Gen Y: Broke, Confused and Educated in Unwanted Fields?

There are so many articles in newspapers these days about:

• Gen Y not being in touch with reality
• Gen Y not studying in the right courses in North America
• Gen Y not having proper career focus and goals 

Some of the links to such articles are here:

• http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/blogs/insight/university-degree-still-good-investment-163927242.html
• http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/blogs/pay-day-/inflation-gen-y-no-idea-coming-191511340.html
• http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/blogs/insight/students-continue-choose-degrees-low-earning-potential-cibc-174640570.html

In India, I remember, people always encouraged their kids to study Medicine or Engineering. Not Law, not commerce, not arts, not sociology or philosophy. Just Medicine and Engineering. There were / are no trade schools in India. People just learn from their parents or mentors. Guess what are the fields in demand, in the world right now? Medicine and Engineering.

There is something wrong in North America. Why do most students not chase engineering or healthcare fields? They chase arts and social sciences. 

Some other scary sentences I read recently (from the articles at the link above):

• “It’s not an advantage to have a degree anymore, but it’s a disadvantage if you don’t have it,” says O’Grady.
• As if crushing debt and limited job prospects were not enough, generation Y has something else to worry about - inflation.
• Too few students are graduating from programs that are in high demand.
• Today's students have not gravitated to more financially advantageous fields in a way that reflects the changing reality of the labour market
• Students are making DUMB choices: they are continuing to pursue fields where upon graduation, they aren’t getting a relative edge in terms of income prospects.
• The average Canadian household currently owes more than $1.60 for every dollar of disposable income it takes in each year
• Inflation: Gen Y has no idea what’s coming

Ten Courses Finance Students Can Benefit From

Modified from the link: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/professionaleducation/09/non-finance-courses.asp

Ten Courses Finance Students Should Take and Can Benefit From Immensely:

1. Mathematics
2. Statistics
3. Accounting
4. Economics
5. Psychology
6. Writing
7. Communications
8. Business Analytics
9. Project Management
10. Information Technology / Information System / understanding of ERP 

I myself plan to chase the areas above, in greater detail, and get better at them by the passing day. 

Cheers, 

Gerry. 

Management jobs down in mid 2013 in Canada + Canadian jobless rate rises

Apparently, management jobs in Canada are down in May 2013 compared to May 2012. The job outlook is not the best in Canada right now.

Even though overall unemployment has been improving since 2008, mid 2013 has hit a rough patch with losses in the public sector as well. The youth in Canada is suffering right now.

Check out this story:
http://www.thestar.com/business/2013/08/09/public_sector_youth_hit_hardest_as_canadian_jobless_rate_rises.html

Mistakes made by job hunters in 2013

From the link: http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130808140939-11281694-jobseekers-bad-habits-in-the-pull-economy

Here are the top five indicators you may still be (mistakenly, ruinously) operating in ways that won’t have an impact in the Pull Economy (where others, like hiring managers, potential customers, even dates – come to us, in the digital age):

1. Trusting the machine
2. Falling short on networking
3. Never auditing yourself
4. Being stupidly social
5. Putting all your eggs in one basket

How to get your supervisor / boss to notice you / your work

From the link: http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130808142917-32175171-five-steps-to-get-your-ceo-to-notice-you

Five Steps to Get Your Boss to Notice You:

1. Show commitment
2. Be enthusiastic
3. Show initiative
4. Speak up
5. Be adaptable

September is the beginning of HIRING season!

From the link: http://www.careeroptionsmagazine.com/1524/its-hiring-season/

It’s hiring season!! Many people aren’t aware, but September is a HUGE time to hire new employees. 

In fact there are 2 hiring seasons: 

• September-November and 
• January-April. 

September is by far the biggest of all those months.

Let’s take a quick glance at January-April. This hiring period is for the summer. Deadlines for applications are due around February with interviews taking place up to April. Jobs tend to start in May and end in August. If you want any hope of a serious summer job on your resume, start in January! Most people don’t even look at job postings until April so keep yourself ahead of the competition.

Now for September. This is for the big kids! So you’ve finally reached your 4th year and you have no idea what you’re doing. Well, you think you’ll be working but where? What will you be doing? Is it going to be something retail or in a restaurant to help pay the bills or will you be working to advance your career?

Application deadlines tend to extend into mid-October. The entire hiring process lasts the full year and jobs generally start September of the following year. The jobs employers offer are often amazing opportunities.

They aren’t looking to waste an entire year of testing and interviews for some schmuck to work reception. Even if you don’t get the job you applied for, hopefully you will have made a good impression and the interviewer may put your name in for another position.

Be prepared; there is some stiff competition in these “job competitions” so bring your A-game, do your research, and make sure you resume knocks it out of the park. There are hundreds of resumes to sort through; then they get narrowed down for further rounds of testing.

If you’re looking for some great opportunities that are out now, check with the Government of Canada ( http://jobs-emplois.gc.ca/psr-rp/index-eng.htm) which is currently going through post-graduate hiring but also has many opportunities all year long for all Canadians.

I’d like to quickly flip back to summer jobs again. The government also has an fantastic program called the Federal Student Work Experience Program or FSWEP (http://jobs-emplois.gc.ca/fswep-pfete/index-eng.htm). Students start registration online in October and are put in a master database where employers can pull potential candidates based on their field of study. Students are also free to apply to any job they choose.

This program is built for students, who have little experience, to help them develop their resume. Employers are not allowed to pick students based on their level of experience, so for those of you who have never worked a day in your life, I implore you to register for FSWEP.

The greatest part about getting a job in the government is that once you’re in, YOU’RE IN! The government will always hire one of their own employees over a new employee; the benefits are amazing; and there are great opportunities to work your way up.

If you are doing something, you better like it. If you don't like it, then don't do it.

"If you don't like something don't do it, and if you're doing something then you better like it" 

-- Shah Rukh Khan, Indian actor (said during an interview with Filmfare, Feb. 2002).

How Businesses Can Benefit from Low Employment or High Unemployment

From the link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/obama-jobs-republicans_b_3703612.html

Some business owners want unemployment to remain high and job-growth to sputter. Why? Three reasons:

First, high unemployment keeps wages down. Workers who are worried about losing their jobs settle for whatever they can get -- which is why hourly earnings keep dropping. The median wage is now 4 percent lower than it was at the start of the recovery. Low wages help boost corporate profits, thereby keeping the regressives' corporate sponsors happy.

Second, high unemployment fuels the bull market on Wall Street. That's because the Fed is committed to buying long-term bonds as long as unemployment remains high. This keeps bond yields low and pushes investors into equities -- which helps boosts executive pay and Wall Street commissions, thereby keeping regressives' financial sponsors happy.

Third, high unemployment keeps most Americans economically fearful and financially insecure. This sets them up to believe regressive lies -- that their biggest worry should be that "big government" will tax away the little they have and give it to "undeserving" minorities; that they should support low taxes on corporations and wealthy "job creators;" and that new immigrants threaten their jobs.