15

INTRODUCTION

15.1 CHOOSING A JOB

REFERENCES

Baum, S., and J. Ma. (2007). Education Pays: The Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society. Princeton, NJ: The College Board.

Khogali, H. and Mekid, S. (2023). “The blended future of automation and AI: Examining some long-term societal and ethical impact features. Technology in Society 73. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160791X23000374.

Oppenheimer, R. (2023). “State of the Indigenous Economy.” Journal of Aboriginal Economic Development, 13(1). Retrieved from: https://jaed.ca/index.php/jaed/article/view/26/8.

Universities Canada. (2024). Universities help Canadians get ahead: quick facts. https://univcan.ca/media-room/publications/universities-help-canadians-get-ahead-quick-facts/.

15.2 FINDING A JOB

A job search is a part of everyone’s life, sooner or later. It may be repeated numerous times throughout your career. You may initiate a job search in hopes of improving your position and career or changing careers, or you may be forced into the job market after losing your job. Whatever the circumstances, when you look for a job you are seeking a buyer for your labour. The process of having to “sell” yourself (your time, energy, knowledge, and skills) is always revealing and valuable.

Finding a Job Market

Before you can look for a job, you need to have an idea of what job market you are in. The same macro factors that you consider in your choice of career may make your job search easier or harder. Ultimately, they may influence your methods of searching or even your job choice itself. For example, as unemployment has increased in the wake of the most recent financial crisis, the labour market has become much more competitive. In turn, job seekers have become much more creative about advertising their skills—from broader networking to papering a neighborhood with brochures on windshields—and more accepting of job conditions, including lower compensation.

Knowing the job classification and industry name will focus your search process and make it more efficient. Once you understand your job market, look at the macro and micro factors that affect it along with your personal choices. For example, knowing that you are interested in working in business, transportation, or the leisure and hospitality industry, you are ready to research these fields more and plan your job search accordingly.

You are looking for a buyer of your labour, so you need to find the markets where buyers shop. One of the first things to do is find out where jobs in your field are advertised. Jobs may be advertised through:

• local or city newspapers or their recruitment websites
• social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.)
• commercial recruitment websites
• trade magazines,
• professional organizations or their journals,
• career fairs
• employment agencies
• employment websites
• government websites
• company websites
• your university’s career development office, and
• your own website

Consider Sandy, for example, who is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in administration and a certificate in hospitality, tourism, and gaming entertainment management from the First Nations University of Canada. Her dream job is to work for a resort location in Canada, specifically an Indigenous owned and operated resort and hotel. There are several websites and journals that provide useful information about the industry. They also list upcoming trade conferences that may be a good opportunity for Sandy to meet some people in the industry.

Destination Indigenous, launched by the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC), is where Sandy begins her search of different Indigenous owned and operated resorts and hotels. Browsing online, Sandy learns about DiscoverIndigenousTourism.ca which connects job seekers and employers within the Indigenous tourism industry in Canada. The site has a database of job opportunities within the tourism sector from coast to coast to coast. Sandy will search this database for employment opportunities.

In addition to her online search, Sandy learns about a big job fair will be coming to her region, sponsored by the local chamber of commerce and economic development agency. She plans to attend the job fair to meet recruiters in her industry and find out about local opportunities. Each prospective employer will have a table, and Sandy will go from table to table, getting information, dropping off her resumé, and possibly setting up interviews. She also plans to sing up as a job seeker with AMIK Inc., Canada’s first Indigenous job board which has now grown to become a leader in Indigenous workforce engagement and training services. Sandy also plans to follow up with an employment agency that specializes in hotel management for smaller hotels and inns. The agency will screen her application and try to match her with appropriate jobs in its listings. For a specified time, it will keep her resumé on file for future opportunities.

Sandy’s strategy also includes posting her resumé on employment websites, such as Monster.ca, and Careerbuilder.ca. Browsing jobs online, Sandy discovers that there is a strong seasonal demand for hospitality workers at First Nations resorts and casinos in different locations throughout Canada, and this gives her an idea. If the right choice doesn’t come up right away, maybe a summer job working for one of these resorts and casinos would be a good way to develop her knowledge and skills further while looking for her dream job in management.

Sandy needs to research destinations as well as businesses, and she wants to talk with people directly. She knows that cold calls—calling potential employers on the phone as a complete unknown—is the hardest way to sell herself. In any industry, cold calling has a much lower success rate than calling with a referral or some connection—otherwise known as networking.

