Ontario Centre of Forensic Sciences - Employment and Internships

Employment and Internships

The CFS hires by the rules and procedures of the Ontario Public Service. All public jobs are posted on the Ontario Government job site. On occasion there are positions for internal competition only in line with OPS rules. New forensic science hires to CFS are either as technologists or scientists. The chief distinction being scientists have responsibility for writing official case reports and giving expert opinion testimony. Technologists usually operate scientific instrumentation and/or process cases items for evidence. The minimum background requirements of a technologist hire is a 2 year diploma in a relevant science program and a relevant Honours BSc degree for a scientist position. Due to the current popularity of forensic topics in pop culture, there is strong competition for positions at CFS and new hires are most often well above the minimum requirements. A criminal record check is standard for potential hires at CFS. Other tests of technical skills or physical abilities may be assessed for some positions. Usually mangers are hired competitively after several years experience as a scientist. Poaching of other forensic laboratory’s employees is avoided.

CFS normally takes several students from University of Toronto, Mississauga campus' Forensic Science program for graduation projects throughout the school year. CFS also sometimes takes students from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland for the summer months. Relevant students from other universities occasionally also participate in summer internships at CFS. The CFS Organizational Development and Training Section must approve all requests for internships.