Nearly a year after graduating from Carleton University with a degree in engineering physics, Surya Nareshan is still struggling to find employment.
Nareshan, who lives in Ottawa, has applied for dozens of positions since May — mostly in software engineering and optics. While he’s made it through multiple rounds of interviews, including elaborate proficiency testing, he hasn’t yet found a permanent job.
“I’ve applied to 80-plus jobs at this point, and often you don’t even hear back,” the 24-year-old told CBC News.
With the latest numbers showing that unemployment is up among youth, a sizeable share of the increase in Canada’s overall unemployment rate since April last year is due to new job seekers — young people and recent graduates like Nareshan — who are spending more time looking for work, according to an analysis by RBC Economics.
Nareshan said he expected that…