Networking is one of the most effective ways of finding a job. It can take many forms, but the idea is to use whatever professional, academic, or social connections you have to enlist as many volunteers as possible to help in your job search. LinkedIn is a business- and employment-oriented social networking service that is available online and via mobile apps. According to popular theory, your social networks can be seen as assets that potentially help you build opportunities and wealth. The number and positions of people you can network with and the economically viable connections you can have with them are a form of capital—that is, social capital. Sandy recently learned about ITAC’s upcoming International Indigenous Tourism Conference, the largest Indigenous tourism conference in the world. The conference will provide Sandy with significant learning and networking opportunities. She definitely plans to attend. Sandy also discovers that many provinces and territories have their own Indigenous tourism organizations and websites so she begins to search these sites too. Another example of a networking group is the Aboriginal Government Employees’ Network (AGEN) in Regina, Saskatchewan. This organization partners with, promotes, and supports workplace environments that are committed to the recruitment, retention, and advancement of Indigenous employees throughout Saskatchewan’s government ministries, agencies, boards, commissions and Crown corporations. AGEN’s vision is to provide a network that supports current and future Indigenous employees through personal and professional development while promoting Indigenous cultural awareness.

Word of mouth is a powerful tool, and the more people know about your job search, the more likely it is that they or someone they know will learn of opportunities. Sandy’s strategy also includes joining online career networking sites, such as LinkedIn, and discussion lists for people in the hospitality industry. Sandy finds a helpful Yahoo! group called The Innkeeper Club and posts a query about what employers look for in a manager.

While Sandy was in university getting her degree and certificate in hospitality management, her best friend from high school was happily styling hair in a local salon. Sandy never thought to network through her friend, but it turns out that one of her friend’s clients has a sister who helps to manage a First Nations casino and resort in central Saskatchewan, and they are thinking about hiring someone to manage their hotel. Her friend passed along her name and resumé to her client’s sister and she has an interview in a week.

That’s how networking works—you just never know who may be helpful to you. The obvious people to start with are all the people that you know: former professors, former employers, friends, family, friends of family, friends of friends, family of friends, and so on. The more people you can talk with or send your resumé to (i.e., the more people you can impress), the greater the chances that someone will make an offer.

Another good networking strategy is to call or email people working in the industry, especially individuals who are currently in or just above the position you’d like to have, and ask to talk with them about their work. If you make it clear that you are not asking for or expecting a job offer from them, many people will be happy to take a half hour to discuss their jobs with you. They may have valuable tips or leads for you or be willing to pass along your name to someone else who does.

Your Cover Letter and Resumé

To get a job you will have to convince someone who does not know you that you are worth paying for. You have an opportunity to prove that in your cover letter and resumé and again in your interview.

The cover letter, whether mailed or emailed, is your introduction to your prospective employer. You have three paragraphs on one page to briefly introduce yourself and show how you can make a profitable contribution to the company. The objective of the cover letter is to get the reader to look at your resumé with a favourable impression of you created by the letter.

Your first paragraph should establish your purpose in making contact, the reason for the letter. You should make it clear what job you are applying for and why you are making this particular contact. If someone referred you, mention him or her by name. If you met the addressee previously, remind him or her where and when that was—for example, “It was great to chat with you at the Jobs Fair in Saskatoon last week.” The more specifically you can identify yourself and separate yourself from the pool of other job seekers, the better.

The second paragraph of your cover letter should summarize your background, education, and experience. All this information is on your resumé in more detail, so this is not the place to expound at length. You want to show briefly that you are qualified for the position and have the potential to make a contribution.

Your third paragraph is your opportunity to leave the door open for further communication. Make it clear where and how you can be reached and how much you appreciate the opportunity to be considered for the position.

The resumé—the summary list of your skills and knowledge—is what will really sell you to an employer, once you have made a good enough impression with the cover letter to get him or her to turn the page. A good resumé provides enough information to show that you are willing and able to contribute to your employer’s success—that it is worth it to hire you or at least to talk to you in an interview.

List the pertinent facts of where and how you can be reached: address, phone number, and email address. Your qualifications will be mainly education and experience. List any degrees, certificates, or training you have completed after high school. Be sure to include anything that distinguishes your academic career, such as honours, prizes, or scholarships.

List any employment experience, including summer jobs, even if they don’t seem pertinent to the position you are applying for. You may think that being a camp counsellor has nothing to do with being a radiology technician, but it shows that you have experience working with children and parents, have held a position where you are responsible for others, and that you are willing to work during your school breaks, thus showing ambition. If you are starting out and can’t be expected to have lots of employment experience, employers look for hints about your character—things like work ethic, initiative, responsibility—that may indicate your success working for them.

