Investing in the leaders of tomorrow
QRA Corp. has recent grads racing to work for them
The flexible hours and free Friday afternoon beers are not the only thing that has youth racing to work at QRA Corp.
The quirky team of quantum physicists, software engineers, and mathematicians also love the challenge of working with demanding complex systems. Much of QRA’s talent are recent grads, putting their education to use for the first time.
“I was worried about getting a job after graduation,” says Arthur Recalde, an international student from Brazil, who graduated from NSCC three months ago. “But then I got hired here, and it still doesn’t feel real. They even paid me for my five-week work placement which was not required of them.
“Graduating, I thought I would be fixing printers, but I started off operating systems as a Dev-Ops System Administrator right off the bat.”
Hiring Recalde fresh from college was made easier for QRA by a funding incentive offered by the province. The Graduate to Opportunity program offers eligible employers up to 35% of the grad’s first-year salary and 12.5% of the grad’s second-year salary.
“Having the follow-through from the government, with the Graduate to Opportunity Program, gives us a way to keep these co-op students here in Nova Scotia after graduation,” says Jordan Kyriakidis, QRA co-founder and CEO. “This is key to the growth of our industry, and both these programs — GTO and the Co-op Incentive — are incredibly important for retaining youth.”
Attracting and retaining youth is important to the future of the workforce in Nova Scotia.
“At some point there will be a labour gap that needs to be filled,” says Arthur. “How can businesses better prepare for that? If you wait, you will be behind in the competition to hire the best grads. Hiring youth is an investment in the future. It can be incremental — start with hiring co-op students, and then consider hiring them after graduation.”
Stephen Foster recently completed his PhD in physics in Toronto, but was eager to come back home to Nova Scotia and join QRA as a software engineer.
“I was hugely relieved to get this job,” says Stephen. “I moved back to Halifax and I really wanted to stay here — that was my goal all along. If I didn’t get a job I might have had to move somewhere else. I feel very lucky. QRA is very good at onboarding and welcoming young people with a progressive, start-up mentality valuing work-life balance.”
Like Stephen, Arthur sees a future and a life in Nova Scotia.
“In Nova Scotia, there are more jobs, better pay and it is safer than Brazil — where I would still be living with my mom. Coming here I thought ‘why don’t I go to Toronto or Vancouver? It seems like everyone is moving there’…but Nova Scotia is magical in the air. I don’t know what it is, but I like it.”
“Per capita, the talent of Nova Scotia youth — especially in software and technology — is on par with any other place in the world, literally any other place in the world,” says Jordan. “But because the youth population is so small here, we really need to retain as much of our future brain trust as we can.
“As a small company with global reach and ambition, the youth we hire and retain today will be our leaders of tomorrow. We are so fortunate to be benefitting from that every day.”
GTO has helped over 650 graduates get jobs in their fields in Nova Scotia over the past three years alone, and for the first time in 32 years, more youth are enter the province than leaving. Employers like QRA help make this happen by offering employment opportunities to post-secondary youth.
Learn more about how GTO can help you hire fresh talent.
