vanity

Like 3 major employers, low salaries (you'd get double in another major city) and just ewww that sycophantic nepotism. I never could do the game, but was rewarded well in my life pre-YVR because I can get the job done and well.

I HATE IT. I am stuck in this city with no job prospects. I am tired of the nepotism and schmoozing requirements.

ARGH!!!

OK Rant over. Thank you for listening, I love this city, but there is no hope for anyone outside healthcare or the few major companies.

Then there are a thousand startups I guess b/c so many people are desperate. I guess I could be a realtor but couldn't lie like some of the ones I have seen.

*bangs head on wall*

Tootlepootle

What is your field?

scrubbedexpat091

Welcome to Vancouver. It can be he double hockey sticks when it comes to finding a decent job. Many fields just have too many applicants and you just need to know the right person.

Pay in my main 2 fields hotels and airline related suck, most places only paying min. wage to 12/14 per hour. If one lucks out and can get into a union hotel pay can be 15-17 per hour for front desk or audit and other non-management jobs. Management obviously makes more, but I am not in management, so no idea what the going rate is.


You won't be the first or last to become frustrated with Vancouver job market, and less then ideal pay.

vanity

Very true Jsmth321.

Shard

It's dead men's shoes, innit. The handful of senior posts (even semi-senior posts) are rationed amongst the long term residents. There seems to be huge phenomena of under-employment in Vancouver, as there are far too many people chasing the dream of doorstep nature, thereby depressing wages and bidding up property. Very different from London, New York and Toronto where there is competition for talent and deep corporate job market. Probably a bit better in the public sector, but I imagine the same forces are at work.

scrubbedexpat091

Pretty much sums it up. When my last job in Vancouver posted a job for 11 or 12 hr we would get more resumes then we would ever possibly need. Moat with degrees and the pay was always in the ads.

You would need a pretty specific in demand skill that is hard to find to really do well in Vancouver these days.

I am sure public sector gets swamped with resumes as they pay above average wages for the same sort of job. What pays 13 in private secctor can pay 20 in the public. Hard to even get a call back from public sector including govt liquor stores.

I keep trying though for the liquor store. 5 times this year so far.

JamesM

It won't make you feel any better but Toronto is pretty much the same.

JonboyE

The Liquor Board is a tough nut to crack. I don't usually agree with people who say its who you know not what you know that counts. Mostly that is BS that people use as an excuse.

However, it is true enough for union (i.e. below management) jobs at the Liquor Board. You will need to befriend someone who works there who can put a word in when casual jobs become available. If that friend happens to be high up in the union then all the better. Permanent jobs are filled from the pool of casual employees.

Wages and conditions are great and not too many people leave once they have permanent status. Would it suit you though? There is a lot of physical work lifting boxes and so on. Then there is a level of bonhomie expected when interacting with customers.

dbd33

Ah, the lcbo would suit better then.

vanity

Have to agree

vanity

I thought TO would be better - at least advertised rates are higher and HQs means a deeper mkt non?

vanity

That's your opinion, but not a fact. I've seen how it works including when I hired people - oh so and so knows so and so. It's what makes YVR go round.

dbd33

I hear this but my daughter has a job in Vancouver, a government job, and her husband has a job. Neither of them are from Vancouver so they're a bit lacking in connections and they cannot have obtained their positions through knowing people. My understanding is that they're paid less than they would be "in a big city" but work less too; for example he's expected to bill 1700 hours rather than the 2400 expected in NYC. (1700 seems quite enough to me).

As it goes, I read here about connections being critical in Toronto but everywhere I've worked there have been people from all over the world; few of them can belong to a Toronto old school tie network. Yes, firms will give jobs to people who are connected (and have no relevant skills) but IME that's only about a quarter of positions - the rest are awarded through a degree of competition.

JamesM

There's not that many HQ's here and more people looking for work. That is the problem with Canada. It is not really the gateway to anything significant unless you like dog sledding or snow boarding.

If you're a major European company you will aspire to have an office in NYC.

If you are a major American company you'll probably put an office in London (English speaking with EU access).

No one realistically targets Toronto unless they have a job that involves a repeatable process that the cheaper labour can do vs paying a decent wage in NYC.

We do have a banking/finance presence and that is where I make some money from currently but outside of that there really isn't much else here.

The challenge for the outsider in Toronto is that people don't recognise the companies that you've worked for. They have a preference of candidates who have come through career paths similar to their own. That leads to favouritism and working with people referred from those environments.

I'm quietly searching for a decent job ongoing and when I speak to people from the US they are more focused on skills and knowledge. When I speak to people in Canada it's all about resume history at certain places and what my contacts look like. I much prefer the former as it means I'd be working with like minded people.

scrubbedexpat091

It's only appealing because it pays more then doing the same job in the private sector which is what I'll end up in, even at casual probably make more then 20 hours a week at a typical retailer.....lol


I have nearly 0 hope they will ever call, I just apply for the sake of applying. Aside from healthcare, not much else pays well very well in this town, and gov't like municipal rarely hire for anything entry level.