When he decided to enroll in the Professional Experience Year program, Xavier Snelgrove never imagined that he would be laid off. But Snelgrove is one of the unlucky few U of T students who have lost their PEY jobs thanks to the recession.
“Money was a little worrying,” said Snelgrove, a third-year engineering student. “I’d been intending to pay my way through the next two years with the PEY salary.” Administrators at the PEY centre can’t guarantee that students in the program will find or keep a job, though Snelgrove noted that they were helpful after his lay-off, giving him a stack of printouts for other jobs.
The PEY program offers students in Engineering, Computer Science, Pharmacology, and Toxicology the opportunity to go on work terms of 12 to 16 months. Companies pay the students directly, with annual salaries ranging from $28,000 to $66,000.
“Roughly 60 percent of engineering students who do PEY come back with offers [for jobs after graduation],” said Jose Pereira, director of the program. Those who do return to their original employers after graduating typically receive a 20 to 25 per cent higher salary than non-PEY students, making it an attractive program, he said.
But the recession has thrown a wrench in some plans. “Over the last four years, roughly four to six students [per year] are affected by a merger, a downsizing, or a plant closure,” said Pereira. “This year, those numbers have gone up.”
To date, 16 students have been let go. Most have either found alternative employment opportunities through the PEY centre, or have returned to classes. While the number of layoffs has tripled, the majority of over 600 PEY students haven’t been affected.
Neighbouring universities have noticed a slight decline in jobs as well. “The number of rescinded jobs was significantly higher than what would normally occur, but the problem was not widespread,” said Olaf Naese, a representative from the University of Western Ontario engineering co-op program. He added, “As of Jan. 29, 94.4 per cent of our co-ops who were to be on a work term for the winter had found employment. That compares to 96.3 per cent at the same time a year ago.”
Pereira insisted that PEY students have mostly been sheltered from the recession. “Even though they’ve cut back their workforce, they are not hitting the PEY students.” Pereira emphasized that employers are still eager to secure young talent. Furthermore, he expects available positions will outnumber students in the program by August.
“All of our students will go through this again,” said Pereira. “Recessions are part of the cycle. Those that get to work with us during this particular period are getting more value than those that don’t.”
Snelgrove has since found employment at another company and will earn his non-academic credit by the end of the year. Despite the layoff, he remains positive about his PEY experience. “I’m definitely a much better programmer for it,” he said. “It was my first real intensive professional programming experience, and it was in a language I had never used before. Now I have a new job where I’m learning new things.”
