Jobs

Guess who’s recruiting education grads

Hint: It’s not schools, and they pay $80k after three years.

RCMP by Daniel Paquet

Education graduates face a dismal job market. Two-thirds of recent grads in Ontario aren’t working full-time. The University of British Columbia’s teacher’s college recently admitted that many graduates won’t find jobs in teaching.

Things are bad in Manitoba too. The local school boards didn’t even show up at Monday’s University of Manitoba education job fair.

But that same job fair should give education graduates a reason to be hopeful, because it showed how certain other employers value their experiences.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, for example, showed up at Manitoba’s education job fair for the first time Monday. The force is recruiting education graduates for the police academy in Regina.

Police are in higher demand than teachers these days, and their pay is a higher in the early years of their careers too. An RCMP constable starts at $49,000, gets an $18,000 raise after six months, and is earning $80,000 after three years, Const. Ron Bumbry told the Winnipeg Free Press.

That will certainly sound more appealing to many graduates than sitting on the substitute teacher’s list of a school board, hoping to work a few days per month and maybe—eventually—get hired.

Looking for more?

Get the Best of Maclean's sent straight to your inbox. Sign up for news, commentary and analysis.
  • By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.