Youth Unemployment

Hey folks!

So I haven't blogged in absolutely ages. In fact, it’s been over a year. During this time I’ve been mulling over whether or not to start again, many of you have encouraged me to reconvene so here I am, making a start on my lunch break at work. I find I have 101 other things to do when I’m not at work so I figured I might as well try whilst I’m already in my productive zone. However, I’m having a busy day after a client meeting this morning and my mind is all over the joint so I apologise in advance because this blog post is rather rushed and unstructured and doesn’t flow all that smoothly. I promise I’ll work harder on the next one…

Since Uni finished back in June, the main thing that was constantly on my mind until a few months back, was employment. Finding a ‘good job.’ So I figured that it'd be the logical place to resume... The topic of today's discussion is youth employment, or, youth unemployment, whichever way you want to look at it.

First thing that I want to question is 'does education prepare young people for the world of work?' I realise that although most people follow the typical course of progression - school, college, university then paid employment. Others depart from the academic path a fair deal sooner, either straight out of school or after out of college. Others mix and match, e.g. apprenticeships. Thus, it is hard to generalise when people have significantly differing experiences. So, are the essential skills, which are required for work, developed through education? Well the statistics indicate not, youth unemployment has been soaring in the present recession. It seems every time I pick up a paper I find another article informing me that youth unemployment figures are, yet again, on the rise. Last time I checked, the figures stood at about one million. Let me just repeat that, ONE MILLION young people are out there looking for work… Scary. I feel blessed to have such a great job. Here is an interactive map showing the UK’s rates if you’re interested. Figures are worst up North, but there are some London boroughs, primarily Eastern and Northern that are also suffering.

So why is this the case? Are schools really failing us? In my opinion and from my experience, public schools, on some level, are. It seems that those who are privileged enough to go to a grammar or private school come out on top with regards to securing employment. Comparatively, a large proportion of young people who go to public schools are either unemployed or underemployed (we'll discuss underemployment shortly). Contrarily, more young people who go to private schools are working in a graduate role, respective to the public school attendees. (Please don’t complain that I am being unfair in saying that, and you or your friends are an exception, because ultimately, you can’t argue with the stats.) When I personally compare myself to those of my well off friends I find I am somewhat deficient in two things - eloquence and confidence. Both of which I am working on. It seems that the government have also finally picked up on this little snippet of information. This article refers to how there are now plans to make public speaking lessons part of the national curriculum in public schools to prevent this disadvantage. But is it enough? Can an hour a week in another, probably badly taught lesson, along with others like PSHE, really make a difference, compared to a schooling system which teaches and prepares students to be the future leaders of the country?! I’m sceptical, the outcome remains to be seen.

But on the flip side I suppose that you could argue that the individual is in control of their own life and if they don’t make the effort to seek personal development and acquire the skillset they need for jobs it’s their own doing. Many people are filtered out of the process at the application stage – finding a job is like a number of funnels in a row...

Unfortunately that’s the best picture I could find after a quick Google. But you get the idea, though, notably, there are many different stages to get through, not just the two – in some cases tens of thousands of applicants get filtered into one successful candidate. The competition for certain jobs is FIERCE. In fact, it's pretty darn fierce for most jobs. To the point, that many people won’t even attempt to apply. They rule themselves out for a position… I mean, yeah, the figures are against you but like the lottery – “you gotta be in it, to win it.”

Now unemployment is one thing and underemployment is another. This is primarily the case for university students. Without questioning the quality of the educational establishment, it is obvious that many individuals settle for something that is 'beneath them.' For example, if you’ve completed a degree in whatever subject, it simply would not be worth your while to be stuck working the tills at a supermarket. You just don’t need a degree to do such a menial job. But I mean a lot of people are in a position that they need a job, regardless of what it might beI mean. Either way, it’d be pretty sucky if after three years slaving at the books and spending 9K/27K (depending on when you go/went to uni) and additional living costs, you had to settle for something you could have secured without needing to have gone through the hassle. I mean, on top of that, after studying so hard and learning so much, surely, the person/people in question would get bored with the lack of mental stimulation… I don’t know about anyone else, but I got bored sick with weekend work in retail throughout my degree. It just wasn’t challenging enough for me. But then I get bored easily…

I do agree that applying for graduate jobs was such a pain in the rear end. I use spent weeks applying for between one and ten jobs a day initially. Part of it stemmed from the fact that I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do and where I wanted to work. My applications must have had something good about them as I secured a handful of interviews. It did take me a number of interviews before I developed a knack for them though, after a while, I understood that they were simply a logical process that could be prepared for. Most of the graduate jobs out there involve a series of different stages – all of which can be prepared for – normally the process follows a sequence similar to this: 

• Application form encompassing a number of essay type questions or alternatively submitting a CV and cover letter.
• Online testing – typically maths and English but occasionally also inductive reasoning.
• Telephone interview.
• Assessment centre – a number of different tasks over the course of a day – group tasks, one on ones, retesting, presentations etc.
•  Finally, a one-to-one interview.

