Mar 26, 20153 min read

IDEAL CANDIDATE

I just saw this fun job ad for an outdoor school near Vancouver. The job required a minimum of two years experience working in “nature-based mentoring” and a wilderness first-aid certificate. They also preferred people with a bachelor’s or master’s degree in education or environmental science as well as a host of other experience and training. Like most jobs the ad did not specify a wage, saying only that compensation would be based on availability and experience.

So I wrote to the program telling them that I have a degree in communication and another in education, with a background in science (and gave them evidence of this). I explained that I have ten years experience working with kids in a daycamp setting and am currently volunteering with a mentoring program. I explained that I was born and raised in Vancouver, that I’ve gone camping regularly for the last thirty years, and have even worked as a tree-planter in the North. I suggested that I was, as a result, quite knowledgeable and, in fact, at home out of doors – even in harsh weather and under difficult conditions. I told them I’d be happy to acquire wilderness first-aid certification and any other requirements. I also assured them I would have whatever availability they needed, that my schedule was totally open and that I was thrilled to be able to be fully devoted to their awesome program. Finally, I enquired about pay.

They wrote back quickly to inform me that, based on my experience and availability, I could expect an offer between $12.50 and $15 per hour.

Now, realize that this well above minimum wage and will be considered by many an amazing opportunity. In this economy the school will likely get dozens, and maybe even hundreds, of highly qualified applicants.

But for some perspective let’s compare this with my first paid job, back in 1998. Myself and a handful of others were hired on at a summer daycamp for kids in Vancouver. We were without any certification, experience, or higher education, and they paid us all $11 per hour. As it turns out, according to the Bank of Canada, inflation alone (at 1.8% annually) makes that $11 per hour I was making in 1998 equivalent to $16 today.

I hope you find that as shocking as I did. (If you didn’t, go back and read it again. Just to be clear, the only reasonable response is for you to both literally and figuratively shit your pants, like I did. Only once you’ve done so may you resume reading.) As far as I can tell, this organization isn’t offering registered teachers with graduate degrees a wage competitive with a zero skill, zero experience, student job of almost twenty years ago. This isn’t even close to a living wage. More than that, what they are offering here is the total compensation for what I imagine to be their ideal candidate: a local with decades of relevant life-experience, ample education (including multiple degrees), and a decade of related work experience. Of course they have no union, there is no job security, they are not offering a comprehensive dental or medical plan, and there is no pension plan either.

In case you think this is an isolated instance, I know people who work at a daycamp in Ontario. Everyone on this team has multiple degrees and are registered teachers. At their place of work they all have temporary contracts, earn $15 per hour, and are prohibited from working any overtime. And this is no small, independent outdoor school they work for. This place has piles of cash: the organization’s administrators, for instance, all earn six figures (this is public information) and the operation spend tens of millions of dollars regularly renovating and expanding their real estate holdings.

This, I assure you, is a national problem and one I hear no body ever talking about. I don’t even understand how any of this is even legal, but this is where we’re at.