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HireNext Case Studies
The Newest HireNext Case Studies
University of Calgary
Shift: The Project to End Domestic Violence
The following case study illustrates how Shift – a prevention of violence initiative based out of the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Social Work – overcame policy and collective agreement limitations to help young professional immigrant women secure their first Canadian job placements.
CivicAction & Accenture
Tapping into Artificial Intelligence for More Inclusive Job Postings
CivicAction partnered with Accenture to create an artificial intelligence tool, which provides practical recommendations for employers to improve the language around inclusivity of current entry-level job postings.
RBC
Delivering the RBC Career Launch Program in a Virtual Environment
The following case study illustrates how RBC’s Career Launch Program – a one-year paid
internship that provides a unique experience for youth to bridge the transition from academics to
employment – overcame the impact of a new world created by COVID-19.
Explore More Case Studies
The following case study is RBC’s journey towards hiring more youth facing barriers and setting them up for long-term career success and to create a roadmap to help other companies take the next step.
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is one of the largest banks in Canada. The bank serves over 16 million clients and has 80,000 employees worldwide. RBC is a recognized industry leader with a commitment to proving youth career development through campus recruitment initiatives and programs for recent graduates like RBC Career Launch Program.
RBC’s Challenge: Onboarding and Developing Candidates
As a large institution, RBC has well-established HR practices and programs. In the case study, RBC set out to identify opportunities to customize current processes to set opportunity youth up for success and make them feel welcomed and supported through recruitment and onboarding.
The following case study is H&M Canada’s (H&M) journey towards more youth-inclusive hiring practices and can act as a roadmap for your company to take the next step.Spanning 62 countries, 4,000 stores and over 130,000 employees globally, H&M (Hennes & Mauritz AB) is the second largest clothing retailer in the world. In Canada, they operate almost 100 stores with over 3,400 employees—most under the age of 29.
H&M’s Challenge: Finding the “Quality” Candidate
To say H&M is a popular choice for young people to work at is an understatement. In some markets, recruiters often have to sift through over 1000 applications per week to find candidates, meaning H&M’s recruitment team narrows down applicants based on experience. But experience, is not always an indicator of a great candidate, particularly for entry-level roles. There are many soft skills that make up a quality candidate such as attitude, friendliness, and a set of core values that align with the ideal customer service representative, which cannot be assessed solely based off of experience. This process therefore can make it hard for opportunity youth to make it through the traditional screening processes and unintentionally be screened out before they’re given the chance to meet for an interview.
The following case study draws on Starbucks Canada’s (Starbucks) journey towards reaching its opportunity youth hiring goals and can act as a roadmap for your company to take the next step.
With an average of two new stores opening per day globally for the last 27 years, Starbucks Canada has become the largest coffee chain in the world. In Canada alone, Starbucks employs 14,000 store partners (full and part time employees).
Starbucks’ Challenge: Tracking the Development of Opportunity Youth
In 2017, Starbucks’ recognized a new challenge: how do you track and measure the development and impact of opportunity youth in stores beyond anecdotal stories. Because it isn’t just about giving youth a job, it’s about whether they retain it and continue to grow within the company. In order to continue their longstanding commitment to Canada’s youth, the company acknowledged the need for evidence and data to be able to make improvements, share best practices, build a compelling businesses case and promote corporate success. Central to this was identifying the processes of community employment agencies in sourcing youth and the performance outcomes of youth and business pre- and post-hire.
The six-story Toronto Don Valley Hotel & Suites (TDV), just northeast of downtown Toronto, is an example of the classic 1960s urban resort hotels. Backing onto a ravine, the hotel is positioned as a hideaway to escape the hustle of the downtown core. The hotel has 385 guest rooms, more than 16,000 square feet of meeting space, and employs more than 135 associates.
Toronto Don Valley Hotel & Suites’ Challenge: Successful Onboarding & Retaining Trainees
The first 30 to 60 days are critical to successfully integrating new hires. Yet the onboarding process can be overwhelming for opportunity youth trainees or new hires, for whom this may be a first job. Managers’ and trainees’ expectations may be different, and trainees may not feel comfortable asking questions about their role or about any needed accommodations. New hires struggling to navigate the many moving parts and competing job requirements may slip under the radar during onboarding, which can compromise their performance and retention.