College grads outraged that Nova Scotia won’t hire them

George Dean, a graduate from Eastern College in Dartmouth, N.S. told the Chronicle Herald that he feels he has wasted two years of his life and $22,000 because he can’t apply for the type of job he planned to apply to when he signed up for the program.

The Nova Scotia Community Services Department, where he had hoped to work, recently informed students that their child and youth care credentials from the private college aren’t good enough to apply for jobs working with behaviourly-challenged children and youth.

The policy against hiring grads from private colleges has been in place since 2000, according to Janet Nearing, the province’s acting director of child welfare. But that it only applies only to 23 specialized facilities and that students may apply there after they gain some job experience, she said. There are more than 500 other childcare centres in the province where they are qualified to apply.