1. a class 1 driver’s licence for a lonely trucker job
2. a pair of steel toed boots for some tedious low-paid factory work
3. some janitorial experience
4. a desire to go to Alberta
That is a summary of the qualifications you’ll need before even thinking of applying for any kind of job in Halifax. Maybe you can add “good strong back” to that list for this winter, for those of you who feel like breaking your back making a pitiful $12/hr shovelling snow at any given time. On top of it all, the internet job classifieds are saturated with low-life scammers. There are more people looking for work than there are jobs available, and yes it’s true, it is often only about who you know. I think I’m breaking up with you, Halifax. —lotstooffer
This article appears in Jan 23-29, 2014.
I’ll start: Steel-toed boots are only needed for Nova Scotia factory work? Whooda thunk it! I thought it fell under Canada Safety Standards.
There’ll be lots of jobs tomorrow when we get another batch of snow, any takers with steel toed boots? With a class 1 licence you may get elevated to driving a plow waving a broom out the window on your way to Alberta.
The Gulag appears to be interviewing. I was politely but firmly asked to stop singing plantation spirituals in Paul Robeson voice as the new hires are being shown around.
Sheesh. Shows a little grit and you lands in deep kimchi.
op, a serious question. what kind of job do you want?
be specific. not just ‘a job that treats me with respect’ ‘something fulfilling’ ‘a job that uses my talents’.
Dontcha know GDM they deserve an executive position and to be sittin’ in an air conditioned office in a swivel chair talkin’ some trash to the secretaries, Sayin’, “Here, now mam-ma, come on over here” and should be smokin’ on a big cigar.
Thanks Jim Croce.
ivan, play the song of the volga boatmen. embrace your heritage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-qz4Icl3_Q
You seem to be browsing the lowest jobs out there which leads us, the reader, to assume you have no skills and less education. You can break down those trailer walls by getting some upgrading and doing plenty of volunteer work (since you have the time) and you’ll be so busy and productive you will end up creating yourself a job. ~ Gwan, give it a try. Unplug. Unlock. Unload. Unleash. Unlimited.
Khorosho, Molyuchka. Ivan is all about cultural embracings
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OtbV6_KryY
garitchkis!
(something with which to open garitch door)
ob, you expect to be treated like a valued employee so I suggest you figure out how to become one.
It is difficult for the unskilled to find employment here, and it is often low-paying, hard work. That has been the case for a very long time. Most of my new hires have only a high school diploma, and it is very satisfying to see many of them embrace their training and learn retail salesmanship. In the end, they leave with much more than they came with .. real-world skills, work experience, and a written recommendation. Many of them have done well for themselves .. one of my formers employees is now the manager of a very nice jewellry store, another is a sales manager at a car dealership.
My point is that there are opportunities here, but you have to dig for them, and once you find a decent job .. keep learning, be reliable, and use it as a stepping stone to something better when the time is right.
And don’t complain about your wages .. make yourself worth more to a potential employer, then request a raise based on your increased worth. Wages are lower here, and that isn’t going to change in a hurry.
You gotta look long and hard to find a semi-decent gig in the arsehole of the country — Nova Scotia, where the employers are so cheap they squeak and they expect their pee-ons to do it all for a buck above minimum wage. I see job ads for Administrative Assistants paying 12 bucks an hour, that also expect you to know database AND accounting. The “assistant” gets a poverty-level pittance and they gotta do e’rrything, so the employers save $40,000 by not hiring an IT person and save another $60,000/year by not needing to hire a certified accountant. Employers be smart. Dey be saving mad coin. I hope their bidnezzes tank n their assistant robs them blind! I don’t blame you for lacin up your steeltoe boots and takin off to Calgary for 36 bucks an hour. I might be taking off to Ontario myself. I will stay a little longer, sip my big 8 salt-free sparkling water (no more expensive pelligrino water for me – it’s a ruccession bitch) and cry over my degree.
Put on your scummiest clothes, pick a used Hortons cup out of the garbage and squat on SGR, all proceeds are tax free and the odd sneer and phlegm are workplace hazards.
SUCH PIDDLING CONCERNS
You must take up philosophy. Then you will rise above such piddling concerns. So you want a job. What for? To get food to eat. What for? To survive physically. What for? What is the point of your miserable, unreflective existence? Is there a point? To engage that question systematically, you must take up philosophy. Do so now.
New Avatar Alert! Bartlett Print, The View of Halifax from Dartmouth, 1839
A pleasure as always.
Cheerio!
I do still feel like breaking up with Halifax, even after my therapeutic bitch, but my post was as much of a deadpan observation as it was a complaint.
