Tips on getting a head start on summer job applications
Posted March 16, 2014 9:19 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A rising youth unemployment rate in BC is one of the reasons some students looking for summer work are heading south of the border.
Adam Brayford with SFU’s co-op program explains students shouldn’t wait any longer to put out feelers.
“There’s a lot of students going down to Silicon Valley for tech jobs, they just can’t get enough of our engineers and computing scientists and our interactive artists, so that’s definitely an industry to watch.”
He adds students shouldn’t turn down unpaid internships either.
He says one key factor to landing a job, even a bit closer to home, is being active on social media like LinkedIN, Twitter and Facebook — but that comes with a warning.
“That is not professional. If privacy settings are not something that the student has thought about, that could work against the students favour.”
But Brayford adds it’s also a good way to network.
Brayford also says there’s nothing wrong with working in retail or a restaurant for the summer — pointing out any experience is good experience.
The Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training says there are some encouraging signs for youth with modest gains of 1,100 jobs and an increase in average hourly wages of nearly 2 per cent.
The youth unemployment rate remains unchanged at 12.8 per cent, well below the 20.1 per cent high in June of 1998.
