All Posts Tagged With: "jobs"
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
Students expect “shockingly” unrealistic paycheques
Career expectations differ by generation
Photo by jauhari on Flickr
How much money do university students expect to make once they’re established in their careers?
The answer, revealed in a new study on the differences between generations’ career expectations, is one that Professor Sean Lyons, co-author of the study and University of Guelph business professor, finds “shocking.”
Millenial students, those are born in 1980 or later, expect average first-year salaries of $48,860 for men and $42,060 for women. That’s not much above what current university graduates actually make: $43,119 for men and $35,926 for women.
What’s surprising is that, after five years, Millenial women expect to make an average of $67,766 and Millenial men expect to rake in $84,868. To get there, men would need average annual salary increases of 14.8 per cent and women would need to grow their salaries 12.8 per cent per year. In real life, the average annual salary increase per year in more like three per cent.
Continue reading Students expect “shockingly” unrealistic paycheques
Are young Canadians really better off than young Americans?
Why our leaders shouldn’t dismiss the Occupy Movement
Occupy Winnipeg photo by marygkosta on Flickr
Jamie Weinman has a post on Maclean’s.ca suggesting that student debt is fuelling the Occupy Everywhere protests. Weinman quotes this Washington Post article by Ezra Klein who writes that “college debt represents a special sort of betrayal.” He says he began supporting the protests after seeing a photo on the Tumblr site, “We are the 99 percent.” It was of a handwritten sign by a student that said: “I did everything I was supposed to and I have nothing to show for it.”
Their point is this. While many of the people hurt by the financial crisis should have known better—people who took out mortgages they knew they couldn’t afford and bankers who invested in financial instruments they knew were overrated—students who took on debt are different. They went into debt because they had been told repeatedly by parents, teachers, politicians and the media that educational debt is a sure route to higher paying jobs. Now that we know that’s often untrue, can we really blame them for being angry?
Continue reading Are young Canadians really better off than young Americans?
Minority job applicants get fewer callbacks
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
Job market improves for languages professors
But annual hiring is still one-third lower than in 2007-08
Photo by LaserGuided on Flickr
The Modern Languages Association’s job board is North America’s dominant website for posting full-time professor jobs in English and foreign languages departments. That makes it a decent barometer for the two fields’ PhD job markets.
An analysis of this year’s listings shows that full-time job availability improved compared to the previous two devastating years—a period in which listings dropped 40 per cent. There were 8.2 per cent more English professor jobs posted in 2010-11 than in 2009-10. The number of foreign languages jobs was up too—7.1 per cent year-on-year. It’s a welcome improvement, but annual hiring is still one-third below its peak in 2007-08.
Continue reading Job market improves for languages professors
The decline of the B.A. continues
But will business degrees really lead to better jobs?
Photo by JSmith Photo on Flickr
Communication, critical thinking and problem solving are just a few of the skills that are gained from an arts education. But for many students, that list of skills doesn’t add up to a job, so they’re choosing business instead.
Worries about the decline of the Bachelor of Arts aren’t new. But when Ontario universities welcomed their biggest class ever this year, the headlines masked the fact that arts programs shrunk in size again in the province, this year by 0.3 per cent. Job-focused programs such as business accounted for much of the growth, increasing 2.9 per cent.
It’s not a new trend. Data from the Ontario Universities Application Centre (OUAC) show that between 2006 and 2010, in the average year, arts confirmations for first-year students coming from high school decreased on average by five per cent (that includes fine and applied arts, humanities, and social sciences). Business and commerce saw an increase of approximately 12 per cent.
What to do if you don’t get into medical school
From the 2011 Maclean’s Professional Schools Rankings
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Roughly three-quarters of medical school applicants are rejected each year. Bummer. Luckily for them, wannabe doctors have better alternatives than ever. These four professional health care programs can be completed in just a few years, are in high demand, and pay well directly out of school. That means graduates can start paying off their student loans while medical residents are still driving beat-up old cars to 24-hour shifts.
Health Care Manager
The Job: Health care managers work in hospitals, medical clinics and nursing homes where they direct teams of health care providers. Their job is to make sure patients get excellent care and, simultaneously, that Canadians get good value for the nearly $200 billion they spend on health care each year.
Continue reading What to do if you don’t get into medical school
Education is “good employment insurance”
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.
Sociology job market improves
But jobs available don’t match students’ interests
Photo courtesy of poptech on Flickr
It’s been a tumultuous few years for those graduating with sociology doctorates in North America. In 2009, the number of job listings for entry-level professors plunged by 35 per cent.
But new numbers show that listings increased 32 per cent in 2010 — a near recovery. It’s all in the American Sociological Association’s new report, Moving Toward Recovery.
It’s not all good news, however. The report also surveyed PhD candidates and found some major mismatches between their “areas of special interest” and the jobs that were available in 2010.
One of the widest gaps is in criminology (a.k.a. social control, crime, law and deviance), which made up 31 per cent of all postings on the ASA’s job site in 2010, but was only listed as an area of special interest for 18 per cent of PhD candidates whom were surveyed by the ASA.
The mechanically challenged generation
Young people today can’t hold a hammer or screw a screw
Photo courtesy of B Rosen on Flickr
By Cynthia Reynolds
It’s hard not to laugh when Barry Smith starts telling stories about the hapless young workers he has to deal with. Smith, who runs Toronto-area roofing company RoofSmith Canada, tells of one who didn’t come to work because his cat had fleas, and another who jumped off a shed roof, even though he’d just tossed bags of nails into the garbage bin below. But the laughing tapers off when Smith, 46, talks about skills.
“They don’t know how to handle a tool properly,” he says quietly. “They’re bright kids, but they hold a hammer at the top instead of the bottom, so it takes four swings instead of one to get a nail in. They don’t know how to read the short lines on a tape measure and they’ve never used power tools, which makes you really cautious.” He says they can’t seem to detect the patterns of the work—you rip up part of the roof, that gets thrown down, that goes into the garbage—so they just stand around. “It can get really frustrating.”
Some students find high-paying summer jobs
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.
RIM cutting 2,000 jobs
Bad news for graduates in Waterloo Region
Canada’s former smartphone leader Research in Motion announced Monday it will eliminate 2,000 jobs. The Waterloo, Ont.-based company will be cutting about 11 per cent of its workforce worldwide. That’s bad news for commerce and engineering graduates in Waterloo Region whom were often hired by the company upon graduation.
The BlackBerry maker said in a statement that the layoffs are a “prudent and necessary step for the long-term success of the company.” RIM’s first quarter profits fell 10 per cent this year, while its market share dropped nearly five per cent. Analysts attribute the company’s losses to its inability to keep up with competitors Apple and Google. After RIM cuts the jobs, it will continue to employ 17,000 people worldwide.
Is film school for suckers?
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.
Summer job market improves
But some students fare better than others
Photo courtesy of EthanLong on Flickr
Unemployment for 17 to 19 year-old students in Canada is 2.2 per cent lower this June than it was last June, down from 16.0 per cent to 13.8 per cent, reports Statistics Canada.
But older students, those 20 to 24 years old, aren’t having a much easier time finding jobs this summer than last summer. Their unemployment rate remains unchanged from twelve months earlier at 11.0 per cent.
Still, Canadian youth face much lower unemployment than other countries. As of last month, the youth unemployment rates were 29 per cent in Italy, 32 per cent in Ireland, 24 per cent in Sweden, 20 per cent in the United Kingdom and 44 per cent in Spain.
Statistics Canada collects data specifically about students who are planning to return to post-secondary studies in the fall in its Labour Force Survey from May to August.
Are unpaid internships legal? The confusion continues
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.
