Campus Jobs
Teacher’s job fair cancelled
Recruiters didn’t show
Here’s more evidence that newly-minted teachers face a rough job market. The University of Prince Edward Island cancelled their education job fair this year due to lack of interest from recruiters, reports CBC News. But there is hope, they note, if students willing to travel to Nunavut. (Yes, seriously!) Last week we noted that the University of Manitoba’s teaching job fair attracted no local school boards, but the Royal Canadian Mounted Police showed up, suggesting that while teachers aren’t in high demand in schools right now, their skills continue to be valued by other employers.
Guess who’s recruiting education grads
Hint: It’s not schools, and they pay $80k after three years.
RCMP by Daniel Paquet
Education graduates face a dismal job market. Two-thirds of recent grads in Ontario aren’t working full-time. The University of British Columbia’s teacher’s college recently admitted that many graduates won’t find jobs in teaching.
Things are bad in Manitoba too. The local school boards didn’t even show up at Monday’s University of Manitoba education job fair.
But that same job fair should give education graduates a reason to be hopeful, because it showed how certain other employers value their experiences.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, for example, showed up at Manitoba’s education job fair for the first time Monday. The force is recruiting education graduates for the police academy in Regina.
More students balance school with jobs
New report shows surprising trends in Quebec
A long night at work. By star5112 on Flickr.
More than half of full-time university students in Quebec work while attending school and more than 40 per cent of all undergraduates work more than 20 hours weekly says a new study by the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec, a provincial lobby group that wants lower tuition.
On top of that, more than twice as many full-time students aged 20 to 24 in the province work part-time jobs than students did in the 1970s.
The workloads are hurting their educations: 43 per cent of full-time undergraduates say that their jobs have negatively affected their studies and 30 per cent say their jobs mean they’ll take longer to finish. It’s worst for PhD students—six in 10 say work forced them to prolong their studies.
Teacher’s college applications plummet
Nine per cent drop in Ontario
Photo by cdsessums on Flickr
The Ontario College of Teachers sounded the alarm bells in 2011 about the gap between the number of graduating teachers and the shrinking number of jobs available. Their survey of new graduates showed 24 per cent were unemployed and only one-third were employed full-time.
John Milloy, the minister in charge, reacted by taking the unprecedented step of capping the number of first-year education students at 9,058.
This week, new statistics show that students got the message. The Ontario University Application Centre reports that provincial teacher’s colleges received 8.9 per cent fewer applicants in 2012.
Some schools saw huge declines. Nipissing University in North Bay, Ont. got 15.8 per cent fewer applications. Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ont. got 21.5 per cent fewer applications.
In fact, the total number of applicants—9,311—is only slightly higher than the new cap. But it’s 72 per cent lower than the number of applicants five years ago—in 2007 when there were 16,042.
It’s not just Ontario where jobs are hard to find. The substitute list in Halfiax’s biggest school board had grown to 1,665 teachers in 2011, according to The Chronicle Herald. Last year just 119 teachers retired from the board. Meanwhile, Nova Scotia added 1,000 new teachers.
On the other side of the country, it’s a similar story. The number of applicants to education at the University of British Columbia fell from 688 in 2007 to 543 in 2011—a 21 per cent drop.
And UBC’s teacher’s college has been upfront with their students about the prospects of getting jobs directly out of school. “In 2010, roughly 2,700 new teachers were certified in British Columbia but only about 1,500 new positions were available,” the school admitted in a recent article online.
Still, UBC suggests there are reasons for grads to be hopeful. Certain specialty areas, like music, French, home economics, physics, math, and vocations like technology and cooking are in demand.
There are also plenty of jobs for adventurous graduates in places like Asia and the Middle East.
But most tellingly, UBC will introduce a mandatory non-traditional teaching practicum in 2012, to make their sure students explore other careers that education degrees might lead to.
Here’s a free course that could get you hired
Nearly 300,000 have signed up so far
Photo by hackNY on Flickr
On Monday nearly 300,000 people received an e-mail containing their first free lesson in computer coding from New York based Codeacademy.