Internships and co-op terms that you did in university or high school are also impressive, as they show your willingness to go beyond the standard curriculum and learn by working—something an employer will expect you to continue to do on the job too. While you are in school, you should recognize the value added that experiential learning provides as well as the benefits of applying academic learning in a work setting, exploring different professions and companies, and developing a professional network. An internship or co-op term can give you a head start in networking if your supervisor will be a good reference or source of contacts for you. The internship may even result in a job offer.

For each job, be clear about the position you held and the two most important duties or roles you performed. Don’t go into too much detail, however; the time to expand on your story is in the interview.

If you have done internships or volunteer work, or if you are a member of civic or volunteer organizations, be sure to list those as well. They are hints about you as a person and may help you to stand out in the pool of applicants.

A common mistake is to list too much extra information on your resumé and to focus too much on what you want—for example, by stating an objective such as “to obtain a great position in hotel management.” Your employer cares about what you can do for the company, not for yourself. The following are some tips for developing your resumé:

• Avoid adjectives or adverbs when describing your past performance. If you were an achiever in school, that will be reflected in your grades, degrees, honours, and awards. “Hype” can sound boastful; besides, you can discuss your performance in detail at the interview.
• Be honest and state your case without exaggeration. It is easier than ever for employers to check on your history, and they will. Falsification of information on your resumé may become grounds for dismissal if you are hired.
• Don’t include personal details unless they are strongly relevant to the job you are seeking. Employers typically do not want to know that you love dogs or were raised in Singapore.
• Be correct. Proofread your resumé and have someone else proof it as well. This is your opportunity to make a good impression. Any error indicates not just that you made an error, but that you are sloppy, lazy, or willing to let your work go public with errors.
• Keep it to one page, if possible. Employers are typically looking at many resumés to fill one position, so make it easy and quick for the reader to see how qualified you are.

A myriad of sample resumés and sample cover letters may be found online, but be wary of templates that may not fit you or your prospective job. Employers in your field may have particular expectations for what should be on your resumé or how it should be structured. Maybe you should list your skills or perhaps your education first. Perhaps it would be preferable to list your past employment experiences in reverse chronological order (with your most recent job first). Advice about how to write a resumé is plentiful, but there is no one right or best way. Choose an appropriate style and format for your job category that will present you in the best possible light as a prospective employee.

Many employers want you to fill out an application form independently of or instead of a resumé. They may also ask for references, especially from former employers who are willing to recommend you. Be aware that human resources department personnel routinely follow up on references and letters of recommendation. Read the article “How to Fill Out a Job Application” to find out more about filling out employment applications.

There are also many resources available in print and online to help you write a good resumé.

Your Interview

The interview—a face-to-face conversation with a prospective employer—is your chance to get an offer. You want to make a good personal impression: dress professionally but in clothes that fit well and comfortably; be polite and cordial but also careful not to assume too familiar a tone.

You may be asked a series of predetermined questions, or your interviewer may let the conversation develop in a more open-ended manner. The interviewer may let you establish its direction in order to learn more about how you think. But however the conversation is guided, you want to be able to showcase your suitability for the job and what you bring to it.

Table 15.2.1 identifies some questions employers commonly ask in job interviews.

Be prepared for interviewers who prefer to focus on general behavioural questions rather than on job-specific questions. Behavioural interviews emphasize your past actions as indicators of how you might perform in the future. The so-called STAR Method is a good approach to answering behavioural questions, as it helps you to be systematic and specific in making your past work experiences relevant to your present job quest. The STAR Method is a process of conveying specific situations, actions, and outcomes in response to an interviewer’s question about something you did.

• Situation: Give specific details about the situation and its context.
• Task: Describe the task or goal that arose in response to the situation.
• Action: Describe what you did and who was involved.
• Result: Describe the (positive) outcome. (Reeves, 2009)

For example, a typical behavioural interview may include the following exchange:

Question: We are looking for someone who is willing to take initiative in keeping our office systems working efficiently and who can work without a lot of direct supervision. Does that describe you?

Answer: Absolutely. For example, in my last job I noticed that the office supply system was not working well. People were running out of what they needed before letting me know what to order (Situation). I thought there needed to be a better way to anticipate and fill those needs based on people’s actual patterns of use (Task). So, I conducted a poll on office supply use and used that information to develop a schedule for the automatic resupply of key items on a regular basis (Action). The system worked much more smoothly after that. I mentioned it in my next performance review, and my boss was so impressed that she put me in for a raise (Results).

