Recession Time: Finding a Job

As everyone knows we are in a recession This means the economy is down and people are spending less. In North America alone, millions have (and continue to) lost their jobs or are suffering from severe pay cuts. Part-timers are working less hours and full-timers are working more hours without additional pay.

Sometimes I find it hard to believe Canada is in a recession because every mall in the Greater Toronto Area seems to be full on a daily basis. Parking spaces are hard to find as customer service is decreasing (as if they didn’t need our money). Despite this, finding a job is very difficult, even as a teenager. As you might know from my previous blogs, I am 16 and restricted to only the glamourous jobs such as flipping burgers and asking if the customer wants fries with their order. Since I'm male there is very little chance of me being a cashier or doing anything that isn’t physical (pushing in grocery carts or unloading trucks. Although these jobs are only pay minimum wage it is still close to impossible to find one. Impossible to find a job at a place that has yet to feel the effects of this recession such as Wal-Mart and McDonalds? Believe it. I’ve tried.

What hope does that leave me or others for finding a decent paying job or at a formerly strong company who may now be suffering during this economic downturn. I've been looking for a job since the beginning of 2008 and I still haven’t found a job. I applied at over 60 different places in my city, sometimes even twice. For me finding a job seems like finding a needle in a haystack and I’m sure there are those of you that understand where I’m coming from. Regardless of full parking spaces and poor customer service, my job search has proved to me that we are in a recession. If it’s this hard in Canada, the last country to in the first world to enter the recession, I don’t even want to imagine how hard things would be for me if I lived in the US where the hit has been much harder. They are losing close to half a million jobs a month!

I consider myself blessed that I only want a job -- I don’t need one. If I did, like millions out there, my stress levels would be through the roof. My job search has taught me that I want to find a secure job in a field that is recession-proof. For example, the medical field. There will always be sick people. The longer this recession lasts, the more sick people we’ll have -- sick from stress and anxiety. What do you think? Similar experience? Worse? Planning on entering a recession-proof industry? Do you know a place that’s hiring? I want to hear it all! Please comment below.