All Posts Tagged With: "student jobs"
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.
Students continue to find work
For second month in a row student job numbers improve
For the second month in a row student unemployment has dropped, according to the latest Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey. The overall unemployment rate increased 0.1 points to 8.0 per cent, but students aged 20-24 are having an easier time in the labour market over last summer.
The July unemployment rate for all students (ages 15-24) dropped 4.1 points over July 2009 to 16.8 per cent. Students in the 20-24 category posted an unemployment rate of 7.5 per cent, compared to 28.2 per cent for those in 15-16 category, and 18.2 per cent for the 18-19 age group. In June, the student unemployment rate for those aged 20-24 was 10.3 per cent.
What I didn’t do this summer
Internships, or how I learned to stop worrying and love working for free
Summer is almost over and it wasn’t a vacation for everyone. I was reminded when I read this article about unpaid work and underemployment. It especially hit home since it was written by and features some of my former classmates. Previous summers in university, I split between searching for internships, doing unpaid internships, searching for menial jobs and working menial jobs–usually all at once.
I never expected to get a job with my degree alone. In the journalism industry, it’s practically unheard of. However, where and where is the limit? How long can you work a part-time job to fund your unpaid internship and foot the expenses of daily life? How many new lines on your resume do you need add before you can finally get a paying job in your field of study? Intern culture is here to stay and at the expense of the unpaid. Don’t get me wrong. There are plenty of good internships with great opportunities to learn and network. But for every internship, it feels there are five “internships” offered by companies with a revolving door of new interns and no intention of hiring. Employers don’t even need to hint at the possibility of getting hired. Interns now assume they won’t be hired but will do the time and hope it makes a difference next time they send out their CV. This isn’t new or a product of the recession, in fact, it’s the only system I’ve known since I started university four years ago.
One of the most dangerous things about a recession are the attitudes it breeds in workers towards themselves. Today you have to be thankful that you have a minimum wage job because someone in your graduating class hasn’t found one yet. It’s common to hear casual comments that striking workers should be fired because others would love to have their jobs. (Toronto garbage, York University, Ottawa bus strike–take your pick.) Putting feelings about unions aside, we’re headed down a slippery slope of devaluation of work and the worker. It’s an unpleasant destination but one too many people seem only too determined to go down.
