Our City, Our way means J-O-B-S: PR student

Hi my name is Quyen and I want to share my experience in J.O.B.S. Jobs.

Back in the 90s when my parents were 20, they gave birth to me in the red cross refugee camp in Indonesia. We had refugee status because of the Vietnam War and had a choice to move.

Out of all the possible warm places in the world, we picked Canada. We didn’t have much except the clothes on our backs but they worked hard to build a life for their three kids.

Now my parents are successful business owners and they did it without a high school diploma.

That was then. This is now.

When I graduated with an degree in psychology, my parents asked me “when are you going to start working?”

“I don’t know” I replied.

“Can you find something that will pay well?”

My answer was the same. “I don’t know.”

I, like 9.5 million Canadian millennials are worried for our future. Two-thirds of our generation are educated with a college or university degree. Yet we don’t know what to do with it because going to school is becoming more of a gamble than an investment.

There were three options:

A choice of going back to school to pursue more education and incur more student debt.
I can work a job that I am overqualified to do and unrelated to my field.
Finally, I can apply for jobs that requires 7 years of experience, a high credit score and co-signer for an entry level job.

It seemed like a catch-22.

Was I a failure or did the system fail us? Who was it to blame? I felt defeat because Im trying to pay off my student debt while working as a barista. The struggle is real.

Instead of pitying myself, I applied to go back to school. It wasn’t until I was in my postgraduate program I realized students were experiencing the same thing.

We came from zero to years of experience and here we are all in the same boat paddling to stay alive.

Tuition has gone up by 40 per cent in the last decade. Housing and living expense have skyrocketed as well. It was not our fault that this happened and we can’t do anything about it. But someone else can.

The government has already taken action by raising the minimum wage to a living wage which is a great start but we need more hope that is sustainable future for us.

We should look at our current education system to include more hands-on experience like a field placement.

So, for the next five years, I want our civic leaders to listen to our side of the story.

Rather than asking us what we want. Ask us what we need. We need a bridge between employers and students.

Because we are the generation who still live to work.

The generation that wants to see changes being made.

And the generation that will do it what it takes make it our city, our way.