'Check your ego': How to get a job in Alberta's recession

Originally published Feb. 10.

For years, Calgary was a great place to go if you needed a job. It had the highest wages in the country especially for oilpatch workers andthe buoyant job market helped draw more than 300,000 people to the city over the past 10 years.

That great job market was a blessing, but has a downside, in that career counsellors and headhunters are finding that job expectations remain too high, more than two years into a weak labour market.

Put your ego in check, that's what I'm saying to everybody, we've all had to put ouregos in check.- Sharlene Massie, About Staffing

"We actually had an IT [information technology]guy two weeks ago," said Sharlene Massie the owner of About Staffing, describing a candidate for an open job. "It was a good job, $90,000a year. He'snot working now, so he's making nothing. He went to the first interview, he was supposed to go back for the second interview, and he said, the company was too small, he was going to wait for a bigger company to hire him."

Massie has found this trend to be particularly frustrating. She said that everyone in the city, including her, has had to adjust their expectations.

"Put your ego in check, that's what I'm saying to everybody. We've all had to put ouregos in check."

Shift in jobs being created in Alberta

The types of jobs availablein Alberta are changing.There's less work inoil and gas, obviously, but also fewer professional positions andtechnicaland finance jobs. Meanwhile, more retail and food services jobs are available, and there's lots of hiring in education, health and public administration.

Still,in December the unemployment rate remained above 10 per cent.

• The mood has changed' for job hunters
• Meet the oilpatch engineers who left office jobs to handcraft skis in Canmore

Massie has found that labourers are keen to take any work, but mid-level employees remain picky.

"The companies are not hiring back at the same price that they had these people before. They're going in offering less."

Loss of status can be painful

Career counsellors in Calgary have seen the same problem:People who are used to well-paying jobs are often advised to take a survival job, working retail, for example, but there is a real reluctance to do so.

"They don't want to lose status or the perception of the loss of status,which is oftentimes associated with pay or job title," saidAvraDavidoff, a psychologist with Calgary CareerCounselling. "So sometimes it's helping an individual understand that you can gain status through other ways, it's not always about the dollar sign."

• Latest EI numbers show continued tough trend in Alberta
• Calgary still fastest growing metropolitan area despite downturn, census reveals

It is easy to judge, but the idea of success being connected to money or your job isingrained in society, probably more so in cities where incomes are high and people work a lot of hours, as Calgarians did during the boom years.

"It's the idea that we need to have a certain job title or pay in order to besuccessful, or well-regarded," said Davidoff. "Andit's hard for people to detach themselves from that view."

Does more money equal more happiness?

There are also practical considerationsat play. It can be harder to job huntor networkwhen you are at work every day, even though it's usually easier to find work when you already have a job. There's also the possibilitythat mid-level workers want a career more than a job.

Some worry that a survival job might stall the advance of acareer, and that it might bebetter to take some classes or do some volunteering,said David Dick, an assistant professor at the University of Calgary, who specializes in the philosophy of money.

Or the problem may be as simple as workers looking for more money.

Dick said that research has shown that $75,000 USa year is the household income at which people no longer feel the emotional stress of not having enough money. However, as a society, we tend to rate our lives as happier the more money that we have.

• Former Alberta oilpatch workers hesitant to return as activity picks up
• Why the Calgaryand Edmontonjob markets are so different

"There's a very tight correlation up to $160,000 a year between income and life satisfaction. At $110,000 a year, people rate their lives as not going as well as at $130,000 a year," said Dick.

Dick said he found the reluctance to take survival jobs is rooted in optimism. Calgariansare expectingthat the city will come backfrom this.

But they may have some time to wait.

"I think the word is stable, said Massie. "There's not a turnaround yet."