All Posts Tagged With: "employment"

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.

Continue reading Guess who’s recruiting education grads

It’s January. You better start looking now!

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.

Continue reading 10 Summer Job Search Tips for Students

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.

Continue reading Millenials shun the 9-to-5 workday

Study reminiscent of 1948 Maclean’s article by Pierre Berton

Photo by |Mahin| on Flickr

A new study has shown that Canadians with English-sounding names on their résumés get many more responses from employers than those with foreign-sounding names, even when applicants have identical qualifications and make it clear they can speak English or French proficiently.

Philip Oreopoulos and Diane Dechief of the University of Toronto found that of the 8,000 fake job applications they sent out, those with English-sounding names at the top were 47 per cent more likely to receive callbacks in Toronto than resumes with Greek, Indian or Chinese-sounding names. In Montreal, English names had a 39 per cent advantage. In Vancouver it was 20 per cent.

Oreopoulos told The Globe and Mail that subconcious discrimination may partially explain the difference. Another part of their study showed that human resources professionals cite concerns over language or social skills for the possible differences in their reactions—despite the fact that such skills can easily be determined with a simple phone call.

Continue reading Minority job applicants get fewer callbacks

But it was a bad summer for student job hunters

Photo courtesy of EthanLong on Flickr

Unemployment among university graduates in rich countries, including Canada, remained a low 4.4 per cent in 2009, the year of the global recession, according to a new study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. That same year, unemployment for those without higher education shot up from 8.7 per cent to 11.5 per cent. The OECD’s conclusion? Education is “a good employment insurance.”

But the organization is worried about falling public investment in education. Between 2000 and 2008, the share of private funding for post-secondary schools rose in 20 of the 26 countries studied. “Despite strained public budgets, governments must keep up their investment to maintain quality in education, especially for those most at risk,” said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría.

Continue reading Education is “good employment insurance”

Click to find out which programs they’re taking

The first-ever detailed analysis of summer jobs in Canada shows that students from some programs are finding high-paying work that will help launch their careers. Others are working low-skilled jobs and barely breaking minimum wage.

Those in math, computer science, engineering and other technical fields are making much more cash than arts and humanities students, according to the CanEd Student Research Panel’s study. And nearly half of them say their jobs are related to their education. Those in engineering and architecture programs are making the most money, averaging $15.62 per hour.

That’s $4 per hour more than arts and humanities students are making. Those students are barely beating Ontario’s minimum wage of $10.25. What’s worse? Two-thirds of them say their jobs have little to do with what they’re studying.

For more, see the post by Joey Berger of Higher Education Strategy Associates on CanadianBusiness.com.

Job prospects are dismal, but applications keep going up

Photo courtesy of Vancouver Film School

Film students are often the butt of jokes about never being able to find a job. Yet this hasn’t deterred people from applying, even now, when job prospects are as dismal as ever.

The number of students taking on film and television majors has skyrocketed in the U.S. The University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts — which only accepts 300 students each term — saw applications jump from 2,800 to 4,800 in a single year, writes the New York Times.

It’s a similar situation in Canada. Since 2006, the prestigious Vancouver Film School has had nearly 8,000 applicants for its 13 programs. The University of British Columbia says it gets an average of 75 applicants annually for a mere 20 spots in its film production program. And get this — York University in Toronto gets up to 17 applicants per spot for its film programs.

But a weak economy has caused many studios and production companies to scale back on staff. “It’s becoming an increasingly flooded marketplace,” Andrew Dahm, who holds a masters degree from U.S.C., told the Times. “Working as an assistant for six years is not unheard of.”

The shallow pool of film-related job postings online reveals a shortage here too. Many job titles applicable to a film graduates have no postings at all. Of the two postings under “video editor” on Workopolis.com, one was for an unnamed company editing wedding footage. A search of the word ‘film’ on Monster.ca brings up only five positions, one of which is an unpaid internship. True, these sites only represent a fraction of jobs, but it’s discouraging nonetheless.

Still, some film educators are optimistic about their students’ futures —  just not in film.

“[The] majority of students majoring in film and television will not be having careers in those professions,” Stephen Ujlaki, Dean of Loyola Marymount’s School of Film and Television, told the New York Times. But film training leaves students with business savvy and other skills, he says.

