I graduated a year ago with a 2:1 from De Montfort University, in Creative Writing and Journalism. I went home after university and had my sights on doing some travelling, so I worked as a kitchen assistant and tried to save some money. However, circumstances changed, my sister was moving to London, so the first new adventure to crop up was one that could potentially see me pursuing a career in writing. I snatched up the opportunity, naively ignoring my lack of experience.
So here I am exploring the difficulties of finding work, specifically for graduates, although I'm sure there are many who can relate to unemployment at some point in their lives and just how infuriating it can become.
What does this mean for young people today?
Recent statistics, in July 2016, show that 8.81 million people aged between 16 to 64 are 'economically inactive' (which means that they are not working/not seeking/not available to work.) And whilst this figure seems quite high, unemployment has stood at its lowest in eleven years. In July 2016, 31.81 million people were employed, a very promising statistic for society and the country's economy.
According to Graduate Labour Market Statistics: 2015, 66.2% of Graduates, aged between 16-64, were in high skilled Employment, but that isn't to say that they have a role that they want. Whilst 20.9% of graduates were in low-skilled employment.
It's beneficial to attain higher qualifications for securing a job in a high skilled role.
However, I am one who can vouch for the struggles of unemployment, with a degree, longing for a high skilled job. Endless hours of scrolling through job sites. The constant re-checking my CV to ensure that it reads well.
It gets very frustrating, I write cover letter after cover letter, with the nagging thought in the back of my mind saying 'you aren't good enough for this job', 'it might say training can be provided, but let's face it you don't have experience and they don't want you!' And then I think back to something my father said to me, how he saw his boss simply picking the first CV's from the pile and throwing the rest in the bin, without even looking at them.
This isn't easy to find supporting evidence of. However, I did find an interesting article, detailing a breakdown of how to application process works. According to Ere Media, 100 people will complete an application for a job, 75 of those CV's will be screened out by either the ATS or a recruiter. From there, the remaining 25 applications will be seen by the hiring manager, 4 to 6 will be invited for an interview, 1 to 3 of those will then be invited for a final interview, whereby the company then offers the job to the right candidate.
The odds are tough!
The most infuriating part for me is my lack of experience, I feel that perhaps my university course should have offered experiences that employees would find appealing. Failing that I feel like I should have attained a placement year whilst at university. But now I stand with a degree and limited experience. Longing for experience!
The time is ticking for predominantly searching for writing roles. I have to pay bills. Finding employment in other jobs, such as low-skilled roles, means that I have less time to search for a job that I want. I know this is the real world, and sometimes you have to do things you don't like, but I can already feel motivation and passion for writing being sucked out of me.
Are there too many courses and not enough employment opportunities for students and their dream jobs?
During my A-Levels many students found themselves being told that they were 'smart enough' and 'should go to university', to better themselves and their futures. But unless there's a demand for employees in your specialised fields, such as IT and Engineering, then there's a good chance you are not where you want to be.
Should the lack of employment for graduates be addressed?
Surely creating a generation of people forced to do something they aren't passionate about will encourage unmotivated and disengaged employees.