The course is part of their “Code Year” initiative where anybody and everybody is encouraged to make their New Year’s resolution to learn computer programming in 2012. By the end of it, students will be able to build their own apps.
Coding is a valuable skill in today’s economy. The federal government reports that Computer Programmers and Interactive Media Developers are in high demand in some Canadian cities, such as Montreal, where their average wage is $34.50 per hour, and Winnipeg where their average wage is $25.47.
Continue reading Here’s a free course that could get you hired
10 Summer Job Search Tips for Students
It’s January. You better start looking now!
Career fair by SCA Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget on Flickr
The end of the school year may seem far off, but it’s only about five months away. And as surprising as it may seem in January, most employers who hire students for the summer are already recruiting. That means you better get your job strategy ready. Here’s advice to search smarter.
1. Crack the hidden job market
Most jobs aren’t advertised. They’re given to the boss’s son, the boss’s wife’s niece or the guy who was smart enough to offer his resume just when the employer was considering expansion. Start your search by asking friends and family if they know anyone who might hire a student.
Considering graduate school in the arts or social sciences?
Here are some job statistics you’ll want to consider
King Henry VIII from Wikimedia Commons
After a steep recession-era decline in hiring of academics in the arts and social sciences, potential PhDs have reasons for optimism—or despair—depending on how you look at it.
The good news is that job listings on the American Historical Association’s website, considered a market barometer for North America, increased from 569 in the 2009-10 academic year to 627 in 2010-11. That’s up 10.2 per cent year-on-year.
The bad news? That figure is still 40 per cent lower than the 1,064 jobs posted in 2007-08, before the recession led to budgetary restraint.
The modest rebound is a common theme across the arts and social sciences.
Continue reading Considering graduate school in the arts or social sciences?
It may be even tougher to find a job next year
Campus recruiters plan on less hiring, same pay
Job fair photo by stevendepolo on Flickr
A survey of 324 Canadian employers shows that they expect post-secondary graduates will still be struggling to find work in 2012.
Recruiters who hire students are projecting 2.9 per cent fewer job offers in 2012 and no increase in starting pay, according to the 2011 Campus Recruitment and Benchmark Survey. The survey was collected on behalf of The Canadian Association of Career Educators and Employers between August 1 and September 26, 2011.
Since then, the economic outlook has worsened. In October, federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty cut his growth forecast for 2011 from 2.9 per cent to 2.2 per cent. Earlier this month, TD Economics reduced its forecast for growth in GDP next year from 1.9 to 1.7 per cent due to weakness in Europe that is likely to spread. Scotia Capital is predicting 1.8 per cent growth. That follows last year’s post-recession rebound of 3.2 per cent.
Continue reading It may be even tougher to find a job next year
The enduring stereotype of the male nurse
The number of men in nursing schools is growing (slowly)
Calgary's Tyler Hume (Photo by Todd Korol)
From the Maclean’s special holiday double issue—on newsstands now.
One recent November day, Tyler Hume, a 20-year-old nursing student, was at work in the maternity ward of Calgary’s Foothills Medical Centre. Tending to a patient who’d just given birth, he listened to her heart and checked other vital signs, then moved on to her new baby. Being a male nurse in a maternity unit can be tricky, he says—but as one of just a handful of men in the University of Calgary’s entire faculty of nursing, Hume is used to feeling like the odd man out sometimes. “It’s unconscious things, like when [an instructor] is talking about a nursing action, and always refers to the nurse as ‘she,’ ” he says. To create a resource for men in the program, he co-founded the Nursing Guys’ Group, a club for male nursing students.
Millenials shun the 9-to-5 workday
But work hours aren’t their top priority
Photo by La Citta Vita on Flickr
The Millenial generation (roughly defined as those born after 1980) aren’t too interested in the traditional 9-to-5 workday, branding expert Dan Schawbel writes on Time.com Schawbel provides examples of American companies that are accommodating this preference.
There’s evidence that Canada’s Millenials value flexible hours too—though it’s not their top priority.
