Jericho Beach
According to National Geographic:
Canada’s most adventurous metropolis is home to ten beaches, from the family-centric Jericho to the clothing-optional Wreck Beach, many of which offer commanding views of the Vancouver skyline and majestic North Shore Mountains. Sporty types prefer Kitsilano or “Kits,” a six-minute drive from downtown, for its free tennis and basketball courts, and its super-size heated saltwater pool.
Vancouver comes in 10th behind some more obvious choices like Rio, and Barcelona. Here are some of our favourite beaches – all of them are either right downtown or less than 20 minutes away by public transport:
English Bay Beach
Third Beach
Kits Beach
Yesterday was the perfect day to visit Whistler, sunny and beautiful. Although I had to carry my bottle of water with me because the heat was intense. As we can see in the picture, I am holding our company’s brochures after visiting hotels there. The hotels’ staff were very friendly and they had the time to talk with me. I spent 3 hours and a bit walking around Whistler Village, some hotels are easy to find and with others I spent a lot of time trying to find the entrances.
I remember the first hotel that I visited, the front desk manager was so friendly that he told me that his sister “the manager” will be interested in us because they are hiring staff at the moment. They always sort out the accommodation for the staff at this hotel, it is one of the few places that has this additional service.
There were more hotels quite excited to hear from us, but they only have job openings in November and December. So we have to wait a little bit to send our students there.
These pictures below, show some hotel exteriors, beautiful landscapes, and also we can see how the people are enjoying the weather and nature. Click on the pictures to see them full size.
Starting from July 19th, 2010 Slovenian citizens will be able to come to Canada to do an internship or working holiday. Few specific details on requirements and visa structure have been released yet, but it’s expected that the rules will be similar to those for Latvian participants. Here are those rules via our website:
Canada’s visas for Latvian citizens have recently changed – they are no longer operated under the Youth Mobility Program. That program has been renamed and is now the International Experience Canada (IEC) program. There are three types of IEC visas open to Latvian citizens:
Professional Development
This is a 12 month visa, open to Latvian citizens between the ages of 18 and 35. The purpose of it is to provide young professionals with the opportunity for gaining additional work experience in Canada. Before you can apply for your visa, you must have a job offer from a Canadian company for a position in your field. This job must be paid. Due to provincial labour regulations, VancouverInternships cannot accept Professional Development visa applicants into one of our programs.
Internship
This is a 12 month visa, open to Latvian citizens between the ages of 18 and 35. You must be a full-time student at a post secondary institution in order to apply for this visa. The purpose of it is to provide students with the opportunity for gaining a practical education in Canada and complete practicum requirements for their university courses in Latvia. Before you can apply for your visa, you must have an internship offer from a Canadian company for a position in your field. VancouverInternships can help you obtain an internship offer through both our Paid Internship Program, and our Student Internship Program.
Working Holiday
This is a 12 month visa, open to any Latvian citizens between the ages of 18 and 35. The purpose of it is to provide young Latvian people with the means to work and travel across Canada. No job offer is required, and you may work with any employer or employers you choose. Participants in this program may be interested in Vancouver Internships’ Working Holiday Program.
In addition, Latvian citizens who don’t meet any of the above criteria or who are interested in combining their internship with a period of English language studies may also qualify for a work and study visa. Click here to learn more about work and study visas.
Click here to visit the Canadian visa office and download forms and learn about fees.
Learn more about popular Vancouver Internships programs for Latvian citizens: Student Internship, Paid Internship
Notice that the key requirement for obtaining an internship visa is getting an internship offer from a Canadian employer. This is what we at Vancouver Internships can help you with. Through our student internship program, our staff can find an internship placement for you in your field of work, we can assist you with documents to apply for your visa, and we will help orient you to the city once you arrive.
These services are offered through our Student Internship Program. You can read more about that here.
We would like to encourage Slovenians to use this visa and to come to Canada. In order to do so we are offering a special price for our internship placement services. Rather than the $1,200 listed on our site, we are offering effective immediately a discounted price of €650 for any Slovenian citizen coming to Canada under the International Exchange Canada visa scheme. The special price will last until the end of October.
For more information on internships, please contact us. To apply, please click here (be sure to mention this blog post in order to receive the special price).
Starting from August 1st, 2010 Estonian citizens will be able to come to Canada to do an internship or working holiday. Few specific details on requirements and visa structure have been released yet, but it’s expected that the rules will be similar to those for Latvian participants. Here are those rules via our website:
Canada’s visas for Latvian citizens have recently changed – they are no longer operated under the Youth Mobility Program. That program has been renamed and is now the International Experience Canada (IEC) program. There are three types of IEC visas open to Latvian citizens:
Professional Development
This is a 12 month visa, open to Latvian citizens between the ages of 18 and 35. The purpose of it is to provide young professionals with the opportunity for gaining additional work experience in Canada. Before you can apply for your visa, you must have a job offer from a Canadian company for a position in your field. This job must be paid. Due to provincial labour regulations, VancouverInternships cannot accept Professional Development visa applicants into one of our programs.
