So I graduated very recently with a Bachelor of Commerce. I have applied to many companies for entry-level positions in my field. Not one of them has even called me for a fucking interview! The few that do respond only respond to tell me there are currently no positions that match my skill-set and experience. I don’t have experience (and how am I supposed to get experience if no one will give me any?????).
So I find some specific positions in my field that (gasp!) do not require experience. Not a fucking word from them either! I just don’t understand– my resume and cover letter are both well written with virtually no spelling/grammar mistakes, and I have all the skills required for such positions (they are clearly stated in my resume and cover letter)– I don’t know what the hell else they want from me!
Why did I get this degree if it can’t even get me a low-end admin. position? I seriously am coming to the conclusion that you have to be the spawn of the company owner/recruiter/whatever to land these fucking jobs! Looks like I have to move! —I like living here, but this place sucks for jobs!
This article appears in Jul 1-7, 2010.
As a fellow commerce grad here are my observations and thoughts:
1. Network – I know sounds dull and cliche, but it’s how I got two of my first jobs in my commerce field and this same person also provides me with a wonderful reference when ever I need it.
2. Kinda late now, but as a student I worked in a crappy on-campus job – impressed the right people and got excellent connections for related jobs – I went from making 36K a year in my first job after graduation (which required a b.comm) to 75K a year less than 6 years later. Once you start in a field you move up very quickley. To that end, start making conenctions – your school alumni association is a great place to start – they have networking events and lots of good connections.
3. Take the bum job if you think it will get you connections – better than not working, right?
4. When you get said bum job – work the ropes and work them well. And if you have doubts about the line of work, don’t keep doing it – nothing worse than being stuck in a field you hate stuck there by golden handcuffs.
Good luck!
Tim’s is hiring !
So is a local fast food joint in dartmouth named after a guy’s daughter.
Good luck.
Welcome to the real world. A BComm is about as useful as a high school diploma or any bachelor’s degree today. Ustwess does offer some good advice so it’s up to you to take it and evolve or ignore it and feel entitled and bitter.
You can thank government for raising taxes to the degree where businesses don’t want to come here.
It might help if you have a couple of people (preferably literate) review your resume to see if it’s truly worthy of getting the good kind of attention. Your resume might not be as good as you claim.
what is it that you dreamed of doing with your Bachelor of Commerce degree? have you ever had a job before?
Move west! Worked for me. I’m now living it up making a pretty decent wage in Alberta working in my field after being stuck in a similar situation to you only a few months ago. Get some experience and money out here, then once you have that you can hopefully find a decent job closer to home. That’s my plan, anyway. While it’s OK for now, I don’t want to stay in Redneck-land forever.
ahhh…another lesson learned that higher education has no value in the workforce. Hope you had fun at least in Uni because that’s all you end up with…good memories.
I decided to work instead of Uni…got accepted to 2 schools but turned them down (much to my parents dismay), I ended up being 4-6 years younger than the people I managed, the difference was that although they had the schooling required for the job…I had the experience.
It’s tough if you don’t have the experience but you have to be both persistnat and patient. I now hire people with little or no experience so I can train them the way I want. Hopefully you’ll find someone like that.
the jobs abound, just not where you are bound to be o.p., they can and will be real fucking elusive now that you are out of class, but i hear mickey d’s is hiring again.
What type of work is that, ‘devil_girl’? Very few places worth working that also pay decently will hire someone without any higher education. Wherever that may be, let me know. I hate school!
I run my own business now. This is my second that I’ve owned. I co-owned a spa for 8 years and now run a record label but I’m not in Metro.
The answer to you question of getting jobs op is likely that grads from a year or two before you are still trying to get those entry level jobs. They have maybe spent some time working on contract, or an internship, and found it hard to find a job too. ustwess has some good tips for you, and another one is to join professional organizations if possible. It looks good and you can meet lots of people there.
How many other people graduated from universities in HRM with the same degree as you? How many others are looking for jobs in the same field? That should put it in perspective. Employers don’t want the typical drone employee….try standing out from the masses.
“A BComm is about as useful as a high school diploma or any bachelor’s degree today.”
