Best and worst places to find a job in Canada

[sunsetmountainland]

Adzuna, a U.K.-based job-search engine, has recently expanded to help Canadians find work, too.

After "some serious number crunching" — Adzuna compared their data from 36 Canadian job websites with the latest Employment Insurance and unemployment statistics — the site determined the 45 best and worst places to find a job in Canada.

http://www.adzuna.ca/blog/

[kwoldtimer]

Local media reported on the study's finding that K-C-W was the second most competitive place in the country for job-seekers. Seems to reflect a mismatch between the pool of available workers and the specialized jobs available in the high tech sector.

[PoscStudent]

So they didn't bother to actually list the places?

[MolsonExport]

London Ontario would rank amongst the worst. Things are going from bad to worse out here in the deforested city.

[freeweed]

Here's all they posted:

Our research found that Saskatoon (SK) topped the list of the best places in Canada to find a job, with 4.4 jobseekers per vacancy. Saskatoon was closely followed by Nanaimo (BC), Kamloops (BC), Winnipeg (MB) and Regina (SK).

At the other end of the table, the St Catharines-Niagara (ON) region was the worst place in Canada to find a job, with 99.9 job seekers per vacancy. The Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo (ON) region, and cities of Cape Breton (NS), Oshawa (ON) and Windsor (ON) were also among the most competitive places for job seekers.

I think this is a pretty simplistic and less than useful analysis. It doesn't take into account the quality/compensation involved in a job, nor how long it takes to actually find employment, etc.

Calgary ranks relatively poorly in these sort of things, because a ton of people apply for each job available. But each job seeker is applying for 20 jobs. So even at a 1:1 job:candidate ratio, you get a MASSIVE 20:1 seekers-per-vacancy rate (all numbers made up to get a general sense). Employers here get a shit-ton of resumes for everything but actually have a hard time finding people in the end - because most of their candidates have taken another job by the time the interview rolls around. It's pretty bizarre in the patch. Mobility here is absolutely insane. 5 years is considered a long-term employment situation.

[Boris2k7]

I've found a lot of post-recession grads like myself have not found stable employment anywhere in this country. Most of the people I went to college with, either here in Calgary or in Nova Scotia, have ended up with having to deal with a reality of temp jobs. Get hired by a company to do an 8 month contract in Fredericton, then sit around unemployed for a while until the next opportunity rolls around, and then do six or seven months in Fort St. John, move closer to home while sitting around unemployed again, and then it's back across the country on a four month job in Fort Mac.

Sure, there's a few people that nail down regular jobs, and I've managed to be one of them, but it really feels like we are the exception.

[Xelebes]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Local media reported on the study's finding that K-C-W was the second most competitive place in the country for job-seekers. Seems to reflect a mismatch between the pool of available workers and the specialized jobs available in the high tech sector.

My cousin was working for Blackberry but ultimately had to quit. He's now in lala-land as I think he was completely stressed by the job and now trying to find himself again. I told him we have IT positions for those who want to feel like they are a handyman while they make use of their programming skills.

[MrOilers]

Here in Edmonton I have never worked at the same job for longer than 3 years - a better opportunity always seems to pop up somewhere.

[SignalHillHiker]

In St. John's, I am clinging to the job I brought home with me for dear life. I was working in Winnipeg and, instead of applying for a transfer to the Calgary, Toronto, or Montreal offices, I applied to become a Virtual Employee (meaning I work from home) in St. John's.

A comparable job to the one I have simply doesn't exist here. There are similar jobs, that pay less than half as much and are far more administrative than creative - but that's it.

If I am laid off, I will have to move back to the mainland to start over and try to find a company that will allow me to work from St. John's... or I have to take a local job with substantial cuts to my current pay and responsibilities. I don't want to go from where I am to being some Communications Officer in some provincial government department for $27,000/year. I can't do it.

[Antigonish]

Originally Posted by Boris2k7

I've found a lot of post-recession grads like myself have not found stable employment anywhere in this country. Most of the people I went to college with, either here in Calgary or in Nova Scotia, have ended up with having to deal with a reality of temp jobs. Get hired by a company to do an 8 month contract in Fredericton, then sit around unemployed for a while until the next opportunity rolls around, and then do six or seven months in Fort St. John, move closer to home while sitting around unemployed again, and then it's back across the country on a four month job in Fort Mac.