I have a satisfying professional career that keeps me busy a lot of the year. However, with winter comes drawbacks, and I am faced with more free time on which the prospect of being able to capitalize is so very tempting. Therefore, I dedicate a portion of my day to browsing jobs. This activity has a rather negative aftermath. I’m trying not to be picky, but I’m neither excited nor able to become a full time line-cook or a building cleaner for $12/hr. My observation is that Halifax seems to be faced with some pretty major limitations. Yes, more opportunities are found where there is a higher population, however, there is something about this place that makes me think that we are more “job-takers” than “job-makers”, hence my bitch, yknow?
-lotstooffer
what kind of *professional career* goes dead in the winter?
are you a lawyer for golf courses?
a doctor who specializes in greenskeeper knee?
a CA for the sod cutter?
i’m seeing bill murray here….(one of the funniest gd movies ever made)
A career that involves spending a lot of time on airplanes traveling to international festivals in order perform on stages. A great career, but during winter I have extra time to take on a nice little part time job.
Well done Bro Tim, one of JC’s many great songs.
Sorry Shhhh, but busking isn’t really high in these parts until August. Now, go to South America during the winter and busk away. No. Brainer.
I hate these kinds of bitches! I have lived here at least my whole life (spent a year in ON) and I have never once had a problem finding a job.. I don’t wear steel toe boots, I have cleaned in most my jobs but only had one job as a cleaner (and that was in ON) and you do not need a desire to go to alberta.. so what you can make more money and spend more money on everything?
^^ and we have puppies saved by rcmp officers! watch the news at 6.
Yeah, and we have pieces of shit that put 5 week old puppies out in the snow to die. Bravo, East Preston!!!!
Don’t bother OP, my buddy Neil Young gave it a thumbs down.
So a person in the field of philosophy can rake in how much…after taxes in Nova Scotia?
so op ssh, you still haven’t mentioned what KIND of job you think should be available to you.
i, for one, would be a reference for you for stilted, pretentious writing aptitude.
and yes, winter has it’s drawbacks, one of which is not being able to wear shorts.
RSVP
: Senor Campana (01/30, 7:00AM)
Your question indicates that you have missed the point of philosophy. How much one can “rake in” is irrelevant to those in the field of philosophy. They are concerned neither with material possessions nor their pursuit but rather with matters of the mind. They are not interested in chasing shadows. You must take up philosophy. Do so now.
A pleasure as always.
Cheerio!
P.S. New Avatar Alert! Old Canadian Paper Money #5.
A pleasure as always.
Cheerio!
@Good dog Molly:
Why would I bother telling you what I do for a living when it, (and the way I write it), would just give you another shot at an offensive reply?
^^ ummmmm to join the general mayhem and bitchery?
( you didn’t get lost trying to find the Dr Phil Feel Good show didja?)
Most significant wage increases happen when you move on to another job. So I’ll give you 3 guesses what your priorities should be.
“and yes, winter has it’s drawbacks, one of which is not being able to wear shorts.”
Molly, there’s at least ONE asshole wearing shorts in Halifax in -13245 degree weather. You should know THAT!
And you call yourself Nova Scotian! lol
shhh: shit is DEAD around here, right now. January is usually a crappy time to be job hunting. Things pick up around spring, and I’m guessing (you’re a musician, right?), that’s when YOUR job revs up again.
It’s a matter of timing, unfortunately.
heck, i wear shorts til mid december because i’m a tough old broad. and start again in february on the chinook days, but i have wussy blood, being born in hongcouver. so i wouldn’t wear them in january!
i am a voluntary blue noser. but know i will never be truly accepted (sniff sniff) until i have 3 starving dogs tied up by choke chains in the back yard, have a shed full of broken out snow blowers, a pile of old tires in the trees ( oh goody – i have those already) and turn up my nose at any kind of seafood.
Well speaking of doggehs: did you hear about all the applications coming in for those little pups, Molly? I love it! They’re such little smooshwaffles, I just want to hug them forever!
the smooshwaffles that parade across my fb page drives me crazy every day! these little shitarses remind me so much of molly and the noofer, the black and white.
i hope it sparks an interest in adoptables, they all have a sad ‘tail’ to tell
and yeh, too ironic that timmies bumper car incident. i was choking!
Yeah, I have to scroll past the SPCA and animal-related posts on my Facebook without looking. They always post pics of adorable kittehs and that’s my weakness! Two kittehs is my limit!
When I lived in the valley, they built a tim hortons behind my house. The cops from my town and the two neighbouring towns would meet there regularly — you’d look out the window and see sometimes six cop cars. The joke was ‘if something happens, don’t call 911, call the Tim Hortons” HAHAHAHAHA
How many Managers/V.P.’s/Owners have you spoken with?
You usually don’t find meaningful jobs in classified ads, the internet, or employment sites
The quality career jobs, more often than not, are not posted in public forums.
Your job is to make an employer want to hire you, regardless of whether they need you or not. Make yourself useful. More han that, you have make yourself indisposable before you’re ever hired