Not bilingual, Not an engineer and Not employable
There are days that I feel powerful. Like the dreams I have, or things I might do, could have an impact to help make the world a better place. Other days I feel disillusioned with the world. Today did not end up being an optimistic sort of day.
I don't have classes on Tuesdays. Parts of my Tuesdays are spent catching up on classwork, job-hunting or both. The Universities' Career Fair seemed like a good opportunity to get work done on one of those tasks. I headed down with my sister around 11:00.
Though, in the past, these job fairs were normally hosted at one of the universities, this year they chose to have it far, far from any classes any student might take. Maybe they thought the half hour commute would be more convenient then holding the event on campus?
Bussing part way, walking through the cold the rest we eventually got to the "Cunard Centre" at Pier 22 some time between 11:30 and noon. We were greeted by a "mandatory" coat check, bag check and offered grocery store bags instead to carry anything we might pick up from the various booths at the trade fair. I said I wasn't interested in carrying around a grocery bag, or checking my satchel, but was allowed in once it was searched by security. While checking my coat, a girl walked up to retrieve her own jacket, only to be told that she could pick up her own coat at the "other side" -a different entrance altogether. A little counter-intuitive to retrieve something you dropped off in a different place. The girl who took my coat said that she was definitely not the first person to be "confused" about their system...
So, a bum location, annoying security and unintuitive, unexplained coat-check protocol, but once past these humps it should be a good event. I should be able to get a good feel and a leg up on some good work for the summer. There should be lots of booths so something should offer some leads, right? Not for your average arts student.
There were basically five rows of booths set up, with eight or ten employers set up in each. My sister and I walked past an on duty police officer towards the first row to get started, and continued to visit or at least look at almost every booth with someone in it. There were definitely people about, but it wasn't nearly the crowded student event from years past.
We went to several booths. I asked friendly questions. Most of the booths were had requirements that break down into three categories: 1)Are you bilingual? 2)Are you an engineer? 3)We're run by the government: apply via fswep.ca (bilingualism an asset). (Technically there would be a fourth category for various branches of the Canadian forces too.) Essentially, if you answered no to the first two questions, beyond the fswep database there were only a handful of options left, mostly a few kids camps looking for people (up to $3000 for four months work!), a tree planting company (done that, lost my tee-shirt), and a few hospitality/resort gigs.
All and all it was pretty disappointing. Were I to summarize the job fair into a single message, it might be: "School: you're doing it wrong! Start over and become a bilingual engineer!"
So you could say that I felt pretty crappy about it. Like the last 6 years of my education had little/no value. Perhaps I should embrace my fate and just start hauling stuff for a moving company? Maybe I could clean hotel rooms? Or maybe I could go back to picking up cigarette butts for the city? I wonder if they have a pension plan...
HA!
* *
But when some shouting started from the end of the room where the military guys were set up, I was reminded that the low mood in the air about the carpeted, converted warehouse on the pier might not be just me. Two guys had unrolled a banner that read "NO MORE WAR PROFITEERING" and shouting "DON'T WORK FOR THEM!" next to the booth where Lockheed-Martin was attempting to recruit young engineers for their endeavors (which include "involvement with cluster munitions system production and nuclear bomb testing" (source). It was only a few short moments before two more police officers escorted the protesters past the retrieval end of the coat check and out of the building. The protesters didn't struggle too much. They were there to fight against profitable business of war, not the Halifax Police.
I had seen a telephone pole-poster about the protest on the way down to the job fair, but I hadn't really thought about it much. Suddenly the whole situation with the abstract location, annoying security measures, on duty police, and general lack of attendance made sense. Had the representatives of Lockheed-Martin been on any campus, there would have been a lot more protesters. The universities probably knew that: they at least have ethics classes.
I don't have classes on Tuesdays. Parts of my Tuesdays are spent catching up on classwork, job-hunting or both. The Universities' Career Fair seemed like a good opportunity to get work done on one of those tasks. I headed down with my sister around 11:00.
Though, in the past, these job fairs were normally hosted at one of the universities, this year they chose to have it far, far from any classes any student might take. Maybe they thought the half hour commute would be more convenient then holding the event on campus?
Bussing part way, walking through the cold the rest we eventually got to the "Cunard Centre" at Pier 22 some time between 11:30 and noon. We were greeted by a "mandatory" coat check, bag check and offered grocery store bags instead to carry anything we might pick up from the various booths at the trade fair. I said I wasn't interested in carrying around a grocery bag, or checking my satchel, but was allowed in once it was searched by security. While checking my coat, a girl walked up to retrieve her own jacket, only to be told that she could pick up her own coat at the "other side" -a different entrance altogether. A little counter-intuitive to retrieve something you dropped off in a different place. The girl who took my coat said that she was definitely not the first person to be "confused" about their system...
So, a bum location, annoying security and unintuitive, unexplained coat-check protocol, but once past these humps it should be a good event. I should be able to get a good feel and a leg up on some good work for the summer. There should be lots of booths so something should offer some leads, right? Not for your average arts student.
There were basically five rows of booths set up, with eight or ten employers set up in each. My sister and I walked past an on duty police officer towards the first row to get started, and continued to visit or at least look at almost every booth with someone in it. There were definitely people about, but it wasn't nearly the crowded student event from years past.
We went to several booths. I asked friendly questions. Most of the booths were had requirements that break down into three categories: 1)Are you bilingual? 2)Are you an engineer? 3)We're run by the government: apply via fswep.ca (bilingualism an asset). (Technically there would be a fourth category for various branches of the Canadian forces too.) Essentially, if you answered no to the first two questions, beyond the fswep database there were only a handful of options left, mostly a few kids camps looking for people (up to $3000 for four months work!), a tree planting company (done that, lost my tee-shirt), and a few hospitality/resort gigs.
All and all it was pretty disappointing. Were I to summarize the job fair into a single message, it might be: "School: you're doing it wrong! Start over and become a bilingual engineer!"
So you could say that I felt pretty crappy about it. Like the last 6 years of my education had little/no value. Perhaps I should embrace my fate and just start hauling stuff for a moving company? Maybe I could clean hotel rooms? Or maybe I could go back to picking up cigarette butts for the city? I wonder if they have a pension plan...
HA!
* *
But when some shouting started from the end of the room where the military guys were set up, I was reminded that the low mood in the air about the carpeted, converted warehouse on the pier might not be just me. Two guys had unrolled a banner that read "NO MORE WAR PROFITEERING" and shouting "DON'T WORK FOR THEM!" next to the booth where Lockheed-Martin was attempting to recruit young engineers for their endeavors (which include "involvement with cluster munitions system production and nuclear bomb testing" (source). It was only a few short moments before two more police officers escorted the protesters past the retrieval end of the coat check and out of the building. The protesters didn't struggle too much. They were there to fight against profitable business of war, not the Halifax Police.
I had seen a telephone pole-poster about the protest on the way down to the job fair, but I hadn't really thought about it much. Suddenly the whole situation with the abstract location, annoying security measures, on duty police, and general lack of attendance made sense. Had the representatives of Lockheed-Martin been on any campus, there would have been a lot more protesters. The universities probably knew that: they at least have ethics classes.