Internship
This is a 12 month visa, open to Latvian citizens between the ages of 18 and 35. You must be a full-time student at a post secondary institution in order to apply for this visa. The purpose of it is to provide students with the opportunity for gaining a practical education in Canada and complete practicum requirements for their university courses in Latvia. Before you can apply for your visa, you must have an internship offer from a Canadian company for a position in your field. VancouverInternships can help you obtain an internship offer through both our Paid Internship Program, and our Student Internship Program.
Working Holiday
This is a 12 month visa, open to any Latvian citizens between the ages of 18 and 35. The purpose of it is to provide young Latvian people with the means to work and travel across Canada. No job offer is required, and you may work with any employer or employers you choose. Participants in this program may be interested in Vancouver Internships’ Working Holiday Program.
In addition, Latvian citizens who don’t meet any of the above criteria or who are interested in combining their internship with a period of English language studies may also qualify for a work and study visa. Click here to learn more about work and study visas.
Click here to visit the Canadian visa office and download forms and learn about fees.
Learn more about popular Vancouver Internships programs for Latvian citizens: Student Internship, Paid Internship
Notice that the key requirement for obtaining an internship visa is getting an internship offer from a Canadian employer. This is what we at Vancouver Internships can help you with. Through our student internship program, our staff can find an internship placement for you in your field of work, we can assist you with documents to apply for your visa, and we will help orient you to the city once you arrive.
These services are offered through our Student Internship Program. You can read more about that here.
We would like to encourage Estonians to use this visa and to come to Canada. In order to do so we are offering a special price for our internship placement services. Rather than the $1,200 listed on our site, we are offering effective immediately a discounted price of €650 for any Estonian citizen coming to Canada under the International Exchange Canada visa scheme. The special price will last until the end of October.
For more information on internships, please contact us. To apply, please click here (be sure to mention this blog post in order to receive the special price).
Warm sunny day here in Vancouver today. The perfect day to spend in an industrial area touring factories. Kidding – it wasn’t all that bad, and right after I finish this blog post I’m heading to 2nd beach in the West End – about 20 minutes walk from the office, where I plan to sit under a palm tree and drink something with rum in it.
Anyhow, our good friends from UBC brought along a guest today from Chung Ang University in Korea. We, UBC, and BCIT are partnering with universities such as Chun Ang to offer an engineering exchange program. This program will involve 8 weeks of intensive and hands on studies at BCIT, followed by an 8-week engineering internship arranged by us.
Unfortunately this program isn’t open to the general public. It’s exclusive to these few Korean universities, and it’s rather selective there too – with entrance requiring something like a 3.6 GPA. However, similar internship-only programs are available to Canadian Students in our Fall Internship Program.
In the picture you can see the people from UBC and Chung Ang on the right. They’re visiting an engineering host company. The person at the centre with his back to the camera is a project head at the host – and fortunately he speaks fluent Korean, so he was able to explain everything to our guest from Chung Ang. At the left of the picture is our intern, Burhan. He’s been working with this host the last few weeks. When he’s done, he’ll be heading back to Laval University in Quebec to finish his engineering masters. He’s participating in this internship through a school called Language Studies Canada (LSC).
I talked with Burhan a bit, he said that he’s been working on an independent project – designing warning lights, or rather configuring signals to warning lights for vehicle engines. It’s all rather confounding – I still don’t have a perfect grasp of all the engineering fields.
Right then, off to the beach. This one pictured below to be precise:
From our Website – a new page we just put up for our Fall 2010 programs:
Guaranteed Internship Placement in Vancouver
Year-round internship placement services including: resume writing assistance, interview preparation, and guaranteed internship placement from Canada’s Internship Experts.
Vancouver Internships are specialists in internship, and co-op placements. Since our founding in 2008, we have placed hundreds of students at internships and co-ops in and around Vancouver. Students have completed internships in fields as diverse as art gallery administration, private banking, and electrical engineering.
Our Student Internship Program is now open for Fall 2010 applications. If you are a student at a Canadian university or college, and have a GPA of at least 3.0, then there are dozens of different internships open to you here in Vancouver.
Guaranteed Internship Placements
Vancouver Internships has a 99% success rate in placing interns. We achieve this success rate by being choosy about the students we accept. However, once we do accept you, rest assured that you will have an internship in your field, by your start date, or you will receive a 100% refund.
