No summer job? Here’s how your kids can stay productive | Canada Voices

Recently, on a beautiful spring morning, the doorbell of our Toronto home rang. Standing on the porch were two young men. They asked me if my garbage bins needed cleaning.

It had never occurred to me that a garbage bin would require anything more than the odd slosh and swill with the garden hose so no, I didn’t need their service. But I did admire the initiative. And as the parent of entrepreneurial teens, I recognized the type: young people hustling for summer work in a market that is offering fewer conventional job opportunities than in generations past.

Young people today are facing a tough job market. The unemployment rate among youth (defined as 15 to 24-year-olds) in Canada reached 14.3 per cent in April, significantly higher than the pre-pandemic average of 10.8 per cent and more than double Canada’s overall jobless rate. According to a recent report by the Fraser Institute, the level of youth unemployment is unprecedented for an economy not in recession.

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In the face of economic uncertainty, Canada’s job market is down, particularly in sectors that have traditionally attracted young people, including retail, hospitality and food services. The Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto felt the impact last July, when it received 54,000 online applications for the 6,000 seasonal positions it offers for its two-week fair: the highest number ever. Other factors challenging youth employment include the cost-of-living crisis, which has many adults taking on second lower-wage jobs to supplement their income, and the disruptive impact of AI, especially on entry-level positions.

But it’s also not the worst of times for young summer job seekers. Many are figuring out ways to use their tech savvy, robust health and hustling instincts to their advantage. Summer also offers a chance to bone up on skills and credentials, launch an experimental business or gather volunteer experience.

Here are some ways that young people can use the summer months productively, even if they haven’t landed a traditional camp counsellor or table-waiting gig.

Volunteer

Shenelle Payne Cuffy, a career coach of 20 years who is also manager of career services and experiential learning at Ontario Tech University, says that volunteering is one of the best things young people can do over the summer. Many non-profits and community agencies rely on volunteers, and organizations such as Volunteer Canada offer searchable data bases to help people connect with local opportunities.

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In the experience of Patrick Jabri-Iannicca, a kinesiology student entering second year at Wilfrid Laurier University, unpaid work can evolve into paid work. After helping out with a local Toronto soccer league, he was offered a coaching job and ultimately became the league’s convenor. This summer, he has landed a volunteer position at a Toronto hospital, an experience that will extend the scope of his medical experience beyond the world of sports. “Volunteering allows you to build new skills and leverage relationships,” he says. “You can actually create job opportunities for yourself.”

It also helps to beef up a résumé and to connect with employers who could serve as future references. Payne Cuffy says that in the world of AI, CVs have become remarkably homogeneous; it’s often only in the interview that young people have a chance to set themselves apart – and having real-world experience to talk about is a good start.

Build skills and credentials

Provincial and municipal governments generally offer free employment and training services for young people, as do non-profits such as the YMCA, Young Achievement Canada and Youth Employment Services (YES). Through a range of online learning modules and in-person workshops, youth can learn about financial literacy, investment strategies, and job application skills. The YMCA also offers a six-week program that connects 16- and 17-year-olds with paid work opportunities across Canada. Applications for the Summer Work Student Exchange close in early June.

Many public libraries also offer support for job seekers. The Toronto Public Library has a Career Coaches in Residence program, which offers regular online workshops as well as the opportunity to meet personally with one of its three career coaches. Payne Cuffy also encourages students to consider doing extra courses at their schools or universities in the summer, to boost grades or lighten the load of the academic semester.

Try entrepreneurship

If paid work can’t be found, it can sometimes be created. The prospective bin-cleaners that came to my door – who were both business students entering second year at Wilfrid Laurier University – told me that last summer, they offered themselves as downsizers and movers to older residents in their neighbourhood and found considerable demand. One of them had taken his résumé up and down the local main street and been hired by a gift shop that needed to develop a website and didn’t know where to start.

Junior Achievement of Canada (JA Canada), a youth education organization with 15 offices across the country, offers online modules on all aspects of entrepreneurship. According to Jennifer James, vice-president of programs and charter services, participants learn how to build business plans, pitch ideas, identify target markets and competition, set prices, and grow market share. “We want to help youth to build an entrepreneurial mindset,” she says. “Canada needs more businesses built in Canada for Canada.”

Keep the big picture in mind

Public policy expert and managing director of the Canadian Shield Institute Vass Bednar stresses the importance of contextualizing the challenges of the current job market for young people.

“They have to understand that they’re entering a labour market that has been revolutionized by an early-stage technology,” she says, “and that the situation has been compounded by a trade war.”

She encourages young people with specific professional goals to not disparage of service or blue-collar jobs, which will probably serve as mandatory stepping stones to the work they really want – and learning experiences in their own right.

Likewise, Payne Cuffy is constantly reminding young people that the employment challenges they face do not reflect personal failings. “They tend to take it personally,” she says. “They need to know that this market is a really tough one to crack. And that they’re playing the long game.”