I recently moved to Halifax to take a course and look for work. I started out applying for jobs relating to my degree, but quickly gave that up and am now looking for just about anything at which I can earn more than minumum wage. To date I have heard back from a single employer who informed me that they had already filled the position. And I was actually HAPPY to hear that! Why can’t employers notify those who’ve applied for jobs but didn’t get them? Why must we job-seekers be treated like 3rd class citizens, never hearing back from the dozens of places we apply to? It is so disheartening to sit around not knowing whether you’re about to get a call, or your resume was taken out with yesterday’s trash.
—Waiting by the phone, broke.
This article appears in Feb 5-11, 2009.
If you don’t get a call, that means you didn’t get an interview. Like someone has time to call 100+ people and tell them they didn’t make the cut.
Welcome to Halifax!
After your course is finished I’d suggest getting the fuck out of here. This place is a wasteland employment wise, especially for those who are educated.
If I had the financial means I’d be out of here on the next flight to anywhere-but-here. Unfortunately, min wage job savings plus rent plus general living expenses doesn’t leave much for a move elsewhere.
I have friends who have masters degrees in professional areas and are STILL looking for anything-other-than min wage fast food type jobs for almost two years. I’ve been looking for a year and nadda. I have a professional degree as well (along with a writing degree). I couldn’t even get a job at a local inbound call centre (apparently I’m not qualified after 10 years of customer service work and 2 uni degrees, one of which focused on customer service for a large component).
I feel your pain, bud, but don’t expect anymore than the same. As someone I met at a conference shared with me in regards to my field of study: “there are more jobs in one building in toronto than there are in all of Halifax.” RUN as fast as you can out of Halifax before you’re too broke to relocate.
And forget career beacon: that site’s just a fucking cock tease.
And MoleRat’s right: any given advertised job around here will get 100+ applications for that single job.
It sucks so bad because employers can ask for your first born child and pay you the shittiest salary and you STILL have people clamouring for said job. Entry level jobs in my field around here are demanding 3-5 years experience and paying MAYBE 30 grand. It’s sick.
From my experience, if you have a University “deskjob” type of degree and not a manual trade, then move to ottawa, and work for the government. check the government job website.
http://jobs-emplois.gc.ca/
I hate to say it, but the other posters are right. I lived in Hfx for 6 long miserable years ( my husband and I couldn’t wait to get the hell back to PEI where we are from) and almost every job I applied to never got back to me. It’s just life, they get so many applicant’s that there is no way they would be able to get back to everyone. Sucks but true. If you don’t hear from them within a week or two move on…and move the fuck outta Hfx….damn shithole ..lol
Kernalbob: TRY getting a job in Ottawa for the feds without french. I did. Now I refuse to learn french and work for the federal government on principle. If they want to hire someone with substandard skills than me based solely on the fact that they speak french (or speak french and very poor english — I’ve seen it happen!) then they can take their job and shove it.
Besides, working for the feds is like having your brain assraped on a daily basis. I know. I’ve done it.
Perhaps if universities became a little more selective and didn’t let in any idiot off the street (seriously the required average is ridiculously low at most universities) or perhaps if one or two of the trillion universities in NS closed (I vote the university on the bedford highway as the first to GO), my degree would actually be worth the paper it’s printed on.
University education in NS = useless.
i have a great job here, but i get this treatment with online dating. thanks gals.
Pretty Kitty I totally agree with you on the Ottawa thing, but it is still better than here.
French would be a great investment to learn though. Whether it be through university or whatever. Another great opportunity for Univ Grads here in halifax is to become a military officer, within the first 5 years of employment you will make 60 000-70 000 per year full benifits. and more if they classify your degree to a higher paying occupation in the military.
And the pay goes up from there with a chance to make 6 figures later on in your career.
Pretty Kitty, you refused to learn French in order to get a job with the Federal government on principle? What principle would that be, exactly? You think it’s wrong for the federal employees of a BILINGUAL COUNTRY to speak to people in both of the official languages?
That’s just about the dumbest, laziest thing I’ve ever heard. No wonder you work a shit job.
I’ve applied for many jobs in recent weeks, and finally got an interview today at one. Many of the jobs I’ve applied for are with the bank that I currently work in. Being a graduating student with my student loan coming to bite me in the ass, part time is just not going to cut it. Along with rent and bills I need money.
Halifax is shitty for jobs. Unless you know someone, you’ll never get your foot in the door.
Get out while you can.
the military has AMAZING benefits. I worked for DND for a while as a civ and there are a lot of perks for those who had enlisted. Unfortunately, I can’t join because I’m on insulin.
I’ve also lived in Ottawa and worked for the federal government there, and I wouldn’t mind going back…in all seriousness, Ottawa’s a great city full of opportunity. It’s a bit expensive, but the average income level overall is pretty high, given that most of the workforce is working in federal gov’t which pays pretty well. There are like two walmarts in the entire city, and they’re pretty much on the outskirts and/or the suburbs so that tells you a lot about the consumer base there (4 times as many people as HRM, yet we have twice as many walmarts :P). And I will even admit that working for the government in Ottawa is A LOT different than working as a drone in regional offices.
HH: I refuse to learn french because the people I’ve worked with/had interviews with in the federal government were all native french speakers who couldn’t speak english to save their lives. These are managers who are supposed to have at least a CCC in english, but can’t communicate in english to save their lives. HOW on earth did they get their jobs? It’s A LOT easier to get a job when you speak french and know fuck all in english than the other way around. And what pisses me off about that is, people less qualified than myself have been given jobs over me because they knew a few words in french or were native french speakers and knew a little bit of english. THAT’S what pisses me off about the federal government and THAT’S why I don’t bother applying for jobs with them anymore. If I was offered a job with the government on the condition that I take french training, sure, no problem, but I’m not going to go out and spend thousands to learn french to maybe get a job when they’re hiring the most inept people they can find just because they have SOME bilingual knowledge.
So until English speaking people are given the same treatment in the federal government than French speaking people I’ll look elsewhere kthx.
I have a job but it’s a boring dead end. Moving isn’t an option, so Reserves, here I come.
Jobs in HRM are always gonna be about who you know. That’s all that matters. I had a friend who graduated within the top 5% of her class from Dal law school and the best she could do is an internship. She’s now in Toronto and making 70 K + a year with her degree. I can’t say much about myself, I dropped out of university and now I’m a financial adviser with a major company. So, go ahead and hate on me. 🙂
Fuck you, Dr. Fever 😛
You’re right about “who you know” around here. Sometimes I wonder how half the people I graduated with manage to get themselves dressed in the morning let alone get a job and keep it for any amount of time.
I went back to school to do something that has a tad bit more employability, and come hell or high water I’m getting the fuck out of here.
Sometimes it helps to call the people you interviewed with as well. At least you get an answer one way or another and it never hurts to look proactive.