By: Tanvi Pathak
In March, McMaster Students Union is slated to release its second annual municipal budget submission to Hamilton city council.
According to Shemar Hackett, the MSU associate vice president (Municipal Affairs), the budget submission will prioritize transit, student housing, student employment, bylaws and enforcement and lighting.
After consulting students and reviewing data from The Your City survey, the MSU decided these key areas were ones that stood out as issues that needed immediate attention.
The committee’s decision to focus on these areas is also linked to the rising demand for off-campus housing.
According to Andrew Parashis, a property manager at Spotted Properties, the largest property management in the McMaster community, demand for student housing has soared in recent years.
Parashis notes that with the increase of local and international students attending McMaster, the waiting list for students seeking accommodations through Spotted Properties has tripled in the last year alone.
The municipal budget submission will also focus on accessible employment opportunities.
The union’s education department and municipal affairs committee’s recommendations aim to offer proactive solutions for each issue and improve Hamilton’s attractiveness to students and recent McMaster grads.
One of the committee’s recommendations is for the city of Hamilton to implement a lighting audit across Ward 1.
Hackett emphasized that there are neighborhoods off-campus substantially lacking in visibility. As a result, many students do not feel comfortable walking home late at night after classes.
A lighting audit would reduce these issues in these neighborhoods and identify priority locations for new street lights.
The committee reached out to the Ward 1 councilor Maureen Wilson, who was receptive to the committee’s recommendation and is confident that the proposal will be valuable to McMaster and Ward 1.
Another recommendation calls for city council to move forward with the landlord licensing project discussed in December.
Hackett and Stephanie Bertolo, MSU vice president (Education), articulated their stance on landlord licensing to Ward 8 city councilor Terry Whitehead, who sits on the Rental Housing sub-committee.
Since then, the motion to implement a pilot project was brought to council and endorsed by many councilors.
Prior to the development of the budget submission, the committee consulted city officials.
The committee plans to continue to meet with the city staff and councillors to push for their recommendations and make them a priority for the council.
Thus far, they have met with Terry Cooke, CEO of the Hamilton Community Foundation, to discuss student engagement and retention and the ways in which organizations can support one another in the future.
The municipal affairs committee has also been successful in implementing its Landlord Rating system, a platform developed by the MSU education department.
The landlord licensing project, which the committee has also been lobbying for, got the Hamilton city council rental housing sub committee’s stamp of approval and will be put forth into discussion during the next city council meeting.
“The council has been extremely receptive to all our points about the agreements we put forth,” said Hackett, adding that the MSU budget submission has proven to be a valuable resource for lobbying municipal stakeholders.
Over the next few weeks, the municipal affairs committee will meet with city councilors and community stakeholders to advocate for their budget submission proposals.
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By: Elizabeth DiEmanuele
“We often don’t realize how resilient we can be,” says Kerri Latham, career counsellor at the Student Success Centre. “The truth is, the more times you fail, the easier it is to try.”
For the Student Success Centre, providing students with the resources and supports needed to develop their resiliency in university is important. One piece of this work is normalizing failure, uncertainty and other factors that contribute to wanting to give up on a goal, project, idea, or dream.
As Jenna Storey, academic skills program coordinator at the Student Success Centre, says, “Students often encounter challenges in achieving their academic goals. Resiliency in academics is about bouncing back after these challenges, and also recognizing and working through them by incorporating better academic and personal management skills.”
Most recently, the Centre led a digital campaign called #StickWithIt, a resiliency campaign that responded to student experiences the Centre addresses in its regular roster of programs, services and workshops. Staff have also participated in the CFMU’s MorningFile show, covering topics from Thriving in Academic Uncertainty to Developing Career Resilience.
In Kerri’s role, resiliency is an ongoing conversation and practice. Whether it’s through her one-on-one appointments, a career and employment session, or a Career Planning Group, one thing is clear: there is a shared uncertainty for many students around what they are going to do and where they are going to go next.
Kerri shares, “Though there are expectations, reflecting on your own priorities can help you stay grounded to pursue a direction that is best for you. Try not to get swayed too much by what others are doing. Know yourself and honour your own path.”
