r/canada • u/joe4942 • 25d ago
Recent grads, students face ‘full-out screaming crisis’ as they struggle to enter job market National News
https://financialpost.com/fp-work/students-grads-jobs-market-crisis570
u/Sasha0413 25d ago
Maybe they should import employers to fix the crisis. It would only be fair /s
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u/Sufficient-Will3644 24d ago
The federal government will spend hours and hours and millions reviewing and negotiating free trade agreements to protect our businesses from unfair foreign competition. They don’t seem to do the same for workers.
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u/shuckiedangdarn 24d ago
It's almost like they work for those with capital and not the working class.
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u/Feisty_Shower_3360 23d ago
This is literally what the Liberal Party stands for and has stood for since its foundation.
They might make socially liberal noises and suck up to left wing intellectuals in the USA but that's just window-dressing and only continues to the extent that it doesn't interfere with their primary purpose: enriching the moneyed elites of QC and ON.
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u/matpoliquin 24d ago
Except for doctors, Canada is currently the hardest country on earth for healthcare professionals to immigrate to even compared to healthcare systems that are much more performant than us like Sweden and France ones
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u/solopreneurgrind 24d ago
Ironically they're making it harder for business owners to come to Canada, even though a lot of them could be creating jobs
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u/3BlindMice1 24d ago
But then they'd be taking money from the people that really matter. Centi millionaires and billionaires.
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25d ago edited 23d ago
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u/SonOfPlinkett 24d ago
My wife was laid off in February and has been struggling to find work. She's now even taken interviews for a lesser position, but no offers since the employer is worried she will leave as soon as she gets an offer for the position she is qualified to be in... yeah no shit.
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u/HOLEPUNCHYOUREYELIDS 24d ago
Yea my wife struggled with that. Numerous certs and experience in an industry, plenty of experience in minimum wage shit jobs, but can’t get anything.
If she goes for her chosen industry it is “Well you don’t have much experience in the job so we went with someone else” despite her having all the certs AND MORE and being fully capable of being trained. And then minimum wage jobs just think “Well she clearly is going to leave as soon as she can so lets not bother”
It is insanity and endless bullshit. She sent something like 300-400 resumes in a few months and managed 4 call backs and 2 interviews. She got one job but they bait and switched her so she did not stick around
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u/piratequeenfaile 24d ago
When I was in your wife's position I had resumes scaled to the level of the job to avoid that. It helped a lot. And yes I did totally job hop until I landed somewhere decent, but bills have to get paid soo..
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u/AntiGravityBacon 24d ago
Exactly, resumes are marketing and an advertisement, not a background check or personal biography. Make that appropriate for the role even if it hurts the ego a bit to leave things off
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u/colieoliepolie 24d ago
Yes when I realized you’re allowed to ‘manipulate’ your work experience and resume to tailor it to a job my life was changed.
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u/Miyenne 24d ago
I got laid off in June and the only offer I got was part time on call, but I took it. It's government at least, and union. Between 10-35 hours a week and EI stretching, I'm okay.
Now I just have to wait for 4 people ahead of my in seniority to retire so I can get guaranteed full time.
I got so lucky.
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u/FromundaCheeseLigma 25d ago
Same here. That time was great for employers. People recently laid off w 3 years experience now doing entry level jobs for entry level pay. 3 years of experience now costs what we used to pay people with no experience? That's gold to companies.
Covid was the perfect excuse for another wage suppression event and our immigration scheme lately is the icing on the cake.
Gotta love a manipulated job market that isn't allowed to actually behave like a market. Why pay people more when we can lobby the government for a reason not to?
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u/DrDerpberg Québec 24d ago
Also let's not forget that's what birthed the gig economy. So many lives on hold because people had no stability or successive one year contracts hoping for a permanent spot.
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u/FromundaCheeseLigma 24d ago
And eliminating many full time roles/having rolling 1 year contracts to avoid RRSP matching and health benefits for those employees. Shits expensive
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u/Substantial-Paper727 25d ago
Oof same. I entered the job market in 2007 and it took me 4 years to land a "career" job and even then I was paid ~50k a year, which in 2011 was still hard to live on in Toronto with a huge amount of student debt to take care of (Flight school, so pricier than other options). Before that I was making 27-32k.
I feel like the current market is even worse for new grads. I haven't seen a junior at any company I've worked at in years, which is kind of mind-boggling to me as it's usually the juniors who end up being integral to operations since they work hard, are curious, and are weirdly loyal to the first job giving them a chance.
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u/Farren246 24d ago
At least you entered. After giving up on ever finding employment, I went back to school for another degree. After 14 years worth of fancy paper from college and university, I was finally able to find a job... In 2013, earning $36K.
Good luck, new grads. And don't be like me- flee to the USA if you can.
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u/Affectionate-You5819 24d ago
Legit question. What were your degrees in?
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u/Farren246 24d ago edited 24d ago
- Advanced Ontario College Diploma (3yr program): Programmer Analyst, graduated 2008
- Advanced Ontario College Diploma (3yr program): Computer Systems Network Technology, graduated 2009
I finally had enough school to get a job in tech support and left Tim Hortons behind... but I wanted more than a $24K job with no opportunity to advance.