Canadians researchers surveyed 3,000 people last year to gauge the differences between what four generations of working Canadians value in their jobs. Millenials placed “hours of work” at #7 on their list. Generation X workers (those born 1965 to 1979) ranked work hours slightly lower—at #8. But Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1964) and those born earlier than 1945, “Mature” workers, didn’t have “hours of work” in their top 10 at all. It seems they’re comfortable working 9-to-5.
Companies will add more MBAs in 2012
Three quarters plan to hire
A new poll shows that a Master of Business Administration may be a smart choice for 2012. The Graduate Management Admission Council’s 2011 Year-End Poll of Employers shows that 74 per cent plan to hire MBA graduates in 2012. That’s up from 58 per cent in 2011. And nearly one-quarter (22 per cent) of companies plan to increase the number of MBA grads hired in 2012 over 2011, compared to just six per cent last year. The GMAC surveyed 209 employers at 216 companies. The GMAC administers the test most students write to apply to management schools.
Click to see Canadian Business’s list of the MBAs with the greatest return on investment.
It’s a rough time to be a Bachelor of Fine Arts
Few jobs. Shut programs. How art schools are adapting.
Artist photo by chadmagiera on Flickr
Christina McKenzie is pretty typical of Bachelor of Fine Arts graduates these days. She doesn’t regret taking a BFA at York University (2005). She’s grateful for the four years she spent exploring photography, bronze-casting, painting, drawing, book-making, sculpture and art history.
But there’s another part of her that wishes she’d taken something more focused, like photography or design, perhaps. Had she done that, who knows where she’d be?
McKenzie had planned to become an art teacher after her BFA. She was even accepted to a teacher’s college, but deferred it. She’s very glad she did. At least a quarter of her art school colleagues went on to teacher’s college. Many can’t find jobs. In fact, two-thirds of new teaching graduates in Ontario can’t find work as teachers.
Continue reading It’s a rough time to be a Bachelor of Fine Arts
This degree is practically a job guarantee
And Saskatchewan may give you $20,000
For students who want a guaranteed job after graduation, nothing comes closer than nursing in Saskatchewan. According to the Regina Leader-Post, the government has hired 900 nurses since 2008, but could need as many as 2,000 more in the next two years if those set to retire do so as planned. There were already 449 nursing jobs being advertised in the province last month.
The government has increased seats at post-secondary schools for registered nurses dramatically in the past four years: from 300 in 2006 to 690 now, but that likely won’t be enough.
That’s why, in last week’s Throne Speech, the government announced that seats in universities to train nurse practitioners—highly-paid advanced nurses who often have the ability prescribe drugs—will grow from 30 to 50 per year. The shortage is also the reason the government says it will forgive $20,000 of student loans for recent nursing graduates who work in rural and remote communities for at least five years. It’s easy to see why Saskatchewan is being so agreesive about training, wooing and keeping nurses: neighbouring Alberta is on a nurse hiring spree right now too.
Canada’s most lucrative business schools
Hint: the top three aren’t in Toronto
#4. Schulich at York by of Elango on Flickr.
Canadian Business has released its annual MBA Guide and, along with it, a slideshow that shows potential students what they want to know most—which MBA gets the best return on investment?
Here are the top five MBAs in Canada by R.O.I.
1. Desautels (McGill, Montreal, Que.)
Entering Salary: $49,000
Starting Salary: $112,000
(Tuition $65,000)
2. Dalhousie (Halifax, N.S.)
Entering Salary: $33,000
Starting Salary: $67,000
(Tuition $38,879)
Canada’s entrepreneurial campuses
Six programs for ambitious undergrads
Photo by Birmingham City University on Flickr
From the 21st Maclean’s University Rankings—on sale now. Story by Sandy Farran.
It’s the stuff of dreams: in early 2009, University of Waterloo engineering student Ted Livingston set out to design an instant messaging app while taking part in Waterloo’s VeloCity Residence program, an intense four-month incubator for student start-ups. The program provided Livingston with regular access to an entrepreneur-in-residence, use of the latest technology, a collaborative work space, exposure to community mentors and the support of like-minded peers.
