An Independent and Ignorant Inquest: How to Talk Yourself Up

***I feel I should warn you in advance that this post is really long...Much longer than I had originally intended...***

On the day that the new UK unemployment figures were due to be released, I heard a report on the radio saying that youth unemployment is the worst it's been for 20 years, and is only getting worse. Upon further research (BBC and Guardian articles) I found that around 20% of young people (16-24 years old) are unemployed and the number of youths that have been unenmployed for over 6 months is increasing, despite an overall decline in unemployment (8% down from 8.2% in the last quarter).

Now, 16-24 is the age group my good friends and I belong to, and though we largely belong to the more privelledged of society (we all went to good Unis and more than one of us is studying medicine related courses), we too recognise the difficulties of getting hired. I've already spoken about the competition for training contracts, and when a good friend of mine was employed by Deloitte (Top 10 Graduate Employer from now until the end of time), we threw him a party. "You get a party just for getting a job now?" an incredulous, over-40, permanently employed family friend asked me. The simple answer is "Yes, you do", and you probably deserve one too.So, what is responsible for this turn in fortune, what is anybody doing about it and, probably most importantly, what can you do to big yourself up and land on the much coveted 1^st step of your career ladder?

‘In the current economic climate’ is a phrase we hear a lot these days, but how much has the recession affected our opportunities? Well, according to the TUC, "prospects for young people deteriorated sharply when the recession started in 2008 and have been at 'crisis levels' ever since". So it is the recession then. Hardly surprising, as it was the private sector that a) caused the recession, and b) most people want to work for. I thought it was more money more problems? Anyway, the TUC go on to say that this dire situation has not been helped by the government cutting support for people out of jobs, and their representative on the radio said that the government had cut ‘essential’ programs that had shown proven benefits in the past.

Never fear though, as the government is apparently on it like a tramp on chips, assuring us that they won’t ‘underestimate [the situation] for a moment’ and are ‘committed to helping young people get the skills and experience they need to get a job’. They’ve introduced this new spangled Youth Contract thing, which I don’t 100% understand [despite my weeks of proof-reading training], but is basically meant to pay employers to hire youths by tempting them with wage subsidies. Hmmm. Well there's a link if you actually care.

Well, enough about the government and their boring, ineffective plans, let's talk about us (baby). What are the options, if any? Some smarty pants out there may be sitting there pointing out (to themselves) that there are actually many viable options for people willing to put in the effort. Well to that smarty pants I say this: not all options are viable for everyone. The world always needs more teachers, for example. But - besides the fact that not everyone is inclined to be a teacher – this generally requires another year of funding a course that many can’t afford. But many of those who could afford it, or could afford to take (another) year ‘out’, just want to get on with life. So, how to stand out from the crowd then.

Well, many of the points I mentioned in my previous Law post can be applied more generally, such as volunteering or doing an Internship or 3 (some unpaid but all useful). But again we’re back to the problem of those who have neither time nor money. If you’re really desperate for a certain position, you may have to lower your youthful expectations and work your way up. An example off the top of my head: I found during my legal research that some medium-small firms offer positions as a paralegal, and give you the opportunity to apply for a training contract later on. 

                  It's not all about University - most of these guys work for big companies with very well paid positions

And what about those people who didn’t go to Uni or didn’t get top grades in general? In the spirit of recently released A level results, to those people who didn’t get the results they wanted, didn’t get a place through clearing, or just weren’t academically inclined in the first place, it may just be a case of lowering your expectations. University isn’t for everyone, and, bless them, getting a 2:2 from the University of The Only Place That Would Take Me with DDE, sometimes just isn’t worth it. As the TUC pointed out, although 41% of young people go on to higher education nowadays, it does not afford them the same guarantee that it used to. No Sh*t Sherlock. I’m not telling you to settle for Zara for the rest of your life (they only hire beautiful Spanish people anyway), but schemes like Apprenticeships in IT, Accountancy, Childcare (you can charge a bomb for being a Nanny nowadays) give you an extra qualification to boost your CV at a later date and frankly a way to earn money and skills at the same time. If you’re dead set on Higher Education though, don’t let me stop you, hey retake your A levels if you must – but do it properly.

Chris Moriarty [great name btw] on the Radio today from the Chartered Institute of Marketing says that there's more to life than Uni grades and qualifications - 

"If you know what career you want then you should contact your professional body/institute [For us, someone who wants to get into marketing]...What professional bodies do is provide guidance, support, advice... We work with Universities to map their courses to our guidelines...We can give you a guide to what a career [in marketing] will be like, give you CV advice and provide you with available job roles... If you're not a graduate you're also at an advantage for being willing to take the less well-paid jobs."

If you’re just starting out at University or are in second year or thereabouts, my advice to you now is to make it count. Good grades really, really are not everything these days. Great you’ve got a 2:1…..And? Do tutoring at a local school, do lots of extra curriculars and become a committee member of the Harry Potter Society, learn a language (THAT’s what I’d forgotten – everyone should learn a language…not Chinese though, you’ll be learning forever) outside of your course. And if you’re lucky by the time you graduate this recession bollocks will have blown over.

To those of us 18+, all is not lost and there is still time for us to prove ourselves before we become a lost generation. Hell, move abroad and teach English and come back when the economy’s looking up. And if you’re really good, at the end of it I’ll throw you a party.

Edi xxx

As a note of Contention – Is it just a case of what you put in is what you get out? As the one-handed pianist proves, no task is insurmountable, and even a jobless youth admits that while he ‘feels like a loser’, he hasn’t been as proactive as he could have been... (Discuss?)