Internship Fields
You can intern in any field related to your studies, provided that you meet basic program requirements. Some of those fields include:
- Accounting and Bookkeeping
- Architecture
- Law
- Finance (investments)
- Events Management
- Web Design
- Network and Systems Administration
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering
- Industrial Design
- Media
- Marketing
- Hotel Management
- Public Relations
- Policy Analysis
- and many more
Your internship options can be discussed in more detail when you meet with your Vancouver Internships advisor.
Accommodation
The vast majority of students participating in an internship program in Vancouver, choose to find their own accommodation. However, if you do need temporary accommodation during your internship, we have several hostel and student hotel accommodation options for you, starting at $800 per month. Please ask your Vancouver Internships advisor for more information.
Requirements
To participate in an internship, you must meet all of the following requirements:
- Currently enrolled in a Canadian college or university
- Be eligible to work in Canada (while internships are unpaid, SIN cards are required)
- Have completed your first semester of course work
- Maintain a 3.0 GPA
NB: Some internship fields may have specific requirements in addition to the above.
Cost
Participation in the student internship program costs $800 (HST Included). This fee includes guaranteed internship placement, resume writing, interview preparation, and ongoing monitoring and support while you are in Vancouver. NB: This fee does not include accommodation or transportation.
If you are accepted into the program, you will be asked to pay a deposit of $300 to confirm your enrolment. Once your internship interview is arranged, your remaining fees become due. Payment can be made online by Pay Pal, credit card or Interac email transfer, or through the mail, by cheque.
Enrollment Procedure
To enroll in the Student Internship program for Fall 2010, please complete the application form here. After we have received your application form, a Vancouver Internships staff member will evaluate it and determine if you meet all basic requirements. If you meet requirements, we will contact you to schedule a telephone consultation. During this consultation, we will discuss your internship objectives, and assess your ‘placeability’ and answer any questions you may have.
If you are accepted into the program, you will be sent an internship offer letter, describing what internship options are open to you, and listing your program structure (number of weeks you want to intern, and your desired start date). After receiving this and paying your deposit, you will be officially enrolled and will begin resume counseling and your placement process.
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Now this is a difficult one if you don’t know Vancouver very well. Look at the picture: which is the student, and which is the interviewer? I’ll give you a hint, the dress code at our office this month is shorts and polo shirts.
The student – the woman on the right – is Sandra. Sandra comes from Germany and will be doing an internship with a local cruise ship company. Specifically she’ll be learning about customer relations and customer service. She’ll also be earning her sea legs, as I think she’ll be working on a boat.
I met with our lawyers yesterday and am posting this notice on their advice. I met with them concerning a serious case of copyright infringement by one of our competitors, Step West. Step West is a firm which describes itself as an internship and working holiday programs provider.
Late last week we discovered that Step West had stolen the content from our website – VancouverInternships.ca – and had posted it on their website in order to represent it as their own. Vancouver Internships Work and Travel Providers are Canada’s Internship Experts, with the best programs and services in the market – it’s natural that if they were to steal materials from anyone, it would have to be us. They took everything from program names, descriptions, to FAQs and requirements.
With the assistance of our lawyers and the helpful people at Netfirms, we were able to force StepWest to remove the VancouverInternships.ca-copyrighted materials from their site.
However, we are concerned that our copyrighted-materials may have been disseminated in other forms, for example in brochures or manuals, or application forms, or emails etc… And that is the purpose of this notice. We are not asserting that this has been done, but in the event that it has, and you as a student, a host company, or a school are in the possession of any of these materials then please be advised that these are Vancouver Internships materials. The programs described are Vancouver Internships programs and the services are Vancouver Internships services. If you wish to participate in the programs described in those materials then please contact us directly and we would be happy to assist you.
To check and see if you are in possession of pirated Vancouver Internships materials, please visit our students website here: www.vancouverinternships.ca/students and our schools and agents website here: http://vancouverinternships.ca/index2.htm
Today I visited with Paulina at an international skin care company in North Vancouver. She is at the midway point in her internship and has found it challenging and exciting. All 14 employees have beautiful garden views and in this picture Paulina and the company’s owner are standing beside the indoor garden courtyard and koi pond, which I wanted to get in the picture but the glare from the sun wouldn’t let me.
Paulina’s really happy with her internship, and the host company is really happy with her. They sent us an email recently that said: “Paulina has done high level work for us and is doing an incredible job of studying and reporting on some complex issues. She is probably the best intern we ever had.”
After MUCH resistance, I’ve finally got round to printing a brochure. This one is for host company recruitment – promoting our programs to restaurants, shops and cafes, and asking them to host a student.
For the last couple years of business, we’ve been working with emails and nicely typed letters. I always thought brochures were kind of pointless for B2B stuff like host company recruitment. Actually, no – I still do think they’re kind of unnecessary.
