Co-op Student – Total Rewards, People and Culture

At YVR, we believe in unlocking potential and shaping the future of aviation through meaningful student experiences. As part of our Talent-First Strategy, we’re committed to building a strong early talent pipeline by offering co-op opportunities that go beyond the job description. Here, students aren’t just part of the team—they’re contributors to our long-term vision. Just as students learn from us, we recognize the tremendous value in learning from you, your fresh perspectives, bold thinking, and new ideas are critical to how our organization grows.

If you’re curious, motivated, and ready to help shape the future of travel, we want to hear from you. Whatever your background, area of study or experience —you belong at YVR. If you have questions about accessibility or need assistance applying, please contact us at careers@yvr.ca

Position Overview

Are you passionate about people and curious about what truly makes employees feel seen, valued, and inspired at work? Join YVR’s People & Culture team as our Employee Recognition Co-op and help evolve how we celebrate the individuals and teams—both within and beyond YVR—who help make us one of the top airports in the world.

This role is a unique opportunity to gain real-world experience in employee engagement, program strategy, and research while directly contributing to a culture of appreciation across the broader airport community.

Key Responsibilities include:

Understand the Now: Learn about YVR’s current recognition programs for employees and our extended airport community who contribute to our operations, passenger experience and our success as an airport.

Define the Why: Understand what we’re trying to drive with recognition—how it connects to culture, purpose, engagement, and performance.

Lead with Curiosity: Conduct research on recognition best practices from leading organizations, especially in the aviation and service sectors. Interview employees, partners, and leaders—including our CEO—to gather insights on what meaningful recognition looks like and what opportunities exist.

Analyse and Recommend: Identify gaps, strengths, and opportunities to evolve and expand our recognition approach. Develop creative, inclusive, and actionable recommendations.

Tell the Story: The outcome of your work will be a formal presentation, where you'll share your findings, insights, and recommendations.

Explore the Field: You’ll have the opportunity to learn more about People & Culture and its diverse areas to help inform your future career paths.

Grow with Others: Be part of YVR’s 2025 co-op student cohort—an engaged community of students across departments. You’ll take part in learning opportunities, networking events, and behind-the-scenes tours to deepen your understanding of how the airport works and meet new people across the organization.

Who you are:

• Currently enrolled in a post-secondary co-op program in Human Resources, Business, Communications, Psychology, or a related field.
• Curious, thoughtful, and eager to learn through research and conversations
• Strong communicator who can engage with people at all levels, from frontline employees to executives
• Empathetic and people-focused, with a genuine interest in employee experience and workplace culture
• Organized and self-motivated, with the ability to manage tasks and meet deadlines
• Comfortable working independently and as part of a team
• Creative thinker with the ability to analyze insights and propose actionable ideas

Additional Information:

• Application deadline: April 13, 2025
• Start and End Date:  May 5, 2025 – August 29, 2025
• Hours of Work: 37.5 hours
• Dress Code: Westcoast Business Casual
• Number of Openings: 1
  

Salary Range : $24.08/hr + Living Wage top up to $27.05/hr

At YVR, your work experience goes beyond the paycheck. We support your personal and professional development, well-being, and a thriving work culture with generous vacation days, extensive health benefits, retirement savings matching, wellness programs, community engagement, commuting support, and continuous learning opportunities. Learn more at https://careers.yvr.ca/benefits.

YVR is more than just an airport. We connect our beautiful province and all it has to offer to the world. We are all leaders and trailblazers for change and innovation, so no matter the department or team you’re a part of, the work you do matters.

At YVR, we are flexible in everything we do. We will work together to find ways to deliver customer excellence that helps us all thrive.

Whatever your background and wherever you’re from, you belong at YVR. If you have any questions about accessibility or require any assistance applying, please reach out at careers@yvr.ca.