Getting free money sounds too good to be true but that really depends on your circumstances. We’ve listed some pros and cons to getting wage subsidies for student hires to help you understand if it’s the right fit for your business.
Pros
- Students are enthusiastic and eager to learn. They’ll be open to trying new things and will provide a fresh perspective to help solve that problem your team has been grappling with.
- You can use internships as a recruiting tool. Even finding one student that turns into a permanent employee could be extremely valuable to the company.
- Youth hires are familiar with social media and other tech tools and can help your team learn how to be more effective.
- Your student hires can be subsidized up to $7,000 over 4 months!
Cons
- Student hires are like any other new hire in that they require time and resources to help get them set up for success. However, student placements can be as short as 4 months so being able to train up quickly to provide value in a short period of time is crucial and not always possible for some businesses.
- Students are not always sure about what career path they want to go down and use work experience as a way to figure that out. Not every student hire is going to want to come back as a permanent hire.
- Grants are dependent on the student finishing their work placement. If your student doesn’t work out then you’ll also lose your student hiring grant and will need to wait until the next hiring period to apply for another subsidy with a new student.
Overall, student hires can be a fabulous resource for your business so long as you’re aware of the restraints that come with them and know how to create student positions that will provide value. If you’re not sure how to best implement this for your company, please reach out to us and we’ll be happy to help build a strategy for your student hiring plans.