As a student working on a film minor at the University of Manitoba, I have evidence that he’s right. As much flack as I’ve gotten from friends about my capricious minor, film training has proven to be an asset when applying for jobs in another field — journalism. Nearly every publication seems to want to expand its multimedia content and one of those publications, a newspaper, hired me this summer. The time management, organization and communication required on film sets apply to many other jobs

So, it may be true that most film school graduates aren’t going to work on big budget blockbusters or screen their films at Sundance. But that shouldn’t discourage those who truly love film from pursuing a degree in the field. Their time will not be wasted. I can personally attest to that.

Even employment counselors don’t understand the rules

Photo courtesy of USDAgov on Flickr

University career counselors in the United States don’t understand what constitutes a legal internship, according to a new survey of 427 of them.

Nearly a fifth of those surveyed believe that interns must always be paid or else their work is illegal. That’s not true. Another fifth believed that internships are always legal, regardless of whether there’s academic credit awarded. That’s also not true.

The standard in both the U.S. and Canada is as follows. If someone receives academic credit from a college or university for their work placement, it’s assumed that the experience is primarily educational and therefore they don’t need to be paid. But if a so-called intern is not in school, the organization isn’t a non-profit, and/or they’re replacing a regular employee, the job is considered a job like any other — the minimum wage laws apply. Read more about the rules and the backlash against unpaid internships, right here.

Regardless of the rules, college counselors overwhelmingly agree that internships are valuable and don’t think students should be too concerned with pay. More than 80 per cent think a student should take an unpaid internship if they can’t find a paid one and only 11 per cent think that all interns should be paid for their work.

British students will soon be able to answer that question

Britain’s government plans to rank universities using graduate employment rates and starting salaries in a bid to “name and shame” programs whose graduates aren’t finding good jobs, reports The Telegraph.

Students who want to pick a degree that will give them better job prospects currently have little to go on, said David Willetts, Minister of State for Universities. He explained that future students “will be able to see [that] ‘if I do biological sciences at one university, I have got a much better chance of a job in a pharmaceutical company than if I do biological sciences at a different university.”

Eventually, a website will allow students to comparison shop by letting them compare tuition rates alongside genuine salary and employment figures. The plan comes after the government faced protests for raising the cap on tuition fees, sending many up to the new maximum of $14,000 per year. (In comparison, average tuition in Canada is $6,500.)

Program-specific salary and employment data is not readily available in Canada. In Ontario, schools must release information on how many students are employed, but there are no details available on whether they’re working in their chosen field — or how much they’re being paid.

That lack of information may have contributed to unrealistic expectations about what students will make five years after starting work. A 2010 survey of 24,000 Canadian students found that university students were expecting an average salary of $70,000 within five years of graduation. In reality, those aged 25 to 30 average $45,000 and those aged 31 to 35 average $51,000.

It may be more than you guessed. Click to see where your school stands.

Professor photo courtesy of Rainer Ebert on Flickr

What does your professor make? Assuming he or she is a full (tenured) professor, it’s probably more than you guessed. The median pay among full professors at 31 Canadian schools is $128,480, according to a recent study.

That said, if your professor is at the University of Northern British Columbia, she likely makes a far less than if she’s with the University of British Columbia. A report by Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Studies shows that salaries in the 2009-10 school year followed no apparent pattern. Some highly-ranked schools pay less than not-so-prestigious schools. A few smaller schools — Trent for example — pay profs much better than bigger neighbours. The report presented data from 31 schools. That’s fewer than half of the 81 schools profiled in the Maclean’s Guide to Canadian Universities, meaning this list is far from comprehensive.

It’s worth reiterating that these figures are for full professors only. Assistant professors, associate professors and contract faculty make much less and many academics work for more than a decade before getting full status, if they ever do. Still, these numbers show that professorship is a lucrative career from coast to coast.

Trent – 158,876

Calgary – 154,008

British Columbia – 151,145

Alberta – 145,585

Athabasca – 144,689

McMaster – 144,366

Lethbridge – 144,255

York – 143,091

Wilfrid Laurier – 142,905

Windsor – 141,831

Ottawa – 141,417

Guelph – 139,934

Lakehead – 137,827

Manitoba – 137,765

Brock – 137,666

UOIT – 135,000

St. Mary’s – 129,603

Victoria – 128,122

UPEI – 126,903

Memorial – 126,623

Nipissing – 123,754

New Brunswick – 123,546

St. Thomas – 123,307

Brandon – 117,494

Acadia – 110,000

UNBC – 103,796

Cape Breton – 102,622

Mount Royal – 101,974

OCAD – 101,086

Kwantlen – 84,896

Trinity Western – 78,778