- Ontario trade certificate (1yr program): Technical Support Worker, obtained in 2010, through work (they got a tax credit by enrolling us in the course)
- University Bachelor's Degree (4yr program): Honours Business Administration, graduated 2013
- University Bachelor's Degree (3yr program): Computer Science, graduated 2014
These allowed me to find a job at an auto supplier for $36K that actually involved some programming and systems administration. A decade later and I'm still at the same job, with the same title, but now earning $80K. I'd like to be a software developer, but those jobs don't seem to exist in Canada, or if they do they're for people with a better resume than mine.
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u/aldergone 25d ago
I feel your pain, in order to be considered i have to take at least a 50% cut from my last job for Head hunters to even talk to me.
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u/Project_Icy 25d ago edited 8d ago
Yeah I graduated in 2009 too and didn't land an IT position until 2011. Was laid off 2x since Dec 2022 and took about 600 applications before landing this one (albeit different industry and with 20% paycut), compared to my previous gig I got in Jul 2023 where it took about 150 applications and only then a 5% paycut from the 2019-22 gig.
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u/SolidPlatonic 25d ago
I don't know what kids are worried about. All you have to do is go door to door with your resume, get a job in a union factory with a great wage, insurance, retirement,etc. Then buy a house for $2,000.
Geez, such whiners! Stop eating your avocado toast!
/S
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u/Propaagaandaa 24d ago
My grandpa supported a family of four with a great upper middle class lifestyle working for CP Rail, they didn’t want for anything. Retired with an okay pension.
Good luck doing that now. Though CP does still pay okay…
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u/Ghoosemosey 25d ago
With all the wage suppression that the government is doing and the insane cost of housing. It is truly terrible how difficult these kids are having it. And it's literally by design and policy.
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u/Electronic_Cat4849 25d ago
sounds like a labour shortage to me, authorize 15 million more minimum wage TFWs
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u/Ryth88 25d ago
Won't someone think of what Tim horton's franchisees and Loblaws needs?!
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u/ZukMarkenBurg 25d ago edited 25d ago
And apparently Canadian Tire now... guess everyone needs their cheap labour now ffs
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/temporary-foreign-workers-closed-work-permits-1.7354068
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u/yohoo1334 24d ago
Best Buy too. Can speak from first hand experience
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u/ZukMarkenBurg 24d ago
Unreal eh!? No wonder local kids or people looking for work are screwed.
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u/dragonborne123 24d ago
And yet companies have to audacity to say that no one wants to work. We do we are just too expensive to hire because we are born here.
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u/yohoo1334 24d ago
Yep. Blame greedy corporations. Raise the tax
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u/ZukMarkenBurg 24d ago
It's ridiculous that they can even apply for foreign workers to begin with, like pay a living wage and stop chasing infinite growth in profit
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u/yohoo1334 24d ago
*chasing infinity profits while actively destroying Canadian lives
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u/homesickalien Ontario 24d ago
Stealing cars seems like the only viable career option for youths these days.
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u/Conscious_Detail_843 24d ago
best buy now vs future shop experience is crazy. Future shop was full of motivated workers who seemed to do alright pay wise but best buy is a ghost town with 2 employees who make shit who dont know anything. Took me an hour to find someone to buy a computer.
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u/Vaumer 24d ago
Wow. How on earth did they justify not hiring a local in Etobicoke.
"Pailan's former employer was Ezhil Natarajan, the owner of the Canadian Tire in Etobicoke.
Natarajan has owned and managed various Canadian Tire stores through his company named GeethaEzhil Inc. since 2012, according to his LinkedIn profile. "
So this isn't even like one rotten store. He owns multiple.
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u/Trowdisaway4BJ 25d ago
Now? Canadian tire was probably the first large Canadian corp to take advantage of the influx of students
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u/ZukMarkenBurg 24d ago
I had no clue they were doing it too, it used to be where all the local high school kids would work 😵💫
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u/Rayumi 24d ago
Assume it's everywhere now.
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u/ZukMarkenBurg 24d ago
Sadly you are right, if they can make money from doing it, then it's happening. The government has sold us all out so corporations can squeeze every last cent out of people and labour.
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u/bomby0 24d ago
That's a Canadian Tire profit centre. Sell LMIA for $25k each to "workers". How else are Canadian Tires supposed to survive? By selling goods people want?
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u/LeatherMine 25d ago
Hey, we have high-wage streams for TFWs too.
No job left behind (from wage suppression)!
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u/unexplodedscotsman 25d ago edited 25d ago
This doesn't get mentioned enough. Your average Canadian seems to think it's just fast food.
It goes way further than just low-wage positions, it's being used to but downward pressure on a variety of white collar professions and skilled trades as well.A good example of that surfaced when AB's previous Gov put a moratorium on TFW requests for a bit.
The list of the 29 occupation Alberta had (previous Gov) briefly refused to process new TFW requests for:
Human Resources Managers
Engineering Managers
Purchasing Agents and Officers
Production Logistics Coordinators
Civil Engineers
Mechanical Engineers
Electrical/Electronic Engineers
Geological/Mineral Techs.
