This Canadian startup with a network of 100,000 is helping international college students find their careers

Starting college is hard. Add moving to a new country, learning a new language and building a professional network and it’s an uphill battle.  

Pat Chaisang experienced just that when she moved from Thailand to Canada in 2013 to attend Simon Fraser University. That experience planted the seed in her mind to start Wayble, an edtech platform that offers resources to international students at Canadian universities. The company’s goal is to create community and provide support for students starting over in a new country. 

“At the time, I felt like I didn’t have a support system that I needed to ask questions or to find information about how to be a professional here,” Chaisang told Technical.ly. 

Today, Wayble’s platform offers resources like orientation guides, job opportunities, mentorship and immigration support through educational institutions. Students have access to the platform after graduation too, to help with the transition to the working world. 

It started as a grassroots endeavor. Wayble was a meetup group in Vancouver where international students could come together and discuss the challenges they were facing. That group grew to over 1,000 people during the pandemic, she said. 

They formalized the group by moving membership online, hosting workshops and connecting with employers, she said. The company now works with over 30 institutions in Canada and created a network of over 100,000 students. 

“[It’s a] wraparound service related to international student life in one platform so that they don’t have to go and navigate to thousands of different links online, not really knowing what to do,” she said. 

International students navigate new professional norms

A majority of international students that come to Canada end up wanting to stay after graduation, but often have a hard time finding a job, according to Chaisang. One of the goals of Wayble is to help students increase their confidence as they build their careers.

The job hunt for international students can be particularly difficult because they don’t have an established network and cultural fluency can be difficult, she said. 

For example, there are specific cultural differences in applying to jobs in North America compared to other countries, like the format of a resume or cover letter, according to Chaisang. The dynamics between bosses and employees may be different, and they may not even share the same native language.

“Oftentimes they come here alone, they come here young,” Chaisang said. “The concept of networking is very foreign to students who are not born in North America, and they often don’t have the confidence to build a professional network.” 

The company has a side program called the Career Pathway Program that helps international students transition into the workforce. So far, Wayble has helped over 700 students land internship opportunities, she said. It also works with employers, like health provider Telus Health and gifting app Emoot, to bring those opportunities to students. 

Wayble eyes a US expansion 

Wayble is looking to expand both geographically and in the services it offers. 

Chaisang is thinking about adding more services to the platform that could lead to transactional revenue like mental health sessions or recruitment opportunities, she said. The company has already raised $1.1 million CAD (about $776,000 USD) and is hoping to launch a bigger round later this year. 

Wayble also hopes to work with 35 educational institutions in Canada by the end of this year and eventually expand into the United States, she said. 

The emotional aspect of settling into a new country and finding a community is probably similar in the two countries, but the legality of coming to study in the United States is different from Canada. The institutions themselves and how Wayble would integrate into them would also be different. 

“We are still very early on in that journey,” she said. “We still have to do a bunch of on-ground research. There’s a lot of differences.”

This story, and all of Technical.ly's immigration reporting, is made possible by the WES Mariam Assefa Fund.

The WES Mariam Assefa Fund supports catalytic efforts to create more inclusive economies for immigrants and refugees in the US and Canada. It works closely with organizations and leaders focused on ensuring more equitable access to opportunity and wealth.