Recent grads struggle to find jobs

I'd say the class of 2007, 2008, 2009 all the way up to the class of 2011 will be struggling to find jobs. This inability to land jobs after college isnt just happening now, it started back a few years ago but no one was paying attention because no one wanted to admit that there was an economic down turn in progress.

A lot of those young adults will be forced into bankruptcy very soon from the inability to land a job and mounting student debt.

I agree with Mark. the only exception is jobs in healthcare. There are thousands of jobs available there and few qualified bodies to fill them. Lab, imaging, nursing, OT, PT and physicians are needed worldwide.

Yes, That's true that people in the Healhcare Field will be able to find jobs. The caveat being, they have to move away to get these jobs!!! Alberta Health has a Hiring Freeze going on right now. So yeah, if you have the Education; Great...Just Go Live Someplace Else so you can Earn a Living!

You can probably save these all these news articles about grads having a tough time finding a job and reprint them everytime we have a recession (I'm a mid-1990s grad and went through the same no-summer jobs/bleak graduating picture and had to swallow my pride and grind it out). Sometimes you're lucky, sometimes you're not. All I can say is, surviving tough times helps you not take the good times for granted. BTW, they've been saying that baby boomers are retiring for the last 20 years (don't bank on it).

Unfortunately our school system fails to prepare our graduates for 'life after graduation.'
A college or university education is certainly highly valued and worthwhile; however, the jobs that one tends to get from a post-secondary education don’t likely create either time or financial freedom! And “job security” are two words that just don’t go together anymore.
The only security you have is when you are looking at the boss in the mirror! Yet, entrepreneurship is not taught enough in school.
I teach new graduates and young adults the missing secrets to success at my website and I've been getting busier and busier because young people are looking for alternatives
You can reach me at richgrads.com

Hmmm, I wish I could believe this is only temporary. The price of gold is increasing again. The Middle East, China, Japan, and Russia continue to convert their USD reserve currency into Euros. One wrong move from the Americans could trigger a world wide panic. Everybody may will dump their US currency reserves and render the US dollarworthless within 24 hours. What happens after that – I have no idea, as nothing like this has ever really happened before. Not where the world’s strongest economy is at the center of the meltdown. Look at all the markers. Look at each and every State in America and it becomes apparent. All are in dire straights. Nationally, 10-20% unemployment, two million foreclosures, one million homeless each and every night, and growing. Manufacturing has moved off shore. An aging population coupled with soaring health care costs and you have a situation that’s unworkable. The US can’t even honour the interest on their loans (right now) – let alone in 5 years. You tell me. When does the white knight come to the rescue? Where’s the silver lining in this dark ominous cloud? I keep looking for it, but I can't see it. Any ideas?

I feel bad for those who work so hard to graduate and have no opportunities to use the skills. Most have big loans to pay back.

At the other end of the spectrum are 50somethings that haven't got ajob either. They are trying to pay off mortgages, help their kids in university and colleges, help or paying for weddings,save for their retirment etc.

Seems the cost saving Corporations have no problems laying off their workers and replacing them with employees that work for the temp agencies for wayless money and no benefits. These workers are hoping to get hired full time. They are usually used and then replaced with new workers the same agency and the original worker have to start over again and play the game. It is a vicious circle. This can last for years. How are you supposed to pay back your student loans?

Corporations do not have a person responsible. Seems when you are a corporation you are not human. Just take take take....Upsize, downsize, capsize, restructure, plant improvement, six sigma, Performance Improvement, reorganize, barebones, less steps, less material, reduce head count, more bang for your buck, inferior product that costs more. Work more, payless, no overhead...Stock holders? Greed?

Please tell us where do the people fit in? Why have them at all?

Word to the wise. Try to get a job with an employer that uses their own Human Resources to recruit. You might have a chance.

OR CREATE your own company and be best employer in the world.

Good luck and Best Wishes to you all.

I think, everyone should close their facebook accounts and I can give you thousands of reasons behind it.

#1 BIG REASON,

tell kids and student, not to waste time online and study.

no wonder why all jobs are moving to India and China, because our kids waste alot of time online talking to friends and actually fail or dropout from college and university.

KIDS NEED TO STUDY AND PARENTS NEED TO SPEND TIME WITH KIDS

This is not the 60's, 70's or 80's when jobs for grads was to walk in demand huge salaries and get hired immediately. THE EASY HIRING ARE REASONS FOR SOME OF THE CURRENT INABILITY TO MANAGE, OPERATE PROPER BUSINESSES AND TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR OWN ACTIONS. There are many jobs but just not the VP job they want immediately for having sat in a university, have parents pay the bills, drive fast cars and be on drugs. The world or the real people and work command respect.

@ Jay: Its not going to accomplish anything. You can work hard, and study hard, and be the best you can be all you want but its not going to matter. The jobs are being moved overseas where the equally educated get paid $2 a day, and since their cost of living and expenses are hugely lower, they can survive on $2 a day salary.

So your sons and daughters can work and study hard all they want, but in the end their job (their future job or dream job) will be in the hands of someone else overseas who is willing to work for a fraction of the pay.

And yes, while your sons and daughters might have graduated to become engineers, skilled workers and technicians, and specialists in their field, and although they are bright, they will end up having to settle working for Wal-Mart or some other dead end job.

So studying hard is not the solution. The solution must come the highest levels of government and corporations. If the government began heavily taxing companies who outsource and send jobs overseas, and provided massive tax breaks for companies who kept jobs here, then you'd see how fast those great jobs would start flying back here, and how the economy would boom because people would have those great opportunities again.