There are some questions employers should not ask you, however. Unless the information is a legal requirement for the job you are interviewing for, antidiscrimination laws make it illegal for an employer to ask you your age; your height or weight; personal information such as your racial identity, sexual orientation, or health status; or questions about your marital status and family situation, such as the number of children you have, whether you are single, or if you are pregnant or planning to start a family.

It is also important for you to prepare a few questions that you can ask your interviewer. They could be about the company’s products or services, the company’s mission or goals, the work you would be doing, who you would be reporting to, where you would be located, and the opportunities for advancement. You want your questions to be specific enough to show that you have already done some research on the company, its products, and markets. This is a chance to demonstrate your knowledge of the job, company, or industry—in other words, that you have done your homework—as well as your interest and ambition.

Unless your interviewer mentions compensation, don’t bring it up. Once you have the job offer, then you can discuss compensation, but in the interview you want to focus on what you can do for the company, not what the company can do for you.

You can also use the interview to learn more about the company. Try to pick up clues about the company’s mission, corporate culture, and work environment. Are people wearing business attire or “business casual”? Are there cubicles and private offices or a more open workspace? Are people working in teams, or is it more of a conventional hierarchy? You want to be in a workplace where you can be comfortable and productive. Be open-minded—you may be able to work quite well in an environment you have never worked in before—but think about how you can do your best work in that environment.

After your interview, send a thank-you note, and follow up with a phone call if you don’t hear back. You may ask your interviewer for feedback—so that you can learn for future interviews—but don’t be surprised (and be gracious) if you don’t get it. Always leave the door open. You never know.

Accepting an Offer

A job offer should include details about the work you will be performing, the compensation, and the opportunity to advance from there. If any of that information is missing, you should ask about it.

In many jobs—especially in entry-level positions—you may be asked to do many things, so the job description may be fairly vague. Your willingness to do whatever is asked of you (within the law and according to ethical standards) should be compensated by what you stand to gain from the job—in pay or in new knowledge and experience or in positioning yourself for your next job. Some jobs are better looked at as a kind of graduate education.

Your compensation includes not only your wages or salary, but also any benefits that the employer provides. As you read in previous chapters, benefits may include health and dental insurance, disability insurance, life insurance, and a retirement plan. Compensation also includes time off, sick days, and vacation days. You should understand the company’s policies and flexibility in applying them.

Know what your total compensation will be and whether it is reasonable for the job, industry, and current job market. Asking around may help, especially in online discussion groups with relative anonymity. People are often reluctant to disclose their compensation, and companies discourage sharing this information because it typically reveals discrepancies. For example, people hired in the past may be receiving less (or more) pay than people hired recently for the same position. In addition, the gender gap—in which men receive higher pay than women in the same position—is often a problem.

To gauge how reasonable a job offer is, you can look at the research on pay scales or find statistical averages by profession or region collected by various professional associations. Online resources include simple salary comparison calculators, such as the one at salary.com. You will also find data and related articles linking salaries to specific job titles, area codes, provinces, educational levels, and years of work experience on websites such as PayScale.

Realistically compare the job offer to your needs. Different geographic areas have different costs of living, for example, so the same salary may afford you a very different lifestyle in Regina than in Vancouver. Your employment compensation is most likely an important source—perhaps your only source—of income. That income finances your plan for spending, saving, and investing. A budget can help you to see if that income will be sufficient to meet your financial goals. If you already have financial responsibilities—student loans, car loans, or dependents, for example—you may find that you can’t afford the job.

You can negotiate your compensation offer; many employers expect you to try, but some will just stand by their offer—take it or leave it. Your ability to negotiate depends in part on the number of candidates for that particular job and how quickly the employer needs to fill it. You will find guidelines online for evaluating job offers and negotiating your compensation, as well as a simple “Job Offer Checklist,” on the CollegeGrad webpage, Job Offer Negotiation.

In some cases, your employer may offer you a contract, a legal agreement that details your responsibilities and compensation and your employer’s responsibilities and expectations. As with any contract, you should thoroughly understand it before signing. If you will be employed as a member of a trade or labour union under a collective bargaining agreement, the terms of the contract may be applicable to all union members and therefore not negotiable by individual employees.

