Grads looking for a job?

No, this isn't a classifieds site, but I wouldn't be surprised if a whole swath of university graduates and potential graduates end up thinking it is.

The economic crisis is hitting the North American labour markets hard. People are losing jobs right, left and centre. But it's not just those who are losing jobs that are in trouble. The university and college grads that have just committed many years of their life to education in order to get a good job when they come out may find that there is very little for them. And the Baby Boomers (whose work we're supposed to take over) don't want to retire yet, especially since their RRSPs have gone down the toilet. Shit.

So what to do? Maybe you'll find that job that you were looking for, but you'll certainly face stiffer competition to actually get the job.

With limited jobs out there, employers may be looking for only the top candidates for jobs. You might have been able to get that job with your undergrad degree before, but with so few jobs, you might need an additional degree or certificate to boost yourself above the rest. Uh oh, that could be costly.

Alternatively, you could shoot lower. With an undergrad degree, maybe it's far more appropriate to look for the jobs that only require a high school diploma or some years of post-secondary training, putting yourself above the rest with your qualifications. The pay would probably be less than other jobs, but at least it would be better than EI.

Then again, you could always go back to school. If employers are looking for that extra nudge, school might be the way to go. Maybe grab yourself a Master's degree or short-term college diploma. If you want job security, take a look at professional schools. Just don't wade too far into those fancy-schmancy business schools. Yet. The financial sector has taken a beating, and the first to go are the new people. And the financial pain is far from over.

But school costs money. Some people simply can't afford going back. And there's no guarantee that throwing $8000 at a Master's degree will help you get a job. And getting into schools might be tough, too. Not only will more people be tempted to take this root (making it tougher to get in), universities have been hit financially too, resulting in higher tuition fees, lower quality of education and an apprehension to expand university services. You could go back to school, but it might be crap. Is it really worth it?

Us upper years are in a tough spot, especially those who are about to enter the job market. I would say that the government should provide help for these people in the way of jobs, but at least us youngens have the benefit of time to build ourselves. The people who are losing their jobs right now may have mortgages, kids and other expenses. They need more help right now.

The biggest recommendation I could give to the government is to extend to interest-rate freeze period on student loans. As far as I understand, the banks come a bitin' six months after graduation. That period of time needs to be extended significantly so that recent grads don't end up declaring bankruptcy in their twenties.

Dear Facebook: You're no longer my BFF...

OK, so FB and I were never BFFs, but I think mine is a common sentiment among people who are beginning to realize that our relationship to FB may be a little too close.

Over the past few months I've been gradually trimming down my footprint on FB. Information regarding personal interests and whatnot was removed, then silly applications and the piece that seemed to grab the most attention: my relationship status. I had been listed as 'single', but I just removed the status altogether. But, FB notifies everyone that I 'am no longer listed as single'. Needless to say, messages came flowing in asking who my new lover was. Sorry, my real relationship status never changed.

Today I went on a greater rampage. Most personal information was removed, including my birthday (darn, I won't be receiving FB birthday messages anymore...) and work experience. I'm now one of those lame FBers who provides very little information about themself. Sorry, kids. I even elected to remove over 100 'friends'. Do I talk to them? No. Have I ever had a real frienship with them? Maybe, but not really anymore. Do I really want to know what's going on in their lives, let alone they know what's going on in my life? Not particularly. What a strange thing to do, but it's done.

So why did I do such a thing? Why am I shutting myself off from the world of FB?

I've mentioned the future risks of FB before. Photos could come back to bite us in 30 years when we're running this world; potential employers can peruse our profiles at their will; and stuff about us could get out there that we really don't need spread over the internet. These risks played a part, but it's really the present nature of FB that bothers me.

I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine the other day regarding FB and we discussed how bizarre FB is. Yes, having 'friends' is strange, especially when we trust them to have a full-blown view of us. Posting our photo albums online for everyone to see is similar to inviting all these people to your home and going through your photo albums. That's kind of weird.

I have found that certain friendships have become de-personalized, whereby phone and lengthy email dialogue has now been replaced by 'wall posts'. What a shame. Sure, it's great for quick messages, but when it becomes the norm, the seriousness of the friendship degrades.

