Why the first job is so hard to land right now, and what students can do about it

If you are a student or recent graduate and your applications seem to disappear without a reply, it is not just you. In September 2025, Canada’s unemployment rate for young people aged 15 to 24 reached 14.7%, the highest since 2010 outside the pandemic years. Returning students had their worst summer since 2009.

The market has improved since then. Youth unemployment was 12.6% in July 2026, and students aged 20 to 24 had their best July since 2018. But it is still above the 10.8% average of 2017 to 2019, and many of the reasons it got hard have not gone away.

It is a hiring slowdown, not a wave of layoffs

The difference matters. A study by the Centre for the Study of Living Standards found that almost 90% of the rise in teen unemployment since 2023 came from young people taking longer to find work, not from losing jobs. The slowest searches got much longer: the 90th percentile of time spent looking rose from 22 weeks to 49.

Several things are happening at once:

• Fewer openings. Indeed reported that summer job postings in May 2026 were still 37% below their 2022 peak.
• More people competing. The population aged 15 to 24 grew 9.9% between 2022 and 2024, faster than the population as a whole (6.0%), according to Employment and Social Development Canada.
• The experience trap. By November 2024, 25% of Canadians aged 15 to 24 had never held a job, up from about 20% in the years before 2022. Employers ask for experience; fewer young people have had the chance to get any.
• Degrees are not a shield. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s Business Data Lab found that university-educated youth had the hardest time in 2025, relative to their usual rate.

Harder still for international students

Statistics Canada followed graduates three years after finishing a bachelor’s degree. International graduates were employed at a rate of 84.5%, against 91.9% for Canadian graduates. Only 36.6% held a job that normally requires a degree, against 58.8%, and their median full-time income was $52,000, against $65,200.

The gap starts during school. In an Ontario study by The Dais, 18% of international students had trouble finding a work placement in their field, against 11% of domestic students. The same study found that Canadian work experience before graduation is a critical factor in later earnings, and that placement contacts often led to job referrals.

International students can currently work off campus up to 24 hours a week during academic sessions, and full time during scheduled breaks. Check IRCC’s page for your own situation, since the rules have changed several times since 2022.

What small employers say they are looking for

Here is the encouraging part. CFIB surveyed 1,540 small business owners in early 2026. About 80% had hired young people in the past three years. When asked what they value most in a young hire, 91% said a positive attitude and 84% said motivation. Previous work experience came far behind at 24%, and education level at 13%.

Small businesses are often the place where a first chance is easiest to get, because the person you speak to is usually the person who decides.

What works better than sending fifty applications

When Leo Nguyen, WIZAD’s founder, was looking for an internship during his master’s at Royal Roads, the online applications went nowhere. What worked was choosing one local business, learning how it ran and proposing practical ideas to the owner. That proposal became his internship at Pivot Homes Group. The same approach works for many students:

1. Pick a few businesses, not a hundred postings. Choose three to five local firms in a field you care about.
2. Learn before you ask. Read their website and reviews, visit if you can and notice one thing that could work better.
3. Offer something specific. A short note with one idea, and how you could help with it, stands out from a generic résumé.
4. Use your school’s structure. A for-credit internship or work-integrated learning placement comes with a faculty supervisor, which makes it easier for a small business to say yes.
5. Show the attitude employers ask for. Volunteering, a class project for a real client or a small paid job all show motivation better than a list of courses.

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