It is exciting to get a job offer, but don’t let the excitement overwhelm your good sense. Before you accept a job, you should be sure that you can live with it. You never really know what a job is like until you start, but it is better to go into it optimistically. When you are just starting a career or trying one out, it is most important to be able to learn and grow in your job, and you may have a period of “paying your dues.” But if you are really miserable in a job, you won’t be able to learn and grow, no matter how “golden” the opportunity is supposed to be.

REFERENCES

Reeves, E. G. (2009). Can I Wear My Nose Ring to the Interview? New York: Workman Publishing.

15.3 LEAVING A JOB

Statistically, it is almost impossible for you to expect to have one job or career for your entire working life. At least once, and possibly many times, you will change jobs or even careers, in which case you will have to leave your current or former job and find another. Handling that transition can be difficult, especially if the transition is not what you would have preferred. How you handle that transition may affect your success or satisfaction with your next position.

You may leave your job voluntarily or involuntarily. When you leave voluntarily, presumably you have had a chance to make a reasoned decision and have decided that the net benefits of moving on are more than the net benefits of staying.

Leaving Voluntarily

You may wish to leave a job and move to another in order to:

• move to a position with more responsibility, opportunity to advance, or compensation;
• be in a more compatible work environment or corporate culture;
• learn a new skill;
• become self-employed by beginning an entrepreneurial venture; or
• make a transition from a military to a civilian job.

In other cases, you may leave employment permanently or temporarily because you wish to:

• further your education;
• assume family care, for example of a child or parent;
• take time off for recreation; or
• retire.

Whatever your motivation for leaving your job, your decision should make sense; that is, it should be based on a reasoned analysis of how it will affect your life. If you have dependents, you will have to consider how your decision may affect their lives too.

Since your job is a source of income, leaving your job means a loss of that income. You need to consider how you can maintain or change your current use of income (i.e., your spending and saving levels) with that loss.

If you are changing jobs, your new job will replace that income with new income that is more than, equal to, or less than your old paycheque. If it is equal to or more than your former income, you may maintain or even expand your spending, saving, and investing activities. Extra income will provide you with more choices of how to consume or save. If it is less than your former income, you will have to decrease your spending or saving to fit your current needs. Your budget can help you foresee the effects of your new income on your spending and saving.

If you are leaving employment, then there will be no replacement income, so your spending and saving activities should reflect that loss, unless you have an alternative source of income to replace it. If you are going on to graduate school, perhaps you have a fellowship or scholarship. If you are assuming family care responsibilities, perhaps another family member has offered financial support. If you are retiring, you should have income from invested capital (e.g., your retirement savings) that can be used to replace your wages or salary.

If you are initiating the job change, be sure you try to cause the least disruption and cost to your employer. Let your employer know of your decision as soon as it is practical, and certainly before anyone else in the company knows. Two weeks’ notice is the convention, but the more notice you can give, the less inconvenience you will cause. Offer to help train your successor or be available to provide information or assist in the transition. The more cordially you leave your job, the better your relationship with your former employer will be, which may reflect well on you in future networking.

If you participated in a defined contribution retirement plan, you own those funds to the extent that you are vested in your employer’s contributions and have contributed your own funds. You can leave those funds as they are invested, or you can transfer them to your new job’s plan and invest them differently. There may be some time limits to doing so, and there may be tax considerations as well, so be sure you consult with your former employer and understand the tax rules before moving any funds.

The decision to leave a job and perhaps to leave employment means leaving non-income benefits that can create opportunity costs, including:

• intellectual or emotional gratifications of the work,
• enjoyment of your colleagues, and
• opportunities to learn.

If you have had a negative work experience, leaving may allow you to reduce boredom, eliminate job dissatisfaction, end conflict, avoid unwanted overtime, or reduce stress, but these are reasons for leaving a job that you probably should not share with a new or prospective employer.

As you can see, many micro and macro factors may enter into a decision to leave a job. You spend many of your waking hours working, and deciding to change jobs is about much more than just income. But it is still a decision about income, so you should carefully weigh the effects of that decision on your financial well-being.

Leaving Involuntarily

If you leave your job involuntarily, you will have to make adjustments for a loss of income that you were not planning to make. That may be difficult, but not necessarily as difficult as you think.

Involuntary job loss may be due to your employer’s decision, an accident or disability, or unexpected circumstances such as the acquisition, merger, downsizing, or closing of the company you work for. Your employer also may decide to lay you off or fire you. A layoff implies a temporary job loss due to a circumstance in which your employer needs or can afford less labour.

If the layoff is due to an economic recession when there is less demand for the product you create, then it may be affecting your entire industry. That would mean you would have a harder time finding a similar job. If layoffs are widespread enough, however, there may be federal, provincial, or local government programs aimed at helping the many people in your situation, such as a retraining program or temporary income assistance.

