SimplyCast, the Dartmouth-based marketing automation company, is aiming to hire 100 interns in 2021 to help post-secondary students thrive during the pandemic.

The company said in a statement on Tuesday that it will start by taking on as many as 30 students for a four-month work term during the coming winter semester. With new intakes in the summer and autumn semesters, the company hopes to increase the nimber to 100 students during the calendar year.

SimplyCast, which hopes to help offset the adverse effects of the pandemic, is working on the initiative with Dalhousie University, the Information and Communications Technology Council, and the Nova Scotia Department of Labour and Advanced Education.

“My life mission is to end youth unemployment and I have seen lots of young people out there unable to find a position or even losing their position because of the pandemic,” said SimplyCast CEO Saeed El-Darahali in an interview. “Young people need opportunity and I think we should be doing this as corporate Canada.”

SimplyCast has already brought on 10 students so far, hiring people from Acadia, Dalhousie and Saint Mary’s universities. El-Darahali said he’s now looking at students from the Nova Scotia Community College, and wants to bring in students from Cape Breton University as well. SimplyCast is looking for developers, software testers and marketing analysts.

He said the company, which has a long history of providing internships for students, felt it had more capacity to hire students because so many staff are working from home. So it could bring on about 30 interns without having to increase the floorspace of its headquarters.

To help cover the costs of salaries and provide support, El-Darahali spoke with the Nova Scotia Department of Labour and Advanced Education and brought on the other partners as well.

SimplyCast now has 40 full-time employees, and is in the process of hiring five more.

“It’s a true testament to the success of flexible funding support available to employers as well as the resilience of our co-op students, who like so many, have readily adapted to remote working,” said Doug Gallant, Director of Dalhousie SITE Co-op. “We hope that others are inspired by SimplyCast’s leadership and take advantage of the many funding programs currently available.”