I have had a lot of trouble getting a permanent job that uses my degree. I find applying for jobs unpleasant and stressful. Sometimes I spend a couple days writing a custom cover letter and resume, getting someone to proof read it, only to never hear back. It feels like my efforts go unrewarded.
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It's not you. It is the economy, which is still struggling in this pandemic. When the economy is not strong, not many companies really want to hire. They don't even have that many opening positions to begin with. So, take it easy, try to improve your skills by learning online or doing other personal projects that make your resume stand out. Eventually, luck will go your way.
@JoeStrazzere Computer Science. Canada. A job that uses my degree or skill-set. There are agencies and recruiters in my profession. University's planning office had no help to offer when I asked.
Look for remote work that pays some better than what you are getting now. Use that to build experience. Repeat. The experience will help you find a job as you won't be fresh out of school.
@JoeStrazzere I go on Indeed or LinkedIn and search "junior developer" or the like (with location set to my current city). One of my friends said he got an internship through a recruiting agency, then they hired him full time. The other works in a different field.
As an aside, I had a bad experience with the same recruiting agency my friend got his job with. The recruiter advised me to lie in the interview, and lied to me about how long an interview would take. He also advised me there are no entry level professional jobs in my location. After this and similar experiences, I'm a bit skeptical when it comes to recruiters.
@Pelgriminal Some things that might be helpful: Networking is king. Go talk (or write mails) to your professors from your degree (they know lots of people in the industry and if they recommend you that's a great foot in the door). Same goes for your colleagues that graduated with you. Go to programmer meetups and talk with people there. See about programming contests organised by companies in the area. See if people who do coding dojos or the like need another teacher/helper. Depending where you are not everything might exist, but these are all relatively common.
The best goals are ones that work best for you personally. Some people may be able to apply for 30+ jobs a day, others may have a hard time apply for 1 a day (although if you're applying for 30 a day while you have another job or while you're studying, then you're probably barely even reading the job description, which may make sense if you're desperate). See how many you're comfortable applying to a day, then set a goal based on that.
As a side note, software developers are in quite high demand in many places in the world (probably including Canada, although perhaps not so much in smaller cities or towns). At entry level it may be a bit more difficult, but you still probably shouldn't have too much difficulty getting interviews for jobs vaguely matching what you studied and requiring, say, 2-3 years experience or less (and passing interviews involves knowing the company, knowing how to answer interview questions and usually knowing algorithms as well).
I'm voting to close this question because finding motivation and setting goals seems more about psychology than the workplace. Although I think there is potentially a good question or two that can spin off from this one, like "How much time should I spend per job application?" or even "How can I best approach a job search?" (which is quite broad, but might be okay). Also, for searching vs applying, spending a minute or two reading the job spec should give you a reasonable idea whether you'd be a decent fit - from there you can read it in more detail to confirm this and start the application.
The computer science field is extremely broad. Have you thought of narrowing your search down to specific strengths or interests? Consider whether you are looking at working in web development, mobile application development, embedded development, or DevOps?
Discussion on question by Pelgriminal…
Discussion on question by Pelgriminal…