It’s a warm Sunday in late May and Tyrese Phillips, 22, is back doing what he’s done the last couple of summers: spending it indoors, inside a mall going from store to store and asking the same question: “Are you guys hiring right now?”
The responses vary, as he makes his way through Toronto’s Eaton Centre, from “not right now” to “come back next month” to “apply online,” – which is a frustrating feeling for Phillips, who says he’s been trying to find a steady retail job for three years now.
“It’s a battle to even want to continue trying,” said Phillips, who is studying fashion. “I will go probably two or three times a month for the past two to three years and it’s just nothing. Nobody gives you a call or an email back.”
“Honestly, it discourages you because the world that we live in now, you need money to survive... but you just get rejected.”
The latest data from Statistics Canada shows the number of youths between ages 15 to 24 without jobs continues to rise in Canada, with April’s numbers showing an unemployment rate of 14.3 per cent compared to 9.4 per cent in March of 2023.
Canada has fallen into a “technical recession” after Statistics Canada released gross domestic product (GDP) showing two straight quarters of economic contract, and a fifth straight quarter where business capital invested has dropped.
Economists point to high interest rates discouraging business investment and hiring, while weaker consumer spending and the trade tensions with the United States have also weighed on economic activity.
Job experts highlight a frustrating catch-22, where employers are asking for job experience for an entry-level position, but youth can’t get those jobs if employers aren’t hiring people without any experience.
“They’re struggling to get that first job, that first foot in the door of the work market – to then gain the experience that would help them to continue and have other opportunities. They’re really having a hard time to get that first one," Florence Bergeron, CEO of the Students Commission of Canada told CTV News on Saturday.
Job and business experts say Phillips is on the right track with his persistency – but it also primarily depends on using the people you know to land that first job.
“One of the most important things you can do when looking for a job is to work your networks (is) see who you know, and see who might be hiring, see who can refer you… That’s one of the most important things that you can do," economist Colin Mang told CTV News Saturday.
“The other one is to just keep at it. I mean, the more resumes that you send out, eventually you’ll start to get some callbacks.”
Mang also suggests meeting employers face-to-face when applying and having talking points that are specific to the job and the business you’re applying for ready.
“Tell the employer why you’re interested in that firm, why you want to work for them, and how that job may fit into some broader career plan that you want to pursue,” Mang added. “Anything you can do that’s going to really sell you to the employer is going to be a benefit.”
Hiring and job search behaviours ‘misaligned’
Experts also say there appears to be a disconnect and inconsistency in how employees and employers are trying to connect. At one point, it was all resumes and face-to-face interactions, now it’s a confusing mix: some are only taking online applications and others still prefer in-person meet-and-greets, while more young people are just resorting to online applications.
A report by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business called Work in Progress: Bridging the Gap between Small Businesses and Canada’s Youth highlighted that most small business polled favour personal connections to recruit youth, while three-in-four youth primarily search for jobs through online job boards instead of personal networks.
“I’m the father of a 17-year-old… If it doesn’t exist online, it doesn’t exist at all,” Dan Kelly, CFIB president told CTV News Saturday. “Employers say that they hire primarily through informal contacts, personal relationships, and in-person meetings with prospective employees… For young people, many of them stick only to the (online) big job boards and they’re wondering why they’re unsuccessful.”
The report also highlighted that employers prioritize soft skills and attitude over credentials and experience when hiring youth, with more than 90 per cent of small business respondents saying the top skill they look for when hiring a young person is a “positive attitude/enthusiasm.”
“My advice to young people is to get out there and knock on some doors. Use the network that you have with your parents and friends. To try to find work in different places, because there are jobs out there,” added Kelly.
Bergeron, who is with the Students Commission of Canada – which has a mandate of facilitating successful youth transitions into adulthood – says since the pandemic, youth lost some key years of socialization, and it’s a skill set that they’re working on instilling and polishing in this new generation.
“They’re not taught that in schools or even at home what it is like to look for a job. How do you interview; how do you get to network even?” said Bergeron.
“They are definitely lacking these skills just because of the period of time in history that they had to go through. There might be a disconnect between what and where youth are looking for (jobs) and how they’re looking at it versus the employers.”
“We try to equip youth with skills; we try to connect them with employers and to teach them how to do that,” he added. “Keep trying and don’t get discouraged, it’s easy to get discouraged.”
Phillips says he’ll continue trying this summer, hoping that this is the year he can land a steady summer job.
“It gets discouraging at times, but to keep your head high is you just have to look into the future and just imagine something for yourself and aim for that.”