I do enjoy aspects of FB. I can look at pictures, advertise my blogs and keep in touch with some people who may not use email or phone. But that's about it.

Perhaps I'm crazy and am just trying to stop the inevitable. Maybe FB will one day swallow us all up. But I'm not the only one doing this, and I doubt I'll be the last.

Oops, CERN snags again...

It's been awhile since I mentioned the Large Hadron-Collider located in Europe, spanning over two countries deep underground. You may remember that I mentioned several risks associated with the giant underground magnet, including its potential to create a black hole that could eventually swallow the entire Earth and perhaps the universe.

You may also remember it was supposed to get going during the past summer. The world is still here, so everything must have gone right, eh? Well, not quite. Back in September, a simple electrical fault shut the whole thing down just after it finally got going. The repairs (estimated at $26 million) are taking longer than anticipated and the new restart date has been postponed until September, 2009.

In my last post on this topic I recalled a conversation I had with my cousin, where we discussed the development of the CERN project as being a litmus test for intelligent life in the universe. If the project has the potential to destroy the universe, surely those uber-intelligent lifeforms will try to stop us from getting the machine going.

Strangely, these unexpected shutdowns have occurred before anything really dangerous has taken place. Maybe the alien theory is too far fetched. You never know...

A very slow system...

It's the start of a new year. For university students this means that it is also the start of a new semester. New classes and new activities have already started. But it is not quite the breath of fresh air for everyone at Trent University.

One of the most anticipated events of the end of the past semester is the release of grades. But Trent is notoriously slow in posting such things. This has spurred quite a bit of concern among some of Trent's students. And justifiably so.

Many of the courses taken in the past semester are pre-requisites for courses some students are taking in the second semester. Unfortunately, these students do not yet know whether or not they have in fact passed the pre-requisite course, leaving them in quite a little dilemma. They have spent the past week attending lectures, signing up for seminars and purchasing books for courses they may not necessarily be able to attend. More importantly, they're missing out on the opportunity to attend alternative classes, which is becoming increasingly limited as they fill up.

In a different case, but equally as frustrating, is the situation in which at least one student athlete at Trent is involved in. Because of his grades from the previous year, he was unable to play for his team in the first semester, but would be allowed back onto the team in January provided his marks show some notable improvement. However, the season begins again during the first few days of January, well before the marks are released. Despite the full confidence that his marks are well above the requirement, he can not officially play without the consent of the Athletic Director who doesn't seem to have the authority to overide the university and acquire this particular athlete's marks.

Such a slow system is not only frustrating for students, but can also have serious implications for their academic and extracurricular performance. Trent should really smarten up. But it appears as though they're doing quite the opposite. Several days ago, a message from the university was posted stating that marks would be available by the Friday. A day later, the availability of marks was moved to the following Monday. Good grief.

Pierre McGuire is slowly ruining hockey...

Ugh. If any of you have been watching the World Junior Hockey Championship, or watch any hockey games broadcasted on TSN or NBC, you've been exposed to the long-winded and often ill-timed rants of one Mr. Pierre McGuire.

Considered to be an expert analysis, McGuire is far more annoying than even the likes of Don Cherry. Sure, McGuire knows his stuff, but his analysis during gameplay is often completely unnecessary. I'm quite sure he simply likes to hear himself talk. 

Apart from his silly "expert analysis", I have one primary bone to pick with McGuire. Now Pierre, I know it's very important that the viewer gets detailed information about the players, but it's way over the top when you mention a player and tell us their home country, junior league team (and former teams if you're really on a roll) and who they've been drafted by, especially when you give us the information before telling us about what the player might just have done. That information would be nice if it were given every once and awhile. But for each player everytime they're mentioned? Come on. 

And it is not as if he stops to talk about this information. He speeds through it as if the information is part of the players name. You'd think he had the info right in front of him. Perhaps he does...

In any case, as experts on junior league hockey go, McGuire may simply be trying to outdue his more respectable TSN colleague, Bob McKenzie. I hate to say it, but trying to impress us by adding in these unnecessary quips concerning the players certainly doesn't win you respect in my books; it simply irritates me to the point whereby I cherish the wonderful times when McGuire is silent. Even the repetitive and annoying Tim Horton's ads are less intolerable, and that is really saying something.  

