Originally Posted by
super807
There is a lot of competition for jobs right now, even for minimum wage jobs. My step-daughter, who just finished her first year of university, was lucky enough to land two part-time jobs, but some of her friends don't have jobs yet. And some that do are working very few hours.
I would second the suggestion about finding out more about what your references are saying or possibly choosing someone different for reference. I have conducted reference checks with the intention of hiring someone and the reference has said something that made me change my mind. One of the last questions I ask is "would you hire this person again?". If the answer is no, unless there is a fabulous reason, chances are, I won't be hiring that person. I've hired hundreds of students over the years and for the record, I don't bother with academic references. They just aren't able to provide the type of info I want. I want to talk to current or former employers, the supervisor.
As for your plans for teaching, before going that route, if I were you, I would look very carefully at that option. I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but for the past 10 years, Ontario teachers colleges have been cranking out about 1000% more qualified teachers than there are vacancies. There is no province wide strategy, each university does what it wants, and there are so many qualified unemployed or underemployed teachers in Ontario. It is possibly the most difficult field to land a job in right now, unless French is your first language and you qualify to teach in a French language, catholic school. If you absolutely love teaching and that is the only thing you can imagine ever doing, and you are willing to be unemployed, go for it, but if you hope to land full-time work, teaching in Ontario just isn't the place to go right now.