In today’s job market, a Toronto degree from a post-secondary institution and a solid resume may not be enough to provide a hopeful young employee with a career-building job. It’s common for a company to demand that potential applicants have a certain amount of experience at the job they’re going to do before they apply for a listing, creating something of a conundrum for work-seeking recent graduates, a problem that community colleges can be hard-pressed to solve. Centennial College offers several solutions across its various degree programs,which serve to create ways for students to get working before they even graduate. Students can log those hours of experience time early, and connecting directly with the industry they wish to enter.

One such method is through the many different internships and field placements offered with Centennial College’s various programs. The goal of these placements is to ensurethat students get to participate in a “trial run” of their career in the field before graduating, in a way that even the college’s own facilities can’t replicate. There’s no better way to get actual practice in the job you’d like to have than travelling outside the school and working alongside professionals who can help out, and serve as contacts in a student’s professional network, something far more valuable than a simple resume.

Another method makes the college education itself secondary, via the apprenticeship program. Apprenticeships are really a pure expression of the core idea of practical, on the job skills training for career development that lies at the heart of the community college mission. Centennial College’s apprenticeships involve students training on the job with an employer in the skilled trades field, and then supplementing it with college classes to teach the theory. Joining an apprenticeship will result in the applicant becoming a skilled tradesperson, the one everyone else goes to when they need their problems solved.

Finally, Centennial College has been connecting students and industry partners through projects conducted with the Applied Research and Innovation Centre (ARIC). ARIC partners with small and medium sized enterprises to research and develop practical business solutions using science and technology. More importantly, though, teams are composed of students who use the opportunity to work with a real company, and wind up with experience and contacts when they’re done. By connecting students to these businesses, Centennial and ARIC provide them with a direct line to work experience, and networking.

SOURCE Centennial College