Keeping Hope honest...

The incoming Obama administration hasn't yet taken the reins of the White House, but they're certainly preparing themselves for the task at hand. His accompanying cabinet is bi-partisan in nature, with membership spanning both the Democratic and Republican parties. 

His cabinet selections are not without there own controversies. Obama's selection of Eric Holder as Attorney General upsets many who feel his ties to the Clinton Inc and his controversial pardon history are an unfair renege on Obama's earlier promises of "change". The new Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood has created an unwelcome stir among the environmental crowd because of his ties to the GOP and how he'll handle transportation issues as part of Obama's grandiose plan to revitalize the American transportation industry. Appointing Hillary as Secretary of State has certainly left some scratching their heads.

The point is that the days of tirelessly running around touting Obama over everyone else are quickly coming to a close. He's in. There's no one else to beat. You'll notice that the frequency of words like change, hope and "yes, we can" has fallen significantly in the media and from Mr. Obama. The country's (and the rest of the world for that matter) love for him should no longer be blind. And it is becoming clear that Obama is not the idealistic saviour that many (myself included) made him out to be during the last two years.

His faults are becoming increasingly clear as time progresses. He plays the political game like many other politicians, as his cabinet appointments have clearly indicated. The hulabaloo erupting with his selection of the strongly anti-abortion and anti-gay Rev. Rick Warren as part of his inauguration reflects the need to look at Obama's own values. He doesn't seem to be quite as left-of-centre as we made him out to be, as he's clearly tiptoeing the centre as he gets ready to take over the most difficult and responsible position in the world.     

This is not to say that I am angry at Obama, nor do I believe he isn't the right man for the job. He's doing what he should to run the world's most powerful country. But what makes the job so difficult is that he has to answer to his decisions and explain why and how he will make those decisions. The public and the media especially should not turn a blind eye to Obama's choices and statements, as many of us may have during the elections citing that "it's OK, he's the almighty Obama. Let's trust he knows what he's doing". 

So when Obama takes power on January 20, we can celebrate that we've finally got someone else running the country. But let's drop those pro-Obama allegiances, critically examine the administration and keep him honest. It'll keep the Hope-Train on the tracks and going in the right direction. 

The Take-Home Exam...

I just finished my last exam of the semester a few minutes ago. It feels wonderful. But it's also 11:43 PM. So what the hell am I doing writing this thing at such an hour, let alone writing about it minutes later?

It was a take-home exam. I've only heard of such things in myth, but this year I was given my first one. Now that I no longer need to fret about it, I realize that the take-home exam is quite an interesting concept. 

It's an exam, but such a quirky one. No need to study frantically for hours on end for that single session of intense exam writing because you are given it well in advance of its due date. Rightly so, they would expect more of you than what you might answer in a typical exam. But it's also not a paper. There is no need to heavily research external papers or information; everything is right inside your class notes and readings. And bonus, no need to cite anything.

But there are some other elements to it that stand out in my mind. Do they really expect us not to discuss it or work on it with other students? I mean, few of us are stupid enough at this stage to hand in carbon copies of work, but general ideas about questions can easily be discussed. This is not to say that one would do this, but the potential is there. Even though it's clearly prohibited, how on Earth are they going to enforce such a thing? The honour system is only so effective.

But maybe there's more here than we think. For instance, I considered this take-home exam to not really be an exam. I finished those awhile ago. And then I flew home immediately after completing them, still without starting the take-home. My ability to go over it and discuss with fellow students was therefore severely inhibited (although still possible...woo internet and telephone). So perhaps the same thing occurs for other students who may go home. They consider the take-home exam to be much easier than the other exams, so they go home (away from the university town) and work on it there. Perhaps the instructors take that into consideration? Or maybe I'm thinking way too far into it. But it's a possibility.

The take-home exam is an interesting thing. Not too hard, but not too easy. And worth enough for one to care enough about it to try to do a good job. But full of so much cheating potential. I wonder why they give out such things?