Eight Years of School. Zero Job Offers,

I've completed two master's degrees and submitted more than 200 applications. I still can't find work.

- By Sadra Yageneh

EVERYONE'S SAYING IT, and I'm living it: the most educated cohort in history is also the most chronically underemployed. It can take years for new university grads to land a job in their field. And that's if they're lucky. I'm one of the displaced. I'm approaching 30, living in a one-bedroom apartment in Montreal with my wife, and I've spent more than eight years in school—all in order to break into the industry that I'm now, by every measure, more than qualified for. I have two master's degrees, a strong GPA from one of Canada's top universities and years of experience in finance, my chosen field. Yet, since August of last year, I've sent out more than 200 job applications and not one has led to even an entry-level interview on Bay Street.

In July, Statistics Canada reported that one in seven young job seekers can't find work. Nearly one in four unemployed Canadians has been job-hunting for more than six months. It's the highest level of long-term unemployment since 1998. We've invested tons of time, energy and money into finding work, but the return on that investment has virtually disappeared. A university education used to be a golden ticket to a stable, high-paying career, but now there are too many qualified grads crowding the market.