Knowing yourself does not necessarily mean “know your passion.” As Kerri suggests, “This puts a lot of false expectations on students, but the main thing is to pay attention to those seeds of interests and allow them to grow. Though it might feel like everyone has it figured out, there is always change, uncertainty and new directions. It’s okay to not know right now – uncertainty is to be expected.”
For students focused on what’s next, Kerri recommends breaking big decisions into smaller chunks; and when job searching, focusing more on the opportunities and skills students want to develop. She also encourages students to use their strengths and supports, like family, friends or mentors.
The good news is: students don’t have to go through it alone. The Student Success Centre is a place for students to explore, from the moment they accept their offer of admission and up to ten years after graduation. Upcoming sessions include:
Register for workshops or a career counselling appointment on OSCARplus.
Visit studentsuccess.mcmaster.ca to learn more.
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Working for the McMaster Students Union just became more lucrative, with a new pay scale introduced as of the start of the new year.
On Jan. 1, 2018, the minimum wage in Ontario was increased from $11.40 per hour to $14.00 per hour and it is set to raise once again in January 2019 to $15.00 per hour. This push is a part of the initiative for living wages by the Liberal government.
A living wage entails a wage that a person would be able to support themselves and their family while working a typical work schedule. It includes basic necessities such food, shelter and transportation but also notes that wages should be set to allow for expenses such as gifts and outings to promote social participation in a community.
Currently, Hamilton’s estimated living wage sits at $15.85 per hour, according to Living Wage Hamilton.
Living wages vary from community to community, but groups such as Social Planning and Research Council (Hamilton) have studied the living wage in Hamilton and have released reports based on their findings. In one December 2011 report, the SPRC found that the average living wage in Hamilton was $14.95 per hour.
Their research considered different home situations and factored in the basic cost of living in addition to expenses associated with social outings and skill-building. The studies do not, however, consider common expenses such as the cost of debt, pets and smoking and drinking habits. The study also assumes people will work full-time.
Currently, Hamilton’s estimated living wage sits at $15.85 per hour, according to Living Wage Hamilton.
In response to this wage increase, the MSU completed a wage review in order to maintain the general ratio part-time employees received in comparison to the minimum wage while remaining within their budget lines.
Within the MSU, all customer service representatives such as those who work at the MSU Underground, Compass and Union Market are paid slightly above minimum wage.
Under the previous wage grid, these workers were paid $11.77, which was $0.17 above minimum wage at the time. Under the new wage grid, they will receive $14.15 per hour, $0.15 above the new minimum wage.
The same may be said for all of MSU’s salaried employees, such as part-time managers and associate vice presidents. Their wages have also increased at a consistent rate above the Ontario minimum wage.
For example, employees who fall under the “C4” category were previously paid $155.16 per week. These same workers will now receive $181.80 per week for the same amount of work.
It should noted, however, that the majority of work within the MSU is part-time but only available to MSU members, who must be full-time McMaster undergraduate students. These jobs do not typically offer overtime, but do offer some perks such as discounts and retroactive pay under the right circumstances.
The MSU has not released any documents pertaining to the next wage increase, which is set to occur on Jan. 1, 2019 . For now, students working for the student union can expect to see a bump in their biweekly paychecks.
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By: Donna Nadeem
Despite McMaster’s large undergraduate population, many students do not seem to want to stick around in Hamilton despite the growing number of jobs in the city.
The city of Hamilton has seen a drop in the unemployment rate as of May 2017 of 6.3 per cent to 5.2 per cent, which is the lowest rate the city has seen since Sept. 2015.
Yet students have typically been less likely to stay in Hamilton because they cannot find jobs that relate to either their education or interests. A “Your City Survey” was done in 2011 and then updated in 2016 that showed that McMaster was doing a better job of advertising job opportunities and that they have made significantly more efforts than the city of Hamilton.
In 2011, when the first survey was done, around 55 per cent of individuals surveyed that they would consider living in Hamilton after graduation. In 2016, a newer iteration of the survey showed a 20 per cent increase which now meant that 75 per cent of individuals would consider living in Hamilton after graduation.
Initiatives like Hack the City, a project created in 2016 by the current McMaster Students Union vice president (Finance), Daniel “Tuba” D’Souza, has given students the opportunity to learn more about employment opportunities in the city.
