Do you remember the movie “Back to the Future”? This is one of my
favorite movies, because it truly made me understand the concept of time
travel. Would it not be amazing to travel back and forth through time? This has
always been a dream of mine. As a matter of fact, it is also the inspiration
for today’s little exercise.
If I were to become a student again and I had to look for a job, what
would I find? With that premise in mind, I started analyzing the job
market via Jobillico. Here is what I came up with:
There were 944 new openings specifically targeted to students. Here are the top 10 postings (as in ‘most often repeated’) that are meant specifically
for students
|
Job title
|
Number of companies
looking for these jobs
|
|
Publicist
|
137
|
|
Culinary Promotional Agent
|
46
|
|
Science Host
|
26
|
|
Brand Representative
|
9
|
|
Floor Clerk
|
2
|
|
Retail Salesman
|
2
|
|
Room Attendant
|
2
|
|
Sales Rep.
|
2
|
|
Rustproofing Technician
|
2
|
|
Telemarketer
|
2
|
These figures show that there were several companies looking to hire for
these posts. On the other hand, there are other posts that are not so popular
with students for which there is a greater number of vacancies. For example:
|
Post
|
Vacancies
|
|
General Labour (student)
|
944
|
|
General Labour (student)
|
100
|
|
Event Coordinator
|
15
|
|
Day Care Educator
|
15
|
|
General Labour
|
15
|
|
Production Worker
|
15
|
|
Brand Representative
|
15
|
|
Promotional Agent
|
10
|
|
Science Host
|
10
|
|
Roofing Workers
|
10
|
|
Brand Representative
|
10
|
What this means is that there are some companies that are willing to
hire more students. These openings were likely posted by a single company (one
that has several openings for the same position and that wishes to hire
students).
Now, let’s try to answer the question that has been at the back of your
mind since the beginning of this article. “What positions pay the most?” you
ask. Well, here is the answer:
Job title
|
Hourly Rate
|
Sales Coordinator
|
$19,00
|
Daycare Educator
|
$18,42
|
Promotional Agents
|
$17,00
|
Housekeeper
|
$16,34
|
General Worker (Installation)
|
$15,00
|
Marketing and Communication Assistant
|
$15,00
|
General Labour
|
$13,34
|
Retail Salesman
|
$12,50
|
General Labour (manufacturing)
|
$12,50
|
Storage Labour
|
$12,50
|
Demonstrator
|
$12,50
|
Bus Driver (special needs)
|
$12,24
|
Service Attendant
|
$12,14
|
Food Promotional Agent
|
$12,00
|
Caregiver
|
$12,00
|
Order Picker
|
$12,00
|
Caregiver (retirement house)
|
$12,00
|
It is worth mentioning that many postings don’t specify the hourly rate.
Where this data is available, the best paid jobs are in the fields of Sales and
Caregiving (for kids, the elderly and people with special needs).
If I run a frequency analysis, the most frequently listed rate is $12
per hour. One of the obvious characteristics of being a student is that they are
still going to school: a part-time job, or at least some scheduling
flexibility, is required. Running a schedule-related analysis, I came up with:
Time
|
Frequency
|
12 to 2 PM
|
46
|
1 PM
|
9
|
Part-time
|
7
|
40 h
|
6
|
Full time, part-time
|
4
|
10 to 20 h
|
3
|
20 to 40 h
|
3
|
Full time
|
3
|
10 to 30 h
|
2
|
15 to 40 h
|
2
|
Table « E »
Clearly, most of the postings are in the 12 to 2 PM range. Some of them don’t mention how many hours they’re likely to give, but
do specify they have part-time vacancies. This is important because it allows
for the flexibility students normally require.
The last thing to review is what kind of skills, qualities or tasks are
listed for these student-oriented jobs:
Conclusion:
If I were a student looking for work today, I would find a job where
there is a lot of schedule flexibility to allow me to focus on studying. The
jobs that are most often posted for someone with my profile are in Sales or
Care Giving. I would most likely earn $12 an hour (a little bit above minimum
wage). I might make more if I developed my sales skills, but this is the most
likely figure, at maybe 12 to 14 hours per week, with the option of working
some mornings and afternoons.
Now let’s be a bit
more specific about actions or steps that I would take if I were to get a job
as a student today. As you can see in Table ‘A’ the position that has the most
openings is ‘Publicist’. Looking at Table ‘B’, I see that ‘General Labour’ is
the post that has the most vacancies. It is worth pointing out that the first
table tells me the number of times the post has been published by different
companies. The second table lists the number of openings for each company per
post. I would therefore apply for the posts listed in Table ‘B’ because it means
that one company has several vacancies for students for a single post and also that
this company is willing to hire several students at once.
Another important
thing to consider is what skills you want to learn or develop. You should
definitely think about your career path and not just about “getting a job”.
Work can (and should) be very fulfilling, so learning what skills you want to
develop is a priority. I would very likely get a job in Sales since I consider
the skills in that area extremely important. The pay in other areas may seem
better (Daycare Educator, for example) but the skill set I am interested in
acquiring will be better developed as a Salesman. It is important, as well, to
look at Table “F” and see how most of the skills that employers are asking for
can be summed up simply as a willingness to work. In general, I perceive a
certain gloomy attitude towards the job market, but I truly believe there are
many opportunities for those who are willing to deliver results.
It is important to explain this. This analysis was created from the data
on the opportunities at Jobillico at the start of September. Hopefully, it has
provided you with a better idea of what type of opportunities can be found out
there, besides in the fast food joints.