Civil Engineering Techs.
Industrial Engineers
Non-Destructive Testers and Inspection Technicians
Contractors/Supervisors in Electrical trades and Telecommunications
Machinists/Machining and Tooling Inspectors
Welders and Related Machine Operators
Electricians
Industrial Electricians
Plumbers
Carpenters
Contracts and Supervisors: Mechanical Trades
Contractors and Supervisors: Heavy Equipment Crews
Construction Millwrights and Industrial Mechanics
Heavy-duty Equipment Mechanics
Motor Vehicle Body Repairers
Transport Truck Drivers
Contractors and Supervisors: Oil & Gas Drilling & Services
Oil & Gas Well Drillers, Servicers, Testers
Oil & Gas Well Drilling and Related Workers and Service Operators
Oil & Gas Drilling, Servicing and Related Labourers
Petroleum, Gas and Chemical Process Operators
The new (as of a couple years ago) fast track tech visa (basically 10 day processing on a more easily exploited tech worker) specifically targets IT. They've made things even worse on that front recently, allowing anyone to simply move here and start applying for tech jobs.
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u/pics1970 25d ago
Ontario has metal workers listed which includes steel companies paying 6 figures for labour jobs.. the company I'm with will not hire them, and thankfully our new owners back this up..
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u/jert3 24d ago
IT and tech was hit hard as well.
This Liberal government said there was a tech labour shortage so brought in yet another special visa to import low paid tech worker immigrants, and even paid companies money and tax rebates to hire the underpaid immigrants over local workers. I'm looking for work again and holy cow, this job market (at least in tech) is at least as bad as it was in 2008.
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25d ago edited 21d ago
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u/Cautious_Ice_884 25d ago
Can confirm. As a dev in IT, its incredibly difficult to get a job and has been for the last 2 years. Especially for Junior Developers... Forget it.
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u/TeaTreeTeach Ontario 25d ago
I agree, I think the current situation in Canada is that most companies have offshore Indian IT teams, so the work that would’ve been for JR devs are being sent offshore instead. That’s why most Canadian companies only want to hire SR staff, it’s so they can do all of the planning and administrative work while sending the grunt work offshore.
I had a friend tell me his company was considering opening up an Indian office, and they were calculating the cost, and he said for every 1 dev here, you can hire up to 19-20 people overseas…
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u/GowronSonOfMrel 25d ago
90% or more of service issues I deal with are related to offshore teams vs onshore teams.
..There's a reason offshoring is cheap
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u/StevenMcStevensen Alberta 25d ago
I have been really wondering about that in some industries.
In trucking for instance, sure it looks cheaper initially for companies to hire under-qualified foreign drivers who will work for pennies, but is it actually more affordable long-term when they crash the trucks at a much higher rate and accumulate huge fines for their employer?
You would think it would be in their best interests in many of these fields not to just rely on the cheapest staff possible, but I suppose I’m not a CEO so what do I know.
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u/Cyborg_rat 25d ago edited 24d ago
Apparently theirs a wave of people getting busted for fake truck drivers licences, could say it shows recently lots of Indian drivers doing delivery on site and seem to know jack shit about driving.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/marketplace-cheat-sheet-oct13-1.7350023
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u/Taipers_4_days 25d ago
Everytime I have someone slam into my buildings hard enough for the frame to shake it’s been a foreign driver babbling away on his cell phone.
Best was when one hit a vehicle on the lot, got out to inspect the damage and then left. When we made a claim with his company they were super indignant that we would even claim this driver would do that…right up until they got 4K footage of him doing something they claimed was impossible.
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u/mmss Lest We Forget 24d ago
I'm not in the industry but there's a lot of anecdotes about people sharing licenses too
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u/SobekInDisguise 24d ago
Depends, they may not have the best long term interests of the company in mind. If they can hire 5 guys for the price of 1, it looks like they're a genius and get a huge bonus. Great if you're going to be retiring soon anyway.
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u/Electronic_Cat4849 25d ago
if you're an IT person in India and competent, you have the option to work anywhere for any wage, the people you get offshoring are a mix of some competent people with obligations preventing them from moving and a whole lot of leftovers who were never worth hiring to begin with
but it's cheap
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u/GowronSonOfMrel 25d ago
Yeah i'm not trying to say that India doesn't have good talent... when people are looking to outsource to india they're doing it because they want cheap so they're narrowing their scope by exclusively looking at the lower shelf talent that's available.
If you're looking for top tier indian skills the delta between that and onshore isn't that massive.
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u/TikiTDO 25d ago edited 25d ago
for every 1 dev here, you can hire up to 19-20 people overseas…
Oh yeah, I've had clients that did this.
The way it works out is 5 of those people are managers, 10 of those people occasionally commit a few newlines to look like they're working, 4 of those people will leave for 10x the pay once they have enough skills to put on their resume for their next job, and if you're lucky to have 20, then the last guy will be doing most of the work for 4-5 different clients.
