Looking for ways to get new talent? Hire a co-op! The Ontario Government has a great program to help offset the costs. It’s interesting how all of these programs are located in and around Waterloo. This is one of the benefits of starting a company in Ontario.

I know that Kontagent, Extreme VP, Bumptop, LearnHub, Sysmos, FreshBooks, Well.ca, Idee and others have hired co-ops in the past. Here is some basic math, pay your students $15/hour for a 40 hour week for 16 weeks. It will cost you $9,600. The program will return you 25% which is $2,400. Cost for you for the 16 weeks is only $7,200. A steal!

For each co-op student hired, your organization can take advantage of the Co-operative Education Tax Credit.  The Ontario Government recently increased the credit to 25 per cent of salaries or wages and benefits (30 per cent for small businesses) to a maximum of $3,000 per student, per term. For more
information:

• Conestoga College: +1-519-748-5220 ext. 2374 or scocco@conestogac.on.ca
• University of Waterloo: 1-877-928-2667 or coop@uwaterloo.ca.
• Wilfrid Laurier University, +1-519-884-0710 ext. 4484
• University of Guelph, +1-519-824-4120 ext. 52323

Anyone know the contact details for UofT, Seneca, or Ryerson’s coop programs?