edward Island is calling on PEI postsecondary students who would be interested in participating in the 17th edition of its PERCÉ internship program next summer. Once again this year, the program will be able to host some 30 interns.

The program will offer its participants an average of 10 to 12 weeks of paid work in their field of study here on the Island, since the program is primarily aimed at retaining and repatriating young people who are studying outside the province, explains Stéphane Blanchard, youth development officer with the RDÉE. In addition, participants will be offered a series of training and orientation sessions on self-knowledge, job preparation and the discovery of Island career opportunities.

“We will give them the opportunity to rediscover their province and explore places of employment related to their field of studies and we will help them establish important contacts within their sector,” he adds. “We’ll show them that it’s possible to have a life and a career here on the Island and that they don’t necessarily have to move to Ontario or Alberta to work in their field.”

He noted that last summer, the RDÉE was able to welcome 29 interns in fields as varied as education, early childhood, engineering, health, psychology, pharmacology, arts and culture, sports and recreation, science, environment and tourism. “Both the interns and their employers told us that they all greatly appreciated and benefited from their internships,” Blanchard said. “If our excellent repatriation rates continue, more than 80 per cent of these young people will eventually settle permanently on the Island.”

In its first 16 years, PERCÉ welcomed 316 trainees.

The development officer invites all qualifying young people who are interested in participating in the program to visit the website www.percepe.ca to obtain more details and to fill out an online application form. Application deadline is March 31, 2019.

Program managers will evaluate all applications and, thanks to a predetermined scoring system, will choose the 30 most deserving candidates. It should be noted that bilingualism will be considered an asset. Once the participants are chosen, the coordinator will help them find an appropriate work location. The intern will receive the same salary that any beginner in this field would be paid.

“We are also calling on parents of university and college students from PEI to relay the message to their children that we’re looking for participants,” adds Blanchard.

In regard to employers, in addition to receiving a financial incentive to help cover salary costs, they also receive the services of an enthusiastic young person who has acquired the most recently required skills in their industry and who is ready and eager to learn.

“We are therefore inviting employers interested in hiring an intern to fill out an application form on the website www.percepe.ca or to send me any questions they may have to stephane@rdeeipe.org,” concludes Blanchard.

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PHOTO 1: Through her PERCÉ internship, Marlee Gregory got to work in the health field with seniors at the Beach Grove Home in Charlottetown last summer.

PHOTO 2: Grace Keizer, a student in sports and leisure, had the pleasure of doing a PERCÉ internship at the Rise and Climb park in Cornwall in the summer of 2019.

 

 

For more information:
Stéphane Blanchard
PERCÉ program supervisor
RDÉE Prince Edward Island
(902) 370-7333, ext. 402
stephane@rdeeipe.org