“I think Hack the City provided a valuable opportunity for students to learn more about projects occurring within the city of Hamilton in the healthcare, infrastructure and energy sectors,” said D’Souza.
A recent 2017 BMO Regional Market report done showed that the employment rate in Hamilton is up 12.5 per cent and that the unemployment rate is 4.2 per cent, the lowest in Canada outside of Quebec City and putting Hamilton in the top 10 for city labour market performance ranking in Canada.
Other initiatives like Hamilton Employment Crawl have been designed to educate third and fourth-year students on employment opportunities in Hamilton post-grad. Hamilton Employment Crawl was a partnership between McMaster, Mohawk College, Redeemer University College and Hamilton Economic Development.
This event helps educate students on the career opportunities that existed post-grad in the city of Hamilton through a series of industry tours. One of the tours is a Small Business Enterprise Centre at City Hall where students learn how have their own start-up business in Hamilton.
“As both employment opportunities in the city and awareness of these opportunities from students through programs like the Hamilton Employment Crawl and the Career Fair, both hosted by the [Student Success Centre], continue to rise, I believe that students will have more of a reason to live and work in Hamilton after graduation,” said D’Souza.
A recent 2017 BMO Regional Market report done showed that the employment rate in Hamilton is up 12.5 per cent and that the unemployment rate is 4.2 per cent, the lowest in Canada outside of Quebec City and putting Hamilton in the top 10 for city labour market performance ranking in Canada.
The job growth in Hamilton has increased astoundingly and that has definitely helped with the grad retention problem that Hamilton faced. Now that there are more employment op-portunities, students have a higher chance of finding jobs that are affiliated with their desired profession therefore making it more intriguing for them to want to stay in Hamilton.
“Hamilton is a fantastic city with an incredibly supportive community and a strong young professional network. I would love to stay in Hamilton if I can find an opportunity that will both challenge me and provide the opportunity for me to grow after I complete my term in April,” said D’Souza.
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Bushra Habib &
Ruth Tshikonde
Silhouette Staff & The Silhouette
The Globe and Mail featured McMaster’s approach to education in an Oct. 24 article, examining correlations between an undergraduate education and the quality of jobs graduates could obtain.
The recent recession resulted in the creation of over 300,000 new jobs for those possessing an undergraduate degree, however, over 430,000 individuals lacking post secondary education lost their jobs.
“A piece of paper does not get you a job,” expressed Kathryn Hryb, a Career Consultant at McMaster’s new Student Success Center (SSC). “Rather, it is you as an individual who gets yourself the job. Students have to actually put in that extra effort on the side and understand that having a degree itself doesn’t always get you a job or one that they will truly be satisfied with.”
Universities are facing constant pressure from students and their families to improve the educational experience and the value of a university degree by increasing other opportunities for students to develop skills and increase their marketability.
Such avenues for gaining an edge in the job hunt include co-operative education placements, internships and formal records recognizing volunteering activities and extracurricular involvement.
Making a university education a worthwhile and beneficial experience has important financial implications for graduating students,who have invested time, effort and money into their degree.
A 2008 Statistics Canada report showed that Canadian undergraduates earned 70 per cent more than those with only a secondary education or experience in the trades.
In 2009, it was reported that 82 per cent of adults between ages 25 and 64 with a diploma or degree were employed, whereas those who had not completed their secondary education had an employment rate of merely 55 per cent.
“The employers value a student’s credentials, yet they also value a student that is able to bring more than just basic knowledge,” said Jacquie Hamsphire, the Event and Marketing Coordinator at the SSC.
Hamsphire further explained, “they want people with experience and who bring skills to the table in order to expand their companies.”
The Globe and Mail article found that McMaster, among others, including the University of Alberta, was measuring up well to these growing expectations to prepare graduates.
This progress is partly due to its focus on experiential learning. Experiential learning allows students to gain valuable experience that supplements their academic pursuits through avenues including involvement in research.
“Innovations like experiential learning truly help students build the skills that the workforce is asking for,” said Hamsphire. “It enables them to gain confidence on making the right decision as to whether the career path they are choosing is truly for them.”
“It gives students the opportunity to experience the career path they want to follow on a hands-on basis through things such as the job shadowing program, which begins in November,” added Hryb. “We have found that many students have gained summer job opportunities, internships or even have just learned what they like and dislike.