That’s right, especially if you’re not in business field. BComms are used for banking, or some sorts of sales fields, specifically marketing. Banks aren’t hiring really; and trust me, getting into the field is tough, and requires connections (as ustwess mentioned). Even then, you’re probably competing against people that actually have experience, and aren’t some green hire, even considering your education (and trust me, a 1.9 GPA is treated just like a 4.0 so your marks don’t even matter). So make sure that what you’re applying for is something that you degree might be useful in, like marketing, or banking (especially business banking), or a sales field where you service big businesses. Even then, what you learned in a classroom isn’t going to be useful to you when you have to sell something. It helps to understand the business, and the business’ need, but beyond that, sales is all talk.
Lose the entitlement, too. Employers can sense that stuff, and the current generation have this problem in spades (“I’ve got a Master’s degree! Give me a CEO position!”– Madison St. James, recent Dal MBA grad) You have to start from the bottom, and work your way up. This will happen in pretty much any job you have, regardless of your education, and what you have been told by others. The only time you’ll be hired from a “low-end admin.” position is if you’ve had actual experience in that position already, coupled with your education. Trust me, there’s always room to advance in any company, people are fired, they quit or go on mat leave almost every day. Be patient, and this patience will take you farther than any degree you have.
As another poster said, move west young man. The maritimes in general are the armpit of employment and building a career there is like finding a needle in a haystack. After returning to school and getting my MBA, with 15 years professional experience, I couldn’t score a single interview for entry level jobs after 150 applications. I was determined to stay in ‘beautiful’ NS but after six months of disgusted unemployment, I applied to 2 jobs in Alberta, got 2 interviews, and have enjoyed making 6 digits since. Even better, there’s actually room for advancement, and quick advancement at that. I start a new job in Edmonton in September after 14 months of proving myself.
There is tremendous demand for qualified and educated workers in the world, but you’ll never realize it until you leave NS. They call it a brain drain for a reason.
MBAs are useless, and they’re a prestige degree. Couple that with the fact that there’s any number of start up oil and gas companies in Alberta headed up by MBA grads, who in turn look for MBA grads, sure that means that you get a job, but as with all oil and gas start ups, the job probably wouldn’t be there in 14 months, and to be honest, you need to make 6 figures to make a decent living out there.
Either that, or you’re full of shit Veeny.
Welcome to the real world? In the real world you don’t take your car to a mechanic to get a goverment inspection, in the real world anyone who buys the land can build a massive office tower without pissing off a bunch of nitwits obsessed with a bunch of falling down buildings. Nova Scotia needs to wake up and progress with the rest of Canada if we are to remain competitive.
I agree Fever, Dal MBA’s are useless, unless the owner makes them useful by backing up the paper with real-life skills. I graduated with lots of 26 year olds who are lucky to be starting out at 50-60k; they simply don’t have the hands-on experience employers want to see. Coupled with the Gen Y entitlement attitude, many new MBA’s have to prove their worth.
Assuming that there’s nothing other than short-term oil industry jobs in Alberta also tells me you’ve never been here or, your getting your info from transplanted labour with no credentials. I work for the Province as the Strategic Lead for the operational reorg in the Northwest. Starting Sept 1, I’ll assume the Area Manager role for Employment/Immigration downtown Eddy; salary range 97-124k.
For those of you wondering how expensive it is here my expected rent in Eddy will be $1000 for a 2 bedroom, milk is $3.50/gallon and HST is 5%.
Thanks for calling out my bullshit Fever. I enjoy every opportunity I can to brag it up how talent does pay in the real world when reflecting I was contemplating working at the Sobey’s gas bar in Bedford last spring for $10/hr. For other education bashers, you’re right as well. I met a grade 9 educated trucker (Class 1) my first day in Alberta who worked for 9 months/year and averaged 80k since he was 19. So even you can do well here!
ewwww,
I’ll head there in my grad gown
and burn the whole fucking place down….
get the upper hand,
on those raping the land,
and burn it to the ground.
thanks ogden nash^^^
Good for you; but people should know that you’re not a good example. I’ve had 2 friends who were engineers that went out west thanks to an attractive packages, one was offered by a company held up by Shell, they got their salary, which was about $85 K a year, only to have the job evaporate after 7 months because Shell thought the company “wasn’t performing” (read: not cost-effective). The other friend worked for a local engineering firm that worked up in the oil sands, only to be laid off when oil production slowed. He’s been out of a job for more than a year, and not necessarily by choice. It’s not all roses in the land that Ralph built.
