Sometimes as a manager, you have to make tough decisions that affect the lives of your employees. It's sometimes worse when your superiors make a decision, but then require you to carry out the carnage. Today my boss (thank God it was my boss and not me) had to let go a promising young artist because of something that happened over on the other side of the company, and that had absolutely nothing to do with him. This may result in him having to leave the country since he's here on a work visa. What's worse is that we wanted to keep him on as a full employee when his internship ended, and that we (well, HR and my boss) basically promised this to him.
I was informed yesterday about the decision. The leads and I were all against this, but there's nothing we could really do. Every time I saw him today, I imagined a calf being led to slaughter without having any idea of the fate that awaited him. I feel like a complete asshole and I had absolutely nothing to do with this.
You should tell him to contact Aquent (www.aquent.ca); they are constantly recruiting designers, especially with such good references.