An insurmountable wall

A wall: tall, thick, tough, insurmountable.

This is the way I've seen so far the Canadian job market, as I’m still sadly jobless. Even worse, it is not just a wall but an invisible barrier, a sort of force field likewise the ones of the science-fiction movies.

When I was in Great Britain and I was looking for a job I had been told more times I had no experience enough in my field of interest.

Then of course you’d reply “How can I get a decent experience if anybody does not hire me because I have no experience? Should I buy some experience at the supermarket?”.

It was sad and frustrating, like another wall to climb but having the ladder beyond it.

Frustrating but still comprehensible, in the sense of being possible to understand the reason.

Here in Canada the situation is not just tough, but impossible to understand to me. I tried, I really try hard to figure out what’s the logic behind the Canadian job market, but I could simply not get an idea about it.

I talked to other people, some of them living here for quite a long period, and nobody seems to understand what’s wrong.

What’s so wrong? Sending out hundreds of resumes and not getting answers: this is so wrong.

Pay attention: I said answers, not jobs.

Yes, you got it: this is going to be my first Canadian rant.

I believe it is not a problem of my resume itself or of my cover letter, as ironically I received appreciation from employers not hiring at the moment. I don’t apply of course where they ask for many years of experience. The simple fact is even when I apply for positions almost tailored around my skills and experience, I don’t get a reply.

I am not a lonely case: whenever I talk to somebody, I hear of people who have been looking for jobs for months and got nothing, it doesn’t matter if they have a temporary work permit like myself, a permanent residence or even Canadian citizenship, few or many years of experience.

I miss the good Irish times, when you could just sit down, start sending resumes and expecting phone calls from recruiters or companies.

In Vancouver the situation is not like that: your mobile phone too will be jobless and silent, and very few companies will answer your e-mail.

There is in fact a sentence I find particularly nasty: “Due to the high volume of applications received, only those candidates selected for further consideration will be contacted”.

What the hell does it mean? Please, don’t say craps buddies, because you’re fooling nobody!

As you find it in 90% of job ads, should I believe 90% of the companies receive too many resumes?

Do you think I am so idiot to swallow that brick?

How long would it take anyway to copy-paste a standard answer saying “Dear… Thank you but we won’t proceed with your application any further”. Copy, paste, edit the message, send the message: 30 seconds.

Let’s assume they get 110 resumes and have to refuse the interview to 100 candidates: that means 3000 seconds or, in other words, 50 minutes. 10 minutes a day and in 5 days you have provided ALL the candidates not to be interviewed with an answer. Are they saying they have no 5 minutes a day?

Then they should explain why they post the same job ad again and again. Oh yes, they do it. Check it out on Craigslist and you’ll see that.

And by the way: Google is a company that gets thousands of resumes and it is said to answer ALL the candidates. So it’s not like some companies can’t reply, it’s like they don’t want to; that’s slightly different, don't you think?

Thus it is a one way effort: you spend time to read their ads, build a proper cover letter and attach a resume, and they piss on your efforts.

This is something inexplicable in a city where everybody appears to be so kind and available.

And yes, of course you spot nice companies that give you the respect due to any jobseeker, even though just to tell you no.

They say it is a hard time for the economy.

Yes, true, it is indeed. I know in British Columbia unemployment rate is not low.
So why are there so many open positions in sales?

Have a look to any job board: it seems they can’t ever find enough salespeople.

If lots of people are selling, it must mean there are also many buyers around, that in turn means money to spend around. But they say it is hard time for the economy.

I’d say: “It is a bad time for the logic”.