After years of studying, perhaps you’ve now graduated and are still searching for meaningful roles after months of applying. Maybe you’ve been working for a few years, but find yourself underemployed. If so, you’re not alone.
According to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the unemployment rate for Ontario youth of 15-24 years is between 16 and 17.1 per cent. It’s even worse in cities such as Windsor, London and Toronto with an unemployment rate of 24.7%, 20.3% and 18.1% respectively.
With limited opportunities, youth are working lower paying positions which are often in the retail and hospitality sector. In the hopes of gaining relevant experience, unpaid internships have become the norm and have few regulations. Statistics Canada does not track this category, yet there could be up to 300,000 unpaid interns in Ontario.
By working in varied industries and functions thus far in my career, I can definitely relate to Sheryl Sandberg’s quote “it’s a jungle gym, not a ladder”. I had an incredible year of winning contests, but at the end of the day it wasn’t going to pay my mortgage. Consequently, I recently spent a substantial amount of time applying for positions.
Here are a few tips that helped me in the process:
Many jobs posted online are not a “genuine” search as a favoured candidate has already been identified. However, the role is still displayed on a company’s website in order to fulfill HR policy. In my experience, the jobs on LinkedIn seem to be a true call for applications. Not only that, you have the ability to see who has posted the job, who else works at the company and if you have any mutual connections. Joining groups and commenting on posts may also get the attention of a recruiter.
What is the area you’re interested in applying for? By searching key terms, you may find a job that has not been advertised and is being tweeted by an individual from an organization. For instance, I would try “marketing job GTA” or “social media job Toronto”. You will also find tweets from job search sites, such as Eluta, but I had a much higher probability of acquiring an interview through this method.
Networking
You may not have many contacts at the moment, but on any given night there are numerous meet ups in the city. Start following industry associations, via their social media channels, and stay in the loop! It may be difficult to attend these functions if you’re on a budget. Search the event hastag, with the words “win” or “contest”, and try to attend for free. Always have a business card and a 30 second elevator pitch ready because you never know who you’ll end up meeting!
Create Content
With an interest in marketing, yet less work experience than others, I knew I had to catch up. I began blogging about my contest experiences more frequently and, slowly but surely, I started contributing to other websites in order to gain credibility. A start-up may also have a temporary project you can work on in order to acquire hands-on knowledge. You can later promote this on your resume and in interviews.
Cold Search
Make a list of all of the companies you are interested in and get in touch! Of course, this is much easier if it is a smaller business. From an early age, I knew what industry I had always been attracted to and searched for all of the firms in my area. Yes, there were many that didn’t get back to me but there was one that did. I interviewed for a role that hadn’t been posted and ended up making it to the final round.
In the end, I had to choose between two jobs. Both the roles and the organization’s I interviewed with seemed incredible! Despite initially worrying if I would make the “right” choice, I found this quote which gave me perspective: “Of the blessings set before you, make your choice and be content.”
Do you have any job searching advice? Leave a comment or tweet @lifestylekick with your experience.