Sure, there's a few people that nail down regular jobs, and I've managed to be one of them, but it really feels like we are the exception.

^This. I believe we went to the same school so that's probably why we share the same outlook.

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by Boris2k7

I've found a lot of post-recession grads like myself have not found stable employment anywhere in this country. Most of the people I went to college with, either here in Calgary or in Nova Scotia, have ended up with having to deal with a reality of temp jobs. Get hired by a company to do an 8 month contract in Fredericton, then sit around unemployed for a while until the next opportunity rolls around, and then do six or seven months in Fort St. John, move closer to home while sitting around unemployed again, and then it's back across the country on a four month job in Fort Mac.

Sure, there's a few people that nail down regular jobs, and I've managed to be one of them, but it really feels like we are the exception.

I'd say it highly depends on what field you're in.

The O&G biggies are hiring full-time, permanent people by the hundreds this summer. Husky alone is bringing in something like several dozen per week at times from what I've heard. Granted that's just the patch, but in Calgary that's the big employer.

To be fair what you describe is kinda normal. The years when the majority of new grads all get hired very quickly into decent jobs.. are rare. But yeah, things have been a tad on the crappy side since 2008 or so. We got very spoiled leading up to the recession.

[PoscStudent]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

In St. John's, I am clinging to the job I brought home with me for dear life. I was working in Winnipeg and, instead of applying for a transfer to the Calgary, Toronto, or Montreal offices, I applied to become a Virtual Employee (meaning I work from home) in St. John's.

A comparable job to the one I have simply doesn't exist here. There are similar jobs, that pay less than half as much and are far more administrative than creative - but that's it.

If I am laid off, I will have to move back to the mainland to start over and try to find a company that will allow me to work from St. John's... or I have to take a local job with substantial cuts to my current pay and responsibilities. I don't want to go from where I am to being some Communications Officer in some provincial government department for $27,000/year. I can't do it.

I doubt you find many, if anyone, working for the provincial government now who makes $27,000.

[sunsetmountainland]

Originally Posted by PoscStudent

So hey didn't bother to actually list the places?

Yea, I could not find one anywhere. I almost did not post this actually because I could not find the list. I have sent an e-mail to Adzuna hoping I can actually get this info. If I do get it I will post if when I do. I know how much this site likes lists. haha

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by PoscStudent

I doubt you find many, if anyone, working for the provincial government now who makes $27,000.

The most menial government positions (I'm talking secretary with a grade 12 education) paid more than that, 10 years ago. Pretty sure the gub'mint isn't paying $27k anymore. Unless the NF provincials are ridiculously cheap or something.

[niwell]

I made significantly more than $27k a year with the Ontario government when I started as an intern (although it was more of an internship in name only). As a starting policy advisor it's well over twice as much. Out of curiosity I just looked through the internal postings and the lowest paid job I could find was at just over $700 a week, or $37k a year. This was as a receptionist. There may be some more menial jobs paying less, but these are increasingly outsourced to the private sector.

Originally Posted by freeweed

To be fair what you describe is kinda normal. The years when the majority of new grads all get hired very quickly into decent jobs.. are rare. But yeah, things have been a tad on the crappy side since 2008 or so. We got very spoiled leading up to the recession.

As a relatively recent grad I found it very hard to even get anything initially, and worked my way through several (paid) internships and extensions of former summer jobs. I am still on contract - which is normal for the government - but found that a significantly higher percentage of applications were getting a response after I could truthfully claim a couple years experience. Before my last job I was lucky to get a response for every 20 applications.

I've pretty much come to terms that for many sectors going from contract to contract until one of them can afford to make your position permanent is the way it works now. I'm hoping my current position will become permanent after my contract is up and there seems to be a decent chance of that.

As for the job market in Toronto there are huge numbers of postings, but each one gets huge numbers of applicants. Hence the experience making all the difference. It's not Calgary, but the population growth coupled with a relatively stable (albeit high) unemployment rate means the jobs must be coming from somewhere.

[manny_santos]

For me, it took moving to Kingston (current unemployment rate of 6.0%, tied for the lowest in Ontario) to find permanent stable employment. I got hired right out of college when I still lived in London, and due to corporate restructuring I was without a job after less than three months - not even long enough for EI. I got screwed over there, found out I was without a job through Facebook. I worked abroad for awhile but upon returning to Canada, I applied to jobs across Ontario and some other parts of Canada - some job postings, a lot of cold-calling. The only interview I got in London was a sales position at a car dealership. The good, professional-level jobs I got interviews for were all in Eastern Ontario.

