It’s 2024 and the post-pandemic Canadian job market does not look good for newcomers or fresh graduates. Imagine tossing your resume into the digital abyss of job boards, only to hear crickets in response. Sound familiar?
What You Need to Know about the 2024 Job Market:
We are four years removed from the pandemic. Interest rates are high, inflation is still high, and the IRCC just put a cap in international students. Here are some of the things you need to know in navigating the current Canadian job market:
Some international students are still allowed to work 40 hours per week
Some international students are still allowed to work 40 hours per week
The policy allowing some international students to work more than 20 hours per week has been extended this year. It was set to expire December 31, 2023, however, the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) decided to extend it to April this year. Many of these international students are working starter jobs that are usually the go-to jobs of new graduates new work visas and permanent resident immigrants.
If you are living in a city with a lot of universities, don’t be surprised if you find it hard to find employment in entry-level positions. Even workplaces away from the GTA or Vancouver may experience a wave of applicants. Job seekers from big cities who are desperate enough to travel just to get a job may try their luck away from their current area of residence.
Layoffs everywhere
Businesses are starting to feel the effects of higher interest. With the BOC taking the “higher for longer” approach to curbing inflation, homeowners renewing their mortgages this year will need to adjust their household expenses. The domino effect of tightening budgets will eventually lead to businesses holding off on hiring new people. This started last year with multiple big corporations failing to reach their earnings projection, some of which decided to lay off people to lessen expenses in 2024.
Not all job ads are legit
Don’t be fooled by all the job ads you see on Indeed and LinkedIn. Many of them are not posted by the companies themselves. Some aren’t even real job postings. To avoid becoming a victim of scams, you may want to avoid applying directly from these websites. Instead, when you find a job ad, try to find the website of the hiring company. They should have a career section on their website.
The grass is not always greener on the other side
If you are in the GTA, you may be thinking of going to the West to find greener pastures. You may want to do your research about your industry before you do that. Tech jobs are among the hardest hit by the current economic slowdown and any business that requires funding feels the need to slow down their growth. The high-interest environment has created a lack of funding options for businesses, big and small alike. This, in turn, means that some companies cannot hire more people.
How to Compete in the Job Market
Develop More Skills (and Earn Certificates) in Your Profession
Do you have a gap in your resume that HR interviewers keep asking about? The best answer to questions about these gaps is to say that you took some time to improve your skills. It helps if you have the certifications to show for it.
Take advantage of online courses, workshops, or certification programs to enhance your skills and make yourself more marketable to employers. Look for opportunities to learn new technologies or gain certifications that are in demand in your industry.
Develop your Network
In every industry, there is a hidden job market not available to the public. Jobs in this market are only offered to the people who know the right people. This is the power of networking.
If you are new to your industry, don’t worry, you still have time. LinkedIn is a great place to start. You can begin by connecting with the decision-makers in your location such as politicians and professors. Politicians just want more people to follow them, while teachers sometimes mistake you for former students.
Avoid Massive Online Job Boards
Indeed and LinkedIn may seem like the logical places to start when looking for a job, but spending time in these two places may work against you. You only have a limited time every day to look for jobs to apply to. When you apply in job ads on giant websites like these, you are always competing with hundreds of other applicants. You need to be one of the first ten people to apply to be even noticed by the hiring personnel.
You want to put your time to good use by going straight to the websites of companies and government institutions hiring in your area. By doing so, you are less likely to interact with the scammers that lurk in the giant job boards, you are also likely to get noticed by the HR team who checks their website submissions every day.
Consider Alternative Options
When you arrived in Canada or when you left school, you probably had a vision of yourself working in your chosen profession and industry. Most of the programmers and network analysts I worked with, for example, want to work for FAANG or companies similar to them. As the tech industry (and everybody else) takes a hit in their bottom line, however, you may consider looking into alternative industries that may need your skills.
While working as a network engineer for FAANG may not be available just yet, maybe you can find a similar position in your local bank, hospital, or manufacturing facility.
Support is Available
If you are feeling helpless in your job search, reach out to the employment services available in your area. Schools, NGOs, and local governments set up these facilities to connect new members of the community to jobs that best suit their skills.
Start a Side Projects
Keeping yourself busy will help your mental health and keep your skills honed. Side projects will help keep your mind in problem-solving mode, outside of work or school. If your side projects are monetizable, you may even be able to build a business out of it. If not, you can always add it to your portfolio.
While building your start projects, document your experience on LinkedIn. This will help you gain more following and build your network.
Build Your Portfolio
A portfolio is a website or a social media page where you showcase past works. Portfolios are must-haves in the creative industries such as in marketing, writing, tech, or design. In my opinion, many other industries would benefit if their jobseekers maintained portfolios. For instance, while SEO is technically not a visually creative field, I still have a portfolio website where I show off how I developed my projects and made pages rank on Google.