Careers in municipalities: how a new initiative will spotlight possibilities for social sciences students

Working for Canada’s cities, towns, and regions can provide meaningful career opportunities for university graduates. But what kinds of roles exist – and how can today’s students prepare for them? That’s the question the Social Sciences Careers & Experiential Education team will answer through the Careers in Municipalities initiative.

The careers team has launched a survey asking municipal workers to share their workplace knowledge about the roles and career paths that may not be understood or recognized by today’s students. We know that Social Sciences students have the skills to be successful in municipal work, but may not know what’s out there. The survey will help to gather and relay information about the variety of full-time, ongoing roles in municipalities that best compliment the interests and priorities of the next generation of university graduates.

This initiative responds to recommendations by some of McMaster’s municipal partners the City of Hamilton, the City of Burlington, and other regional municipalities, who have often encouraged our instructors and staff to help students better student understand local government and its career opportunities. The importance of municipal career education to the ongoing vitality of local government has been an especially prominent theme at workshops hosted by the Civic Democracy project team CIVDEM@Mac, led by Political Science professor Karen Bird and PhD candidate Joanna Massie.

Profiling a greater range of rewarding career options is also a crucial part of meeting the needs of today’s university students. As a McMaster instructor and in my role as Manager of Social Sciences’ Careers & Experiential Education team, I regularly hear from students and parents how overwhelming the job market can seem to students in the Social Sciences and in similar disciplines.

Isabela Sipos, a recent McMaster Social Sciences graduate echoes this statement. “Students today are so capable and eager to get into the job market but are often unsure of what to look for — or don’t know the breadth of opportunities that exist.” Isabela is building on her own experiences with CityLab’s Semester in Residence as the student Research Assistant for the Careers in Municipalities initiative. She notes: “When it comes to municipal work, we most often hear about elected roles like mayor and councillor, or high-profile professions like police, firefighting, and teaching. But what about everything in between and beyond these roles?”

Municipal careers, while too often overlooked by students, have been identified as a growth area by our team. That’s because cities and regions often do want to hire job applicants with a university degree – and the related skills — while not necessarily restricting job postings to any particular discipline. This makes municipalities and local organizations intriguing as destinations for newly graduated job seekers, and also as potential employers for Social Sciences Co-op students.

To gather career option data, the questions on the Careers in Municipalities survey will ask municipal workers to identify the full-time and ongoing senior, mid-level and entry-level roles they think university students should know about, while also asking questions about the respondent’s own educational and career pathway. Any interested respondent working in the local public sector is welcome to contribute to the survey, though the survey will be especially promoted to people currently working for Ontario municipalities.

Data about career options gathered from the survey will be incorporated into digital textbooks and web pages. These will be available for use by students and instructors not only at McMaster but also at interested universities and high schools. We’ve been able to dedicate the resources to this initiative thanks to McMaster’s Open Educational Resources (OER) Grant, which supports the development and updating of open-access resources created for dual use both by McMaster courses and by the community at large.

Partners who complete the survey will be entered into their choice of one of four gift card draws, thanks to incentive resources provided by the OER Grant. The survey is not anonymous so that participants can share their stories and experiences and indicate their interest in further partnership, collaboration, or exploration.