These programs are offered for students from any faculty at the school, so there is something for everyone.”
While McMaster experienced a drastic increase in first-year enrollment this year, other universities reported similar trends, with Ontario universities accepting a record breaking 90,0000 students in September, putting additional strain on universities to adapt and accommodate an increasing number of students.
The Student Success Center offers networking opportunities, orientation programs to first-year students, workshops on academic skills and chances to get involved with extracurricular community service activities.
Communication skills, the ability to work with a team and adaptability are some skills that are currently in high demand in the workforce, according to Hryb and Hampshire.
Jonathon Fairclough
Production Editor
Many students would agree that finding a job can be more than just a daunting task. With student unemployment at a pretty unfavourable mark, students and web-developers are looking for news ways to deliver employment to today’s student population.
Meet Jobbook: your one-stop shop for student-only employment. Released in late September, Jobbook helps university students and recent graduates connect with jobs, internships, and career resources with the promise of connecting and networking students with otherwise inaccessible job opportunities.
The best thing is it’s free. No membership fees, no tedious paperwork to fill out; Jobbook only requires you to fill out your basic information, your education, and job experience.
Launched at over 50 university campuses across North America, Jobbook is rapidly gaining popularity among students and recent grads alike.
“By joining Jobbook you are saying that you have had enough of that which is already out there,” states Vice-President of University Relations at McGill University, Zach Newburgh. “We, the students, should have a voice and take a leading role at tackling unemployment.”
Jobbook anonymously matches individuals with jobs according to preference and reveals member identity only after individuals have chose to pursue an opportunity. The anonymity of Jobbook creates a unique feature appealing to a mass demographic.
In a time where it is so difficult for students to find jobs in and out of university, it’s a relief to see proactive students and developers come up with a website that directly supports young workers. Thank you Jobbook.
Please visit Jobbook.com for more details.
Sonya Khanna
Business Editor
Despite a continuing pessimistic attitude about world markets and the impact of the European debt crisis on the global financial system, encouraging employment figures for September have prompted a rejuvenated attitude.
Canada pumped out 61,000 net new full-time jobs in September, nudging the unemployment rate down to an optimistic 7.1 per cent. The wave of growth in public sector employment as well as an increase in self-employment has attributed to the recent unemployment figures. According to a recently published report of Canada’s national Labour Force Survey, nearly two-thirds of all full-time employment was due to growth in self-employment.
According to Statistics Canada, employers in Canada have churned 294,000 jobs in the first nine months of the year, citing the encouraging figures to a surge in full-time employment.
Although recent job growth in Canada may indicate a positive economic outlook for the future, fluctuating data portrays a dismal subtext amidst weakening confidence and growing caution in many companies.
Despite the hopeful outlook for Canadian unemployment, CAW President Ken Lewenza noted that the quality of jobs are imperative to health of an economy and outweigh the quantity of jobs in significance.
Private sector unemployment plummeted for the second-consecutive month while labour market gains were prevalent in the services sector.
“If I could I’d put every new job created through a quality assurance test to make sure it’s a decent job – with good wages, benefits and that provides some stability – not simply a last-choice survival job,” said Lewenza.
Work positions associated with the services sector such as retail and hospitality tend to include lower wage positions and often precarious working conditions.
Lewenza has conveyed the importance of implementing initiatives aimed at ensuring all Canadians are offered access to quality jobs in the 21st century, stating the need for the Harper government to pull back from austerity measures and view the public services as an important jobs creator.
The World Day for Decent Work is an initiative that aims to provide trade unions in the world with a venue to stand up for decent work, expressing the need for decent work to be a key government concern to stimulate economic growth and restructure the global economy to “put people first.”
The World Day for Decent Works places importance on addressing “typically precarious employment”, including non-permanent, temporary and contingent forms of work.
Of the 61,000 jobs created in September, over half were in the public sector, while finance, insurance, real-estate and leasing sector employment tumbled, shedding 35,000 jobs in the previous month.
The youth unemployment rate remained steady at 14 per cent.
Regardless of Canada’s performance in the labour market, Canadian employment figures overshadow the United States, where the jobless rate is at a bleak 9.1 per cent.
Economists have predicted a positive outlook for the jobs market, although a waning pace of hiring is expected for the rest of the year.