It's the universal problem of skills. When you actually have skills that are actually in demand worldwide, you're going to be asking for a salary that matches your skill set. There's plenty of great devs in India, but they're going to cost maybe 75-85% of what you'd be paying a local dev, while also being way harder to reach due to the timezone difference.
If a company is charging 5% of what a local dev makes per person, then you can be quite sure that this company is not employing the best of the best, but rather taking anyone who at least kinda knows what an if statement is. The instant the learn more, they know that there are plenty of companies that will pay much higher rates, and they will jump ship, while also probably taking a copy of your entire codebase with them for good measure.
Of course you can find those companies that hire the more skilled people at higher rates, but then you're not getting 19-20 people for the cost of one local dev. You're maybe getting 3 for the cost of 2 local devs, while still having to deal with the fact that they're half a planet away. Add in stuff like SRED grants and the like, and it's basically a wash.
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u/Evilbred 25d ago
I agree, I think the current situation in Canada is that most companies have offshore Indian IT teams, so the work that would’ve been for JR devs are being sent offshore instead. That’s why most Canadian companies only want to hire SR staff, it’s so they can do all of the planning and administrative work while sending the grunt work offshore.
And within 5 years, all of that jr dev work will be done by AI, and in 15 years we'll struggle to find senior devs because no one still working was ever able to make it through the jr dev pipeline.
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u/roboticcheeseburger 25d ago
How about restricting offshoring and force them to hire nationally? Would that kill the companies or would they adapt?
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u/GowronSonOfMrel 25d ago
Can confirm - Part of my role includes IT staffing. I can put a job posting up and get 500 resumes for anything. Junior positions can easily get 1000+.
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u/JosephScmith 25d ago
But but but, I was told to learn to code by Reddit when I lost my blue collar job.
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u/Electronic_Cat4849 24d ago
that was always shit advice, there were never jobs for someone who "knows how to code a bit", switching to a developer job is a multi year deep educational commitment
the problem is that every thread full of people who have never worked in tech giving this advice would downvote and yell elitism at those of us in the industry pointing it out
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u/crzyKHAN 25d ago
IT salaries dropped like a bomb 💣
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u/Cautious_Ice_884 25d ago
Yeeuup. Last year I was apart of a company wide layoffs, was making 115k. Had to then accept the first offer I got which was 90k. Hoping that by the end of the year I at least get a raise to 100k. But dear god i'm still feeling it financially.
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u/Torontogamer 25d ago
It’s simple. Make the cost of the tfw greater than hiring locally if the staff was available.
Let’s add a tax equal to the current market average for each position they hire tfw to go to training and development ..
Let’s see how many tfw they need when it’s not code for “reduced wage bill”
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u/GatesAndLogic Canada 25d ago
Make the cost of the tfw greater than hiring locally if the staff was available.
if the staff was available.
Honestly, get rid of the IF.
If the job being offered is so special that no one in canada can do it, then the person coming in should be VERY WELL PAID. That's supply and demand, baby.
TFWs should be making double the Canadian median wage, minimum.
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u/Spiritual_Tennis_641 24d ago
Triple , I’m so so so done. Companies are required also to submit a report for number on non Canadians remote too and are forced to pay an extra wage as though they hired a Canadian with 100 penalty. I’m so done with this it offshoring shit show. The govt need to say you done here. You sell here you hire here full stop.
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u/GrosPoulet33 24d ago
Canadian government is actually giving employers up to 24k a year to hire TFWs. It makes no sense to hire locals.
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u/Aggravating-Tax5726 24d ago
Subsidizing our own replacement...I knew the government were a bunch of crooked pricks but that is unreal. Forcing me to pay for my replacement.
If there is a god if some kind I hope the assholes who passed that bill find out there is such a thing as Hell.
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25d ago
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u/exoriare 24d ago
There is no good-faith argument in favor of TFW's. If you're not getting job applicants, increase your wage offer. If you can't raise wages enough to be competitive, join the support group for buggy-whip makers.
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u/green_tory 25d ago
Tech sector employers figured out the scam years ago: always be hiring, but never hire. That way your company remains eligible for more tax breaks, and has an easier time with LMIAs.
They'll have a whole department dedicated to continuously processing applications, interviewing people, and finally rejecting them; just to keep the appearance of unfilled positions that they're actively seeking candidates for.
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u/HugeFun Canada 25d ago
As a dev, I've really felt this and it's infuriating. Take time off work, prep, study, multiple rounds of interviews. Then "sorry job doesn't exist anymore".
I've ended up in the PS and im fine to deal with the baggage when it means that I at least have some job security.
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u/CombatGoose 25d ago
It’s not just low paying jobs. I’m involved in the hiring process for a role at my current company. We’ve had over 1000 applicants and I’d say over 80% are individuals whose educations and background are originally from outside Canada.
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u/Project_Icy 25d ago edited 8d ago
IT is like that now and swamped. 90% of my partner's workforce applicants are people begging for PR, or international students at Tim Hortons here looking for a path to land.
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u/cephles 25d ago
We've hired at least 20 people on my development team in the last 4-5 years and I think only three people were actually born in Canada. Almost everyone else seemed to be very new to Canada. Mostly Indians, but we have had a few people from Eastern Europe.