I also meant all MBAs, not just Dal MBAs. They’re not worth the paper they’re written on.
how dare you call me an american!
🙂
at least wiki says he composed humorous poetry…
which is more than I can say for myself.
The crow swoops in,
making me a believer.
How gracious and grand
the cunning deceiver.
Straight for the eyes
on the carcassy pile.
Its gothic guise,
beautiful and vile.
Oh, how I love thee,
how twisted and merry.
Will you retire
to my beloved aviary?
I think you should not
be bound to me
for you are the crow
ever destined to be free.
merci mon cher, i figured you’d look him up
candy is dandy
liquor is quicker
and sex won’t rot your teeth
xox rawk
But Veeny you’ll be living in Edmonton, the greyest, dullest place in Canada, hundreds of miles from anywhere.
I’m in partial agreement with you Bro, Eddy’s not the sexiest place in Canada (Winter-peg). I’d much rather spend any down/retirement time back on the East Coast lazing by the water as would many of the other thousands of Easterners here. Ultimately though, if you’re broke and struggling, your quality of life is just gonna suck no matter where you are.
Going back to OP’s point, unfortunately, there’s just very few good employment opportunities in NS compared to Alberta. As a new graduate struggling to find work, OP’s main concern is getting his career off the ground, same as myself last year. I relate well to OP’s frustration and just want to assure that NS’ employment scene is (thankfully) not indicative of the entire country. Maybe with a few years of solid experience abroad, OP can return to NS in his position of choice. Sounds young enough that there’s little to lose and lots to gain.
Hay, Veeny, you hiring?
Thing about moving away from NS is that you actually need money to move and a lot of new grads from NS just don’t have the money to do so. I know I don’t. *sigh*
I even have experience and it’s really really tough finding a job around here. I have a great resume and cover letter too, and it’s been rough finding anything. I’m hoping that’s not what it’s like out there in the rest of the world, but it’s very VERY discouraging thus far 🙁
OP needs to realize that there are tons of other commerce grads in hfx alone (dal, smu and msvu all offer business) and you have a lot of BBA grads from acadia looking for work in hfx too…so there’s a lot of over saturation. And your cover letter can be one of the most important tools you have in getting a job. With all the competition out there a resume and cover letter with just “virtually no spelling or grammar errors” simply isn’t good enough.
PK, weren’t you just in Quebec?
or Ottawa or somewhere in mid-Canada…
no money to move…. you were already out there.
happen to job hunt while away?
or at least look?
Trust me, I wanted to stay in quebec BADLY, but alas my french isn’t up to an employable level yet 🙁 I’m only intermediate and my vocab needs a lot of work.
I spent my last $400 of extra capital on french classes here in Halifax, so HOPEFULLY I can become functional enough to qualify for jobs in my field in Montreal, at least (you *can* get away with a lower function of french there, but you still do have to be fairly functional in order to get a job that isn’t in the fast food industry) *sigh*
And it costs a lot more than $400 to relocate to another city, and I really don’t want to take a loan out from the Bank of Mom and Dad, even though they’ve offered. I’m 28, not 18…kind of sad to still be bumming of the folks when you’re almost 30 😛
Hey Veeny, I probably pass by you on Jasper Ave or see you on the LRT everyday! Or you see me stumbling along Whyte Ave on Friday nights! Cooool. You go for coffee at Credo on 104? It’s nice there. I also love the Blue Plate Diner, and Sunterra’s awesome too, so Edmonton’s not all bad.
Edmonton isn’t the nicest city in Canada, not by far, but it’s not the worst either – at least it’s not Winterpeg, Vagina, or Fort CrackMurray. There are good and bad parts, like any city. The River Valley is nice and it’s only a 4 hour drive to the mountains and close to other lakes. And the money’s awesome and cost of living not as bad as some people make it out to be. Serious crime usually doesn’t affect you unless you’re involved in shit, though some crazy shit does happen like guys blowing up whole neighbourhoods just to get revenge on their ex-wife.
You shoud have done commerce co-op. At least gives you some connections and a bit of experience.
the last poster is right, network my friend….
school wont get you dick all if you don’t have connections. People get you jobs, not school. Now if only i can heed my own advice…
if you have a co-op job program at your highschool…go for it. better than most of the shite they teach you. except language, math and history^^^it was a benefit to the boy
I did co op. *thumbsup*