Canadians told us why they changed jobs during COVID. Here’s how their lives have changed since

Of the numerous modifications that got here from of the COVID-19 pandemic, one which many Canadians can relate to is the impact it had on their work life.

Sometimes known as the “Great Resignation,” employees left their jobs for quite a lot of causes, whether or not it was for a more healthy work surroundings, an escape from the stress of COVID-19 or just an opportunity to strive one thing totally different.

In late 2021, CTVNews.ca requested Canadians to share their tales about how they modified jobs in the course of the pandemic.

CTVNews.ca caught up with a few of these individuals to see the place they’re now and ask whether or not the choice they made was the suitable one.

ALISON FINKELSTEIN

Alison Finkelstein of Thornhill, Ont., left her grocery store job to review medical workplace administration at George Brown College.

The pandemic, she informed CTVNews.ca over the cellphone, was tough for grocery retailer employees — a buyer as soon as threw a chocolate bar at her from throughout the conveyer belt, whereas one other screamed at her after being requested to tug up their masks.

About midway by way of faculty, Finkelstein discovered work as an informal ward clerk at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre earlier than shifting part-time to the cardiovascular intensive care unit at Toronto General Hospital.

She graduated from George Brown with honours in May 2022 and located full-time work as an administrative assistant within the multi-care kidney clinic.

Alison Finkelstein

Finkelstein beloved working on the ICU, however the mom of 5 youngsters wanted full-time hours.

And regardless of the challenges of going again to highschool after being a stay-at-home mother for therefore lengthy, Finkelstein stated it was value it.

“If you told me five years ago before the pandemic that I would end up working in a hospital, I would have laughed at you because I wouldn’t have believed it,” she stated. “It’s my dream come true.”

LORI BODNER

Winnipeg instructor Lori Bodner took the chance in the course of the pandemic to strive her hand at electrical work, a transfer she had already thought of for a while.

She enrolled at Red River College and is now a Level 2 apprentice, with extra college developing in November, and continues to separate her time between educating and dealing as an electrician.

“It’s just stimulating because if one job is taxing for whatever reason, the next day I’m at the other one,” Bodner informed CTVNews.ca in a cellphone interview.

Asked if she feels she made the suitable resolution, Bodner replied, “Absolutely.”

“I think this decision saved my life,” she stated.

MATT CUMMINGS

During the pandemic, Westville, N.S., resident Matt Cummings relocated to Terrace Bay, Ont., after leaving the now closed Northern Pulp mill.

He informed CTVNews.ca in a cellphone interview that he would have stayed if he may, however being so distant and with younger youngsters, he determined to return to Nova Scotia.

Cummings labored quite a lot of odd jobs at a sawmill, in rubbish assortment and at a name centre earlier than touchdown work at Michelin tires.

He ultimately left to search for one thing with extra safety and comparable pay, discovering a job the place he works with individuals with particular wants.

He nonetheless feels that the closure of the pulp mill occurred “needlessly,” uprooting the lives of many individuals within the forestry sector.

Having been laid off on the mill, Cummings stated he did not wish to undergo that once more and felt that jobs in well being care, being in such excessive demand, weren’t going wherever anytime quickly.

“This career is one that I will spend the rest of my life doing,” he stated. “It’s easy on the body, it’s easy on the mind and it’s very rewarding every day. You know you’re helping people who have high needs, so along with the job security, it’s also very fulfilling work, as well.”

Natalie Cousineau

NATALIE COUSINEAU

Natalie Cousineau made the tough resolution to go away her job as an administrative assistant at a dental workplace after the daycare her kids attended closed in the course of the pandemic.

Giving her employer the inexperienced gentle to switch her, Cousineau, who lives within the Barrhaven neighbourhood of southern Ottawa, stated she discovered work at an workplace near her house however needed to juggle that with caring for her younger kids.

She informed CTVNews.ca in a cellphone interview that she began in search of distant work and located a job with a health-care group.

Cousineau now works for Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada serving to to plan journeys for ministers.

Having discovered that work-life steadiness, Cousineau says she is lucky to have a job with the flexibleness to look after her kids at house if want be.

“It was a blessing in disguise in a weird way, how the universe works,” she stated. “It works in mysterious ways and it was a blessing for myself and my family, because now my son is in school. They’re very flexible with my work schedule.”

CHRIS KNIGHT

Laid off in March 2020 from his job at a store that focuses on gears, Chris Knight relied on the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB).

A number of months later, the Coquitlam, B.C., resident discovered work as a store helper however at a lowered pay price.

He informed CTVNews.ca in an electronic mail he labored in that position for a few years and was even promoted to a supervisory position.

But he says it did not include a pay increase, so he left.

“The place I was hired at turned out to be a toxic workplace. Had I known that going in, I probably would have kept looking for employment elsewhere,” he stated.

“That in itself would be a different story involving how employers in this country discriminate against immigrant workers. I’m not an immigrant, but I have worked at places with fair-sized immigrant workforces, and quite frankly, I do not like what I see when employers underpay and abuse hard-working people who are trying to improve their lives in their new country.”

If he had the selection, Knight stated he would nonetheless be on the gear store.

He now works as a labourer within the shipbuilding trade in North Vancouver, the place he stated they’re constructing a few navy ships and a few coast guard vessels.

“The work is exciting, and no two days are the same,” he stated. “It’s quite fascinating to be able to watch the process as these huge ships are being constructed.”

Jodi Morello

JODI MORELLO

A profession change had all the time been on her thoughts, but it surely wasn’t till pandemic restrictions closed the eating places she labored at that Jodi Morello of Toronto determined to take the prospect.

After spending a while on CERB, she discovered a job in the summertime of 2020 doing housekeeping at a long-term care house in Scarborough.

She informed CTVNews.ca in a cellphone interview that she additionally labored for a bit at North York General Hospital, however could not steadiness out her two schedules.

Michael Garron Hospital employed her final summer season. Morello continues to work there and the long-term care house.

“I love my job. There’s lots of opportunities to move up,” she stated.

Working within the long-term care house, she stated she feels a way of goal. And with restrictions throughout COVID-19, she stated for some residents, she often is the final particular person they see.

The hospital, in the meantime, can supply one thing totally different every day, whether or not it is seeing new child infants, working within the morgue, or spending time within the psychological well being space or the emergency division.

Although she places in wherever between 52 and 60 hours every week, generally pulling two shifts in at some point, the cash she makes means she is going to lastly be capable to repay her pupil loans, Morello stated.

Among the numerous optimistic modifications in her life since altering jobs, Morello stated she managed to stop smoking, would not drink as usually in comparison with her time within the restaurant trade and her psychological well being has improved.

She additionally has donated to totally different organizations, together with animal shelters, meals banks and a youth shelter she stayed at when she was youthful. That similar shelter shared her story in three elements in the course of the pandemic.

“If it wasn’t for the pandemic I would not have been able to get my foot in the door to open up a whole new world of possibilities, something I’m not used to, but I was ready to give it a try,” she stated.

With recordsdata from The Canadian Press. CTV News is a division of Bell Media, which is a part of BCE Inc.