Metro Vancouver job seekers see challenges as unemployment rate grows to 5.9 per cent

The unemployment rate in Metro Vancouver has reached almost 6 per cent, and some residents actively searching for employment are being faced with a harsh reality.

Dylan Calabrese has worked in the medical field as an office assistant and patient coordinator for five years. For the past seven months, he has been actively searching for a new job, calling the process “daunting, time consuming, [and] grueling.”

Calabrese says he has never had any issues finding work in the past, but lately it has been more difficult, he says

“It’s a very hard market out there, I’ve never actually experienced a market as hard as it is. I’ve been telling you before, every job I had interviewed for in the past, I’ve gotten,” he said.

“…but in the last little bit, there have been interviews that I haven’t gotten.”

Henry Goldbeck, the president of a top recruiting agency in Vancouver, explains the difficult nature of what many people seem to be dealing with.

“There are more people looking for jobs than there are jobs, mostly related to less skilled positions, less experience, and less education,” he said.

“That’s where it’s felt the most.”

Goldbeck’s recruiting agency sees hundreds of applications and resumes each day, he says. His advice is to tailor each resume to uniquely match the position being applied for.

“If you apply intelligently in a focused way to enough positions that you’re actually qualified for, your odds are good,” he said.