Today, grads find themselves in a job market where everyone has the same credentials and experience. Essentially, we all look the same, just like that batch of strawberries!
At the same time, employers demand more experience for entry level jobs while the value of university credentials decreases. This is a major issue that universities and start ups are working to solve, and Money Fruit is going to do its part.
Depending on which degree you acquire and if you did COOP (cooperative education) or not, the chances of you landing a full time, well paid position with upward mobility are variable.
The threat? There are only so many job openings at any given time and many students are not guided through this reality. The majority (not all) of employers act in their own interests, often not replying to job applicants. We deserve better if we bought into the system. The opportunity? Young people have to get very crafty from early on in setting up a strategy so that they increase their chances of landing a position they not only studied for, but aspire to do.
This year, 2020, marks the beginning of a Money Fruit series called Life After Grad. We are going to do a deep dive into why young people are having a hard time finding great jobs and what sorts of things they can do while they’re in school to get a headstart as job seekers.
You will find videos, content and job opportunities in this series, so stay tuned!
Lastly, feel free to comment below about topics you want covered in this series. It can be anything related to the topic of youth employment in the modern economy.
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We need to have someone cover the same thing but on the cost of living. An actual documentary of a family getting started and showing how expensive the world is but how low wages are. It’s not an even balance
Education is what we all need for jobs, but then when applying you are required to have 3-5 years experience, how do new grads get jobs with experience needed that is unrealistic.
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Hi Becca, thank you for your comments. Yes, you’re hitting some major points here! The cost of living has gone up meanwhile wages are not always at par making it difficult to start families and plan for the future.
Also, the skills gap for graduating students is quite big and the best that we can do to weather that storm is to find placements, do COOP or complete experiential education outside of school.
We will do a post about these in the series so that you can learn about what your options are to get the right skills that employers want by the time you finish your studies. We will showcase platforms that can connect you directly with employers in your field through online challenges, which increase your networking and chances of landing full time work! Not a bad deal, eh? Stay tuned.
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Education is required for entry level jobs that do not pay enough to be able to sustain yourself in the GTA. However many students put themselves into a lot of debt or do not have the luxury of being able to afford university. The result is students must gain experience through volunteering to enhance their resume and gain experience, however, this is difficult for students who work full time jobs while in school.
After grad what are the steps to getting your foot in the door?
What sets you apart from others during an interview ?
How do you sustain yourself while you are job hunting after graduation ??
so many questions to think about
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Hey Denise,
Thank you for your input!
You’re right – being able to afford education is a luxury that not everybody has and there are many students who take on debt to study. Student debt is a topic that we are going to cover in the series, focusing on budgeting strategies to pay off that debt quickly.
Also, the necessary volunteering experiences and balancing them in your schedule with full time work, aside from school, is not an easy task. Thankfully, there are platforms online that allow you to begin showcasing your work to employers, and as I mentioned to Becca, this will be a post to look out for in the coming weeks!
Lastly, the three questions you asked about the techniques around networking, interviews and job hunting require experience and practice. At every university, there is a “student success” centre where you can be coached by a professional in these. I highly recommend booking an appointment with the coach at your school.
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Great article Nico; you touched on some very important subjects!
In terms of further discussion regarding youth employment, I’d love to hear more about unpaid internships.
In my opinion (and this happens far too frequently in today’s industry), despite spending thousands of dollars investing in an education in hopes on landing a job, nowadays young adults with little-to-no experience are forced to take unpaid positions in order to “get their foot in the door,” as Denise touched on above. On a personal note, that’s what I had to do when interning at Sportsnet — which is owned by one of the wealthiest companies in Canada, Rogers Communications. By the end of my internship, if not sooner, I was doing most — if not all — of the same tasks that their full-time employees were doing.
It baffled me at times that a company like Rogers could not afford to pay me even a mere travel stipend, but nevertheless, there I was, wanting to get my foot into the door of my dream job.
Interested to read more!
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Hey Mikey!
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience, and we commend your hustle in the sports journalism field, keep it up!
There is definitely a skills gap for young adults in the job market which forces some to take part in unpaid work, or unsteady contracts. Frankly, having to take on unpaid work is disrespectful to the youth and their families who invested time, money and energy into post-secondary education (and when the company is an economic leader, it is even more disrespectful). However, this a reality that has to be addressed which is why I created this series, so that this can grow into a steady resource for students all over Canada (or the world), to learn how to navigate the modern job market.
That’s where experiential education comes in to save the day. Now you can connect with real companies and do projects for them through online platforms. So imagine you are into computer science, and IBM posts a “challenge” that you can solve that offers a cash reward AND a chance to network/present your work to staff at the company. I think this is more of a sustainable solution, rather than sending resumes around hoping for a response.
In the coming weeks, I’ll present some of these platforms, with reviews!