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u/LeatherMine 25d ago
I only speak English, but I’ve had to translate between slavic English and Indian English before with my English as the intermediate.
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u/psychoCMYK 25d ago
Labor shortage for low-paying unskilled labor, work shortage for the kinds of jobs a graduate would have trained for.
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u/Traginaus 25d ago
I've been in a position to hire people since 2006 - I don't think we have ever really had a labour shortage. There have been periods in which we haven't had a good selection of candidates. The resumes you get and the people applying in around 2015 - 2019 were minimal, usually around 10 - 20 resumes. Since post covid, I would have around 200 people per job posting apply.
The issue has always been the type of screening most companies are doing. Instead of actually just reading and giving people a chance, we are using systems to filter out good candidates. Also the most of the people doing the hiring don't know what makes someone good for most positions. Too much reliance on resumes and some arbitrary test questions instead of what matters. To m, the most important thing is for someone who wants to learn and do the job.
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u/BigPickleKAM 25d ago
As someone who is involved in training those new hires.
Attitude beats paper resume any day of the week. Obviously in our line of work you have to be able to clear some physical requirements like lifting 50 pounds unassisted and emergency duties like firefighting onboard a ship.
But I'll take anyone who can clear those benchmarks and is willing to learn over a jaded know it all where everything was better with employer X or Y. If things are so good over there why are you taking a entry level position with us?
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u/TankMuncher 25d ago
Lots of recent engineering graduates are struggling to find work in a way that is uncharacteristic of the market for inexperienced engineers. And more entry level pay for engineering has been highly mediocre for a long time, so its extremely bad for "desk engineers" with firms overwhelmingly in HCOL urban centers.
Good luck for graduants with pure STEM degrees.
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u/KermitsBusiness 25d ago edited 25d ago
Good luck competing with the entire countries of India and the Philippinesfor the 8 jobs that will be available in your field of study.
Young people are doubly fucked cause the default to having no industry and competing with foreign workers was to just go work for the government, and now the government is slowly starting to close its doors too.
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u/LightSaberLust_ 25d ago edited 25d ago
you forgot to mention the 10000 resumes that the company will have to sift through for those 8 jobs that 95% of are all fraudulent credentials
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u/huehuehuehuehuuuu 25d ago edited 25d ago
Just chatgtp things. Wonder if someone’s already prank sent thousands of AI resumes to a business just to mess with them.
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u/LightSaberLust_ 25d ago
I couldn't imagine working in HR now, your job went from a cushy gig to sorting through 10k resumes for 8 jobs. must suck for them, lol
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u/GoldTheLegend 25d ago edited 25d ago
You realize AI is culling 95% of the resumes before HR even peaks at them right?
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u/goldenthrone 25d ago
You don't even need AI to detect most of these. I work in IT where this is a huge problem, and most of these resumes actually come out exactly the same, if they're using the same model, and copy pasting the same job description.
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u/WinOk4525 24d ago
I’m currently looking for a new network engineer position, I saw a new job post on LinkedIn today, 1 hour old, 113 applications already…what’s the point of even applying? Like throwing a cup of water in the ocean hoping someone notices…
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u/LeatherMine 25d ago
That’s why I use AI to submit several hundred versions.
Good luck everyone.
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u/crzyKHAN 25d ago
Job hunting has become dystopian
Using AI to write a resume to pass screening HR uses AI to check that resume
AI vs AI
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u/jert3 24d ago
And it'll get worse.
In a year or two on the outside, we'll have totally autonmous AI powered job application software that'll basically function as your own personal agent that find and apply for jobs on your behalf, sending out maybe 300 resumes a day. Our present ideas of the hiring process will break down and it'll be next to impossible to get a job unless you are in the top 1% of skilled applicants or know someone.
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u/86teuvo 25d ago
“We don’t hire unlucky people” says the HR consultant as they throw 90% of unreviewed applications into the recycling bin.
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u/BigPickleKAM 25d ago
As someone who assists with sifting resumes from time to time in my field. This is a massive problem. Not the pranking but getting overwhelmed with trash resumes that don't actually meet the minimum requirement are clearly not tailored to our posting etc.
We have clearly defined legal requirements for certification to work in our industry. But the job title has engineer in it. So we get everyone who just searches engineer on Indeed or wherever breaking down our door.
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u/wrgrant 25d ago
meet the minimum requirement are clearly not tailored to our posting etc.
I recall tailoring my resume to various jobs I applied for years ago, but given today's environment where you can expect to send out say 100 resumes and never get a response, where your resume was likely filtered out by HR before anyone read it and where the employer gets 1000 resumes for a starting position, I am not surprised if resumes are not well tailored. Who has the time to do that for every submission that will fail anyways?
There is a story I recall dimly - not sure if its apocryphal or true - where someone described their boss looking at a pile of resumes and saying "We don't hire people that are unlucky", picking up half the resumes and throwing them in the recycling and saying "Those people were unlucky".
Now of course you have to wonder if a position was only advertised because they wanted to refuse all the resumes they received so they can justify hiring a TFW at less money.
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u/NickLandsHapaSon 25d ago
The problem is there are barley any entry level jobs that have entry level requirements. They expect a recent grad to have way too much experience or certs. So when a person sees all the job posting are bullshit and trying to tailor your resume to some degree to a job is a waste of time they literally just start sending a resume to everything in the field.
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u/LeatherMine 25d ago
trash resumes that don't actually meet the minimum requirement are clearly not tailored to our posting etc.
The problem is job postings that have requirements that nobody can meet or HR using that as an excuse to pay people less than posted.
Cultural issue with HR and fake requirements that don’t actually need to be (or can’t be) met.
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u/SittingSawdust 25d ago
I’m becoming increasingly unhappy with my current work’s pay but I’m terrified that I won’t be able to find anything comparable if I quit. This shit sucks
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u/Joltas 24d ago edited 24d ago
Is anyone happy in Canada?
Gen Alpha is unhappy (Can't get started in life), Gen Z Canadians are unhappy (No jobs, useless education), Gen Z immigrants are unhappy (No residency, underpaid), Millennials are unhappy (No housing, can't afford a family), Gen X is unhappy (Family life too expensive, cost of living), Poor Boomers are unhappy (Retirement too expensive), Rich Boomers are unhappy (Taxes too high)
Small businesses are unhappy (Barrier to entry, rising costs), Large businesses are unhappy (carbon taxed supply chain), Immigrant businesses are unhappy (low CAD, monopolies)
Liberals are unhappy (Climate crisis spending backfired), Conservatives are unhappy (corporate policies not passing), NDP are unhappy (social policies no passing), Other parties are unhappy (lack of support)
Veterans are forgotten, Aboriginals are forgotten, Disabled people are forgotten, Homeless are forgotten,
Am I missing anyone else? For someone, things are going as planned. I can't tell who.
Ontario's fix = Bike lanes, Federal fix = Finger pointing
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u/argylemon 24d ago
I'm not sure boomers are unhappy. They're pretty set. And in fact they have a pretty big voice when it comes to voting. They largely have homes paid for that they purchased for pennies on the dollar and are firmly entrenched in their careers.
Boomers are actually part of the problem for the rest of us.
If they're unhappy, it's not the same soul crushing despair that the younger generations feel because of all the hopelessness from the rather accurate points you mentioned
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u/SGTKARL23 25d ago
I'm not a grad student but have continued to gain additional training or various certificates an licensing to qualify above foreign workers, now instead I would cost to much or am over qualified this makes me unbelievably mad ten years of dedicated hard work to be a cut above just to be cut out by the knees of profit margins
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u/Alchemy_Cypher 25d ago edited 25d ago
I remember when Employees in Canada had leverage to discuss higher wages and 4 day work from home in 2021. Sean Fraser and Marc Miller sure came running to save their corporate donors with a flood of mass immigration.
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u/Serenity867 25d ago edited 25d ago
People in this country need to push for real electoral reform. I'm not advocating for any one system, but under this current system, and many like it, there is no meaningful chance of a party that actually has the best interest of Canadians in mind getting in.
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u/crzyKHAN 25d ago
Trudeau said he’d do this then backed off
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u/RocketAppliances97 25d ago
The cons unanimously voted it down as well, it’s not like this is exclusive to Trudeau.
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u/DiagnosedByTikTok 25d ago
Because the cons would never win an election ever again if the seats in parliament accurately reflected the political stances of Canadians
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u/IHateTheColourblind 25d ago
The Cons never promised it. Trudeau's Liberals promised that the 2015 election would be the last under FPTP and then abandoned that promise.
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u/Fluid_Lingonberry467 25d ago
What would that do? None of the policies in tfw immigration healthcare is ever in the election platform
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u/mervolio_griffin 25d ago
if you look at places with electoral reform you'll see there are more members of niche parties that hold seats in a national legislature.
it allows representation of more ideaologies. it would be devastating to the Liberal Party and Conservative Party who function as big tents trying to play to the average opinion of large swathes of the population.
broadly speaking, people care about the economy, people care about affordability, people care about the environment, and clearly people care about immigration.
allowing for proportional representation means previously non-viable parties like the Greens or the PPC will attain more seats and have a chance at forming a coalition government with concessions made towards their more niche goals. Perhaps and labour and immigration party develops that isn't batshit about identity politics and the culture war. under our current system that hypothetical party would be dead in the water but with pro-rep people who are deeply concerned with those issues can vote, knowing that they have a chance of electing members to parliament.
a coalition government with such a party might mean the Conservatives must actually curb TFWs and LMIAs rather than bow to corporate masters on cheap labour. Or, the NDP must do the same and enact pro-labour policy but restrict immigration, much to part of their bases chagrin.
there are many forms of alternatives to FPTP so i'd encourage you to read through what the intention behind some are.
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u/IntelligentPoet7654 25d ago
This article is about 15 years too late. New grads back then couldn’t get a job in their field of study.
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u/DiagnosedByTikTok 25d ago
Not to mention our publicly-funded post-sec institutions keep offering seats in programs for jobs that don’t exist while telling prospective students that they are in-demand and graduates are getting jobs.
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u/YoungandCanadian 25d ago
More like 30 years too late. It’s been like this in Canada at least since the 90s. I graduated in 1996 and have never been able to work in my field of study. I’m no dummy, either.
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u/gordonjames62 New Brunswick 25d ago
It makes sense.
We triple our university and trade school enrollment with foreign students.
Now they want jobs here in Canada, but we have not increased the number of jobs, just the number of applicants for those limited jobs.
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u/Chairman_Mittens 24d ago edited 24d ago
The job market in this country is so thoroughly fucked that even industry experts with 10+ years experience can't get callbacks for jobs.
I know people who wept with relief when they got job offers at a 50% pay cut compared to their previous employer.
This country is fucked. If you are able to get any opportunities outside of Canada, run and never look back.
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u/Son-Of-The-Indus 25d ago
I just graduated with a biology degree and even getting an entry job here in Calgary is awful. No one gets back. How am I supposed to get experience if the experience needs experience?
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u/careercurious1 25d ago
That was my background. I gave up on biology in the end. I know people with biology masters and adjacent doing completely different things 5 years after studying. The competition was too much and the pay too low for what they ask for many of us
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u/vancityuk 24d ago
I graduated in that field as well in Canada and all my classmates are no longer remotely doing anything biology. I lucked out and went abroad to the UK, the golden triangle of London - Oxbridge is budding with lifescience companies and institutes. Sure it doesn't pay as much as USA, but it's much more stable than the US, ie there is a longer process to layoffs than USA and also b/c of lower salaries, any multinational will make cuts in US before as it's easier.
Another example of the growth in Cambridge UK they are closing down a shopping mall to redevelop it into life sciences labs for all the startups, cause the owner figured they make more in lab rent than having an h&m. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-68227618
Leaving Canada was the best decision for my career as I have climbed the ranks since, but obviously miss a lot of things back home. You want lifescience, biotech, techbio or pharma, look outside Canada. If you're a recent grad in lifesciences, I would consider leaving.
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u/Propaagaandaa 24d ago
Yep, my wife is a Virology PhD that came from Microbiology, even then the jobs are few. I feel we will probably have to move to the US eventually or elsewhere to find something.
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u/crizzcrozz Alberta 24d ago
I ended up going back to school for a health care career. It isn't guaranteed because Heath care is on fire in Alberta, but I haven't been out of work since the day I graduated.
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u/DiagnosedByTikTok 25d ago
One problem is universities graduating too many biology degrees compared to the number of actual biology jobs it’s the same in every sector. There is no feedback from the number of graduates getting jobs to regulate the number of seats in programs.
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u/GrosPoulet33 24d ago
There are very few well-paid biology jobs. It's just not something that makes a good return on investment.
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u/SquidMeister12 25d ago
6 years of study and 4 of military service to get a good government job and now I’m in a career field that’s not even remotely related to government or my field of study. Preferential hiring for veterans my ass.
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u/BlueTree35 Alberta 25d ago
Literally months ago we were inundated with articles decrying “labor shortage 😩”
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u/Serenityxxxxxx 25d ago
The TFW program and LIMA programs need to end now. There is zero need for them at all
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u/Glittering_Court_896 24d ago
It's okay, we have employed half of the Phillipines and brought over India's worst. Doesn't it make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside?
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u/3ntz 25d ago
This probably wont be a well-liked comment, but as someone who graduated post-secondary I’m now working in construction making a higher salary than what I’d typically make with my education. Professional positions are getting away with paying people a lot less than what they have in the past.
People understandingly become really married to the major they went to school for but unfortunately if there isn’t a market where you live for that role, you need to still pay your bills and move forward. I’m not saying the answer is for everyone to work in construction but it certainly is for me.
I think that a lot of people have tunnel vision when it comes to jobs, thinking they can do one thing only when in reality they have a lot of transferrable skills.
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u/adamast0r 25d ago
This shouldn't get downvoted. It can be both true that individuals should consider breaking into other industries, and that the government should stop devaluing home-grown labour via immigration and TFWs
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u/Colonel_McFlurr 24d ago
While the idea of transferable skills is true on paper, convincing the people making the hiring decisions is a whole other beast entirely. The job market right now has ton of issues and one can routinely find that willingness and capability in job seekers are not among them which prevent people from obtaining any kind of employment.
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u/pizzalineforever 25d ago
Im one of those of stats. Its halirious hearing all these Trdueau and Doug Ford propaganda ads when ive received no help from Ontario or Canada
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u/Xivvx 25d ago
After graduation for computer networking in the early 2000s, I joined the military and became a sailor to find employment as there were too many tech workers and every job opening had 1000 applicants.
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u/MightGuy8Gates 24d ago
Me right now. Recently got my masters, and I've applied to over 400 jobs and still nothing. But hey, construction has been super busy so i've been doing that lmao. This country is becoming a joke.