Ok so I'm a recent grad (within the last couple years) and I have to say university education does NOT prepare you for the real world. I even studied engineering at a top school and although that gives me a head start compared to other degrees I'm still finding it tough. In the last year of university I see many classmates being scooped up by on campus recruiters to become the new mindless robots of the corporate world. So its my fault I didn't want that life. What else is left but for me to find my own path... that is definitely something they don't teach you to do in school.

People need to realize their buying power again. I am fully convinced that our politicians are selling our country out from under us. I always try to be mindful of what I'm buying, if I'm considering two products and one is made in Canada and another is made in China, I'll buy the one made in Canada even if it's more expensive. I always buy gas at Canadian owned gas stations. I avoid Walmart and dollar stores like the plague. We need to do our utmost to support our own economy, shopping from Canadian based stores selling Canadian made products that employ Canadians. I admit that it's difficult at times, so much of what's on the market these days is made in China, but if we all stuck to it we would force corporations to either go out of business or support our own economy. I remember there was a story in the news a few years ago that the Canadian government had outsourced the contract to make Canadian flags and pins to China! That's absolutely ridiculous!
Now I admit that I do not know that much about economics and I'm sure that's lots of holes in my theory and someone's going to say something about how it won't work because we're part of a global economy. I just don't understand why we can't take care of ourselves first and then see what we can do for other countries.
As for university not preparing you for the real world, I don't see why it should. High school barely prepares you for post-secondary so why should post-secondary prepare you for reality. I'll admit I signed up for college on 3 separate occasions and dropped out every time(my parents didn't pay for it, I did). I was young and ignorant and was not at all prepared for it. Now, 6 years after I graduated high school, I have some serious life experience under my belt, I've worked various full time jobs in different industries, and now I'm ready to go back. I don't at all agree with those who said post-secondary is an expensive waste of time that doesn't get you anywhere in the working world. Trying to find a living wage job without post-secondary is becoming next to impossible.

The biggest thing people below the age of 30 need to realize right now is this is not the only recession we will deal with in our lifetime. Be smart with your money and have an emergency fund so if you end up losing your job in a difficult time you won't wrack up a huge amount of debt while you look for a new one. Students need to use their common sense and be creative to find ways to decrease their dependence on loans while in school so when you graduate you aren't stressed like crazy to find a job to pay them off.

being a recent highschool grad i went out job searching this summer. i passed out resumes in over twenty places in the city since i was moving into an apartment there. fifteen of these places had jobs advertised and they needed "full time" and needed them to start immediately. since i wasnt going back to school in the fall i passed in resumes to all of those places saying i am BILINGUAL and that i can start immediately and can work full time. i never even got one call from any of those places i passed a resume in. and i went into eight of those stores this past weeked and they still have ads for the positions. luckily my sister put in a good word not too long ago for me at her job. iv been working there for about two weeks. its not the job i wanted at all but i need to pay rent and had no choice. atleast they wanted me for my bilingualism. but i am very surprised on how many places wanted bilingual and i never got in. so that just adds to this in my opinion. but i do know im not the only one looking for jobs. i know that there are people who need a job more than i do. and i think that most were not prepared as much as they could be. all i was told was if i kept up my two languages it would get me far..... well no one told me it would take over three months and over twenty resumes later. i know i cant get exact information like that but if you can get where im coming from.. like i had the impression i could score a decent job in alot less time. anyways i do agree with Simon who posted on september 2nd. entrepreneurship is not taught enough in school. when i was between 12 and 15 i had my own small business and i actually made alot of money. i know its very different from paying electricity bills and all that stuff, but it definitely has its "better side" to business. and i do think it may be a choice once i get some college or university under my belt. in conclusion i have to say that everyone is making a good point from what iv read. something needs to be done.

As a December 2008 Grad, I can vouch for the fact that there are no jobs out there for new professionals. There are Admin Assistant jobs and jobs for people with either 3-5 years or 5-10 years experience.

How do we get the experience if no one will give us a chance? When competing against professionals who have experience and have been laid off, we don't stand a chance. Jobs are getting 100s of resumes for each posting.

I am an Admin Assistant... Hurray.. glad I spent thousands of dollars going to University. Sure, Admin Assistants learn a little about everything... but everyone will look at them as an Admin Assistant forever, unless someone gives them a chance to prove their worth. Managers just aren't willing to do that right now.

Give us a chance! We won't let you down. :)

I will be graduating in April 2010 after 4 years of post secondary education. I have applied to many, many jobs and I have received few call backs. Those that did call back faced literally hundreds of applicants for low-wage, part-time positions. I went to college rather than university and while I did much of the same work, many employers won't even consider my resume without a degree. I am now almost 40 thousand dollars in debt because of my schooling and I am struggling and desperately searching for ANY job. Any postings I see are usually Receptionist positions asking for 5+ years experience and paying $10-$12/hour which simply won't pay my bills. I do not have the luxury of moving back in with my family and rent for a one bedroom apartment is $800+/month tack on the interest from my student loans and car insurance.....do the math, it doesn't add up.
Universities and Colleges are businesses looking to maximize their profits they accept more and more students, hire unqualified and unprofessional teaching instructors and charge outrageous prices for textbooks and student fees. The programs have no proper scrutiny and turn out more and more grads with not much more than a piece of paper and a heap of debt.
Employers also are looking to maximize profit by paying despicably low wages and demanding longer hours, less benefits, more education and more experience. Who are these highly experienced and educated people that can survive on less than $30,000/year????
We need to treat students as the next generation, our future, instead of cattle being milked for cash. We need jobs, not minimum wage jobs, but decent paying respectable jobs for our grads so the next generation can thrive.