The entrepreneurial skills that Livingston acquired while in the VeloCity program propelled his instant-messaging app from the idea phase, in early 2009, to a downloadable app in the fall of 2010. Since then, four million users have downloaded the free technology (called Kik Messenger), investors have come knocking, and Livingston has donated $1 million to his alma mater to help other student entrepreneurs.
The most (and least) lucrative degrees in Ontario
Pity the poor arts grad
Dentist photo by ^@^ina on Flickr.
The new Council of Ontario Universities’ study of the 2008 graduating class reveals big differences in what graduates were making two years after tossing their mortarboards in the air. Below are the average salaries reported by nearly 20,000 Ontario graduates in 2010, from highest paid to lowest paid. In parentheses are the employment rates two years after graduation. It’s clear that people with plain old humanities, arts and biology degrees are in lower demand and get paid less than those with more specialized degrees.
Continue reading The most (and least) lucrative degrees in Ontario
Ontario’s recession-era grads did alright
High employment rates. Steady wages.
One of the biggest surveys that gauges how university graduates have fared in the workplace was published this week and the results show that university is still a very good bet for most people.
The figures come from a survey of nearly 20,000 graduates from Ontario’s class of 2008, courtesy of the Council of Ontario Universities. Despite the global recession that has hampered employment since 2008, nearly 19 out of 20 graduates (93.8 per cent) were in jobs by 2010.
83.5 per cent of their jobs were somewhat or closely related to their fields of study, higher than usual.
The jobs paid well too, $49,469 on average, which is slightly higher than the median income for all Canadians. (Remember, these students were only two years into their careers.) But pay is stagnant. In fact, it was slightly higher for 2004 and 2006 graduates two years after their convocations.
Plenty of room in pilot school
Students scared off by huge tuition and low entry-level pay
Photo by DieselDemon on Flickr
A pilot training program at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, B.C. is running at half capacity, student coordinator Marion Harris told The Ubyssey. That’s despite the fact that 97,000 new pilots are going to be needed in Canada and the U.S. over the next two decades, she said.
One reason cited for the lack of new recruits is that UFV’s four-year Bachelor of Business Administration degree costs about $95,000 in tuition and fees alone—living costs not included.
And although commercial pilots and co-pilots can make $100,000 or more at major airlines, graduates usually start at charters, which pay a median of $40,000—and as low as $18,000—according to the Air Transport Association of Canada.
Even if students scrounge together loans, it’s going to be a while before they can pay them back.
Students are fleeing STEM degrees
And why they may want to reconsider
Photo by jeremy.wilburn on Flickr
Today, the New York Times suggested that President Obama’s goal of training 10,000 more engineers per year, plus 100,000 more STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) teachers annually is unlikely to be reached.
For decades, the U.S. has been trying to up its output of STEM students. But the percentage of all students earning Bachelor of Engineering degrees has actually fallen from nearly 10 per cent of the total in the mid-1980s to 5.4 per cent in 2009-10. Computer engineering hit peaks of 4.3 per cent of the totals in 1984 and 2004, but has fallen again to 2.4 per cent in 2009-10. It’s a similar story in other STEM fields too, like biology. As more people are educated, it seems fewer are choosing STEM.
In a class of their own
Adventure Studies, Space Engineering, Costume Studies!?
UBC Wood Processing students putting together the podia used at the 2010 Olympic ceremonies
From the 21st Maclean’s University Rankings—on newsstands now. Story by Alex Ballingall.
Parents have a tendency to dream on behalf of their children. Sometimes they envision their daughters and sons climbing the hallowed staircases of ivory tower institutions. Sometimes they’re graduating from law school, leaping headlong into medical school, or simply training to take over the family business. There’s no doubt such dreams have merit, but they don’t always mesh with what kids want. Canadian universities offer a staggering array of enticing programs in which students can pursue their own destinies and determine their own dreams. Here are a few standouts:
