With Canadian unemployment near 40-year lows, you might think it would be easy to get a job. That’s certainly not what young job seekers are saying.
Why can’t young professionals find a job? Because the baby boomers are still in the work force. Why is that? Because they have piles of debt they can’t pay off.
Fanshawe College Economics Professor Darren Chapman says that the baby boomers, were encouraged to buy “things” instead of “adventures” and now have no money saved for retirement.
Until these professionals retire which according to Chapman will not be for five to six more years students will struggle to find their “career”.
“Before a career comes a job, and having more than one job before finding that career can be very beneficial.”
Nurses seem to be in the talks of “I can’t find a job.” Queens University nursing student Jennie Riddell believes that as long as she is open to working in a variety of roles in the field she will have no problem finding a job.
“When I applied I was warned about the job burn out rates but I wasn’t told told that I would not be able to find a job, I was told that I would need to be flexible and work in all different areas, not even necessarily in a hospital. I will have to be open to being an at home care nurse or working in a walk in clinic even though working in emerge is my preference.”
It is important to go to school for what you love. If you have a career that you aren’t happy with, you will not be as happy as you would be if you had a job you loved.
Josh Westgate, a recruitment officer at Fanshawe College knows that it is tough to gain employment in certain careers but still encourages students to “do what they love.”
“At the end of the day a piece of paper saying you have the credentials is not going to make you happy. Having a job that you love, and a job that lets you want to go to work, is how you know you are happy.”
Fortunately with college, students who graduate are finding full time employment relatively quickly. Fanshawe’s graduation employment rate is 88% which is a very high number for a large community college. This is because college bases everything off of labor work trends.
If a certain career is in demand, colleges boost the program and send graduates on their way. “If you take a classical studies program at university, thats where I go I don’t know what you are going to do after you get that degree, and those are a lot of the non direct students we see at the college. Those who were encouraged to get a degree but now are unemployed.”
Without focus and passion you won’t succeed in your career. Going into something you love, and waiting for the right time to pursue the “career” is a crucial part of the process.
