BLOG: If only it were raining jobs in Montreal...

by Alison from Apathy is Boring — July 17, 2009

It’s not uncommon these days in Montreal to find oneself trapped indoors to escape the rain. Yesterday, for instance, I had just stepped inside a café down the street from our office when the skies unexpectedly opened once again. I, umbrella-less, resolved to stay until the rain stopped, and shuffled into the nearest available table, stopping to pick up that day’s Globe and Mail.

My attention was quickly drawn to a feature article, the summer of student discontent, which analyzed the current job prospects for students, coupled with rising tuition costs and limited national bursary programs. In short, the article found that students across the country are facing the worst summer job market in a decade. I probably didn’t to open the newspaper to figure that out.

If you want to get into statistics, unemployment rates for students ages 20 to 24 land at 14 per cent, but those rates have climbed to 18 per cent for first- and second-year university students, according to Statistics Canada.

My summer job hunt this year was a slog; I was definitely expecting that my case would be representative of those disturbing statistics. Even though I spent months of sending out CVs, making phone calls, pumping personal contacts, and scouring jobs listings, I still had no employment as the first days of summer were cresting.

This experience was not uncommon among my friends. Most of my third- and fourth-year university acquaintances struggled to find a decent and satisfying job. Those who count themselves fortunate to have found work, are largely doing menial, low-skill tasks at entry-level workplaces: restaurants, stores, cafes, bars, manual labour, or office administration. Many of us filled our under-employed days with summer classes too.  Still, I have friends who just simply don’t have work, and predict that they will emerge from their summers with a dismal bank account and no work experience. As I too was fearing the prospects of a deadbeat summer with nothing to do, I shifted gears and started looking exclusively at unpaid positions. By an incredible stroke of luck, I found myself happily volunteering my time here at AisB.

The team here at AisB would unanimously extol the benefits of volunteering one's time. In fact, Ilona, our executive director, just spent her weekend giving a workshop entitled "How volunteering will get you a job." It's not just about making yourself a free asset, but rather, it's like a secret back-door entry into when the formal calls for employment are closed.

It can be really hard as a student to think long-term about why working without any immediate financial compensation is beneficial. That's understandable, since the student life is virtually synonymous with low-budget lifestyle; we students count on our summer paychecks to cover our tuition and cost of living. But, to murder a cliché here, the value of tangible work experience (especially with a sweet organization like AisB) is pretty much priceless.

So, to you unemployed Montrealers I say: get on your rainboots and come visit us at our volunteer orientation! Or, of course, head to your local volunteer bureau .

Alison from Apathy is Boring

Source:The Official Apathy is Boring Blog