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What a great idea for a series. It is true that universities are churning out grads who don’t have a realistic prospect of getting a job in their field. As important as it for students to engage themselves in extracurricular activities etc., some fault lies with the institutions themselves.
I went through two years of a social sciences program at a university (which I will not name here). I found the large class sizes made the whole experience dehumanizing and never felt that encouraged to be involved on campus.
After transferring to a technical college program, I found the smaller class sizes much more conducive to forming the relationships with professors that eventually led to my getting hired after graduating. The college system is far from perfect, but the university can certainly stand to learn a lot from it. How can universities expect students to become engaged in their school when they cram as many students as possible into a lecture hall?
A blog like this sounds perfect for students wondering how to make themselves stand out from the crowd. It truly is not what you know, but who you know in today’s job market. Post-secondary institutions are a great place to make those connections, but it’s so hard to know to do that when you feel like just a face in the crowd.
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Hey Matt, thanks for sharing.
Class sizes really are a major component of student satisfaction, but the education system operates like a business that profits from the greatest number of students possible. That doesn’t seem right, and youth are being dealt the wrong hand that way.
Based on your input, I’ll create posts so that students can learn how to stand out and how to make the right connections in today’s job market.
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Thank you for the article! I love the idea of series and have found this to be a consistent issue especially when the expectation of life after college has to adjusted.
The reality is that most degrees will not take you as far as they have before. I think a before (being like 20-30 years ago) and now comparison of the job market could be interesting. It is very hard for most to find relevant work, so what steps would you take to increase your chances of getting an entry level that can sustain life in the GTA?
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Ola Nico! Nicely written article and an interesting topic that hits pretty close to home being an HR professional. Credential inflation is becoming a prominent issue in our generation. Degrees don’t set people apart anymore. Money is being spent on additional education and people are often not given the opportunity to reap the benefits of this investment. Having screened resumes, what you said is very true – everyone is starting to look the same (like that batch of strawberries). One thing I have noticed though, is that soft skills are becoming more important than ever. With the millennial generation having grown up with technology, and being heavily reliant on non-verbal methods of communication, soft skills such as being able to interact with a diverse group of people, build and lead teams, adapt to situations, and resolve conflict are becoming more sought after in our work force as less of the job market is equipped with these. Soft skills can’t be taught as easily as technical skills and employers are starting to take notice that these are what are leading to successful employees. I’ve had a few instances at work where we’d bring in a few candidates for a position, who’s resumes in terms of education looked pretty identical, but what ultimately swayed the hiring decision was their character and the impact this could make on people and the organization. If I was to give a piece of advice to job seekers, it’d be to spend the same amount of time and energy developing your character as you would your education because ultimately that is what is going to impress an employer who has become accustomed to seeing the same schools, degrees, and certifications over and over again.
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Ola Nico! Nicely written article and an interesting topic that hits pretty close to home being an HR professional. Credential inflation is becoming a prominent issue in our generation. Degrees don’t set people apart anymore. Money is being spent on additional education and people are often not given the opportunity to reap the benefits of this investment. Having screened resumes, what you said is very true – everyone is starting to look the same (like that batch of strawberries). One thing I have noticed though, is that soft skills are becoming more important than ever. With the millennial generation having grown up with technology, and being heavily reliant on non-verbal methods of communication, soft skills such as being able to interact with a diverse group of people, build and lead teams, adapt to situations, and resolve conflict are becoming more sought after in our work force as less of the job market is equipped with these. Soft skills can’t be taught as easily as technical skills and employers are starting to take notice that these are what are leading to successful employees. I’ve had a few instances at work where we’d bring in a few candidates for a position, whose resumes in terms of education looked pretty identical, but what ultimately swayed the hiring decision was their character and the impact this could make on people and the organization. If I was to give a piece of advice to job seekers, it’d be to spend the same amount of time and energy developing your character as you would your education because ultimately that is what is going to impress an employer who has become accustomed to seeing the same schools, degrees, and certifications over and over again
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This series is desperately needed.
You are correct, there is nothing guiding new graduates into the workplace. School did not prepare them for that. In fact, the problem starts much earlier; growing up, there is a mythical job waiting for us, ready to be redeemed for the price of one degree.
It entrenches a lack of thought about what it takes to be imaginative, competitive, and self-aware, since as long as you do what your teachers tell you, you’ll get the degree and therefore the job. When it does not happen that way, many people fall apart.
I would love if you introduce stoicism in this series. I think it is important to remember that successes do not come right away, and it is most important to try your best, weather the storm and re-adjust periodically. Sometimes that leads nowhere. But if you keep trying, understand your relationship with the world, and continually improve, you’ll be ready for the opportunity when it does arrive.
Anyways, those are my two cents. Keep up the good work!
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