WATCH ABOVE: Health care, technology and finance are some of the areas with the best prospects for good employment. As Sean O’Shea reports, students without the right skills are having a hard time finding employment.
TORONTO — Getting a job in a tight employment market is never easy: but chances are, students graduating with certain skills will sail right into full time work.
“Technology, health care, mathematics and finance,” are the areas where graduating students will have the best chance of success, according to Peter Harris, editor-in-chief of Workopolis.
Health care grads, according to Harris, are in positions of power.
“Technician positions, therapists, pharmacists,” are being recruited aggressively, according to Harris. The Workopolis job site lists and tracks available positions and monitors how quickly they are filled.
But if you went through college or university without much regard to the prospects for employment, you can be in trouble when school is done.
“Fifteen per cent of young people are unemployed,” says John Cartwright, president of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council, a body that represents about 200,000 workers in the GTHA.
Cartwright says government policy and employer practices have reduced the number of good jobs available to young graduates.
“What they are not getting is a chance to get into a career, they’re getting short-term jobs, temporary jobs, unpaid internships,” said Cartwright, who is calling on employers and government to commit to creating better jobs.
For now, Harris says young people who want well-paying jobs may want to consider focusing on skilled trades, like plumbers, welders and electricians.
He says computer skills are key for everyone getting into the job market.
And Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are important assets, according to Harris.
“The more followers, friends and connectivity you bring with you — you bring that with you as an advocate for your employer.”
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