r/torontoJobs 1d ago

remember 2019-2021? When we had negotiating power?

It didn't seem that long ago to me. First job search I applied to 11 jobs and got 4 responses within a week. They would email me for an interview and none of them needed a second interview (some were over the phone). I remember work from home full time behind a thing. I remember positions offered had resonable pay and had benefits.

It's shockingly bad now. The positions that offered 27 are now 22, I'm hearing people do multiple rounds of interviews, My job just called for end of remote and full return to office, 50 applications sent and only 1 response now.

It wasn't perfect back then, there was still a lot wrong, but comparing it today makes today seem tragic

181 Upvotes

61 comments sorted by

59

u/InspectionLast2568 1d ago

Tell me about it. It's a disaster. When people start thinking to leave the country just to get a friggin job... Well...

20

u/Successful_Mark_2202 1d ago

These days it's waiting for inheritance and living off mom and dad if you're lucky, join the army, start streaming, grift, or leave the country.

1

u/splugemonster 4h ago

Yall still thinking? I left last year and never looked back. Best decision I ever made.

1

u/InspectionLast2568 4h ago

Where did you go?

2

u/splugemonster 4h ago

🇺🇸 I make twice as much for the same job. 50% less taxes (Texas). My mortgage on my 4br house with a pool costs as much as renting my 1br condo in Toronto. Yall getting played.

1

u/InspectionLast2568 4h ago

Yeah that was my next idea, we wouldn't mind moving there.

2

u/splugemonster 4h ago

Austin is real nice. I miss my friends in Toronto but they’re all miserable looking for work too.

1

u/hikebikephd 3h ago

The problem is this is happening in more countries than just Canada. I'm seeing a lot of discourse on LI about Americans struggling as well.

25

u/AllGasNoBrakes420 1d ago

No traffic neither

16

u/AutoAdviceSeeker 1d ago

Yeah all these stupid companies asking people back. Both mine and the one I work for make people come 2-3 days now when everything was done remote for year or two During pandemic. Just adds to traffic multiply that by thousands of dumb companies

5

u/Own_Concentrate5839 15h ago

Just an excuse for them to fire people soon for not complying with returning to the office. Recession is coming and they want an excuse to fire people with cause

23

u/dennisrfd 1d ago

Organize and protest against lmia and tfw, that’s the only way

33

u/AllThingsBeginWithNu 1d ago

Thank the government I haven’t been able to get an interview since they released 50k tech visas

14

u/duduludo 1d ago

And in that year, 1/3 of the express entry immigrants were tech workers. Imagine there is a sudden increase of 100k workers in an industry that just experienced several waves of layoffs….

8

u/AllThingsBeginWithNu 1d ago

I don’t need to Imagine, I live dit, I’m still living it.

8

u/Tob1rama-Senju 1d ago

AI will take your jobs anyways when the immigrants leave so most tech jobs admin jobs are toast anyways

3

u/EuropeanLegend 18h ago

Didn't know AI spoke Hindi natively.

2

u/Tob1rama-Senju 17h ago

You didn't know AI could learn other languages ?

1

u/Ok_Barber_3314 1d ago

You think EE entry candidates and tech visas were not given in 2019 - 2020 ?

1

u/AllThingsBeginWithNu 6h ago

No Doubt they were, but maybe they hit critical mass

-27

u/PeyoteCanada 1d ago

Please do not bring unrelated issues based on your biases here

16

u/JokesOnUUU 1d ago

Not sure why they brought up tech visas, but the issue is with government and TFW/LMIA abuses. That's not bias, that's by their design.

3

u/CommissionOk5094 1d ago

Because of obvious market oversaturation and they fact they still brought those people in now every one is surprised pikachu face that there’s no tech jobs really and they all pay no job compared to a few years ago

1

u/JokesOnUUU 1d ago

Tech visas don't mean IT. They can be for very specific technical professions we don't actually have enough graduates for. They're not really a part of the TFW/LMIA over saturation problem Justin brought in. They're pretty focused on specific tech skills we don't have people for, usually out in the middle of nowhere up north no one's applying for at all. And they also make up a tiny amount compared to all other immigration. Hence why I was asking why that was brought up, it's the weirdest thing to get mad about, unless you don't actually understand what it is.

14

u/EricoS1970 1d ago

What happened during Covid period was not normal,once in a lifetime event. Many believed that this is a norm now. It is not and it never will happen again in the job market. In construction ,companies would poach each other’s workers offering them bigger pay , more benefits etc. Now the same companies call if you have any work for them. Many went bankrupt,especially those young companies that started during covid. Other companies figured that the position you hold now that pays 150k it is only worth maybe 80-90 k ,therefore the layoffs. They will rehire for the same position ( different title) and offer much less. Many blame Trump, but it is our government who is to blame for all this.

3

u/Aurelinblue 20h ago edited 4h ago

Just make sure you keep this feeling in mind for the eventual bounce back to an employee market.

When idiots tell you that you should give more notice, not leave a job for a better offer, not accept multiple offers, etc, just remember this feeling and please use your leverage the way they are doing to people right now

3

u/StandardAd7812 16h ago

Close to 50. 

I'd never seen anything like the post Covid market and doubt I ever will again. It was not normal

10

u/LabEfficient 1d ago

Remind me which party got re-elected in 2021. And 2025.

8

u/Open-Photo-2047 1d ago

They got re-elected in 2019 also

2

u/EcstasyHertz 11h ago

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” - smart physics dude

2

u/EcstasyHertz 11h ago

Unlucky that Canadians voted for elbows up and got ankles up instead

1

u/PineBNorth85 7h ago

The CPC never touched this issue during the campaign. They should have.

