With 50,000 jobs lost in B.C. since last fall and job opportunities few and far between, many new graduates have been left without prospects.
But not all industries will be affected equally by the impact of the recession. For some students, today's economic environment is optimistic.
For graduates looking for work, health care is a growing industry. There are presently thousands of job vacancies in health care. With an aging society, there is bound to be many jobs available well into the future.
Erin Mowat hasn't even graduated yet, but the doors have already opened to her future career.
Within 48 hours of her last class, Mowat was hired. That's the result of being in a high-demand profession like nursing.
"It feels right, it feels like where I'm supposed to be. It's something that I was working towards for four years," Mowat said. "I put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into it, so to finally be at that place is very exciting."
For nurses, no time is better than now to find a job.
"They all have jobs," new nurse Angela Robertson said. "I do not know one nurse who does not have a job right now."
The same can be said about retail, hospitality, and education -- industries that will surely grow in the next couple of years. And although construction has dramatically dropped with the weakened economy, that doesn't mean it is a dying industry.
"In the next six years we've got to fill about 33,000 jobs in British Columbia," Greg Baynton of the Vancouver Island Construction Association said. "I would say 20 per cent of our current workforce is moving into retirement."
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Jim Beatty
