Love Your Recession

Traditionally, a recession can last anywhere from between four and 16 months. So while it appears as though the United States is heading into a deeper-than-average recession, our Canadian banks and banking policies have helped save us from any economic reversals as deep as those in the States.
So, the question is: as a university student looking to soon take on your first “real world” job, will the recession affect your ability to get hired after graduation?
If you’re still working toward you degree, you can thank your lucky stars you weren’t born a few years earlier. Students who graduated in recent years are the ones who are hurting the most. The problems are two-fold: Not only are recent-graduates seeing a lack of job opportunities, but graduates with a few years of experience under their belts are even finding it hard to move up the corporate ladder. Many people who are in the early stages of their careers have found themselves back at square one, having to work through those tough, tough first years all over again. And this is happening when their generation was supposed to find it easier than usual to find good work, due to baby-boomers retiring.
In 2008, Canada was riding high on an aggressive bull market and setting records in terms of job creation and low unemployment rates. This period of economic growth resulted in an inflated dollar valuation. But our current recession followed right after. This has created a two-fold problem: On one hand, some companies are shedding any extra weight they may have put on during the “good times.” On the other hand, the job markets have been destabilized by the swift actions many employers are taking to ensure their bottom line in an unpredictable marketplace. These conditions lead to low job security for less experienced workers.
Yet, if the indicators stick, Canadian businesses should be more comfortable in picking up and continuing their bullish economic expansion by next fall.
The world is running out of things we thought would always be in abundance – water, oil, lumber, agricultural products, metals, cheap technology, etc. So while new employees might face losing their jobs right now, this decline should eventually signal a rebirth of new hiring. In addition, the recession should gut the jobs market enough in order to make available even better than expected positions for new graduates. Many companies consider recessions a good time to shed employees, from all levels, who they’re not sure about.
So whether you are graduating this year or next, don’t worry about the economy. The markets are low enough for you to start seeing an immediate and strong return on your retirement investments and the recession should be over just in time for you to find that perfect job. Just remember it can take as long as six months in any economy to find the right position, so take the time to ensure that you have made the right choice.

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