I likely could've gotten a job in Toronto had I tried, but working my way down the alphabetical list of cities, I didn't get to 'T' before I got a job offer that I liked.

[Marty_Mcfly]

Had to leave St. John's to find a job in my field. Unless you're in the oil and gas industry (engineer, executive, etc), construction, or public service (which is being cut at the moment) jobs are rare.

I moved to Charlottetown, where jobs are rare, but there's a surprisingly strong bioscience sector. I hope in the next few years St. John's science and technology sector will continue to grow (I know Maxaam Analytics just opened a lab, hope it's the beginning of a positive trend).

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

For me, it took moving to Kingston (current unemployment rate of 6.0%, tied for the lowest in Ontario) to find permanent stable employment. I got hired right out of college when I still lived in London, and due to corporate restructuring I was without a job after less than three months - not even long enough for EI. I got screwed over there, found out I was without a job through Facebook. I worked abroad for awhile but upon returning to Canada, I applied to jobs across Ontario and some other parts of Canada - some job postings, a lot of cold-calling. The only interview I got in London was a sales position at a car dealership. The good, professional-level jobs I got interviews for were all in Eastern Ontario.

I likely could've gotten a job in Toronto had I tried, but working my way down the alphabetical list of cities, I didn't get to 'T' before I got a job offer that I liked.

Good for you Manny. That work ethic will stay with you and lead you to a bright future. I also was without work after uni back in the early 90s (terrible times in my hometown of Montreal), and I headed out West to find my fortune...well, I never found it, but beat the streets looking for work, doing shitty part time jobs as a night watchman (in shitpicker Winfield, north of Kelowna) and "sandwich artist" (West Broadway in Van) at Subways (working until 3am) to make ends meet while I interviewed and interviewed and interviewed some more. 3 months with Enterprise-Rent-a-Car (not for me), then retail management for 4 years in Vancouver. Studied for GMAT and wrote test, collected references, and went for broke to get into grad school. that was in the late nineties.

[jeddy1989]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

In St. John's, I am clinging to the job I brought home with me for dear life. I was working in Winnipeg and, instead of applying for a transfer to the Calgary, Toronto, or Montreal offices, I applied to become a Virtual Employee (meaning I work from home) in St. John's.

A comparable job to the one I have simply doesn't exist here. There are similar jobs, that pay less than half as much and are far more administrative than creative - but that's it.

If I am laid off, I will have to move back to the mainland to start over and try to find a company that will allow me to work from St. John's... or I have to take a local job with substantial cuts to my current pay and responsibilities. I don't want to go from where I am to being some Communications Officer in some provincial government department for $27,000/year. I can't do it.

in the provincial government with 27k? on a student salary maybe but the very low jobs that people say "well you can work up from it at least" get payed at least 18.50 and hour. I know this because I was looking when I was working as a student at the prov gov.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

In St. John's, I am clinging to the job I brought home with me for dear life. I was working in Winnipeg and, instead of applying for a transfer to the Calgary, Toronto, or Montreal offices, I applied to become a Virtual Employee (meaning I work from home) in St. John's.

A comparable job to the one I have simply doesn't exist here. There are similar jobs, that pay less than half as much and are far more administrative than creative - but that's it.

If I am laid off, I will have to move back to the mainland to start over and try to find a company that will allow me to work from St. John's... or I have to take a local job with substantial cuts to my current pay and responsibilities. I don't want to go from where I am to being some Communications Officer in some provincial government department for $27,000/year. I can't do it.

I'm actually a former journalist looking to re-deploy my skills in a communications job, and I've been looking specifically at gigs in universities, non-profits, and government in Nova Scotia (and to some degree across the country, but mainly Halifax). I haven't seen anything that pays less than 40k, even for entry and mid-level positions. Most are well above that. So, have optimism on that front, maybe? I think the lowest paid thing I've seen was 35k, for a job with a barely keeping-it-together non-profit. Most are well above that, though, on par with the rest of the country. (By contrast, Toronto salaries for journalists suck. Most of my former newspaper colleagues made in the upper 30s to 50, except for the old guys who'd been around forever and ever and had what amounts to newspaper tenure.)