Of course there are variations in this depending on the company in question, there could be more or less stages. Now, the question is, are employers too picky? Of course, in the current economic climate, they are in the position of power and mostly, employers are able to call the shots. On the one hand, they are perfectly within their right to seek the candidates who are best suited to the roles that have available and surely, they can identify a suitable prospective employee with ease. But when it gets to the point that multiple applicants are all able to fill the role – they are able to pick one who has additional, unrequired skills. Personally I think this is unfair. Imagine you’d been through the epic process and were being considered for the job next to someone identical in achievements and the likes – but he/she played violin and you were a tad tone deaf – surely it would be unfair to select them over you on that basis? But it happens, it happens a lot. Things like a full driving license could be the tipping point, despite the job being located in the heart of the city where everyone uses the tube anyway! Debatably, on the other hand, I have heard of employers specifically seeking a certain attribute, for which they go through thousands of applicants for and do not find in the candidates, leading to the position remaining unfilled. The question I ask is can this not be resolved through training? There are entire companies dedicated to training and staff coaching – would it not be easier and cheaper to run some sessions?

All though the spectrum it seems that some form of careers services are available for students to utilise. But none of them seem informed. At school and college, the careers advisors would always regurgitate the conversation I had with them on paper, I don't need a transcriber, I can write for myself. When they did come up with recommendations it would always be the same old - become a teacher. The job I have now, I didn’t even know existed until I really delved into job searching. To some degree, the infamous job centre can be compared to a careers service… With my limited experience with the job centre – I went there for about a month or so before I got my internship, after which I secured a permanent job – are frankly quite incompetent for the role they are meant to play. They are judgemental, target driven, aspiration lowering, bored and simply uninterested individuals waiting for 5pm. Well, that’s the impression I got anyway. As a educated, intelligent woman with a decent skills set (not trying to blow my own trumpet here), I was absolutely SHOCKED to hear the things that came out of some of the consultants mouths – “oh wow, you’ve got an entire years worth of experience at M&S, well done!!! Now, why don’t you apply for jobs in retail?!” was one of the atrocities I heard on multiple occasions all coming from different mouths. I mean, get real, are you telling me, I spent years of my life pursuing a good education and you want me to apply for jobs I can get without the education?! You haven't even given me a chance to get a graduate job!!! With all due respect, get lost.

I think the key is persistence, I read something in the paper on my way home last night and in fact tonight too – there was a case study of young people and their endeavours in trying to secure employment… One of them described the experience as “soul destroying,” which I think is a pretty fair depiction. If I remember correctly she had applied to about 3000 jobs and was still searching. It's really quite depressing. When I was in that process of applying for jobs, I'm not gonna lie, there are days you really just want to give up and wonder if it is even worth it. You hit a new low. Part of the issues boils down to the image below, a reinforcing circle… Employers really don’t like gaps in your CV too – I got asked (in an unsuccessful interview) what I’d been doing for the 2 months after graduating from uni – like what? I’m not entitled to take a break? I'm not entitled to go on holiday and enjoy my summer? And to be fair that was a pretty cheeky question considering they’d taken about six weeks to get in touch with me after I'd applied too! 

Now when it comes to experience, internships seem to be the way forward. I'm not entirely sure where I stand on internships, whilst they are a great way of getting some experience on your CV, exposure to the working world and developing your skills base, it really is a form of exploitation. Often, after overcoming the hurdle of securing the internship initially, interns are completing jobs of a full time employee with no structure, no development plan, no targets, nothing, just a to do list - and not much guidance either. It's incredibly difficult to support yourself on the measly expenses that they provide. In fact, some organisations don't even offer that! The same applies for apprenticeships - the qualification that comes with these are regularly unrecognised and the individuals struggle to move on... But it can definitely be the stepping stone to your future career. For a lucky few. 

So, what's the answer - is it this? Should any one over the age of 50 have to resign? Will this solve the problem? I doubt it. Some serious investment into today's youth needs to be made. Money thrown around on one track minded careers guidance isn't enough... What do you think the best solutions are? I mean there is a way out of this whole thing – create your own job. Take a risk, set up your own business. It has never been easier to trade, the world is becoming flatter with the internet and various technologies which were never before available. It could be as simple as buying products and selling them for a profit on eBay... 

Anyway, I’ll leave you with something that I thought up a few days ago that has been motivating me – “realistically, you should never be living your dream, your dreams should always be bigger than reality – aspire to be better!”

DON'T GIVE UP. Remember, constant dripping of water wears away stone. 

Over and out,

-K