The sense of opportunity that once came with university graduation is fading today, as many young Canadians struggle to enter the workforce. Statistics Canada data shows recent university graduates face higher unemployment rates than before the COVID-19 pandemic, while vacancies for roles calling for a bachelor’s degree and fewer than three years of experience have fallen by more than half since early 2024. Yet hiring early-career talent can still pay off for organizations with the right onboarding and integration strategies in place. 

At Layer 6, TD Bank’s artificial intelligence lab, that approach is already in practice. Founded in 2011 by students from University of Toronto’s Master of Science in Applied Computing program students Maks Volkovs, Tomi Poutanen, and Jordan Jacobs, it was acquired by the bank in 2018. The lab builds AI foundation models that help TD employees serve clients faster. Sumee Seetharaman, TD’s head of artificial intelligence and machine learning practice, and a key hiring lead for Layer 6, sees early-career talent as essential in a field where much of the cutting-edge AI research still takes place in academia.

As the founders grew Layer 6, they stayed closely connected to the university and established internships to source emerging talent. Today, the lab brings in two to four students each year for eight-month research internships. Seetharaman says the arrangement is mutually beneficial: the interns immediately participate in research and application projects, while Layer 6 gains access to a thriving academic community leading Canada’s AI research. The lab also occasionally brings in interns from the University of Waterloo or other universities.

These interns aren’t running to Starbucks to fill executives’ coffee orders or scheduling meetings for vice presidents. Instead, they co-author research papers, contribute to AI applications for clients, and take ownership of innovation projects through the company’s patent program, helping them build their credentials and professional reputations. “When students join us for internships, they’re expected to contribute in the same way our full-time colleagues do, and that helps them grow immensely in a short period of time,” Seetharaman says.

For TD, this program serves as a youth talent pipeline, connecting early-career talent and university graduates with employers through training and mentorship. It gives new graduates and young employees opportunities to learn and apply their skills, while helping employers recruit, train, and develop them for long-term growth. As skills shortages intensify across high-growth sectors, such programs are becoming central to how organizations develop and retain talent. 

While Layer 6’s internship program helps students gain experience, it also gives senior staff a direct line to potential full-time hires. Among the roughly three new graduates she hires each year, Seetharaman isn’t only looking for technical capabilities. She prioritizes qualities such as passion, curiosity, and persistence, reflected in resumes and interview responses that show creative problem-solving skills and a hunger to learn. “That energy is contagious, and it brings out the best in the more experienced members of our team,” she says. “When every member of your organization has these qualities—and you put them together in the same room—you get a compounding effect that drives incredible results.”

Besides bringing on interns, Layer 6 staff also attend university career fairs and conferences run by research hubs to recruit new graduates. About 40 per cent of their total hires and 70 per cent of their machine learning scientists come directly from university programs–most often the University of Toronto’s masters program, though graduates from other programs in applied science, engineering, mathematics, and computer science are also frequently hired. As a result, Seetharaman says, recent graduates often become some of the lab’s strongest recruiters.

One such recruiter is Satya Gorti, who met the co-founder of Layer 6 at a career fair while completing his Master of Science in Applied Computing at the University of Toronto. More than seven years later, he remains with Layer 6 and leads a six-member team, five of whom came from the internship program. Each year, he returns to the university to speak to candidates about how to land a role at Layer 6 and the experiences interns gain. This ongoing connection to the university helps build  a sense of community and belonging over time.

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According to Seetharaman, hiring early talent is the easy part. The greater challenge is ensuring they grow and succeed. She recommends offering clear training, upskilling, and mentorship programs to help emerging talent reach their full potential. Layer 6 does this through DataCamp, a hands-on technical learning platform that gives employees access to more than 165 AI and machine learning courses. 

Without a clear approach to targeting emerging talent, Seetharaman says companies miss out on new ways of thinking that can transform and energize businesses in the years ahead. “New graduates bring fresh perspectives, new ideas, and innovative ways of solving problems,” she says. “This is what helps us stay on the cutting-edge.”