But I do have to admit they look cool, and the format does force you to be concise and to the point – so that’s positive. Here’s the first of our brochures – it’s for casual work experience. We’ll be doing 2 more for our other programs at the end of next week. If you click on the picture you can sort of read it:
A mixed day today. But more or less good. We sourced a couple great placements in the paid professional program and had our first full staff meeting ever. We’ve had little meetings and informal chats, but we’ve finally grown enough that it was worthwhile getting everyone together.
We haven’t been taking pictures at host companies for a while – so here’s a picture of our office. We should put it up on the main site – I took it on my iPhone (using an app called AutoStitch). We’re at the top, 4th from the right I think. Soon soon enough we’ll be 4th AND 5th from the right.
Today Bander from Saudi Arabia had his interview with Marc. He owns a company that organizes events. His office is inside a gallery cafe. The place is nice. Bander has management experience that makes him suitable for the placement. Everything was very relaxed; I didn’t feel at all like being in an interview. We made some jokes. Bander did well. He spoke his mind, introduced himself and managed how to go through all the important stuff. I was there to help Bander but definitely he did all by himself. I just sat there, enjoyed a coffee and listened to an interesting conversation.
The pictures above show me, Bander and Marc. They were taken with Christy’s new iPhone, I don’t know why the photos are so blurry.
Today Christy and I went to Tomo’s interview. He applied for a house-keeping placement in a hotel in North Van. I am an intern as well and it was my first interview as a viewer. I was surprised how friendly could be one of these kind of meetings. It doesn’t matter where you come from; you are going to be nervous during your interview. It is good looking at the person and see how he gain confidence progressively.
There was some that it completely make my day; I realized that somehow I helped somebody while learning.
The CWE is our smallest program and it’s not something we focus on too often on the blog. But there are a decent number of students in that program – all coming from the language schools. The schools sometimes call it a co-op or working holiday program, basically – it’s a practical work term placement in the hospitality industry. We have students placed all over the city right now in lots of different positions.
The last few weeks we’ve been asking some of our students on placement to tell us about their jobs and what they do. Here’s some of what they wrote in their reports back to us:
Mitsuo from Japan – Ricky’s Restaurant [ Kitchen helper]
Please describe your daily work duties: I clear and clean the tables. I prepare the knives and forks. I pass the menu. I sweep up the floor and mop the floor.
What is the most interesting part of your work: I can talk with many people in English.
Nika from Taiwan – Starbucks [food prep]
Please describe your daily work duties: Filled up cream and milk, cleaned counter, dumped garbage, kept store clean, helped colleagues whenever they need a help, sampled and displayed products
What kind of training did you receive at your work: watched a video which showed everything we should know about before start working.(like what’s a safe work environment and what’s a good customer service and so on.)
What’s the most interesting part of your work: To see lot’s of people from different country and some special events or performances come with festivals.
Ricardo from Spain – Cafe Crepe [food prep]
Please describe your daily work duties: Prepare the coffes and beverages, help in the cash machine, make pizzas, paninis, salads and other foods that my company sells, at the end of my shift when closing, clean up the store.
What kind of training did you receive at your work: they are teaching me and training me on how to make a good crepe, i have been memorizing the recipies to make them good, people in there is very friendly and kind.
What is the most difficult part of your work: the schedule that i have to follow at work, it changes every week and you never know what to expect, sometimes opening shifts, sometimes closing shifts or even middle day shifts. every week it changes but it is not an inconvinient i just deal with it.
What is the most interesting part of your work: practice my English, improve it everyday at work, and feel the commitment of working in an important company in a foreign country.
Alejandra from Mexico – Starbucks [barista]
Please describe your daily work duties: I have to be a cashier and a barista (make coffees), as well as I have to check everything in the store for example: the products, the milks and clean.
Did you meet your goals for your work term in Canada: I got goals because first when I started work there I didn’t know anything about the job but little by little I learn and know I’m really happy because I know everything and I have a really with experience.
What was the most interesting part of your work: The experience I learned many thing in that job, also the relation with people and communication with them and my partners in the job.
What was your relationship like with your co-workers: Is very good they are so friendly with me always we are talking about something I never had a problem with them, and they helped when I had some problem or doubt.
Julian and Christy from our office dropped by on Sarah today. Sarah’s an Inlingua student, currently doing an internship in Human Resources. She had a choice of host companies and decided to work with a mid-sized general recruitment firm downtown. Here’s a bit from her latest report back to us:
On Monday I can attend the weekly meeting, in this meeting we discuss everything what was going on during the last week and what will be the work for this week. I am doing researches to provide the recruiters. Also I did some administrative work, like answering the phone, talking to clients at the front desk, sending letters. My host supervisor let my join some interviews he has to do with clients. In my opinion are the interviews very interesting. So I can train my listening skills, by listening to native English speakers. Additionally I get a pretty good impression how interviews are going. At the moment I really feel happy with my placement and I am glad you were able to place me in this company.
