Fresh Graduates Struggling to Find Jobs

They are happy to graduate, but many grads don't have jobs 

I'm not envious of university graduates trying to find a job now.

Many in the Gen Z cohort interviewed by the media have said they have not found work yet, and add they have applied to over 100 jobs with no response.

"It's disheartening," said Thivian Varnacumaaran, an electrical engineering student in his final year at York University. He estimates he's applied for 400 to 500 jobs since December and not one job prospect.

Aside from the pandemic, young Canadians aged 15-24 are facing the highest unemployment rate since the mid-1990s of over 10 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to Statistics Canada.

Mid-1990s -- interestingly is when I graduated... and headed straight to Hong Kong.

But now there are other factors in play: post-pandemic businesses have had to cope with fewer staff; a surge in population with fewer jobs available; and thanks to US President Donald Trump where his announcements are unpredictable and arbitrary when it comes to tariffs, Canada's economy is weakening and could fall into recession.

Young graduates not being able to get their foot in the jobs door is not a good sign of things to come, according to one academic.

"It's kind of an early warning indicator," said Tricia Williams, director of research at Future Skills Centre, a Toronto Metropolitan University lab dedicated to studying the future of work.

"It's not just about getting jobs and skills experience. It's about the larger structural supports and the environment that young people are coming into."

In other words, with fewer entry-level jobs available, they are unable to learn things like work ethic, adapting to corporate culture and office politics early in their careers.

And it's not like young people can just go somewhere else to work -- Trump's threats of tariffs all over the world are affecting everyone.

One pointer to try to get some kind of interview is to network -- ask their parents, relatives and friends' parents for contacts or some kind of introduction, so that if a space does open up, they could have a better chance of getting it.

The other is to just be open to doing almost any kind of work just to keep busy, build up service and communication skills. 

Hopefully these kids won't give up and will keep trying to break into the job market. We need them!