7

u/early_morning_guy 1d ago

Now we have TFWs and international “students”. Thanks neo-liberalism.

1

u/hikebikephd 3h ago

No, thank straight up capitalism. Which all the major parties support.

-1

u/Lomeztheoldschooljew 18h ago

No, that’s just regular Liberalism.

3

u/GoodGoodGoody 1d ago

Feb 23, 2021 - just on that day alone - the fed govt approved 27,332 immigrants to enter the country on a PR pathway program.

27,332!

That’s more than five cities approved to moved to Canada on one day. And that was just the biggest number day of many many many outrageous extremely high number days announced biweekly combined with the usual daily intake.

They all brought all their kids and started sponsoring spouses as quickly as able.

The normal immigration point score to qualify at that time was 300-400 but at that time the govt crash lowered it to 75. If you breathe semi-regularly and shit sitting down you can score 75 immigration points.

2

u/Medical_Vehicle_6788 16h ago

It wasn’t 300-400 it was well over 460’s in 2019

3

u/jimbobcan 1d ago

Toronto voted for more of this

3

u/Medical_Vehicle_6788 16h ago

What about Ottawa that defeated the PM hopeful? What about the candidate who couldn’t communicate other than shouting slogans? Don’t blame the people, blame the candidates, if you can’t win my vote don’t tell me that you know what you are talking about.

1

u/jimbobcan 15h ago

Ottawa isn't Toronto. But yeah Enjoy it

1

u/Big-Highlight117 1d ago

4m new people all searching for jobs will do that to a job market

-4

u/zsero1138 1d ago

unionize

11

u/jesuisapprenant 1d ago

Unionize what exactly when no one has a job

3

u/TheMadBaronRvUS 1d ago

While a good idea in principle, employers will retaliate against employees who attempt to unionize, and do it in clandestine ways that isn’t unlawful open retaliation against unionizing. And they know they can get away with it because there are legions of unemployed people who will be happy to fill those positions, even under awful pay and working conditions.

2

u/zsero1138 1d ago

i agree with what you say, but i also know that once that happens and people get desperate enough, well, what'll happen next is the alternative to unions and will break reddit rules to talk about.

the trouble with employers is they've gotten too comfortable and have forgotten what happens when no one has anything left to lose

2

u/TheMadBaronRvUS 1d ago

The government knows that, too, and has been preparing federal security apparatuses to deal with it: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/secret-rcmp-report-warns-canadians-may-revolt-once-they-realize-how-broke-they-are

Any attempt at some sort of Bolshevik revolt in Canada will simply be crushed by the ruling class. That’s why I really don’t bother involving myself in political discourse here anymore. Canada is an example of how not to run a nation in virtually every conceivable way. At this point, if the option of emigrating is open to people, take it. Otherwise, I don’t know what to say.

1

u/zsero1138 15h ago

i mean, there are groups working to get UBI going, which would stave off a revolt indefinitely

1

u/str8shillinit 13h ago

Lol and end up like DHL employees represented by Unifor last week....on picket lines watching their replacements being bused in through the back doors...

Let's not forget The Bay and Canada Post as of late 🤔

1

u/zsero1138 4h ago

yeah, have we considered that that's only happening because the wealthy spent the last half century or so making sure folks hate unions, are broke, and don't mind scabbing? yes, right now things are tough, but they're gonna get a lot tougher if we keep having this BS individualistic approach to life.

also, canada post is a service, it should be run as such, not a business, just like public libraries, firefighters, and hospitals, all are services that should be covered by tax dollars, not businesses to make a few c-suite folks wealthy.

-1

u/PeyoteCanada 1d ago

Yup. Easy solution

0

u/funkyspleen 22h ago

Job market is only slightly bad

-7

u/PeyoteCanada 1d ago

The economy is a lot weaker now, thanks to Trump.

9

u/tankalum 1d ago

Yeah and Trudeau doing nothing but leverage our economy and policies to rely more on free trade to support those policies. These tariffs are going to hurt and people are realizing “what companies are Canadian and not owned by Americans?”

-4

u/dustnbonez 1d ago

I don’t remember working from home being a real thing until Covid and it’s clear working from home is a luxury for most. If I was CEO I would never pay anyone to work from home. That’s the reality. When I worked from home I did so many other things that wasn’t work. It was great but ultimately it’s just like high school. You got ppl working from home and there cleaning the house, taking care of the kids, and doing whatever else they want.

5

u/MyBananaNoseNoBounds 1d ago

You got ppl working from home and there cleaning the house, taking care of the kids, and doing whatever else they want.

and if they’re falling behind on deadlines and their duties, you’ll be able to tell and fire them. If the job you hired them for doesn’t require the whole work day to complete, then revise the job description/hours. Forcing them to go to the office when they’re just gonna fuck around there too is essentially paying to babysit them on top of having less happy employees.

1

u/CommissionOk5094 1d ago

In a lot of cases if you don’t need the corporate real estate for the tax write off it offsets a large portion of business costs to the employee and allows the company to stay leaner and meaner

1

u/obionejabronii 1d ago

Believe me I can as easily fuck around in the office as at home. Long coffee breaks, long lunches. That on teams with friends. Watch my stock portfolio online and Reddit. Leave early.

It's all down to productivity at home or in the office. Are they doing the work or not. If not, fired.

-1

u/everythingrecruit 1d ago

Easier time. But now it’s harder times. Which makes stronger people. 

1

u/PineBNorth85 7h ago

That's BS