ssues & ideas EDITOR ANGELA HOLUBOWICH THE VOICE, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2013 7 Harsh aftermath of student life College students are subjected to long hours, multiple deadlines and finding a career tudent pay expectations ‘unrealistic Students expectations are setting them up for failure with the belief that their degree will make all the difference in their post- college paycheque: study By BILL EVERITT 0, you’re in school to get paid the big bucks, but do you know what you are actually worth? A recent study by Sands & As- sociates, a Vancouver-based bankrupt- cy firm, indicates a huge gap between what students expect to earn within five years of graduating and reality. teat riOW = Pay Ge The survey sample was students un- der the age of 25 at the University of B.C. and Simon Fraser University. Of the 350 voluntary respondents, 73 per cent of students surveyed expected to earn $50,000 or more within five years of graduating. Only 23 per cent of British Columbi- ans earn that much, with half of the working population earning less than $30,000 per year. According to Langara College ac- counting and financial management co-op instructor Sean Padley, graduat- ing students have an inflated sense of self-value. “Employers basically tell me that students race through school, then have the expectation that their aca- demics will lead them to their career job immediately, and that is just unre- alistic,” he said. Students don’t take the time to in- vestigate what they need, such as work experience and job-specific skills, to secure the job they want, he said. “Being a degree student gives some people the idea that entry-level jobs are beneath them,” said Padley. “Un- less you know someone at the firm, pretty much all employers won’t hire someone with zero experience into a higher-level position.” Students need to do their research at the beginning of school to get a sense of what they’re really worth in today’s market, he said. Proper preparation before engaging in the job application process is also crucial to getting a career job when you AID — i REGISTRARS orrics Ottawa hosts skills sum- mit: most B.C. work is in trades and resource sector By NADIM ROBERTS munity Colleges (ACCC), of which Langara is a member, hosted a Na- tional Skills Summit last week in the FINANCIAL T: Association of Canadian Com- graduate. “Tt is much to your advantage to net- work in-person before you apply for that job,” he said. “Ultimately they will bring you in for an in-person interview, so if you can preclude that by getting face-to-face time, that’s invaluable.” Blair Mantin, vice-president at Sands & Associates, agreed with Pad- ley. “Nobody knows a thing about what their rights or their resources are until their backs are against the wall,” he said. Michael Curry, a second-year com- puter science student, said his parents paid his tuition and he wouldn’t know how much he would make until he fin- ished school at UBC. programs for em- ployment. Many believe that as the baby boomers hit re- tirement age the generation of Ca- nadians entering the workforce to replace them will not be adequately trained for the SEAN PADLEY Co-op accounting instructor 66 Being a degree student gives some people the idea that entry level jobs are beneath them Be flexible on job choice ed a AMRIK VIRK Minister of Advanced Education cae hopes of presenting solutions to the widely publicized skills gap in Canada. “The National Skills Summit was or- ganized to bring senior leaders from across economic and social sectors, some key government leaders and presidents, CEOs of member colleges to share perspectives on the challeng- es, successes and opportunities and possible go-forward actions to address the skill gap,” said Michéle Clarke, di- rector of government relations and policy research for the ACCC. According to a global skills index re- leased by recruiting firm Hays PLC, these jobs will be found in the trades and resource industries. The summit is timely in light of re- cent outcry from business groups, la- bour consultants and politicians across Canada. Critics are claiming that the labour market is heading in a ruinous direc- tion due to labour shortages and a lack jobs that are be- coming available. The Canadian Chamber of Com- merce has predicted there could be more than one million people unquali- fied for available positions by 2021. In a commentary sent to B.C. media outlets in August, Amrik Virk, B.C Minister of Advanced Education, said that “British Columbians must be flex- ible about going where the jobs are.” But some believe the labour short- age fears are exaggerated. A report written by Derek Burleton, the deputy chief economist at TD sug- gested that Canada’s job market is not in as much trouble as some critics may think. “While we find no evidence of an im- minent crisis, Canada can do much bet- ter to improve the efficiency of its la- bour market,” the report said. Following the summit, the ACCC plans to “explore the possibility of a na- BILL EVERITT phot Prove of students graduating from the right Students line up at the office shared by the registrar and financial aid. PerfectEssay.ca: road to possible expulsion Custom essay-writing services aim to convince students that what they offer is not plagiarism BY KENDRA WONG ing websites face serious academic consequences. People from PerfectEssay.ca, a U.S.- based essay writing service for all post- secondary levels, have been seen dis- tributing flyers on campus and along W. 49th Avenue over the past two weeks. On the website, students specify the topic of the paper, type of paper — es- say, lab report or term paper, among others — number of pages, sources and the deadline. The website then gener- ates a price for the essay. The essay is emailed to the student Lieve students using essay-buy- who can submit if to instructors as their own work. An unnamed source with the com- pany said the essays are not plagia- rism. “Plagiarism is when paragraphs are being taken from someone else’s work or the paper has been exposed to the Internet,” said the source. “You pay for the paper. It is ethical because it be- longs to you.” PerfectEssay.ca papers range in price from $13 to roughly $75 per page. Langara administration warned stu- dents against buying custom-written essays. Maggie Ross, manager of student conduct and judicial affairs, said pur- chased essays are considered plagia- rism according to Langara’s code of academic conduct. “T don’t know how purchasing a pa- per that’s been prepared by someone else and then submitting it as your own isn’t plagiarism,” said Ross. “There’s no such thing as having someone else do your work and claim- ing that it’s plagiarism-free.” Clayton Munro, dean of student ser- vices, said via email that most instanc- es of academic misconduct occur in the fall semester — the most common of- fense being plagiarism. Munro has seen cases where stu- dents have submitted purchased es- says, but could not specify how often it occurred. Penalties for academic misconduct range from failing the assignment to expulsion. Stephanie Au-Yeung, a first-year ge- ography student, said students are not learning if they’re submitting work they did not do. “They’re not doing their own work,” she said. “Assignments are about understand- ing and if you request someone to do it for you, you can’t learn anything from the lecture or assignment.” tional campaign on the skills gap.” Perfect ESSAY. | Let Professionals write your papers! 00% CONFIDENTIAL AND SAFE! 00% CUSTOM ESSAYS 4) 0.09% PLAGIARISM FREE PAPERS! YOUR 15% First-time Discount Code: FIRST15 www.PerfectEssay.com Ao te Perfect Writing | Service | ¥ “\ bs | ham, KENDRA WONG photo PerfectEssay.ca has been blanketing the Langara Col- lege campus with flyers advertising “plagiarism-free” essays, which college officials warn against.