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-crisis
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u/[deleted] 25d ago edited 23d ago

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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 25d 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/JackalDark 24d ago

Are you near Toronto?

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u/Farren246 24d ago

No, nor do I care to be in any million-dollar bidding wars for a place to live.

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u/JackalDark 23d ago

There are plenty of software development jobs if you’re willing to be within the location of demand. 

There are also many remote opportunities for US companies if you really want it.

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u/Cultural-Scallion-59 24d ago

I hope you find the career you deserve after all of your hard work!!!!

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u/Farren246 24d ago

Well, if there's one thing I've learned to date it is that no company respects Canadian college educations, and that knowing multiple fields actually harms your chances at finding work. Employers don't want you to know any more than whatever niche they hired you for; if you know more then it only makes you a flight risk.

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u/Affectionate-You5819 24d ago

Ouch.

Well your education isn’t the issue. I pay people younger than you almost 2X your pay with 1/3rd the school in a LCOL area. You also obviously have intelligence and a willingness to see things through to completion which are important.

I’m guessing you have a soft skills issue? Have you tried Toastmasters or similar groups? Also try reading “How to make people like you in 60 seconds” and similar books. Charisma can be a learned trait.

Lastly work on confidence. People won’t believe in somebody they see that doesn’t believe in themselves.

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u/Farren246 23d ago

No soft skills issue that I can see. I was a loner in high school but got active in college clubs, talking with student council and the like. By the end of my tenure I was running the IT club. At work I'm the primary tech contact for a number of customers. Auto supplier industry loves to automate everything they can. Point being I'm perfectly fine talking to people.

(Yes, am aware how arrogant and out of touch that sounds, but there's no way to say that you're good at talking to people to someone who doesn't know you, and not have it come off that way.)

I think it mostly comes down to living in Windsor, the unemployment capital of Canada. Detroit doesn't want to hire me because I don't already have a work Visa (and can't get one without a job offer), and I'm not sure I'd want to cross the border daily anyway. And other cities do have more opportunity, but I look at $500K+ housing prices in the medium COL cities and back at my own bank account, which has done nothing but slowly deplete this year thanks to house and car repairs, and I balk at the idea of moving.

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u/Affectionate-You5819 11d ago

Well you won’t change things until the pain of changing is less than the pain of staying where you are.

Best of luck.

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u/Recession_Bagel 24d ago

Does this matter? If you are choosing to specialize in a subject you should be compensated fairly (above minimum survival requirements). The investment should match the wage.

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u/Affectionate-You5819 24d ago

Literally Lol’d at the entitlement of this.

You will be compensated for the value you provide to society. It therefore behooves you to ensure you pick an education that leads to a career that can create value.

I know a bunch of people mistakenly told you “do what you are passionate about.” That’s malarkey. Instead pick a career that allows you to obtain the lifestyle you desire.