You may get laid off because your employer is no longer as competitive or profitable and so has to cut costs, or because the company has lost financing. If the layoffs are specific to your employer, you may be able to find a similar position with another company or you may be able to establish your own competitive business in the same industry.

When you are fired, the employer permanently terminates your employment based on your performance. Involuntary termination, or getting fired, will cause a sudden loss of income that usually requires sudden adjustments to spending and saving. You may have to use your accumulated savings to finance your expenditures until that income can be replaced by a new job.

An injury or illness—to you or a dependent—may create a temporary or permanent involuntary job loss. It usually also means a period of unemployment. Depending on the circumstances, your employer may be willing to help ease the transition, perhaps by offering you a more flexible schedule, adjusting your responsibilities, or providing specialized equipment to enable you to do a job.

By law, employers may not discriminate against people with disabilities so long as they are able to do a job. A job accommodation is any reasonable adjustment to a job or work environment that makes it possible for an individual with a disability to perform or continue to perform job duties.

If you become disabled and unable to work, you may be able to replace some or all of your wage income with insurance coverage, if you have disability insurance that covers the specific circumstances (as discussed in Chapter 10 “Personal Risk Management: Insurance”). If your disability is permanent, you may qualify for federal assistance through the Canada and Quebec Pension Plans. Workers’ compensation plans are also available in each province and territory; these plans provide medical, financial, and rehabilitative assistance to workers who have a disability due to a work-related accident or illness. Some employers also provide disability income protection for their employees through group insurance plans. Medical insurance policies include disability coverage; the extent of one’s coverage is dependent on the cost of one’s premium, the insurance company, and policy details. Provincial governments and territories also have social programs that provide some insurance against disability (Kapoor et al., 2023). If someone else is liable for your disability, in the case of an accident or through negligence, his or her insurance coverage may provide some benefit, or you may have a legal claim that could provide a financial settlement.

If your employer initiates your job change, be sure to discuss his or her obligations to you before you leave. Some employer responsibilities are prescribed by law. Other responsibilities are prescribed by union contract, if applicable, and some are conventions or courtesies that your employer may—or may not—choose to extend.

Severance is compensation and benefits offered by your employer when you are laid off. Under Canadian federal law, an employee who has completed at least 12 consecutive months of continuous employment prior to  their layoff or dismissal has the right to collect severance (Employment and Social Development Canada, 2024). Please see the information provided by the Government of Canada on Severance pay. Your employer is also not required to “pay” for your remaining sick days or vacation days or to extend your benefits, including retirement contributions or life insurance, unless specified in a contract.

Employment Protection

Federal and provincial laws govern relationships between employers and employees. A large part of employment law addresses hiring and firing issues as well as working conditions. You should be familiar with the laws that apply where you work (as they differ by province and sometimes by county) so that you understand your responsibilities to your employer.

Workers can sue a company for wrongful discharge—that is, for being fired for any reason barred by an employment law. Employers often seek to protect themselves from suits by requiring terminated employees to sign a form releasing the company from liability.

Companies have ethical standards for dealing with the hiring and firing of employees, but they may also have informal practices for encouraging unwanted employees in good standing to leave. Employment laws cannot protect workers against some unethical practices, but they have clauses that prohibit retaliation against employees who invoke those laws or enlist government assistance to enforce them. The laws also protect whistleblowers who report employer infractions to government authorities.

The federal government provides employment insurance through the Employment Insurance program to employees who lose their jobs through no fault of their own (Government of Canada, 2016). You must meet eligibility requirements to qualify, and the benefits are limited, although they may be extended in certain circumstances.

Your job and eventually your career will play many roles in your life. It will determine how you spend your time, who you spend your time with, where you live, and how you live. It will probably be a primary determinant of income and therefore of how much you can spend, save, and invest. How you chose to spend, save, and invest is up to you, and your financial decisions can have far-reaching consequences. The more you know and the more you understand, the more you can make decisions that can allow you to realize your dreams.

REFERENCES

Employment and Social Development Canada. (2024). Termination, Layoff or Dismissal. Retrieved from: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/jobs/workplace/federal-labour-standards/termination.html.

Government of Canada. (2016). “EI Regular Benefits—Overview.” Retrieved from: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/ei-regular-benefit.html.

Kapoor, J., Dlabay, L., Hughes, R., Stevenson, L., and Kerst, E. (2023). Personal Finance. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson.