Why Getting Hired in Canada Feels So Hard Right Now (MP Garnett Genuis)

Applying everywhere and hearing nothing but crickets?

In this episode of the Thrive Careers Podcast, we break down why getting hired in Canada feels so hard right now—especially for young professionals and newcomers—and the practical strategy shifts that can help you start getting interviews again.

What you’ll learn (and apply immediately):

• Why entry-level hiring tightens first (“last in, first out”)—and what it means for your search
• The credential trap: why it happens and how to navigate it without starting over
• The #1 shift that changes everything: stop listing credentials, start proving skills
• How to get past ATS + gatekeepers with smarter, more customized applications
• Why “easy apply everywhere” backfires—and what to do instead
• When rural opportunities can give you a real advantage over crowded city markets
• A hopeful, realistic mindset for staying persistent in a tough economy

Memorable lines from the episode:

• “Explain your credentials in terms of the things you can do.”
• “Being interested in the things they’re interested in…goes a long way.”
• “Start as early as possible…life brings with it this responsibility curve.”

Guest (context + perspective):
Garnett Genuis is a Conservative Member of Parliament and Shadow Minister for Employment, focused on youth unemployment and improving pathways to work for newcomers.

Connect with Garnett Genuis:
Website/contact: https://garnettgenuismp.ca/contact/

X (Twitter): https://x.com/GarnettGenuis

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/garnettgenuismp/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MPGenuis/

LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/garnettgenuis

Single next step:
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Transcript

OLAJUMOKE FATOKI: Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Thrive Careers Podcast. My name is Olajumoke Fatoki, and this show is all about helping you go from career confusion to career clarity.

Today’s conversation is one I’ve been looking forward to, because we’re tackling something so many of you have messaged me about: Why does getting hired in Canada feel so difficult right now?

Our guest understands this from the policy angle and from an insider perspective—which I know many of you have been craving to hear.

So before we go further, I’d like to invite our guest to briefly introduce himself and share his background, and then we’ll get into it.

Over to you, Garnett.

GARNETT GENUIS: Thank you, Ola.

My name is Garnett Genuis. I’m a Conservative Member of Parliament and the Shadow Minister for Employment in our Conservative caucus. I’ve been speaking a lot about the unemployment crisis affecting young people in this country—low levels of employment, and the fact that many young people who are working are working outside of their field and struggling to align their studies and career plans with actual job opportunities.

In this role, my core job is to work on legislation and policy—to advocate to the government for policy changes that can help people of all ages get back to work.

But beyond policy, I also spend time talking with young people and employers. Those conversations have given me insights into what individuals can do to navigate these challenging times, even as I push for bigger changes that can open opportunities and remove barriers.

OLAJUMOKE FATOKI: Thank you so much for joining us today. I really appreciate you taking the time.

Before we dive into the career side, I’m curious—and I’m sure our listeners are too—what’s your story?

You’re a father of six. You’ve been in Parliament since 2015. You’ve chosen employment issues as a very specific lane. What drew you to this work, and why does it matter so much to you?

GARNETT GENUIS: Thank you—I appreciate the opportunity to share.

I’ll start with my family, because that shapes a lot of us in our career direction.

My father was a physician. Medicine wasn’t the career for me, but one thing he modeled was this connection between passion, vocation, and work. He loved what he did and cared deeply about his patients. He talked a lot about that passion and the issues he was working on.

I grew up in a family of five kids. Three became doctors. In my case, I took that same idea—work isn’t only about a paycheck. You want to connect providing for your family with something you care deeply about.

For me, that passion was politics.

My family has also been touched by international human rights abuses. My grandmother was a Holocaust survivor. So learning about politics—how badly things can go—was part of my upbringing and it informed my desire for public service.

After high school, I moved to Ottawa and studied public policy. Outside of school, I volunteered and got involved in activities related to politics. I ran for a couple of student union elections—didn’t win—but it was part of the process of refining my interests and building relationships.

Eventually, I got an internship in politics and built a career from there.

I was elected at 28—about 11 years ago. Getting elected can be challenging because you have to put a lot on hold to campaign. It’s a good job once you have it, but you have to be willing to take risks—sometimes earning less or even nothing for a period while you pitch yourself to voters.

Now I’ve been elected for 11 years, and I’m enjoying the work and continuing to grow in the role.

Since getting elected, I’ve also tried to create opportunities for young people who are now where I was. We take interns and volunteers in my office and try to give people a chance even if they don’t have political experience.

That’s good for employers too. If you only hire people with extensive experience, you can miss out on people who refresh the environment. And personally, it’s been rewarding to watch people who got their first job in politics through our office go on to do great things.

OLAJUMOKE FATOKI: Thank you for sharing that. I loved how you grounded your journey in family influence—and also how you mentioned it wasn’t always smooth. You tried things, didn’t get the desired results, and kept going. That matters.

Let’s get into what so many listeners are facing right now.

A lot of people have degrees, qualifications, even internships. They’re applying everywhere—and it’s crickets. Nothing.

What are you hearing on the ground? What’s actually going on in Canada’s job landscape?

GARNETT GENUIS: I think the employment challenges we’re seeing are downstream from broader economic challenges.

We need a dynamic where businesses can start and invest, and where major projects can move forward without being overly reliant on government.

What I hear from business leaders is that the tax and regulatory burden has made things very challenging. For young people, the impact is that they’re often “last in, first out.”

Employers’ willingness to hire young people often reflects their optimism about the future.

If I’m a business owner and I believe we’ll grow and expand in the next few years, I want a pool of people to draw from. That leads employers to hire summer students, interns, and entry-level employees because they can grow into roles as the business expands.

But if companies are dealing with rising costs, uncertainty, or downsizing, they’re less likely to hire for entry-level positions.

In our jobs plan released in the fall, our first priority was unleashing the economy. That includes repealing certain anti-development bills we see as barriers to major projects, and creating incentives to encourage investment and reinvestment in Canada.

We’ve proposed measures for specific sectors, and one commitment we put forward previously was no capital gains tax on gains immediately reinvested in Canada.

We also have proposals for broader tax reform to help our country grow and create more opportunities.

Another issue is immigration alignment. Immigration levels have been very high, but we’ve also failed to recognize credentials. That increases competition for entry-level roles. If someone arrives with skills they can’t use, they’re forced to compete for entry-level work against people already here.

We need more manageable levels and a real emphasis on filling gaps—rather than policies that intensify entry-level competition.

There are also gaps in training. It’s good to study what you love—but you want overlap between what you love and what the labour market needs. Try to find that overlapping space.

There are many vocations in high demand, but I don’t think young people always get enough encouragement to look at labour market needs and align their skill-building accordingly.

OLAJUMOKE FATOKI: Thank you. You mentioned policy recommendations and barriers.

Were young people—the people directly impacted—carried along in the recommendation process? Were their ideas considered?

GARNETT GENUIS: Yes.

Shortly after I took on this portfolio, we launched a campus tour with the theme: “Better or Worse?”—are you better or worse off than your parents’ generation?

We go to campuses with a banner that asks that question. It’s provocative. People stop and talk.

A lot of young people tell me they feel worse off than their parents’ generation. Two central issues driving that concern are jobs and housing.

That leads to policy discussions: what changes would give you hope you can get a good job and afford a home based on what you earn?

OLAJUMOKE FATOKI: Thank you.

On the employer side—are employers being brought along too, so they’re open to hiring young people and fresh graduates?

GARNETT GENUIS: I do have a lot of conversations with employers in this role.

It’s interesting to see both their challenges and the disconnects.

For many employers, the state of the economy matters—taxation, regulation. If employers are expanding, they hire. If they’re not, they don’t. And people entering the workforce are the ones who feel it most.

Some employers struggle more than others with hiring young people. Perceptions vary a lot.

Technology has also changed the hiring process. Online applications, AI—these can make things more challenging for both sides.

I spoke with an employer recently hiring for a role. They received over a hundred applications—many from people not in the country. A lot seemed like “easy apply” applications.

Whittling down a high volume of applications is time-consuming for employers. And on the other side, applying to hundreds of jobs is exhausting and frustrating for job seekers.

So there’s volume and frustration on both sides. Hopefully, tools will evolve to make the process better.

Another issue is relocation. Some regions have higher unemployment; others have lower unemployment. Employers in low-unemployment areas struggle to find people.

But if you live in Toronto or Vancouver, it’s not easy to take a job in a rural area where you don’t know anyone and the culture may be different.

So one question is: how do we bridge that gap and make relocation a realistic option for people who want it?

OLAJUMOKE FATOKI: Let’s talk about the credential trap.

I’m originally from Nigeria, and I’ve seen many people come with years of experience in their fields—but in Canada, they get stuck.

If someone listening is facing that, what options do they have? What have you seen work?

GARNETT GENUIS: Let’s talk policy first.

We need a system where people get clarity quickly on whether they’ll be able to use their credentials. Ideally, people would know in advance—before immigrating—what credential recognition will look like.

There are also provincial and federal distinctions. Credential recognition often happens at the provincial level, but we need more federal leadership.

There’s a Credential Recognition Fund in the department I’m the critic for. The government promised an additional fund on top of the current one. I think it would have made more sense to address effectiveness issues with the existing fund rather than creating two parallel vehicles meant to do the same thing.

Credential recognition has huge impacts. People arrive with higher-level credentials but end up applying for entry-level roles. That’s unfair to them, and it also increases competition for entry-level jobs.

For individuals, options depend on the credential.

In regulated fields—like certain healthcare professions—you must follow the licensing process. There aren’t many alternatives.

In other fields, it can be more informal. You may have skills that are harder to translate to employers here, or employers may have assumptions.

There’s an onus on employers to understand how skills transfer. But there’s also a practical step job seekers can take:

Explain your credentials in terms of the things you can do.
You can say, “I have this degree,” but what does that mean? What are you able to do?

Learning to translate a credential into concrete skills helps.

OLAJUMOKE FATOKI: If you could sit across from someone facing this challenge, what’s the one strategy shift that can change the game immediately?

GARNETT GENUIS: Different things make an impression on an employer.

It’s not just having credentials—it’s tying credentials to skills and experience, and showing passion.

Let me use politics as an example because I hire in that world.

If someone says, “I have a PhD in political science,” but they can’t explain what they’ve done in practical politics—campaigns, skills developed, what excites them—then they’re not necessarily an attractive hire.

But if someone comes in—maybe with an undergraduate degree, maybe a different field entirely, maybe no degree—and says, “These issues matter to me. I knocked doors. I got involved. I ran for student government—won or lost.” And they can explain the skills they built along the way—communication, persuasion, organizing—that matters more than the credential on paper.

OLAJUMOKE FATOKI: That’s powerful.

But many people only get to explain themselves once they reach interviews. How can people get past the gatekeepers—the ATS systems—to get in front of hiring managers?

GARNETT GENUIS: It depends on the person and the field.

But I’ll share a story about someone I hired.

Sometimes I get CVs that feel like they’re being sent to every MP’s office. If the application feels generic, it might still be a great person—but it connects less if I feel like I’m one of a hundred emails that day.

My staff screens these, and they know what’s interesting to me. They’re more likely to screen out the ones that don’t connect.

But one young man stood out for two reasons:

First, he mentioned he’d been following my work in Parliament.

Second, at the time I was reading a lot about Eastern Congo. I was the International Development Critic then and was learning about that situation.

He told me he was working in international development in Eastern Congo.

So here’s a guy from Alberta living in Eastern Congo, and I thought: I don’t know if I’ll hire you, but I absolutely want to talk to you. What did you learn? What can you share?

We connected. We had a conversation—personal and professional—and he ended up working for me, then moved into a more senior role in the Alberta government.

It’s an example of connecting your interests and passions with the employer’s.

If you’re pitching yourself, being genuinely interested in what they’re interested in—and connecting your experience to what they care about—goes a long way.

And that applies across industries. People in senior roles often talk publicly about what they’re working on. If you can pitch yourself in a way that authentically connects, it helps you stand out.

OLAJUMOKE FATOKI: What I hear is moving from generic applications to customized ones—understanding what employers care about and speaking their language.

GARNETT GENUIS: Exactly. And the key is authenticity.

It’s not just Googling someone and forcing a pitch. In his case, he was genuinely interested, and it created a real fit.

OLAJUMOKE FATOKI: Before we wrap up, hope matters as much as strategy.

What gives you hope right now? What makes you believe things can get better?

GARNETT GENUIS: Canada is a country of immense potential—natural resources, geography, and people. We have talented people from all over the world who want to be here, and strong educational opportunities.

One of the most tragic things is unrealized potential. But what gives me hope is that the potential is here.

Even on housing—Canada has more land than almost any country. On many issues, the potential exists.

We need policy changes, and that’s a focus of my work. But young people can also be persistent, seize opportunities, and stretch in ways they didn’t expect—maybe working in another part of the country, trying different types of work, or exploring new fields.

There’s still so much potential. We need to seize it.

OLAJUMOKE FATOKI: Thank you.

Final question: based on everything we discussed, what’s your final takeaway for listeners? And how can people connect with you?

GARNETT GENUIS: One thing I haven’t emphasized enough is this: Start as early as possible down the path you think might interest you.

If you have an opportunity as a teenager to volunteer, work part-time, or explore an interest—do it. You can always change course later.

If you take welding courses in Grade 10, maybe it becomes a career—or maybe you realize it’s not for you. But starting early with practical skills, work, and volunteering helps later.

Because life brings an escalating responsibility curve.

As you get older, you may marry, have kids, have more expenses. Maybe your parents need support. Responsibilities grow—and that’s natural and beautiful.

But if you don’t start early enough with career planning—if you think you have endless time before getting serious—it becomes harder to step into your ideal career once responsibilities pile up.

So my advice—good for tough economies and good for any time—is: Start early. Build toward fulfilling work while you have flexibility, so you can find meaning and joy rather than feeling trapped later.

As for connecting, I’m active across platforms—Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube. My office contact information is online as well.

And one last note: we’re very tied to the online world, understandably. But in-person, direct conversation still matters—especially because many employers may be from a different generation. Be willing to make the phone call, show up in person, and also make your pitch online.

OLAJUMOKE FATOKI: One last question—this is the last one: what advice do you have specifically for immigrants who feel frustrated right now?

GARNETT GENUIS: There’s a lot of variation in the situations people face.

We’ve talked about credential recognition and the challenges there.

Many people, when they immigrate, come to big cities—where unemployment is higher right now.

My advice would be: consider opportunities in rural parts of the country as well, if you haven’t before.

I’ve met people who came from big cities elsewhere, took an opportunity in a rural part of Canada, and ended up loving it. It might not be for you—but it might. Consider opportunities across the country.

Canada benefits from the wisdom and experience of people from different backgrounds and from all over the world.

If you’ve come from a place of real challenges—persecution or hardship—you bring life experience that can be relevant to your work.

Talk about your skills, and also your life experience—how it connects to your ability to do the job. Employers can find that compelling.

OLAJUMOKE FATOKI: Thank you so much, Garnett, for this conversation today. You broke down the issues clearly and shared advice people can actually use.

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe and share it with someone who feels like giving up—because there is still hope.

Until next time, everyone—keep thriving. Bye for now.

GARNETT GENUIS: Thank you so much. That was great.

[END OF EPISODE]