Program Introduction

The Aboriginal Student Summer Internship Program (ASSIP) was designed to develop innovative ways to encourage young Aboriginal students to consider a career with Accenture; and to increase Accenture's visibility with the Aboriginal People of Canada. This program also provides Accenture employees with the opportunity to become involved in an activity which will help increase their knowledge of Canada’s Aboriginal People. Experiences The ASSIP program provides high school, college and university students with the opportunity to see and experience first hand the workings of a large professional organization. The experience will ultimately help students assess their career goals and their post secondary education needs. Throughout the program, students will: Participate in hands-on technology training. Participate in a project. Be involved in team meetings, presentations, etc. Use the firm’s technology and tools to prepare documents, reports, deliverables, etc. Support As students enter the ASSIP program, they will be assigned a formal mentor as well as encouraged to develop other informal mentoring relationships within their project team. The initial communication between the students and the mentor is to help clarify their role and expectations before starting on the project. Activities Students participate in welcome lunches, meetings and group activities throughout the summer which encourage students in the same location to get to know one another. Additionally, conference calls are held weekly to allow the students to stay in touch, to share their experiences and to work together on various projects, including managing the ASSIP website. Students are also encouraged to attend Aboriginal culture events with their mentors to educate Accenture employees about Aboriginal culture. In previous years students and mentors have attended a Pow-Wow and the International Day of the World's Indigenous People at Indian and Northern Affairs. Website The original ASSIP website was designed, created and built by the students in the 1998 program and updated by the students in the 1999 program and adapted to fit the accenture.ca format. The students of 2005 were responsible for redesigning the website. They created an ASSIP logo for the homepage, reformatted the student bios, expanded the cultural content and links, and updated the info on the website. The website’s purpose is to serve as a communication and education vehicle for prospective ASSIP participants, ASSIP alumni and employees of Accenture.