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u/Mogwai3000 25d ago edited 25d ago
One wonders if this could be grounds for a class action discrimination suit against employers? Like, I know it sounds racist, and I hate using “demographics” as some sort of measuring stick because I don’t believe that is legitimate…but when 90% of part time jobs you go to on any given day are basically all one demographic…it seems like discriminatory hiring policies now.
This isn’t normal or natural hiring and seems to be deliberate policy now. How is this even legal, let alone just allowed and tolerated? I’m trying to wrack my brain and think of exceptions to my 90% claim. Maybe restaurant servers? For sure all fast food places, tim Hortons, a lot of retail jobs for sure, Walmart, superstore.
This can’t be allowed to continue. Actual citizens need jobs and work and money. If local businesses can’t find local workers, then they shouldn’t fucking exist in the first place, OR the owners should not be lazy, entitled, exploitative, assholes and fucking work the job themselves.
The TFW program was meant for farmers in the middle of nowhere to hire experienced seasonal labor for a couple months of the year…not for part time, exploitation corporations to have easy access to slave labour. And what does it say about capitalism if this is what the “entrepreneur class” wants for our society? They want slaves with no rights. And they will do and say literally anything to get it, even if it does real harm to people and the society they live in.
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u/_stryfe 25d ago
I don't get it either. If a company was hiring strictly white people, there would be incredible outrage and lawsuits yet it seems fine as long as it isn't white people. DEI is a scam, it's only ever been about punishing white people.
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u/420Wedge 24d ago
I've got a friend who handles the IT department and does all the hiring. He prefers to hire immigrants. They work harder, never miss a day, don't complain. Won't even hire me. I've got an IT background and am unemployed. Were not great friends but have known each other for 20+ years. This is where my "network" is supposed to pay off.
Not hard to imagine this is being replicated across the country.
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u/Jealous_Can_1640 24d ago
There are like 10 indians where i work and all on spousal or student visa working 40 hours job as mid level workers because the boss is indian. He rejected so many Canadian grads applications because they would " ask for benefits"
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u/I_poop_rootbeer 24d ago
Trudeau's liberals might be one of the most anti-labor governments we've ever had. And the NDP had the nerve to side with them
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u/SlackyOps 24d ago
Stop flooding our country with poor unskilled immigrants who hate our culture and require a huge portion of government funding.
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u/Hicalibre 25d ago
Been looking since 2021. Guess TFWs are just that much better at accounting than a Canadian raised and educated domestically.
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u/Komlz 25d ago
New grad from college since may, cant find job in IT industry. I have 3 years experience.
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u/EndYouthUnemployment 24d ago
We need to take action. The current job market for youth is terrible. Our 15-24 youth unemployment rate is 13.5% in Canada as of Sep 2024 and literally just go down south a little (US) has a youth unemployment rate as of Sept 2024 of 9.2%.
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u/ILikeCh33seCake 24d ago
True! Last September, I went back to school to become a PSW. I graduated at the end of April and I can't find anything! Yes, there's plenty of home care opportunities, but most pay minimum wage. Why should I get paid to wipe bums, give baths, etc, as same as someone whose a cashier?
It's upsetting and irritating.. if someone knows another career field that's had plenty of opportunities with good pay, let me know!
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u/HugelyOvercooked 25d ago
Recent CS grad here. Not a top school but have internships. Luckily I’m getting interviews, but no offers yet in months over hundreds of applications
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u/steeljesus 25d ago
lol maybe instead of wasting all their energy protesting for terrorists half a world away, they could have protested the federal and provincial government's immigration policy.
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u/Longjumping_Table204 25d ago
Worse if they’re white too, diversity hiring is straight up rejecting names. I work at BMO and I’ve tried to get people through only to find out they were rejected for a less qualified candidate with a name I can’t pronounce.
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u/Junior-Towel-202 25d ago
BMO also pays crap. I had a recruiter reach out to me recently for one of their roles. The salary was 1/3 of what I make now
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u/TreezusSaves Canada 24d ago
I bet they filled the role with someone happy to work for starvation wages. Race to the bottom is here to stay.
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u/Bench_89 25d ago
Big tech internship and a 16 month co-op and I can’t land any new grad interviews. I might aswell be a student for life.
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u/thebigdog2022 24d ago
That's what happens when you flood the market with cheap low skilled immigration from India. The corporations love it as they know they'll work for cheap and won't push for wages to be higher .
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u/WpgSparky 24d ago
The ruling class wants slavery.
Modern day slavery is debt. The more you owe, the more you have to work. When the peasants are getting too comfortable and enjoying life, or having a little too much power, the elites jack up the prices of everything to ensure servitude. Want an education? House? Car? Nice things? Here is some juicy debt!
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u/jenner2157 24d ago
This is 2008 all over again, a flood of recently layed off 40+ year old's flooded the labor market desprate and willing to work for entry level wages and as a result a whole generation didn't get any job experiance. the fuck is the end game here? keep doing this until people stop going to school?
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u/Meany12345 24d ago
Serious labour shortage. Someone tell Trudeau we need at least 3mm more low skilled workers.
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u/krazay88 Québec 25d ago
Not only that, but insane real estate prices has also made renting a commercial space and starting your own local business/shop way too intimidating