It hasn't been the best year for the Canadian job market (unless you live in Alberta), with growth rates hitting the lowest in a decade.
That means young professionals are forced to find innovative, and sometimes bizarre, ways to get noticed.
Robbie Cooke, for example, is so intent on finding a job in Vancouver that he will pay you to help him do so. The idea is simple: help Cooke successfully find a job, and he will pay you 10 per cent of his starting salary in cash. He even launched a website for his cause: helprobbiefindajob.com.
"I wanted to do something different," Cooke, 31, told The Huffington Post B.C. "I thought this idea up on my own and kept it in my back pocket in case I didn't find anything, and at this point I decided I might as well give it a shot."
Cooke, who has been looking for a job since he moved to Vancouver from the Prairies late last year, said his site has been "working very well."
Launched on Saturday, it has already taken Cooke "way further" than he imagined. Aside from job suggestions from both employees and employers, he's even been asked on a few dates (sorry, ladies, he's taken).
Cooke has a background in insurance and has also dipped into the marketing and creative industries. He said he is looking to work for a creative and innovative business.
Cooke is determined to find work in the city, because his close friends and family are based here, and he had a positive experience attending Trinity Western University in nearby Langley.
He thinks it's so hard to find a job because there are "a lot of people looking." That's no surprise, especially considering Vancouver was recently named the top city in North America for quality of living.
"A lot of people want to live out here," said Cooke. "It's definitely one of the nicest places in Canada to live."
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