Source: MSN

As May arrives, universities in Canada are entering the graduation season. However, for many students, the real challenge is just beginning. Recently, numerous "job-seeking help" posts have emerged on various social platforms in Toronto, reflecting the severe situation of the local job market.

A Reddit user described the experience of a University of Toronto student looking for summer jobs on the r/UofT board — 60 applications resulted in 12 rejection letters and no interview opportunities:

"I'm helping a University of Toronto student find a summer job, but it's really tough. We've submitted around 60 applications and only received one 'initial response,' and there hasn't been any interview opportunities. She has already received about 12 formal rejection letters."

We started applying for jobs in April, and now it seems a bit late — we should have started applying in January or February.

She has excellent work experience and is looking for non-customer-facing backend jobs, such as data entry and administrative work. There are indeed positions on the market that match her interests, but I worry that these positions are also attracting a lot of student competition.

I think our applications were very serious, and we even attached cover letters (even if some positions didn't require them)."

He lamented that the job-hunting environment today is vastly different from a few years ago: "What makes me feel disheartened is that when I was job hunting a few years ago, I would get an interview opportunity after sending out about 10 resumes, and I could find a job within a few weeks. Has the job market changed?"

Another Markham student also described his own predicament:

"I've been looking for a job for some time. I live in Markham and have applied to several places, like restaurants and Cineplex cinemas, but haven't received any responses for a long time. Do you have any good suggestions? Are there any other places I can apply?"

Another person helplessly stated that the only "interview invitation" they received was suspected to be a scam:

"It's especially hard to find a job right now. I can only get interviews from fundraising companies, but after investigating them, I feel like they might be scams. How are you guys finding jobs? Please help me!"

In the comments section of these posts, many students also shared similar frustrating experiences:

"I am a student at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), and I've applied for countless internships and entry-level jobs, but all I've received are rejection emails, not even one interview opportunity."

"Unfortunately, this is a common problem for summer job seekers and recent graduates."

"You should start looking for summer jobs in August to December because these positions often attract hundreds of applicants within a few days. It's too late to start looking closer to summer. Now you should look for autumn or winter positions."

"If you want to find a summer internship, you usually need to start preparing in November and 'lock in' opportunities between December and the following February — that's when job postings and acceptance notifications are most密集. Sixty job applications actually count as relatively few. My job-hunting experience this time was that I received a callback for every 100 resumes I sent out, and my friends had similar situations."

However, the employment difficulties in Canada are not isolated cases. Harvard graduate Rajesh Sawhney recently reminded international student families: The international graduate employment markets in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada are shrinking rapidly; stop blindly spending money on overseas education.

"The honeymoon period of studying abroad is over."

"The international graduate employment markets in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom have shrunk drastically, and the honeymoon period of studying abroad is over." Sawhney wrote on X (formerly Twitter), "Especially engineering students, parents should think twice before spending a large amount of money sending their children abroad to study."

For many years, Indian international students generally believed that Western elite university diplomas were passports to high-paying jobs, but Sawhney said that this "shortcut" is no longer effective.

He pointed out: "Previously, engineering students, especially IIT graduates, had a simple template: go to the U.S. for a master's degree, then get a $200,000 starting salary offer from a tech company. But this path no longer works."

This view quickly sparked extensive discussion, with many users expressing similar concerns.

A user commented: "In 2017, many international students could land a $150,000 annual salary job offer within months of completing their courses. Now, even employees at giants like Google are worried about being laid off."

Another netizen expressed that success doesn't necessarily depend on studying abroad: "I know some people who earn $200,000 annually in India through online certification courses without needing to go abroad."

There were also rational voices: "Indeed, the 'low-hanging fruits' have been picked, but opportunities still exist. They just no longer belong to those who rely solely on a diploma and lack preparation. The rules of the game have changed — from 'diploma = job' to 'skills + resilience + network = possible rewards.' The system hasn't collapsed; it's just no longer easy."

This warning comes at a time when immigration policies in countries like the UK, US, and Canada are tightening: The UK has recently reduced the validity period of post-study work visas for international graduates from two years to 18 months; Canada and the US have also cut visa quotas and made approvals stricter.

Meanwhile, social media platforms have seen a surge of voices from "overseas disillusioned individuals."

Image source: David Lee/UofT

An Indian professional residing in London candidly admitted that the IIT diploma's prestige in India doesn't hold the same weight in the international workplace. Practical work ability is more important than academic credentials. What truly matters is the actual project experience you can demonstrate, not which university you graduated from.

Another master’s degree graduate who studied in the UK, Janhavi Jain, also advised people to carefully consider expensive overseas education. She revealed that 90% of her classmates eventually returned home due to unemployment. She warned potential international students: "Don’t blindly invest in expensive overseas education without a clear plan."

Not so long ago, "studying abroad + diploma = good job" was a widely accepted "iron rule," but now it has been shattered by reality...

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7507406963211387407/

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