By Danielle Vandenbrink
Nezar Fouad can’t find a job.
The fourth-year electrical engineering student says Ryerson’s resources just don’t cut it when it comes to tapping into the job market.
Fouad said Ryerson’s Career Centre on campus has been of little help, with job postings a year old, and that the centre is not keeping up with other engineering schools such as the University of Toronto and Waterloo.
“Everyone goes to university in hopes of ending up with a job,” he said. “If students can’t make that jump successfully, then university was a waste.”
Instead, Fouad said he relies on the Internet and networking to find jobs. Rob Paskowitz, a fourth-year computer engineering student, interned with Research in Motion in his third year. He is now their campus ambassador.
Paskowitz said schools like the University of Waterloo had time to build strong ties and partnerships with companies because of the age of their program.
Since Ryerson’s engineering program is relatively new in comparison, it doesn’t have the same advantage of graduates working in the industry hiring students from Ryerson.
Faoud thinks the Career Centre at Ryerson could do a better job by communicating with professors who have worked in the industry and connecting students with employers.
Aino Lokk, an employment counselor at the Career Centre, said that 20 per cent of jobs available to graduates are not advertised.
“We do run career fairs and information sessions throughout the year,” said Lokk, adding that the Career Centre holds a fair each year for engineering students.
She thinks the problem for some students is that they are focused on completing school and that they don’t think about life after graduation.
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